May 2026 archive

Destiny Ink: Sleepover Surprise by Adeola Sokunbi

This charming chapter book for advancing readers will delight and reassure any kid looking forward to the exciting experience of their very first sleepover! Alas, my own first sleepover was not a great time. I was seven years old and my best friend was my next door neighbor, who was a grade or two ahead …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/14/destiny-ink-sleepover-surprise-by-adeola-sokunbi/

The Dogs Of Venice by Steven Rowley

Choosing this to read rn was 100% due to my recent coverage of it in the latest Tantalizing Tales column reminding me that it’s a manageably quick, grown-up read. Which is just what I need while my doctors puzzle out what’s been keeping me sick since mid-January, with only occasional bursts of energy that would …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/13/the-dogs-of-venice-by-steven-rowley/

This Is Who I Am by Rashmi Sirdeshpande & Ruchi Mhasane

As a third culture kid myself, this book means a lot to me, as it beautifully captures and explains the experience of belonging to more than just one place and culture. Told in the first person, this charmingly illustrated children’s book is essentially the story of author Rashmi Sirdeshpande and her family. Her parents emigrated …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/12/this-is-who-i-am-by-rashmi-sirdeshpande-ruchi-mhasane/

A Fishboy Named… Sashimi by Dan Santat

I almost feel bad reading this after the copious amounts of sashimi I had as part of my Mother’s Day dinner last night (but only almost, lol.) Sashimi is a fish boy who swims out of Barnacle Bay one night looking for refuge… and answers. He figures that infiltrating the local middle school will help: …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/11/a-fishboy-named-sashimi-by-dan-santat/

Ehen in Philippsburg by Martin Walser

At the end of January, I wrote that I was not sure I was going to finish Ehen in Philippsburg (Marriages in Philippsburg). It’s not that the book was bad, as such, it’s just that more than six months had elapsed since I had started reading, and that was a good indicator that the novel …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/09/ehen-in-philippsburg-by-martin-walser/

Tantalizing Tales — May 2026 — Part Two

Hello, dear readers! This one’s pretty late, as I spent most of the day either in a medical facility or passed out at home. My illness has gotten so bad that I barely even had the energy to read! Hopefully, some of these books I’m about to discuss will help entice me out of this …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/08/tantalizing-tales-may-2026-part-two/

Chernobyl, Life, And Other Disasters by Yevgenia Nayberg

It’s so rare to find a memoirist whose art is as engaging as her prose, but Yevgenia Nayberg truly is phenomenal in both fields. You can very much tell that she’s a trained artist, even before she goes into the details of her academic beginnings in this arresting memoir of growing up in Kyiv in …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/07/chernobyl-life-and-other-disasters-by-yevgenia-nayberg/

Hello, Beautiful by Traci N Todd & Loveis Wise

I adore Loveis Wise’s work, which moved me to tears in the astonishing What I Must Tell The World, a children’s biography of Lorraine Hansberry. I wasn’t quite as moved here, but their art is spectacular throughout, in a book about encouraging young children to feel their feelings and embrace their entire selves. Hello, Beautiful …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/06/hello-beautiful-by-traci-n-todd-loveis-wise/

Intense graphic novels for your new adult needs!

a young woman stands uder a hut with chicken legs in the cover of witch's inheritence by paige hender

Galaxy: As the World Falls Down by Jadzia Axelrod came out today! It’s probably my favorite graphic novel of the year so far, and I encourage you to let it ease you into a season of intense New Adult graphic novels of various genres. Galaxy: As the World Falls Down is a sequel to Galaxy: The …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/05/intense-graphic-novels-for-your-new-adult-needs/

Initiates Oracle by Marcella Kroll & Adam Smith

subtitled Occult Hermetic- and Egyptian-Inspired Rituals for Profound Transformation (as stated in the guidebook.) I can be pretty iffy on Oracle decks, as they don’t have the same established metaphysical journey going on in their cards as Tarot cards too. I have, unfortunately, been burned enough by Oracle decks that I thought would be cohesive …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/04/initiates-oracle-by-marcella-kroll-adam-smith/