What I Read this Month

book recommendations!

Mar 25, 2025

Here are four grand slams for you. I loved these books and note the river theme…

Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon, historical fiction: Martha Ballard is a midwife and healer in 1789 Maine (shortly after the American Revolution) who is called to investigate the murder of a wicked man found frozen in the Kennebec River.

We would know nothing of the remarkable, real life Martha Ballard except that she kept a meticulous and detailed daily diary beginning in 1785 (at the age of 50) until her death twenty-seven years later.

*Born in 1735, Martha Ballard was illiterate until her husband, Ephraim, taught her to read (fewer than half of the women in America were literate at that time)

*Martha and Ephraim had nine children, three of whom would die during the diphtheria epidemic in 1769

*She delivered close to a thousand babies

*Martha wrote about the weather, daily drudgery, household tasks, midwifery, her medical practice, "and countless incidents that reveal the turmoil of a new nation — dizzying social change, intense religious conflict, economic boom and bust — as well as the grim realities of disease, domestic violence, and debtor's prison."

*She is the great-aunt of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, and the great-great-grandmother of Mary Hobart (one of the first female physicians in U.S.)

*Martha's diaries were preserved and are now in the Maine State Library, where they were transcribed, organized, and bound (WE LOVE THE LIBRARIANS)

*In 1982, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and professor, stumbled upon the diary and for the next eight years, wrote Martha's definitive biography: "A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812."

I particularly enjoy reading acknowledgements (and sometimes read them before the book). Ariel Lawhon's were golden, and included Ulrich's words:

"Martha Ballard ensured that she would not be forgotten. There was nothing in Christian tradition that said a midwife ought to keep a diary...For some complex of reasons, probably unknown even to her, Martha felt an intense need to re-create her own life day by day...she not only documented her prayers, her lost sleep, her deeds of charity and compassion, she savored and wrote down the petty struggles and small graces of ordinary life. The diary is a selective record, shaped by her need to justify and understand her life, yet is also a remarkably honest one...(it) tells us that Martha was a devout Christian and humble nurse whose intelligence sometimes made it difficult for her to attend church or defer to her town's physicians, a loving mother, a gentle woman with a sense of duty and an anatomical curiosity that allowed her to observe autopsies as well as cry over the dead, a courageous woman..."

Dear reader, this book is so worth the read! The murder mystery was actually less interesting to me than the midwifery and the real life Ballard.

The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt, Middle Grade Fiction. I always say if a book is a good book, it’s a good book - no matter the genre. This is one of them! Seventh grader, Hercules, is grieving the loss of his parents when he’s given the assignment to complete all twelve of the legendary Hercules challenges. This story really makes you love the teachers in your life.

We are here to help you carry the sky when you have to, and we are here to help you put it down when you need to.

Why else would anyone ever become a teacher?

Go As a River by Shelley Read, Adult fiction (audiobook via Hoopla). This is a gorgeous, stirring, wonderfully-told story about a chance encounter with a stranger that changes a young girl’s life. It’s a coming-of-age story, it’s heartbreaking, life-affirming, and has a heroine you’re always rooting for.
Long Bright River by Liz Moore, Adult thriller (audiobook via Libby): Two sisters traveling the same streets of Philadelphia. Their lives diverge. Mickey becomes a cop, while Casey can’t kick addiction. Then, Casey goes missing. This is a really excellent book; I could not stop listening! Masterfully told (and one of Barack Obama’s favorites). I’m officially a major Liz Moore fan (loved God of the Woods, too, but probably this one better).

Currently reading (but falling asleep way too fast to be making much progress): Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow, and on my TBR: The Bletchley Riddle and Everything is Tuberculosis.

What are you reading? I always love to hear…

Amy 💖

The Last Part:

School visits: Looking for a class visit? I love visiting classrooms. Let’s talk creativity, brain and books, resilience and story, the power of reading and writing…be in touch!

It’s Snowing: and officially spring. I’m annoyed. The end.

Running: Even though it snowed, I am seeing and hearing signs of spring…the heart rejoices.

Frustrated: On March 21, The Atlantic reported that Meta used hundreds of thousands of pirated, copyrighted books from LibGen to train its AI program. My books are among those stolen - and it really REALLY upsets me. Writers and authors work so hard for so little while a billionaire is profiting. This is not the end of the story…