Things to do when you're feeling adrift
Or, why reading diverse kids' books can feel hopeful and grounding
I asked my friend Kathy to create a book club with me at a time when I was feeling particularly adrift. I was working to understand the racial reckoning that had happened in our fiber craft world.
Throughout the last two years, there have been many more times when I’ve felt adrift. The world out there has been tough. Waves of racial injustice and heart-rending events, fed by “othering”, have kept on coming. I’ve seen the largest civil rights uprisings of my lifetime, the most significant global threats to democracy of my lifetime, and the graves of thousands of beautiful Indigenous children discovered in Canada. The waves that have long been felt by Black, brown, and other people of color are washing over me (a white, middle-class, middle-aged woman in America), too.1
Our book club has been a really important part of helping me find solid ground and purposeful direction, and I think it might be a compass for you, too.
This Sunday, I want to tell you a bit more about the purpose of the club.
The “why” of our book club
Reading diverse books is important for everyone.
We all know it’s important for children and teens of color to read books where they can see themselves as heroes and protagonists because books serve as a mirror. They show us different aspects of ourselves and help us understand the world. Did you realize that books also “help us understand each other better by helping to change our attitudes towards difference ... (books) act as both mirrors and windows for all our children,” writes Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop in her seminal article, Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors (my emphasis added).
Dr. Bishop makes a powerful case for why white people, like me, need to read diverse books:
“People from dominant social groups ... need books that will help them understand the multicultural nature of the world they live in, and their place as a member of just one group, as well as their connections to all other humans.”
Our book club members believe this, right down to the tips of our handknit socks. We want to better understand the lived experiences of everyone in the multicultural world in which we live. Many of our book club members are white, like me. Some are women of color, like Kathy. Some are non-binary; some are queer. We all have at least one intersection of systemic oppression, and some of us have more than one. The diverse books we read together become a mirror, a window, or a sliding glass door for each of us.
If this goal—to better understand the multicultural nature of the world we live in—resonates with you, or if you (like me) have been feeling adrift in our pandemic-fuelled, racially unjust world, I think you might enjoy being part of our club, whether for one book, a season, or a longer time.
FAQs about the club
Are there membership dues?
Yes, membership dues are $10 per month. I created the club with a paid membership model for a few reasons:
I believe fiercely in fair pay for makers—and especially for the Black, Indigenous and People of Color teachers who are making our world more anti-racist. The majority of our membership dues (80 percent) is allocated for Kathy for her intellectual leadership of the club, and the remainder (20 percent) goes to me for organizing and doing things like this membership drive.
When you pay for something, you value it. This book club, and its intellectual resources, are valuable and worth paying for.
We also have a sliding scale tier of membership, so you can join us for as little as $1 a month, if our regular dues are beyond your budget right now.
What do I get for my membership dues?
You receive:
A monthly book selection, with helpful bookstore and library links.
An online discussion thread, with one question each day, during the last week of the month, created and moderated by Kathy.
A monthly Zoom session to craft together, build community and informally discuss the book, moderated by Kathy and me.
Access to all previous book recommendations and threaded discussions (28 books so far).
Does everyone always read the book?
Honestly, no. I have read about 80 percent of the books. Every few months, something seems to go sideways and I need to focus on just life’s basics. I imagine it’s the same for most of our members. (And a giant hug to members who always read every book.) It’s okay. We normalize both reading the book and those times when you aren’t able to read it. You’re always welcome to read the book’s discussion threads, access book resources at a later time, and join the monthly Zoom session.
Does everyone always join the Zoom session?
No. As life has shifted from strict pandemic shelter-in-place to people being able to more safely engage in activities outside the home, our monthly Zoom sessions have averaged around 10 people. You are welcome to join whenever you have the interest and availability. It is not of greater or lesser moral value to join the Zooms. It’s just an option that’s always open.
When is the monthly Zoom session?
Right now, it is the last Saturday of the month at 10:00a Pacific Time. But soon, we will be mixing things up and offering a different time slot some months (Saturday afternoon and Sunday early evening are the most popular alternate time options).
How do I join?
The book club is hosted on Patreon, and you can sign up here.
Our gift to you: A taste of our book club
We would like to give you a taste of what our book club is like. I’ve created a downloadable PDF with one of our book selections, Kathy’s guided questions, and my additional links and resources. If you think you might like to join our club, but aren’t quite ready to dive in, please enjoy this little taste of what we’re all about.
A note: to download the PDF, you’ll need to be logged into Substack (rather than accessing it via email). Hopefully they will make email downloads an option soon but until then, you’ll find everything on my Substack site.
Thanks for being here for this book club-focused Sunday letter!
If the idea of my book club—and its gentle way of grounding you in a world that feels adrift—is resonating with you, I hope you will join us.
Next week will be a “regular” Sunday letter and on November 6, I’ll be back with more book club talk—specifically talking about yarn and the dyers of color who are partnering with us.
Warmly,
Anne
When I make factual statements about news or world events, I link my sources. When I link to a New York Times article, one of my primary news inputs, I use a gift link so you can read the source article without a paywall.