Welcome back to Scribbles, reading friends!
Today’s book roundup slides in at the tail end of a crazy busy June! Our reads this month are to commemorate Pride and Juneteenth, two celebrations that, during Father’s Day, weddings, and graduations, haven’t always gotten a lot of love. While both Pride and Juneteenth have always been celebrated by those in the know, with the presidential proclamation of Pride Month in 1999 in memory of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, and with 2021’s inclusion of June 19th as a federal holiday to memorialize the date in 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas to finally enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, every one of us is invited to the celebration. On our lists this month we’ve got quite a few picture books for the little guys, and some solid nonfic choices for the information-focused in the gang as well, as well as some standout YA romances that you won’t want to miss.
Celebrate Pride
Juneteenth Reads
Have you read any of these? Can’t wait to hear what people think of the Lex Crouch Robin Hood novel in particular. Do you have any recommendations you’d like to share? If they were published between Oct 2024 and Oct 2025, please leave them in the comments!
Scribble Smiles
June 12th is Loving Day and commemorates the date in 1967 that the Supreme Court in the state of Virginia struck down the last law against mixed race marriages in the United States. This was done on behalf ofMildred & Richard Loving, an appropriately named couple, who wanted their marriage to be legal. June has some great freedom-to-love dates, and maybe next year we’ll find a few more books for a roundup for Loving Day!
There’s been a few gems in and amongst the rather dire book news this month - first, the presidential administration’s gutting of the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has been determined to be an overstep by the Government Accountability Office, one of the departments of checks-and-balances our government runs on. Fingers crossed that the ensuing lawsuits can help put things back on track with the IMLS.
Additionally, BookCon is BACK! Shelved during the pandemic (see what I did there?), this fan-fueled bookfest will be held in New York in 2026, and you can sign up here for the newsletter for all the deets. Hope that made you smile!
Happy Reading! Here’s to being free to love, and to a love of freedom.