May-mania
Hello hello!
Is it just me or is May absolutely bananas? End of year this, celebration that, graduations, ceremonies and my head is spinning.
But…the countdown is on until school’s out. Less than four weeks, my friends! Is there ever a better time to be a teacher than in the summer? I think not.
Here are a few recommendations amidst the May-mania.

Read this!
Hazel Says No by Jessica Berger Gross had been on my TBR list for a while before I finally got my hands on a copy. Hazel Blum’s family has upended her life. They’ve moved from NYC to a tiny town in Maine that’s not even by the ocean. Hazel is determined to make the most of it and focus on her college application to Vassar. But on her first day of her senior year, something bad happens. Like, really bad. But Hazel says no. And that’s the beginning of a very long year for the Blum family. Funny, poignant, and full of heart.

Drink this!
It’s almost summer, which means fun spritzy cocktails, and I plan on trying this Limoncello Spritz very soon. I can pretend I’m in Italy instead of in my very messy living room avoiding laundry and cleaning.
Check this out!
For some reason this time of year always makes me want to write. Story ideas seem to pop up everywhere, and all I want to do is sit down to capture them. Perhaps the other writers or artists out there can relate. So I leave you with a poem on this final weekend in May.
But wait!

One more thing for my local friends! If you’re free June 3, might I suggest coming to Featherstone Center for the Arts to see the wonderful poet Naomi Shihab Nye who will be reading there that night. Get your tickets here or read some of her work here.
That’s all for this week. As Marge Piercy writes in the lovely poem above, “Rich fresh wine of June, we stagger into you smeared with pollen.” I hope your weekend is full of the riches of late spring.
Until next time.
Emily


I just downloaded the book! Thanks for the suggestion
Thank you, Elisa! Glad you’re back on island and looking forward to seeing you one of these days soon!