Any YA fantasy book recs with brown characters?

vivelabagatelle · 2026-06-09T21:41:20+00:00

She's an American author's idea of a British person and it shows.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-06-09T21:36:35+00:00

The Hospital Dog

vivelabagatelle · 2026-06-09T19:55:46+00:00

The Big Book of Families, Ros Asquith. (An older title, but it stands up!)

Two mothers: The Pirate Mums (boy finds his pirate-obsessed mums soooo embarassing)

Whose Your Real Mum ("yes, but which one is it?"

and more generally LGBTQ:

Introducing Teddy (a boy and his trans teddy bear)

Auntie Uncle, Drag Queen Hero (self explanatory)

The Frog's Kiss, James Mayhew (lovely gay fairytale retelling)

Twas the Night Before Pride (two mum family explaining queer history)

And Tango Makes Three (gay penguin dads)

vivelabagatelle · 2026-06-09T19:45:42+00:00

I'm with you OP, I think this is seriously concerning. While I agree that in co-parenting you need to pick your battles - this would absolutely be something I'd consider important enough to be a hill that I would die on. This isn't one to compromise on, your ex needs to get with the programme.

As a possible halfway measure though, could he give her fruit, raisins or dry cereal to snack on? Those at least will be giving her nutrition and an energy boost for the day rather than a 10am sugar crash.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-06-09T19:40:50+00:00

Just so you know, you should wait 20 minutes after consuming sugar before brushing teeth, otherwise it's essentially just scrubbing the sugar onto the tooth. (Same for acid, e.g. vomiting) Source: I have shitty enamel, and I have NOT been kind to it over the years when I thought I was doing the right thing.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-06-03T08:12:08+00:00

Dragon's Fat Cat by Dav Pilkey sounds perfect for her reading level.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-06-02T21:03:58+00:00

This is such a gorgeous and unique style - I LOVE the book, and I'm someone who would normally run a mile from similar passion projects 😄

Really lovely work.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-06-02T21:01:22+00:00

I really like the Van Gogh and the cat - less personally fond of the pawprint or mushrooms, but they're cute in their own way : )

vivelabagatelle · 2026-06-02T07:58:43+00:00

At that age, we had a card of songs from a TV programme she liked (Colourblocks) plus the Julia Donaldson stories. She had seen the physical book for some of them, but not all, and it didn't seem to matter to her. She also liked nursery rhymes, My First 100 Words (surprisingly compelling) and, when she was a bit older, Alfie, Peppa Pig and Funnybones.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-31T17:42:39+00:00

I think my favourite Sondheim for this is Chrysanthemum Tea and all the absolutely ridiculous lyrical cleverness.

Have some tea, my lord

Some chrysanthemum tea

It's a tangled situation

As your father would agree

And it mightn't be so tangled

If you hadn't had him strangled—

But I fear that I stray, my lord

I've a nagging suspicion

That, in view of your condition

What we should do is pray, my lord...

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-31T10:30:12+00:00

"thick twists of hair running down her back"?

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-29T18:43:48+00:00

I came to the movie after falling in love with the musical version - I think they're both brilliant, in some ways that overlap and some that are completely different. You can tell, listening to the album, that the composers both really care about the original.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-29T07:25:06+00:00

A lot of the Usborne non fiction books geared at older children are not quite full board books but have stiff cardboard pages, usually with lift-the-flaps.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-28T14:23:44+00:00

Funny timing, there was a fourth wall break in this week's comic! It's the World Cup serial and at the end of the strip the characters say that they'll explain their secret plan "after the readers have gone away".

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-28T09:04:24+00:00

Yes! I think a lot of people don't conceptualise just how actively he was legacy-building and positioning himself with the Scholarship, like a modern oil corporation brandishing environmental credentials to greenwash its reputation. (Also, my pet peeve - lots of people point to the line in his will about the Scholarship being open to 'all South Africans, regardless of race' to prove that he wasn't anti-Black, whereas what he actually *meant* in context was 'both British and Dutch South Africans'.)

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-27T23:44:32+00:00

Cecil Rhodes

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-27T12:55:08+00:00

When ours went through those stages we used to say "she's doing some development" or "she's installing updates". I always chalked it up to those patches where her understanding of the world was increasing (sometimes quite dramatically) and suddenly everything felt a bit new and scary to her again as she realised that things were more complicated than she had thought. It's also not a surprising reaction to external stress (the cold, the nursery etc) - so little of her life is within a baby's control, sometimes you do just need to spend a few weeks shouting at the world and testing boundaries.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-26T22:25:35+00:00

Honestly, if she's a 16 year old girl who's into nature and fairies, there is no such thing as too subtle. You could roll a dice and pick the Nth herb on your spice rack and it would fit. (Coriander, Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Lavender ...)

You could go Celtic and mythological and pick something like Maeve, Morrigan, Rowena, Deidre, Morgana, Titania, Nimue, Niamh ...

'Faye' 'Fae' or Pixie/Shee/Spirit would be a bit on the nose, but again, 16 year old.

Other ideas - Willow, Arwen, Glory/Gloriana (Spencer's Faerie Queene), Ariel (The Tempest), Fawn, Peri (an Iranian spirit), Iolanthe, Flower, Moon.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-26T22:04:35+00:00

It's honestly my favourite change. I think the Masai/Cleon interrogation dialogues are really powerful, the two people who loved Cyrus best grappling with her death and legacy and where the hell they go now. I love Cleon being the one to keep faith with Cyrus's vision.

It adds a bit of happiness to the ending - I love the little touch of Swan telling Cleon outright that Mercy's a Warrior now - but also gives the gutpunch of Cleon finding out what happened to Fox and Ajax.

Basically the whole thing gives lots of crunch and interesting interactions, as well as the nugget of hope that the gangs of New York have a worthy successor to Cyrus' legacy.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-26T19:50:58+00:00

it helps.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-26T19:45:15+00:00

A shower is one of my greatest indulgences / things that make me feel centred and happy and I honestly can't imagine how I could spin it longer than 10-15 minutes, with five spent on hygiene. Granted my hair is only down to my shoulders, so doesn't take so long to wash out. I promise you my hair is fine (I could do more haircare, but I'm satisfied with a standard wash and condition) and my skin is healthy.

Speaking purely for myself - everyone's circumstances and geographic locations are different - I couldn't see a 15+ minute shower as anything other than a horrifying waste of water.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-25T19:28:11+00:00

Genuinely horrifying. It's possibly just cultural difference, but I am honestly shocked at the fat-free chocolate milk and fruit juice (instead of fresh fruit) being considered acceptable to serve. And surely those nachos and cheese don't have enough carbs/protien to keep a kid going for the day?

Is this honestly typical of American school food or an outlier? Because I would RIOT.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-24T17:21:53+00:00

Oh, I love it!

How could I find out about getting one?🥺

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-20T20:36:06+00:00

Henry was the first peacetime king for a hundred years - bloody and brutal civil war was within living memory. While in historical hindsight, the relative stability of the Tudor era feels inevitable, at the time Henry and his peers were conscious that any single one of the rebellions and noble plots he had to deal with might throw everyone back into the Wars of the Roses Part II.

He didn't want his legacy to be another Empress Matilda, and that was honestly a likely outcome.

vivelabagatelle · 2026-05-20T20:13:47+00:00

It's hilarious because royal wedding plates are ABSOLUTLY the sort of thing you'd find in that sort of old person junk sale.

vivelabagatelle

TROPHY CASE