We know the feeling. Your child reaches for their favorite graphic novel instead of a chapter book, and you worry that they're settling for something … less. You worry that those graphic novels are a crutch: easy or fluffy content that might keep your child from engaging their imagination or reading on the appropriate grade level. At the same time, you don’t want to discourage your kid from...

Here at Sammy's, we want to contribute to our common quest of becoming the best humans we can be and nurturing communities where all kinds can flourish together. We don't always get this right, unfortunately. But we can still move forward together - always adapting, growing, and beginning again.

We believe that reading and having access to books are vital to becoming better humans. Reading...

Another banned books week has come and gone. Censoring books has been around for a long time. This topic was touched on in our first blog post in July 2024 where the concept of risking a life to save a book was discussed. Although banning books is not new, the publicity surrounding banned books is increasing due to social media, independent bookstore events, and the heightened political climate...

I love a book hangover. I love a book hangover so much I’m doing an entire post about it and then listing some of the books that gave me books hangovers. I didn’t have a name for my book hangovers at first—I didn’t know it was “a thing.” I simply finished a book and looked around trying to figure out where I was, and what was going to happen to the characters now that the book ended, and how was...

Back to school is here and Labor Day is around the corner. Kids across the country are walking into all kinds of schools. Private schools, public schools, Title 1 schools, charter schools, magnet schools, religious schools, homeschools, boarding schools, virtual schools, and schools inside treatment facilities. Are all these schools equal? No. Are all these schools important? Yes.

Okay—I’m not telling you a story, but did I get your attention? Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich (aka Sean of the South) may be the book you need in your life.

It’s August. Back to school. Hotter days. Shorter days. Autumn is on the horizon but still plenty of summer days left—what a great month! Before jumping into book recommendations I have to mention my fantastic night in July when I visited the Faulkner County Library in Conway, AR for a book signing by Patti Callahan Henry.

Simply stated, Novel Pairings is a fun phrase for pairing two books together that are similar—but one is for adults and one is for children. Not every parent wants to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn out loud to their 12-year-old. But maybe they want to read James by Percival Everett while their child reads Huckleberry Finn. This can lead to fun and insightful conversations.

Most people who are on this site probably love bookstores. Why? What is it about bookstores that makes people describe them as magical? In a way bookstores are indescribable to the book lover, but magic is the word that seems to be used most often.