Summer Reading List
It’s been a while since I’ve had the energy for one of these, but nature is HEALING. Finished books under the cut as per usual.
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May
Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris: finished May 17, 2026. This one is a nostalgia reread, because I was thinking about interesting takes on parental estrangement I read around the time my mother’s mental health began its tailspin. This would have been a 2010-2012 read for me, roughly. I love how people refusing to touch Marigold so she can’t sense how they feel works as a genre-ized metaphor for isolation and emotional neglect. And I always appreciate stories where older siblings who’ve escaped a toxic environment come back for the little ones they couldn’t save when they were children themselves. That being said, the last chapter reveal about their true parentage feels like a cop out. Just let bio parents be shitty! Sometimes they are!
Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell: finished May 27, 2026. I reread this alongside a dear friend who also loved it as a kid. The strange lonely darkness of it holds up in delightful ways.
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher: finished May 27, 2026. This is a good month for nostalgia rereads, because I got a big batch of old favorites for free from a local elementary school’s library weeds. Understood Betsy is 110 years old and definitely preachy in aspects of its narrative, but I remember being ten years old and reading it for the first time and loving it just as much as I did today. One of those absolutely heart-healing books.
“B” is for Betsy by Carolyn Haywood: finished May 27, 2026. Pure coincidence that I read two old children’s chapter books starring a Betsy in one day. We went to my fiancé’s mother’s house for dinner and she showed us the first chapter book she ever read by herself. Published 1939 and pretty entertaining. Sort of a Golden Book kind of feel.
The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell: finished May 28, 2026. Another library weed added to my collection. I love the weird darkness of this one, and the ending! It’s a shame there are only two fics on AO3. Maybe one day I’ll add to their number.
No Passengers Beyond This Point by Gennifer Choldenko: finished May 29, 2026. Another library weed I recognized from childhood. The ending always makes me cry. When an author gets siblings right, oof.
Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan: finished May 30, 2026. The last of my rescues from the library weed pile. It was good to revisit Rachel, and rereading made me remember how much I loved mistaken identity dramas when I was in the book’s target age bracket.



















