Our Blog

It’s hard not to love Mister Rogers. He taught us how to imagine, how to be a good neighbor, and, without us even noticing it, how to be a kind people. The lessons we learned from this wonderful man have stuck with us through adulthood. And yes, we did cry all the way through Won’t You Be My Neighbor? last year. We even published a book about him, pairing Fred Rogers own songwriting with beautiful illustrations by Luke Flowers: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. But we’re not the only Mister Rogers fans out there. Many many celebrities have expressed their love for the man. And who could blame them?

Have you ever noticed that action stars and superheroes have never stopped to practice self-care? Not one of our heroes ever has to go to the bathroom or grab a quick bite to stave off hunger. Let’s imagine for a moment if they acted like humans and took time out of fighting or killing someone to relieve and nourish themselves.

We really really love The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston. In this wildly imaginative adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic The Prince and the Pauper, Imogen Lovelace is a teenager on a mission. All she wants is to save her favorite Starfield character, Princess Amara. She’s got the ExcelsiCon map memorized, the #SaveAmara hashtag trending, and so much merch to give away. But there’s one problem: Jessica Stone, the actress playing the role, wants nothing to do with the campaign. In fact, she’d rather her character remain dead. (Yikes!) Which got us thinking: who would we like to see switch places for our own entertainment? And the answer was easy: Emma Thompson and Emma Watson.

The final season of Game of Thrones is nearly here, and fans are waiting to find out which of the remaining faces in Westeros will actually make it through the entire series alive, which is no easy feat in a world as violent as Westeros! So far, the ones still standing seem to have a solid handle on how to play the game, but everyone could use a little help sometimes! From strategy to personal development, these are the books that we’d recommend the Westerosi read… whether an individual recommendation, or something that pretty much anyone aiming for the throne could benefit from.

Last week marked the season finale of This is Us. And while, honestly, it’s a relief to know we won’t be crying over a fictional family every week, there’s still going to be a Pearson-shaped hole in our hearts until the fall. (It’s a really long break, y’all.) But we can make it. We can! We have that Big Three love to keep us going. But while we wait for Randall, Kate, and Kevin to grace our televisions once more, here are five literary families who would be the perfect inspiration for a This is Us-style show.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

April 9 is National Name Yourself Day, which isn’t about celebrating your own name, but about taking a day to choose a new one. It may just be for a day, but it can be extremely liberating to take a new name for a while; maybe a Jane is sick of feeling plain, and wants to be Arabella for a while. Maybe a Veronica acts a little differently in the world than a Mildred. Maybe you’ve just always wanted to see how the world would react if you could choose your own moniker.

Of course, for authors, there’s no need to wait for National Name Yourself Day to choose a new name. Many authors write under a pen name, for all kinds of reasons. Some do it so that they can cover sensitive topics without offending loved ones. Some do it to avoid public scrutiny, or to try something that doesn’t fit with their usual brand. Did you know that these famous authors have all written under pen names?