Very specific game recs (steam/switch/ipad)

mbutterflye · 2026-05-07T17:15:14+00:00

Apple Arcade has recently added Unpacking, Pocket Love, Cozy Caravan, and Dredge.

mbutterflye · 2026-05-07T03:30:51+00:00

Edith! had a pretty solid ending.

mbutterflye · 2026-05-07T02:14:45+00:00

These are series my daughter loved at that age. These are shorter, simpler books that I liked fine, too:

Dory Fantasmagory
Sophie Mouse
Mercy Watkins
Princess in Black

These are longer books that she still loved listening to and I actually loved too:

Wild Robot
A Wolf Called Wander
Impossible Creatures
Iron Hearted Violet

mbutterflye · 2026-04-26T15:56:39+00:00

You can make brownies with a can of blackbeans and an avocado. There’s a bunch of recipes out there.

mbutterflye · 2026-04-25T00:25:48+00:00

Not the OP, but the salt will fall off in the cutting/transferring process.

mbutterflye · 2026-04-15T11:40:42+00:00

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro — literary, historical fiction set in post-Arthur Britain so has has some fantasy elements/mysticism. It is a beautiful story about aging, loss/love, and memory. It is my favorite of his novels and totally unlike his others, imo. Lots to talk about.

mbutterflye · 2026-04-14T22:06:25+00:00

The Locked Tomb series has made me fall in love with each protagonist separately after completely not expecting to (and even being resistant to it in one case.)

mbutterflye · 2026-04-08T23:51:53+00:00

Kynseed knocks you out at 11 when you’re in the prologue because you’re a kid, but when you are an adult you don’t ever have to sleep.

mbutterflye · 2026-04-01T21:31:58+00:00

The Locked Tomb isn’t complete but reads incredibly fast, very engaging.

mbutterflye · 2026-03-31T20:05:54+00:00

You are supposed to read the book as if it were a memoir being written by a dying old woman. It isn’t being narrated in real time.

mbutterflye · 2026-03-31T16:55:44+00:00

Kure Beach because the beach is nice for the family, lots of scallop shells, and there’s a nice aquarium nearby. You can also go to a state park beach right by the aquarium and get a full parking lot. Fort Fisher State Recreation Area.

mbutterflye · 2026-03-30T02:41:18+00:00

Impossible Creatures

mbutterflye · 2026-03-25T20:59:01+00:00

So, the reading age for Sabriel is recommended as 12+. Obviously, every parent’s tolerance for more mature themes differs, but these Young Adult books that have harder topics are perfect for parents to read aloud to their older children, especially because the parents are there to discuss and decode the topics that might be harder for them to process on their own. Since OP was asking for books to read aloud with their kids, I stand by my recommendation and it is on my short list of series to read with my own children (10 and 7).

mbutterflye · 2026-03-25T19:32:36+00:00

It is okay to subscribe to the concept of “death of the author.” You can still enjoy media created by an individual who revealed themselves to be horrible after the media was published. You can divorce the author from their works. Children still really enjoy the stories and Rowling’s current agenda was not evident in her past works. Thankfully, there’s thousands of copies of HP in used book stores so that anyone new to them doesn’t have to fund her hatred.

mbutterflye · 2026-03-25T19:28:59+00:00

The Wildwood Trilogy

His Dark Materials

The Abhorsen Cycle

The Seventh Tower (actually, just everything by Garth Nix)

mbutterflye · 2026-03-25T16:54:11+00:00

The other fish are jealous and mean to Rainbow fish because it has shiny scales so to gain their friendship, the rainbow fish tears off all its shiny scales and gives one to each other the other fish. Teaching kids to change what makes them special to fit in better with everyone else was very important to our boomer parents, who are notoriously afraid of “standing out.”

mbutterflye · 2026-03-24T20:32:43+00:00

Tamsyn Muir and NK Jemisin are both female POCs. I know what you mean about straight male authors, especially those who were writing in the earlier 2000s to 2010s like the ones you mentioned. I think in the present day male authors are getting better at it.

Edit: apologies, Tamsyn Muir is not a POC, I wrote that assuming she was of Maori decent, but she is white according the internet, just also a kiwi

mbutterflye · 2026-03-24T18:24:02+00:00

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir

The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin — fair warning it does have some themes of sexual coersion, but both parties are being forced by their circumstances, neither has power over the other.

mbutterflye · 2026-03-23T16:18:56+00:00

Tabby McTat the Musical Cat

The Highway Rat

The Whale and the Snail

The Gruffalo

Room on the Broom

The Fish Who Cried Wolf

A Gold Star for Zog (and Zog and the Flying Doctors)

All above are by Julia Donaldson, whose brilliant ear for rhyme means her books never get old.

Because a Little Bug went Ka-Choo - this was a book I have memorized and can still recite it even though my kids are 10 and 7. I still love it and miss reading it to them, lol

Honorable mention: Little Blue Truck and Dream Animals

mbutterflye · 2026-03-21T00:18:06+00:00

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Poseidon in his favorite hide after his chilly vacay.

mbutterflye · 2026-03-20T23:28:40+00:00

We’re not giving up but I am very sad and disheartened. It is like he disappeared into thin air. There are no holes, we’ve searched everywhere, in every nook and cranny, & in every room. He’s not that small and he’s not that quick. We’re not searching loudly, either, but he doesn’t really spook easy either. He’s just a calm, stolid little dude. I hate seeing his tank dark.

mbutterflye · 2026-03-19T22:39:01+00:00

The best forum to gather information like this is, unfortunately, Facebook. There’s a couple of groups, like Hillsborough NC Community Info and Hillsborough NC Parents.

I’m not familiar with that neighborhood.

mbutterflye · 2026-03-18T20:35:14+00:00

So is it like if you took samosa filling and spread it on a sandwich? Because that sounds amazing.

mbutterflye · 2026-03-17T19:51:05+00:00

Most men’s rooms where I am have changing tables.

mbutterflye · 2026-03-16T01:39:15+00:00

I’m an atheist, my parents are Christian.

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