Whatever holiday we observe and and however we celebrate, may we have peace on earth and in our hearts.

Medieval selfies! Illustration from article, Jan van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and fiance (the artist includes a self-portrait in the mirror behind the couple). From Medieval Books blog: bit.ly/3YDCCMm

I'm pleased to find War and Millie McGonigle and Catherine, Called Birdy among so many fine books on this list of "60 Mighty Girl Historical Fiction Novels for Tweens and Teens." Thanks, Katherine Handcock! I hope you're following A Mighty Girl on Facebook. #historicalfiction bit.ly/44svAO1

Oldest, surviving, written document is 5,500 years old. The Kish tablet was found near the ancient Sumerian city of Kish, today it is Iraq. Not all of tablet is deciphered. Find out what they know at this point. bit.ly/4qgEhU9 Photo: Clay tablet proto-cuneiform writing. Jim Kuhn/Wikimedia Commons.

Enjoy Dr. Irving Finkel's lessons in how to write in cuneiform. There are over 130,000 tablets waiting to be studied at the British Museum. Dr. Finkel's “just waiting for young scholars to come devote themselves to (the) monkish work” of deciphering them. #cuneiform #ancienthistory bit.ly/44dD879

Don't miss my interview with Roger Sutton for The Horn Book. We talk about Joseph Campbell, my beloved Phil, Oregon weather, and the process of writing. Karen Cushman Talks with Roger: bit.ly/4pSxDTY

Hadrian's Wall Discovery, a video look at a previously unseen section of the Wall at Drumburgh on the Solway coast. "This is almost as far west as the wall went and there has been no sign of it here for a very long time." Mark Graham interviews those working on the site. #hadrianswall bit.ly/4rBzazm

Bearded Vulture nests found to have hoards of cultural artifacts — some up to 650 years old. Because their nests are primarily in the "western Mediterranean, "stable temperature and low humidity conditions ... natural museums, conserving historical material" bit.ly/4rh0yCw [photo: Antoni Margalida}

Have you read my most recent book? Sally O’Malley is an orphan working at a mineral spring hotel in the woods of central Oregon–that is, until she’s chucked out like chewed-on chicken bones, due entirely to an unfortunate incident with a pig and some church ladies. More about Sally: bit.ly/4br0wk3

Archaeologists Finally Find Missing Part of Legendary Statue. In 1930, the lower half of a statue of Ramses II, which once stood 23 feet tall, was discovered by German archaeologist Gunther Roeder. In 2024, an Egyptian and American dig team discovered the upper half near Ashmunein. bit.ly/47Mgwgj

Hope to see you at the Poulsbo Kids Book Fest, this coming Saturday, November 15th, from 11 am to 3 pm, at North Kitsap High School, 1780 NE Hostmark, Poulsbo, WA. You can see the actual Newbery Medal for The Midwife's Apprentice. www.poulsbokidsbookfest.com

From Open Culture, this article and TED Talk: "... Paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger, [suggests] that those prehistoric forms of writing, which include the earliest known hashtag marks, consisted of symbols nearly as universal as emoji." bit.ly/483qdH3

Book giveaway! Thinking about your gift lists, aren't you? When Sally O'Malley Discovered the Sea is an adventure story set in 1800s Oregon. You know the young readers who will love this book. Head to my website to enter by midnight PT on 11/15/25. (Mainland USA only, please.) Enter: bit.ly/3LrcyAX

900+ artifacts from Late Bronze and Early Iron Age discovered in early 2025 near Somló, Hungary. Archaeologists are looking at diet, ritual, and culture based on this metal hoard. "The project was led by Bence Soós, an archaeologist and museologist at the Hungarian National Museum." bit.ly/4onmOZJ

Young readers fascinated by medical shows? Give them Matilda Bone to read. "This humorous, frank look at life in the medical quarters in medieval times shows readers that love and compassion, laughter and companionship, are indeed the best medicine.” (SLJ) bit.ly/3VXcM26

Visit the Victoria and Albert Museum virtually, learning more about their jewelry, embroidery, furniture, paintings, photography, and portrait miniatures. www.vam.ac.uk/collections

Homeschools include my books in curriculum. Beyond the Page describes a 3-week study including historical context, research, creative writing skills, vocabulary, and critical thinking. "The Ballad of Lucy Whipple teaches about adaptability, independence, and the importance of family." bit.ly/3L1TCsk

