If you’re looking for organizations to donate to this holiday season, why not consider throwing a few bucks towards the Prison Journalism Project? Help keep giving people behind bars the gift of an outlet and voice through journalism!

Documentaries to watch during #Kwanzaa that will leave you inspired instead of sad

What are we reading this week? #booksky

In honor of the 1st day of Kwanzaa I’m sharing my essential Black Family Library selections. I know someone has a Barnes & Noble gift card burning a hole in their pocket. Also, I’ve linked the books to a Black owned bookstore if you DON’T have a gift card. #umoja open.substack.com/pub/shannami...

Today and tomorrow are GREAT days to take a probiotic

Someone whispered the plot to the hunger games to that man and then headlines. #patriotgames Once he gets the idea that the average citizen can win money & prizes for turning people into the government (Running Man) or he turned death row into a pay-per-view sport (Chain Gang All Stars) it’s over.

Tomorrow! #thelibrarians

Creativity is the one thing they can't buy. They can wash it in legalese and contracts, but there STILL isn't any product, potion, or incantation that can make you into a portrait artist if you don't practice and have a spoonful of talent. Now they want to convince us that spoonful is overrated.

If you want to solve the literacy crisis you're going to have to get comfortable with student failure again. Student failure has become a reflection of the school and failing schools mean lower real estate values. We care MORE about looking good than being good. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...

The political discourse in this country has been compromised by Russian interference. That was proven in 2016 and it has been continuing in every major election since then.. any criticism of Jasmine Crockett has to be viewed under that lens. www.motherjones.com/media/2022/0...

Holiday to-do list Paper garland using dollar store wrapping paper Salt 🧂 dough ornaments Felt ornaments Dried orange 🍊 garland Christmas 🎅🏾 popcorn balls for movie night Holiday drone show Angel tree Food bank volunteering/Meals on Wheels Gingerbread houses Puff Quilt What’s on yours

Shout out to Shipped Coffee company, who appeared like the room of requirement in the Michaels parking lot this morning when I was lamenting that the only place to get coffee was Starbucks. The people yearn for parking lot coffeee trucks! Check them out in Atlanta ! www.shippedcoffeeco.com

DC Public Library with a friendly reminder 📚

If you want a little spoonful, a little taste of that 90’s Black Friday feeling, go to candle dat at Bath & Body Works.

Big, HUGE, Thank you to Kalynn B and Shay M. who sent us some warm love 💕 Pick up Kaylynn’s latest release (which we have on our shelves!!) at a bookstore near you or an indie here: bookshop.org/p/books/make... You can also still help w/ gloves 🧤 & cough drops here: www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/...

Very happy to see this.

When you're used to segregation, representation feels like oppression.

Hey #kidlitartpostcard ! My name is Wren, I’m an illustrator looking for new exciting projects! I love working with empathetic stories, magic and monsters! I’m proudly represented by @litagentsaritza.bsky.social at Andrea Brown Literary Agency @andreabrownlit.bsky.social www.wrenrios.com

The one book to buy this week 👇🏾 "There’s Always Next Year is a dual POV, double love story about what it means to nearly blow your life up, and race to put it back together before your time runs out. And if Andy and Dominique fail? Well, there’s always next year." tinyurl.com/ymja85rs

Are the drive-through Christmas Light events doing it for y'all?

The cold has hit us again in Georgia and my students need gloves and hats. If you've got a coin or two, we'd appreciate some care items for kids whose parents either can't afford them. They really appreciate it! #clearthelist www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/...

The cold has hit us again in Georgia and my students need gloves and hats. If you've got a coin or two, we'd appreciate some care items for kids whose parents either can't afford them. They really appreciate it! #clearthelist www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/...

Help build the first library after the genocide. Books maintain a culture’s collective memory chuffed.org/project/firs...

Today is James Baldwin Day!!

Tomorrow is James Baldwin Day!! Let’s celebrate by writing in our journals! Check out a few more Black literary holidays we can celebrate because we CHOOSE who to honor. open.substack.com/pub/shannami...

