This will not be a complete list, nor will it offer reviews; do with that information what you will before proceeding!
A Toni Morrison Treasury, Toni and Slade Morrison
Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner
Tall is Her Body, Robert de la Chevotière
Through Our Teeth, Pamela N. Harris
Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People, Imani Perry
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, Crystal Wilkinson
Phases, Brandy
The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
The Improvisers, Nicole Glover
An Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children, Jamaica Kincaid & Kara Walker
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Arguably the most exciting read on this list is The Wizard of Oz. I have been doing weekly story time with my little neighbors for almost a year, and last fall after they saw Wicked, we had a conversation about how stories get turned into other stories. And so of course, we had to read The Wizard of Oz—the OG. It took six months. The ten year old boy was not into it. I’m pretty sure the seven year old wanted to abandon it at points too but we had already put so much time into it, she was like, we must carry on.
BUT WE FINISHED.
And now we are on to Charlotte’s Web.
Ancestral Recall, Jordan Clark & Atagun Ilhan
Killadelphia, vol. 1, Rodney Barnes, Jason Shawn Alexander, Luis NCT
Roots of Madness #5 & 6, Stephanie Williams & Letizicia Caldoza
No Place #5, Tim Seeley & Stefano Simeone
Avatar the Last Airbender: The Kyoshi Warriors #1, Brandon Hoang, Bellbessa
Bitter Root, vol 2., David F. Walker, Sanford Greene, Chuck Brown
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I am going to be shouting about Stephanie Williams’ historic Eisner nomination until I die, so if you haven’t gotten into her work yet NOW WOULD BE A GREAT TIME TO DO SO.
The Artemis II Re-Entry and Splashdown (like everyone else in America)
Jeopardy (Jamie Ding’s legendary 31 game streak)
The House of the Spirits (Amazon Prime)
My Adventures with Superman, Season 3
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The thing you have to understand about me is that I was very obsessed with The House of the Spirits book as a high schooler and clearly blocked the movie that exists out of my memory. This show was everything I could have wanted, and also I was UNWELL being obsessed with that book at 16!!!!
The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026)
Do The Right Thing (1989)
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The Devil Wears Prada 2 was just the right amount of nostalgia while appealing to my existential dread about the collapse of media.
“If Your Girl Only Knew: Missy Elliott’s Offstage Sonic World,” Jessica Lynne in Asterix Journal
“Virginia is Not Your Home,” Jocelyn Nicole Johnson in Phoebe Journal
“Book Review: The Seven Daughters of Dupree by Nikesha Elise Williams,” Exodus Oktavia Brownlow in midnight & indigo
I found out that Batgirl of Burnside is getting a DC Compact and I’m very excited about that. Despite not being a big Batfam girlie, that run was one of the first I regularly frequented my college comic shop for individual issues so I have a deep fondness for it. Plus, I love Babs Tarr’s art. The compact will be out next month and I’ve already checked out volume 1 from the library to reread for nostalgia’s sake.
Since we’re still talking about comics media, I could be convinced to go see Supergirl, but don’t hold me to it. I was also delighted to discover season 3 of My Adventures with Superman started streaming recently, so I’ll be watching that for the next few weeks. X-Men 97 will be back on July 1 for season 2.
In a different sort of nostalgia for me, there’s apparently a new Little House on the Prairie show dropping on Netflix soon. Y’all can think whatever you want about me, but Little House was a consistent comfort watch for me as a kid. I owned all ten seasons box sets. They used to sell them at Sam’s Club for like $30 and if it was my birthday, Christmas or I had a good report card, I could get one. I will be poking my nose into this show, just because I can’t not.
As far as books go, I think the second part of the year is going to be more focused on reading things that have been out for a while and rereads, although I’m quite frankly foaming at the mouth to get my hands on Jasmine Smith’s Death Card which will be out August 11th (Black. WITCHES. Say. LESS!). The fifth Milestone Compendium is dropping on July 21st and I’m excited to get my hands on that.
Nothing really. Just keeping my head down, writing, making art, meeting with students and doing events from time to time. I had a nice time at Suffolk Public Library’s Iconicon at the end of May selling books and zines.
I’ll be at Fallen Acorn Bookstore in Williamsburg Saturday, June 20th from 12-2 PM signing books and selling zines! :) Just a note: you can get zines from my Ko-Fi or there are some at Resist Booksellers in store and online
I’ll be teaching an expanded version of my Low Stakes Writing Workshop for Writing Co-Lab this fall. Be sure to check that out!
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Feb 2
This will not be a complete list, nor will it offer reviews; do with that information what you will before proceeding!
If you’re new here and you don’t want to do all that clicking to find out what I’m about: I’m Dr. Ravynn K. Stringfield, a writer, editor, artist and former Peanut Fest Queen from Suffolk, Virginia. I am the author of two novels for young adults, Love in 280 Characters or Less (Feiwel & Friends, 2025) and Love Requires Chocolate (Joy Revolution, 2024). I am a product of Virginia public schools (Suffolk Public Schools) and universities (University of Virginia), all the way up to my PhD in American Studies from William & Mary. I’ve been published in a variety of venues for the last six years—book collections, magazines, scholarly journals—but most importantly, I’m a life long reader and a maker of beautiful things.
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I just can’t get behind putting my Substack behind a paywall, but I do respect that sometimes folks want leave a little something in the plate for a good post.
Here’s my Ko-Fi. If you feel moved to leave a dollar or something, thank you! My personal blogs have been free for 10 years, I’m not interested in changing that now. You can also buy physical and digital copies of my zines there!
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