Take a few minutes for a vacation. Visit the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Video recreations of the Pyramids at Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and more. Text adds details about each site. (from The Collector) bit.ly/4oBoBKp

Great time of year to read Grayling's Song. “There were things I loved: ... the eerie terror of people slowly planted where they stand; Cushman’s prose, which like all the best writing takes a few simple words and contorts them into something new and amazing.” Lauren Oliver, NYTBR bit.ly/3Nz33x2

A mysterious set of ancient ceramic spheres has been unearthed deep in the Amazon, revealing unusual contents that could upend what we thought we knew about pre-Columbian rainforest cultures. Arezki Amiri, Daily Galaxy, 13 September 2025 bit.ly/4nOxsIq

In Midwife's Apprentice, young Brat has no family, home, or future until she meets Jane the Midwife. As she helps Jane deliver babies, Brat wishes for: “A full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.” What is midwifery? bit.ly/3KACOsb and bit.ly/3KsvaQH book: bit.ly/3whPlFS

“The Babylonian scribe mapped what he believed lay beyond his world. The map included mythical creatures and lands, and a familiar story from ancient history. This story is the Babylonian version of the biblical account of Noah’s Ark.” bit.ly/3KxNbgs

Here's a five-minute read-aloud I did of the first chapter of When Sally O'Malley Discovered the Sea, posted on YouTube by Brodart. Have a listen! (link in comments) www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjE4...

From "The newly discovered desert city that's rewriting the history of the Americas," Heather Jasper, BBC, 11 Sept 2025: "the Caral people adapted to climate disaster without turning to war – a survival strategy that feels as extraordinary today as it must have been millennia ago." bit.ly/46Lz6n5

Houghton Mifflin wrote a terrific discussion guide for The Loud Silence of Francine Green, addressing topics such as growing up, freedom of speech, friendship, fear, and family. Set during the McCarthy era in Los Angeles, this will open good discussions, adding in our current news. bit.ly/4gyfVBF

Wayfair for 1500 BC? Ancient clay tablet inscribed with bronze age shopping list. Read the article by Connor Lagore in Popular Mechanics. bit.ly/46eH3lG photo: HomoCosmicos, Getty Images, from the article

I've shared my bookshelves with my website visitors ... the books I've found most helpful when writing about specific periods in history. Let me know if you have favorites you can recommend. #research #writingfiction bit.ly/4n7zYZU

A nearly complete cranium discovered in 1960 inside Petralona Cave, Greece, has defied all efforts at precise dating for several decades. With advanced isotopic techniques, new results show the skull is at least 286,000 years old. Photo: Carlstaffanholmer / CC BY-SA 3.0 bit.ly/4prNVng

Have you subscribed to Kate Nafz' Substack? Here's part of her review for Sally O'Malley: "As a narrator Sally is a hoot. She supplies downhome turn-of-phrases not heard for many moons. Her spunky personality will win over readers and they will be emotionally invested in her journey." bit.ly/46kdRZo

I love the idea of early humans walking their dogs, even if it wasn’t as benign as I like to think. And I thought other people may love it, too. bit.ly/3VaMeN7

Fascinated by the archaeology projects, past and present, in London, England? Take a trip to MOLA, the Museum of London Archaeology. #archaeology #London #UnitedKingdom #history MOLA: www.mola.org.uk

Once you've read War and Millie McGonigle, there are terrific read-alike novels on this list prepared by the Assn of Children's Librarians of Northern CA), books like The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Liberty by Kirby Larson, and more. Thanks, librarians! bit.ly/4mXQVFN

17th Century coin hoard found during farmhouse kitchen remodeling. How did it get buried and how was it found in 2020? Two articles to learn more. History Blog, why people buried their money: bit.ly/3JvTSit (photo: Zachary Culpin, BNPS, from The Guardian article: bit.ly/4mDXw8E )

SLJ starred review: "Cushman adds another intrepid, resourceful, courageous girl to her repertoire. Meggy Swann, deformed since birth, has been sent for by her [alchemist] father in 16th-cent London. When he sees her, he is disappointed to discover that she is just a disabled girl." bit.ly/3pYrzgB