I have a few book lists that you can use this holiday season but this one focuses exclusively on books for Black Boys. The links also forward to @bookshop_org so you can support Brave & Kind, a Black owned bookstore #blackbooksky open.substack.com/pub/shannami...

You can support Black authors and Black bookstores on #BlackFriday via @bookshop_org #booksky Here is a list of essential black titles to add to your library. open.substack.com/pub/shannami...

You can read your kids the story of Thanksgiving from the Wampanoag perspective with GetEpic. It's kid appropriate but still accurate. It's free for Educators, but parents can get a subscription for about $14 a month. tinyurl.com/2k2c4…

What do you do for the holiday season that’s just for you that makes you feel Christmasy (that has nothing to do with kids)?

What are your tips for getting into the spirit? I’m not feeling it. The state of the country and the world has sapped the joy from it. I don’t want to trim this tree Make cocoa Or even buy gifts

5 things to do this Thanksgiving Week for self-care & sanity 1. Bring a book on Thanksgiving. Gives you something to talk about & a means of escape 2. Get to the grocery store today. 3. Wear a mask if you've got a sniffle 4. Make a playlist 5. Drop your old decor at Goodwill

I'm lost without you And there's no letting go So let me be the first to say I'm lost without you … So don't ever go Go away 'said don't ever go away

Literary Dads who don’t get enough smoke: Mr. Bennett (Pride & Prejudice). Sweet and lazy. Your only job is to get these girls an education and you failed. Walter Lee (A Raisin the the Sun): I guarantee you he eventually lost the family home. He learned nothing in the ordeal.

The world hasn’t been right since the muppets stopped doing interviews on late night television

Are horse 🐎 girls still a thing? Horse posters are conspicuously absent at the school book fair.

Wow! Jesse Welles performed his song “Join ICE” on the Colbert Show last night. 🏆

🎅🏻ALERT #WICKED by Gregory Maguire is NOT suitable for kids. We're talking bestiality, dark imagery, assault (of all kinds), etc. However you CAN get into Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. It's a Wizard of Oz retelling written for teens. Get it wherever you like to buy books tinyurl.com/mwrwt3j5

Well, if you’re gonna be a piggy, be a Miss Piggy. Loud, proud and fly!

Every day I'm talking to a kid and they're saying: "I don't want to go to college." and every day I have to reply "College may not be for everybody, but you, personally, need to go to college." The CIA, the Devil, and Kris Jenner stay busy.

MAGA really doesn’t have even a cursory knowledge of Black people. Nikki Minaj as UN representative? Winsom Earl-Sears?

Brendan Carr, the head of the FCC, has “a knack for pulling the strings of power in ways that escape public scrutiny,” Gilad Edelman reports. Carr's goal isn’t to tell networks what to air and whom to fire—it’s to get to the point where he doesn’t have to. theatln.tc/khgmAqeL

We need to remove medicine from the 'good student' acceptable list (others being law and engineering). We've got too many super studiers in rooms where 1/2 the job is compassion.

Bad takes from artists are going to increase ten fold. US History on its own is bereft of the contributions of Black people. Now imagine someone getting straight C's, or worse, in school from K-12. Remember that anti-Critical Race Theory laws were passed. Remember that they closed school libraries.

No one tells you that one day, around 40, your body will start to ache & the doc, who you barely like bc no one since your pediatrician has been genuinely nice, will shrug his shoulders & tell you to exercise. But how can you exercise when your body hurts? And then they’ll prescribe antidepressants

You know what to do! #blackbooksky #blacksky #boosky #romancelandia

The 1st chapter of my middle grade series starts w/ an exorcism of a dead boy who fell off a jungle gym. An earlier draft began at church w/ my boy exorcist freeing a pastor who’s been trapped in the old sanctuary. We don’t talk enough about the harsh edits. open.substack.com/pub/shannami...

Your last saved meme is your moral philosophy

5 tips for self care and survival for this week. 1. Give those coats 🧥 to Goodwill before it gets too cold. 2. Soak some beans 🫘. Find a good red beans and rice recipe. 3. Find and angel tree saangeltree.org 4. Change your air filter 5. Solidify those Thanksgiving plans

Ocean's 8 is a lovely watch in the wake of the Louvre heist.