Tucson Book Haul, Part 2 and Depressing Children's Books of Yore

I got some boxes in the mail today. Here’s what I bought at Bookman’s:

The Girl Who Drank the Moon (Winner of the 2017 Newbery Medal), by Kelly Barnhill. A fantasy that looks surprisingly non-depressing despite having won a Newbery medal.

The Private Worlds of Julia Redfern, by Eleanor Cameron. Sequel to A Room Made of Windows, which is itself in a four-book series – huh, I had no idea! It’s about a girl writer.

Big Red , Outlaw Red, and Haunt Fox, by Jim Kjelgaard, who cornered the rather specific niche of exciting kids’ fiction about Irish setters.

Forest, by Janet Taylor Lisle. The back cover promised a pastoral fantasy about a girl and a forest, but I just now realized that it’s by the author of Afternoon of the Elves, possibly my all-time least-favorite Newbery book. I thought it would be about elves. There are no elves. Elves are a delusion. The heroine’s friend who says there’s elves turns out to be living with a mentally ill, abusive mother. When the heroine tells her own mother in the hope of getting her help, her friend is taken away and she never sees her again or learns what happens to her.

Message: Elves aren’t real. If you ever tell anyone a friend is being abused, they will disappear and you will never know if you did the right thing or made it worse. Also, everything is terrible.

Message of almost every Newbery book before about 1990: Your pets will die. Your grandparents will die. Your parents will die. Your best friend will die. Mentally ill or abused or disabled people die, are institutionalized, or disappear. (You may learn later that they died.) Social workers lock up your mentally ill friends, take away your abused friends, and step on your kitten. Magic isn’t real. All attempts to do the right thing lead inevitably to misery. Everything is terrible.

Meanwhile, Layla bought a book at Bookman's that she thought would be a heartwarming story of kids making friends while rescuing stranded narwhals. No One Expects Surprise! WWI.

Breer Bread: The Poll

So, it turns out there's not a great selection of beers if you don't want a six-pack that's all the same kind. However, I discovered a shelf of random beers where you can mix-and-match a sixpack. I tried to get beers I thought might make a nice bread and which I'd probably enjoy drinking if they don't. (I like Sapporo, I like cider, and I like Stella Artois. The others I haven't tried.)

Poll #21517

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 41

View Respondents

I should bake bread with this beer:

View Answers

Golden Road Pineapple Palisades (American Wheat Ale with Pineapple and Apricot)
11 (30.6%)

Santa Monica Brew Works Inclined IPA (India Pale Ale)
13 (36.1%)

Sapporo
8 (22.2%)

Sierra Nevada Sierraveda Lager
15 (41.7%)

Stella Artois Cidre (European-Style Cider)
10 (27.8%)

Wailua Wheat (Ale brewed with passionfruit)
11 (30.6%)

I should drink this beer

View Answers

Golden Road Pineapple Palisades (American Wheat Ale with Pineapple and Apricot)
19 (54.3%)

Santa Monica Brew Works Inclined IPA (India Pale Ale)
9 (25.7%)

Sapporo
9 (25.7%)

Sierra Nevada Sierraveda Lager
3 (8.6%)

Stella Artois Cidre (European-Style Cider)
15 (42.9%)

Wailua Wheat (Ale brewed with passionfruit)
15 (42.9%)

Your taste is beer is THE WORST

View Answers

Yes
4 (10.0%)

No
5 (12.5%)

Everyone is different and that's okay
30 (75.0%)

Actually, I'd love to grab a beer with you
21 (52.5%)

Farmers Market Month, Day 3: Chinese broccoli, cider bread

I just finished gobbling a slice of just-out-of-the-oven cider bread spread with maple butter, as per this recipe. It was definitely gobble-worthy. Grade A, would bake again.

ETA: Just finished gobbling second slice.



For lunch (and forthcoming dinner) I had a slight variation on yesterday's lunch/dinner, fried "rice" with acini de Pepe, the rest of the Chinese broccoli, the rest of the kimchi including its brine, Chinese sausage (pre-steamed), and hoisin sauce. It was just as good as Take 1.



Tomorrow I am getting up early to hit the Santa Monica farmers market and be back in time for the plumber.