3/3: Gilmore Girls Saves the Day

Why I am Here (on Substack): A 3 Part Series

Jan 22, 2024

Welcome to the last and final chapter of my Why I am on Substack series! So you don’t feel lost and confused, betrayed and bewildered, here are Part 1 and Part 2. Thanks for journeying with me. Where next week will take us now that I’ve finished this series? Tune in next week - the suspense!

Now that you are all caught up I am sure you can picture me: I am up to my eyeballs in inspiring and meaningful substacks that target the same niche audience as mine, and my imposter named Chuck is in rare form, spouting all his Fight Club nonsense, and I am starting to question this whole thing because why would people need me if there is already so much great stuff out there? The Hydra heads are growing more and more numerous, the beast has got me by the ankle, when I look down and see my saviors: the Gilmore Girls. (duh)

Remember Season 2, Episode 4 of Gilmore Girls? You know you do. No? Was it just me watching Gilmore Girls on repeat while I stayed up until 3 am to panic finish all my college papers? Ok, if you say so.

It is the one where Rory and Loralai take a road trip to Harvard (sorry, Max). Standing outside the Harvard library, Rory is thrown into a (classic over-achiever) panic:

Rory: Thirteen million volumes? I’ve read like, what, three hundred books** in my entire life and I’m already sixteen? Do you know how long it would take me to read thirteen million books?
Lorelai: But honey, you don’t have to read every one of them. Tuesday’s with Morrie? Skip that. Who Moved My Cheese? Just stuff you already know.

^^From this crazy website that I never knew existed

Friends. There are SO MANY children’s books out there. When I started babysitting at 12, I went from reading kids’ books for myself to reading kids’ books for work. I have been reading kids’ books for almost 40 years without pause and haven’t scratched the surface. All of the kid literature Substacks in the world probably don’t put a dent in the kid-lit books that exist to be enjoyed by these tiny tots.

Thanks to Gilmore Girls, I no longer have to worry quite as much about whether I should be out here doing my thing, I’ll just keep on recommending great (and sometimes not so great) titles, giving you fun lit tips to keep your kids reading, and telling you mini stories about my life and thoughts. If you like my brand of parenting and weirdness, then lucky me, I am so glad you are here.

Share Library Stax

All these Baader-Meinhof moments where other kid-lit substacks end up in my pipeline serve to reinforce this idea because they are filled to bursting with titles and authors I haven’t even heard of, more books my family gets to enjoy. The kid-lit community has been so fun and supportive, and so, because I am a unique snowflake (don’t even start Chuck), and because there are more children’s books than can be easily fathomed, you need me! Or at least that is what I am going to tell myself so I keep showing up.

LIT TIP

Because there are so many books in the world, make sure you shake things up and get a variety of titles and genres for your kids. Raising kids is a wonder, these tiny strangers unfolding right before you. Picking all different types of books means they can learn about all kinds of things from around the world, but it also means you can learn new things about your child. You will see sparks of excitement about a surprising topic, or they will laugh at a joke you didn’t know they would find funny. Unlock all the doors and explore every path.

FROM THE STAX

So! Many! Books! in the world!! Here are some of our latest library favorites:

TEN WAYS TO HEAR SNOW by Cathy Camper Illustrated by Kenard Pak

Lina wakes up one morning to the quiet of a new snow. She decides to walk to her Sitti’s (grandmother’s) to cook warak enab (grape leaves) and along the way she starts to notice how many different ways snow can sound. My kids loved helping to count as each new sound was discovered, and want to try to cook warak enab as soon as possible. A truly beautiful book about observing the world around us, the treasure of spending time and cooking with loved ones, and an understanding that even without eyesight, there are many ways to see. It is a rare gift to read a well-told story that embeds so many beautiful lessons with such little effort. This is a book I would gift to anyone.

IMOGENE’S ANTLERS by David Small

Imogene wakes up one day with antlers, and for the rest of the day, she patiently and happily endures the varied reactions from her family and household members. A classic, this story is the perfect amount of absurd and hilarious. I love how silently and placidly Imogene moves throughout her day as if there is nothing so wonderful or that special about having antlers on her head. I can’t think of many other protagonists who don’t speak who are quite as loveable. Plus, the last page is gold. My kids love to imagine themselves with different unexpected animal parts thanks to this book.

FLUFFY MCWHISKERS CUTENSS EXPLOSION by Stephen W. Martin & Dan Tavis

“That kitty is SOOOO cute!” my youngest exclaims. That is the whole point of this laugh-out-loud tale. Fluffy McWhiskers is soooo cute that everyone who sees her explodes. Literally. Fluffy finds this a rather isolating predicament and has to escape to a place of absolute solitude where nobody else will explode! She finally finds her refuge until one day a ridiculously cute puppy shows up. Will he explode too? Get this cute book to find out and to laugh with the ridiculous cuteness.

THE ALL-TOGETHER QUILT by Lizzy Rockwell

Every Friday at the community center, Jennifer and her friends gather to work on creating a quilt. First, they pair up and pick fabric, one dark color, and one light. Next, they cut their fabrics into squares or rectangles. And so the story progresses until the entire group is gathered around a saw-horse frame, hand stitching the quilt together. As a quilter who inherited her great-grandmother’s hand-stiched quilts, I adore this book for the sense of community encouraged, the same kind I imagine went into my heirloom quilts. The story presents the quilting process in a way that not only makes group art seem like a lot of fun but also makes my four-year-old very excited to start making his own quilt. I can’t wait to help him.

THE SLEEPING GYPSY by Mordicai Gerstein

Based on the painting of the same name by Henri Rousseau, this book tells a fanciful story of a young girl who makes camp by a river, eats dinner, sings a beautiful song, and falls asleep. The animals come to wonder about who she is and why she is there, and they begin to fight over her until a silhouette appears in the distance. A painter has come to paint the scene. If magical realism occurs in children’s literature, this may be an example of that. The story has a dreamlike quality about it, much like the painting, that leaves the observer with more questions than answers and a desire to read the story again. Stories inspired by art are a great read to encourage art inspired by stories! And also to do a continued reading and research about the artist who is featured. I love the invitation.

Comments & Questions:

(A title that needs some tweaking…)

**LET US TALK!! For a quick sec about how Rory, who is depicted as reading ALL THE TIME voraciously as her favorite thing to do says she has only read 300 books in her whole life?! Doesn’t that seem kind of low? Is she a slow reader? Is she only counting “books” as those she started reading after a certain age? What is your thought on this number? Too low, too high? What do you think counts as a book in her estimation? How many books did you read by the age of 16?

What is your favorite Gilmore Girls moment? Not a Gilmore Girls fan? That’s cool. Who do you watch on repeat when you are feeling stressed out?