Crystal Brunelle

Ocean waves hitting rocks on a rocky coast. Fog above with a little bit of blue sky.

Yesterday we got to hike by the ocean for a bit. Always makes my heart happy.

Cover of Robot Salvaje. Illustration is from the movie and shows a large robot holding a tiny bird in one hand. A fox is looking at the bird.

Trying to finish reading Robot Salvaje before school starts. I have 80 pages left. It will be the first full length chapter book I’ve read in Spanish. I picked it because the chapters are short & many of my students read it. I’m usually a speedy reader so this has been an exercise in patience.

As of June, this was the deadliest conflict on record for journalists. The majority of those killed were Palestinian. www.cbsnews.com/news/record-...

I finally watched Moon Lovers this week after many warnings of it being a tear-jerker. Yes, I did cry a little, but honestly, I’m rewatching the Go Back Couple now and I have cried many more times and in a very real way. It’s way more devastating for me.

@cottonquiltsedi.bsky.social Thanks so much for the lovely card. It made my day. 😊 You're the best! 💐

Sunset over mountains in background. Nearby are waves of Lake Tahoe hitting rocks.

Sign for Lake Tahoe Community College with pine trees and building behind it. Blue sky with a few wispy clouds.

It’s really neat to be able to go to an intensive Spanish program in this beautiful place though we are inside a lot of the day.

Long morning of classes, lunch at the lake, afternoon classes, short bike ride into Nevada, dinner and line dancing at a place around the corner from my hotel. Time to read and get some rest. 😊

Get it as soon as you can - Beast by Richard Van Camp is a fantastic thriller richincolor.com/2025/07/revi... #yalit #booksky

Cover of book Leo’s First Vote. Young brown skinned child holding a ballot up in one hand and a ballot box in the other.

So excited to get a copy of Leo’s First Vote by @soontornvat.bsky.social today at a Teaching Civics conference. We’ll have a whole lesson about using it in elementary classrooms too. 😊 #booksky

🎙️NEW EPISODE! 🎙️ I’m so excited for y’all to hear my conversation with @katemessner.com! You can find this episode of #TheReadersHeart wherever you listen to podcasts! Link to show notes: www.librarygirl.net/post/the-rea...

#tlsky #tlskychat #skybrarians #edusky #podcast #kidlit

From now on, whenever they say "well how do you pay for it?" the answer is DEFUND ICE.

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.

This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.

It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

So excited to get my hands on this book tomorrow!

This is a must read. It's great analysis and it's a great piece about what this does mean, and what it doesn't. Importantly, Kelly calls out that schools and teachers should not obey in advance by pulling LGBTQ+ books off the shelves.

Read and share, please!

Of course I had to look it up and read an article about this person. 😮 Now I will likely also think about this periodically because wow.

Just a reminder that if you’re an author and you’re feeling a certain way about the Mahmoud decision, there’s a place for you: www.authorsagainstbookbans.com

“I represent 67,000 pediatricians, and let me be clear: this bill will devastate children’s health,” said Dr. Susan Kressly, President of @ameracadpeds.bsky.social “Kids are 22% of our population—but 100% of our future. We cannot afford to fail them.”
Call your senators and demand a NO vote.

Cover to my graphic novel, Angelica and the Bear Prince. A young couple holds hands—a young femme person dressed mostly in pinks and reds, and a more masc person dressed in cool hues.

You should preorder my book, and here are all the links www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/604737...

We're in an era of anti-Black backlash, so things are about to be even more hellish for Black women in the spotlight.

"Protect Black women," "believe Black women," "vote like Black women," and "let Black women lead" are generating visceral responses from many lately.

It's where we are right now.

“There’s the saying that history is always written by the victors. But that assumes a winner and a loser. A more accurate saying would be that history is a reflection of who had power, and how they flattered themselves.” — From Mỹ Documents by Kevin Nguyen. #booksky

Just feels real bad to be told your existence is too controversial to allow children to know about it

For real: I often notice details and nuances in my own photographs that I would not have noticed if I weren't writing alt text for them.

Writing alt text makes you SEE and THINK more. It's great!

Here is a *good thing*.

I put together a FREE TOOLKIT with the Brooklyn Public Library's Books Unbanned team to help raise and support the next generation of anti-book ban, pro-library advocates.

Check it out: bookriot.com/freedom-to-r...

Book cover of Dan in Green Gables: A Modern Reimagining of Anne of Green Gables. There is a young man with red hair and headphones walking toward a house with a wraparound porch. He is looking over his shoulder at the reader.

Get it now! Dan in Green Gables by Rey Terciero & Claudia Aguirre is an excellent graphic novel for Pride month or any month of the year. Check out our review — richincolor.com/2025/06/revi... #yalit #graphicnovels #retelling

This is literally exhibit A for why queer joy is so profoundly subversive. Anger is important too. But joy -- "smiling and talking and crying and laughing" -- that's what the fascists want to stamp out. That's the real challenge to their reign.

SCOTUS Mahmoud v Taylor Statement — Katherine Locke

When you have a few moments, please take the time to read author @katherinelocke.bsky.social’s response to today’s enraging and disappointing (though completely expected) Supreme Court ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor.

www.katherinelockebooks.com/scotusjunest...

YouTube video by Spring Spanish - Learn Spanish with Chunks PUES Explained: The Spanish Word That Does It All!

After reading Pilar Ramirez, I went looking for a video like this about the word pues for confirmation. youtube.com/watch?v=e7UX... Pilar uses pues often. #middlegrade #booksky

This is so true. 99% of book bans have the intended effect: you never hear about those books again. The 1% of banned books that become infamous bestsellers elsewhere are not the norm.

“…there is no weapon more deadly to a dictator than people who refuse to forget.” from Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa by Julian Randall #booksky #kidlit

#booksky #kidlit