Weekend Reading: The Rushed Edition

Yesterday was Petunia's birthday. My parents are here for the occasion, so I'm busy having lots of fun and shaking my head in disbelief at the fact that my baby is five.

So this links post is a bit rushed- but the links are good!

First up, in book news: the first two reviews of Petunia, the Girl Who Was NOT a Princess are in. Read more about my latest children's book at Today Wendy's place and It's a Jumble. The release date is October 20, but you can pre-order both electronic and hardcover copies on Amazon now.

Speaking of children's books, I found this post about how the Swedes handle diversity in children's books fascinating. I clicked through and read a little more about the research it cites. I used an approach similar to the one described in the research- "the tuna story" (as the real Petunia calls it) is my first children's book with people in it. I wanted to include a diverse cast, and the illustrator not only obliged but made my suggestions better. I personally suspect that kids will do best reading books that present diversity in a range of ways- from books that focus directly on the issues people of color or disabled people face to books that simply include diverse characters in the story. I do not feel my skill level is up to tackling the difficult issues head on (at least not yet), but I could certainly include a diverse cast in my story. In fact, that felt rather like the least I could do. Anyway, I am glad to read some research that indicates my approach is OK, and hope I can continue to improve in this area as I write more stories.

Moving on, but staying with children... this post hit my Twitter feed with a simple "what the hell, Dads?" and I think that sums it up. I know how hard it is to not interrupt your daughter when she is in the midst of what seems like an epic retelling of her entire day... but this study indicates we all need to try to do better at resisting that urge.

This post from Annmarie Thomas was one of the posts that contributed to me deciding to rant about toys yesterday. Despite the fact that it contributing to me deciding to write a rant, it is a good post and you should definitely read it. (The rant wasn't aimed at this post- this post was just part of a slew of gender and toy related things that hit my feeds all at about the same time.)

Fast Company had a good article about a new media startup led by women and bootstrapping its way to success. I love the Toast, and I love Roxane Gay's writing, and I can't wait to see what she does with The Butter.

This article about why women leave tech rings very true to me.

And Ann Friedman wrote a very good, thorough piece on women in tech- ending with summary of how Harvey Mudd, General Assembly, and Etsy are improving things.

In totally unrelated news, my undergrad alma mater is doing something interesting and attempting to do away with student loans.

And, of course, we need some fun things at the end. Today, I have to things from Tumblr for you. This post is cool, and this blog is hilarious.

Also, don't forget to check out the latest crappy things I made to stop the whining, and submit your own!