Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: What Were You Like as a Child?

A laptop sitting on a wooden table. The text reads: “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.”

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

When I was a child, I was:

Quiet and shy. I still am!

Well-behaved. My friend Mei-Ling’s mother once asked her why she couldn’t be more like me. This embarrassed me as I didn’t think people should be compared like that.

Studious. I made the honour roll every semester, although I did get C grades in Spanish, Math, or Science sometimes. History the arts, and English were easier subjects for me.

Bookish. I read constantly and insatiably on every subject matter I could find.

Anxious. When I was about 8, I took a break from reading only to realize I couldn’t find my parents or siblings anywhere. We lived in a cozy trailer home at the time, and so I should have been able to find someone within a minute or two. Given that I was a preacher’s kid, my first assumption was that everyone else had been raptured but that I wasn’t devout enough to be chosen, too. I panicked and ran crying to a neighbour for help, but I was crying too hard for her to understand me. Eventually, my mother returned from running an errand, possibly paying the rent, and I realized that God hadn’t actually come back yet after all.

A drawing of a broken cloud that has been repaired with a needle and thread. You can still see the stitches in the cloud and the threaded needle beneath it. Imaginative. I was always imagining something in my mind no matter what else I was doing. Sometimes I talked to myself quietly about the beautiful stories that were going on in my mind.

Inclusive. Classmates who were left out of other groups could always hang out with me. Sometimes I was bullied for spending time with the kids that others thought were too weird or awkward to associate with. I say this not to toot my own horn or anything, just to give you a picture of what i was like on the playground.

Messy. My tidy parents somehow created a child who was not. I never left food or anything like that in my bedroom, but there were books everywhere and it could get dusty as well.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set In Places on My Bucket List

The text reads, “Top Ten Tuesday. www.thatartsyreadergirl.com.”
Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Thank you to Rachel @ Sunny Side for submitting this week’s theme!

I only have one setting to talk about this week: Prince Edward Island. It’s somewhere I’ve wanted to visit since I first read the Anne of Green Gables books as a child. You can probably already guess what the first book on this list will be!

Someday I will visit that island, but in the meantime there are so many books set there that I sort of feel like I already know it.

Book cover for Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1) by L.M. Montgomery. Image on cover shows a simple coloured pencil drawing of Anne sitting down outdoors near an opened wooden door. She’s wearing a plain blue dress and grey sweater and looking down at her lap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1) by L.M. Montgomery

 

Book cover for The Troop by Nick Cutter. image on cover shows the silhouette of someone standing on top of a hill against a reddish-orange sky, probably just after dusk or just before dawn given how heavy the shadows are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. The Troop by Nick Cutter

 

Book cover for Tango: The Tale of an Island Dog by Eileen Beha. Image on cover shows a photo of shaggy little dog peeking out at the viewer. Behind the dog one can see wooden crab traps stacked up on the pier and, behind the peer, the calm ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Tango: The Tale of an Island Dog by Eileen Beha

 

Book cover for This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune. Image on cover shows a drawing of two people dancing on red rocks near the ocean at sunset or sunrise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

’4. This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune

 

Book cover for Acadian Legends, Folktale and Songs from Prince Edward Island by George Arsenault. Image on cover shows a painting of several small cottages huddled near the shore. In front of the houses there is a line of fish drying and, in front of them, several boats tied to shore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Acadian Legends, Folktale and Songs from Prince Edward Island by George Arsenault

 

Book cover for Favourite Recipes of Old Prince Edward Island by Julie Watson. Image on cover shows a table ladened with delicious food like bread, roasted potatoes, and a creamy soup in a white bowl. They are all sitting on a white tablecloth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Favourite Recipes of Old Prince Edward Island by Julie Watson

 

Book cover for Mi'kmaq Campfire Stories of Prince Edward Island by Julie Pellissier-Lush. Image on cover shows three indigenous people dancing outdoors underneath a partly cloudy sky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Mi’kmaq Campfire Stories of Prince Edward Island by Julie Pellissier-Lush 

 

Book cover for Mermaids of Prince Edward Island by Allison Wolvers. Image on cover is a drawing of a redheaded mermaid who is siting with her green tail behind her as she gazes off to the right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Mermaids of Prince Edward Island by Allison Wolvers

 

Book cover for Mirrors on which dust has fallen by Jeff Bursey. Image on cover appears to be drawn through the perspective of an old mirror that has been scratched up and is covered in a layer of dust. Everything is hazy and some sections are harder to see due to the scratches. The sene shows light falling through a window into an otherwise empty room. We only see this one corner of the room, however.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Mirrors on which dust has fallen by Jeff Bursey

 

Book cover for Black Islanders: Prince Edward Island's Historical Black Community by Jim Hornby. Image on cover shows a black and white drawing of a shirtless black man who has a moustache and is holding his arms up in a boxing formation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Black Islanders: Prince Edward Island’s Historical Black Community by Jim Hornby

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A Review of Mendala

Book cover for Mandela  By Rudolph Kohn. Image on cover shows a white, slightly square-shaped dodo egg sitting on the floor of a forest filled with ferns and trees. Title: Mendala

Author: Rudolph Kohn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: July 13, 2023

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: About 8 pages.

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

A day in the life of a chronocourier, one of the few people who can travel through time without debilitating consequences. What the job lacks in security it makes up for in pay. Today’s mission is to go back in time and retrieve a single, fertile Dodo’s egg. Yet the path of timeslipping is a tricky one, and the effects of jumping into nearby timelines can be unpredictable, and dangerous.

Review:

How much trouble could one little egg be?

