Letter 29: Some new favorite middle grade novels, accessible Shakespeare, and Beurre Blanc.
May and June 2025
Notes from Me
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Thank you for reading!
Reading (article): Here is one of my favorite writers, Alan Jacobs, remembering the welcome he received when he married his wife many years ago.
At age twenty-one, when I married the woman who has now been my wife for forty-four years, I entered a new family. I was not then merely rough around the edges — all my surfaces were abraded and abrasive, and I quiver slightly whenever I think about the conversations Teri’s parents must have had about the boy their daughter had determined to marry. Lord knows they had hoped for, and expected, someone much better than I was. But here’s the thing: once Teri’s father had said Yes to my request for his daughter’s hand in marriage — and yes, that’s how Teri wanted it: not just to give her consent, but to ask for and abide by the consent of her parents — I was his and his wife’s son. From that day forward I belonged to them just as securely and unquestionably as the children of their own marriage. I was not what they had chosen; I was handed to them not on a silver platter but on a chipped dinner plate; but they welcomed me into their home, into their life, into their hearts, and they never looked back. They could have said No; instead they said Yes, to me and all that I was and wasn’t.
It is impossible for me to overstress how much that welcome meant to me, and how determinative that was for my future. Gradually I became someone not unlike the person they would have chosen if they had been the ones choosing, and one of the most gratifying moments of my life came when I was around fifty years old, and my father-in-law — a working man from Columbiana, Alabama, a simple man with a high-school education and a great big heart — gave me one of his characteristic bone-cracking hugs, looked me right in the eye, and said: “Alan, I’m so proud of the man you’ve turned out to be.” A Nobel Prize wouldn’t have meant so much to me as that word of praise from that man.
But all this began when they accepted me without question and without reservation, and committed themselves to my flourishing, as they were already committed to the flourishing of their biological children. I truly do not know what would have become of me if not for the constancy of their love. They loved their daughter; their daughter loved me; they were therefore called to love me too. So they did. To them it was as simple as that.
Reading (article): In Northeast Florida, the beach season spans most of the year, so I took some mental notes when I came across Beach Guide for Moms Who Want to Sit Down This Summer (Even with little kids). If you are with kids this summer who enjoy the beach as much as my sons, you could find some good ideas here.
I'm intrigued by this sand remover, and I'll likely purchase a sturdy bucket and turkish towels before long. And I love that the author’s kids mix sidewalk chalk with water to "paint" in the sand - we’ll have to try that sometime! Read the whole post here.
Reading (books): After finishing Middlemarch, I was eager to read some shorter books. I love reading middle grade novels, so I read a few from my To Be Read list that I hadn’t gotten around to reading yet. I read Ghost by Jason Reynolds, The Good Master by Kate Seredy, Sounder, by William H. Armstrong, and my favorite of the bunch, Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Gray Vining.
With the Boys
Reading Aloud: We finished reading The Melendy Quartet. We recently read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Last week, we watched the 1939 movie together. We had a lively discussion about the many ways the movie differed from the book. We have also been singing, “We……’re off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz” whenever we drive somewhere.
Some picture books my sons have asked me to reread lately are Kermit the Hermit by Bill Peet and Moonshot by Brian Floca.
Reading Alongside the Boys: I am working to add more of William Shakespeare’s plays into our family’s literary life. Andrew Matthews and Tony Ross’s early reader box set has been a fun, low-key introduction to some of the Bard’s best-known plays.
The retellings are brief and well-written, and the zany illustrations remind me of Quentin Blake’s work for Roald Dahl’s books. My 9 and 7 year old sons have been picking up the slim books and reading through them on their own as well, which is a bonus!
Watching with the Boys: After reading some retellings, and listening to “A Mid summer Night’s Dream” audio version a few times, the boys were ready to watch the play. In lieu of seeing a live stage performance, we watched this full-length production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on YouTube. It was very well-done, and my sons loved it! We are also participating in Shakespeare Summer at Read Aloud Revival - an online community with lessons and family book clubs.
In the Kitchen
Kitchen: I tried my hand at the Buerre Blanc, a French sauce of mostly butter and white wine. I followed Chef John’s recipe. It was very good over roasted brussels sprouts. I also saved the extra sauce for a few days in the fridge and then used it to sauce freshly boiled pasta, which turned a simple dish into something a little more complex and flavorful. I’ll definitely make this sauce again.
Small Joy
Our baby boy is crawling all over the main level of our home, laughing at his brothers, and generally stealing all of our hearts.
Until next time,
Susie
Thank you for the tip about the Shakespeare early readers! Our family went to a Shakespeare in the park production of The Tempest this summer and I'd love to introduce them to more Shakespeare as well.