"Archaeologists have completed a three-year excavation at the Celtic oppidum of Manching in Bavaria and uncovered more than 40,000 artifacts that provide new information on life in the late Iron Age. (Dario Radley, Archaeology News Online Magazine, 16 Aug 2025) bit.ly/4fKXucD

Lena Dunham: “Like all Karen Cushman’s gorgeous novels, Grayling’s Song delves into the past to let us know what we must ask of our future. I want Cushman’s books to raise my children for me: that way I can be assured they’ll grow up witty, vastly knowledgeable, and tough as nails.” bit.ly/3Nz33x2

True or false? More people attend museums each year than attend sporting events? Unexpected results from 2024 data collected at 202 American museums. bit.ly/3JsqPfx #museums Article by The Savvy Museum Visitor on Substack. [Photo: krapao2023, Adobe Stock]

It's High Summer and Renaissance Festivals are rife throughout the land. Are you attending? Enjoy reading Will Sparrow's Road, in which a young boy who was sold for beer finds an unexpected place to stay in a theater troupe who travel to Elizabethan market fairs. Podcasts and more: bit.ly/3ABAjhQ

A boy found a shipwreck on an Orkney Islands beach that turned out to be a 250-year-old American Revolutionary warship, The Hind. (Photo: Rod Thorne / Orkney Islands Council, from Smithsonian article) Read the Smithsonian article: bit.ly/3Hh2Fnx

PW star review: "The writing reflects [Cushman's] expert craftsmanship; for example, Lucy's brother Butte, dead for lack of a doctor, is eulogized thus: 'He was eleven years old, could do his sums, and knew fifty words for liquor.' A coming-of-age story rich with historical flavor." bit.ly/45e3HZu

Over 5,000 years ago, a young Neolithic woman in Denmark chewed on birch pitch. With modern tech, scientists extracted the girl's genetic material from that "gum," telling us what she looked like. Yasemin Saplakoglu published this intriguing article in LiveScience. #neolithic #DNA bit.ly/3GUsTw5

Hope you'll enjoy this podcast interview! "Karen Cushman Whipples Us into Shape," Withywindle, Graeme Pitman and David Kern, 15 July 2025. Listen in: bit.ly/4lCJ7ZJ

An international team of researchers led by the University of Groningen is examining the Dead Sea Scrolls with Enoch, using radiocarbon dating, paleography, and artificial intelligence to produce more accurate, empirically grounded date estimates for each manuscript. bit.ly/4l7x1Hj Photo: Wikimedia

I taught in a museum studies program for eleven years. This essay reflects on some issues we discussed about museums, history, interpretation, and misinterpretation. Read Kara Cooney's article, "'The Younger Memnon': A Lesson in Power, Reuse, and Colonial Trophy Hunting." #museums bit.ly/46gOI3o

Historical fiction helps young readers gain perspective for understanding current events. Alice Cary, for BookPage: "much to offer contemporary readers. Gram, for instance, was a crusader who felt that all girls should know 'songs of protest and the phone number of your state rep.'" bit.ly/3uFu1sM

If the young readers in your life are concerned about current events, may I suggest The Loud Silence of Francine Green as a summer reading book? #historicalfiction #rumors #innuendo #HollywoodTen bit.ly/3pSUgud

From New York Times: “Mysterious Ancient Humans Now Have a Face.” Fifteen years after the discovery of a new type of human, the Denisovan, scientists discovered its DNA in a fossilized skull. The key? Tooth plaque. #dentistry #Denisovan #DNA (photo credit: Qiaomei Fu, from article) bit.ly/44hIaA0

So pleased to find When Sally O’Malley Discovered the Sea on the Children’s Book Council’s An Ocean of Summer Reading 2025 list. Take a look at all the fine books included on their list! (link in comments) #summerreading @CBCBook Enjoy the books on the CBC’s list! bit.ly/44q6dvi

Runes found in Wawa, Ontario baffle archaeologists. Uncovered when a tree fell over, they first had to pinpoint the runic tradition. (link in comments) #archaeology #runes (photo: Ryan Primrose, Ontario Center for Archaeological Research and Education) bit.ly/3GewtRs

SUMMER READING: California doesn’t suit Lucy Whipple—not the name nor place. Lucky Diggins is hardly a town at all — just a bunch of ramshackle tents and tobacco-spitting miners. Even the gold isn’t panning out. Worst of all, there’s no lending library! Dag diggety! bit.ly/4ecjGvc