Dodos are one of those extinct species that I’m quite sorry I’ll never have the opportunity to meet, so this tale automatically caught my attention when I read the blurb. I wondered what the client wanted with one of these eggs and why they chose this species in particular out of all of the other options. It also seemed curious to me that only one egg was requested when one would need far more individuals than that if they were to, say, want to breed more dodos in the future. Wondering about these issues was always at the forefront of my mind as I read, and I would have happily checked out a much longer work on this topic if such a thing were available.

The world building in this story felt underdeveloped to me. I would have loved to learn more about how time travel worked in this universe as well as how the protagonist ended up in such a profession. These details were important due to a twist in the final scene that was revealed but never fully explained. So much time was spent explaining all of the precautions the protagonist took earlier on that the ending didn’t quite makes sense to me as a reader, especially given how little was explained about the mechanics of the missions. It could have been a genuine oversight on the main character’s part, of course, but I simply didn’t have enough information to say for certain due to how rushed the world building was earlier on. This is something I’m saying as a reader who was excited to read this short story and was hoping to give it a much higher rating.

With that being said, I did enjoy that last plot twist in and of itself. It left plenty of room for possible sequels if the author ever decides to write them, and it made me pause and wonder about everything I’d already learned about this universe and the chronocourier who went on this mission. These sorts of reactions are one of the reasons why I enjoy science fiction so much, so I was glad to have that opportunity. Yes, I know I’m being a bit vague here, but I think it’s better for other readers to discover that surprise for themselves.

Mendala was intriguing.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Favourite Book Bloggers

A laptop sitting on a wooden table. The text reads: “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.”

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Here are a few of my favourite book bloggers.

I have not always done a very good job of visiting some of their blogs these past couple of years due to some tough personal stuff I’ve been dealing with, but they’re still all great people to follow.

If such things were possible, I’d love to get all of these folks together for a big group dinner as I think some new friendships could possibly spark from that evening.

A green stack of paper is lying on a white table next to a fountain pen. In front of the pen and paper are four white cubes that have the word blog spelled on them with one letter on each cube. Berthold Gambrel.

He reviews a ton of indie authors and sometimes filmmakers from a variety of genres. He’s also a genuinely kind and friendly guy who I originally met on Twitter back before it imploded!

Mock Ramblings

Another old Internet friend of mine. We met in the comment section of Bruce Gerencser’s blog, and I’ve learned so much about D&D and various books from his posts over the years. Sometimes he’ll share funny stories about his family, too.

Nerdy Reader Girl 

A bookish friend I’ve known for years. She has the best sense of humour ever, and I live vicariously through the funny stories she sometimes shares about her cats.

Leah’s Books

Leah is someone I originally met through Top Ten Tuesday. She’s been a little quiet online lately, so I’m hoping all is well with her. I love the fact that she jumps around to various genres just like I do and that she’s normally so chatty if you strike up a conversation with her!

Dini Panda Reads

Dini is another wonderful person I met through TTT. Her blog has such an interesting assortment of books on it that I always check out what she’s reading if I don’t know what to read next. I also appreciate her sweet and gentle personality. She’s lovely.

Lark at The Bookwyrm’s Hoard 

Her Sunday posts are always so interesting! Lark’s willingness to stick up for others (e.g. immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community) is also something I admire about her.

Nicole at Bookwyrm Knits

This is the part where I admit that I thought Lark and Nicole were the same person for an embarrassingly long time due to how similar their blog titles are. They are both free to tease me endlessly about that if or when they read this post.

Nicole shares so many interesting knitting projects on her blog when she isn’t talking about books. One of these days I will try knitting myself, and it will be thanks to her. 🙂 She’s so talented.

Sometimes Leelynn Reads 

Leelynn hasn’t posted in a while, but back when she did I loved being exposed to books on her blog I probably wouldn’t have otherwise known about. (She likes romance more than I do, after all!) Her friendly personality was another thing that drew her to me as well. She gets along well with everyone from what I’ve observed which is quite admirable.

 

Apologies if I missed anyone I regularly interact with! It was not done intentionally. There are so many incredible bloggers out there that I love getting to know.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Buzzwords or Phrases That Make Me Want to Read a Book

The text reads, “Top Ten Tuesday. www.thatartsyreadergirl.com.”
Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

1. Prehistoric, Neanderthal, Hunter-Gatherer, and/or Anatomically-Modern Human

I’m always interested in books set at this point in the past.

2. Magical Realism

There’s nothing like a story that is 99% realistic but has a slightly magical twist to it.

Grey stones in a stone garden. The stone closest to the viewer has the word “hope etched onto it. The stone right behind it has the world “charity” etched onto it. 3. HEA (happily ever after)

It’s not that common in the scary stuff I sometimes read, so I have to branch out to other genres to see characters who ride off into the sunset peacefully.

4. Friends to Lovers 

This is how my spouse and I ended up together. When I do dip into more romantic reads on occasion, starting off with a strong friendship between the characters is definitely the first thing I’m looking for.

5. Twist Ending

If the right amount of foreshadowing is included ahead of time, I love it when there’s a twist ending that catches me off-guard but, in retrospect, makes perfect sense. It’s quite difficult to accomplish, so I never fault authors who can’t quite strike the balance between hinting at what’s to come and still keeping their audience guessing. It’s simply a fun bonus when it does occur.

6. Solarpunk, Hopepunk, and/or Utopian Themes

Show me visions of the future that are remarkably better than the world we currently live in!

7. Animal Companions 

Assuming the pets don’t die or get seriously injured in the story, I love reading about characters who have close relationships with their furry (or scaly, aquatic, or what have you) friends.

8. Urban settings 

I love living in an urban setting as well as reading all sorts of stories with this sort of setting.

9. Medical triumphs 

That is to say, there’s nothing like reading a book about a condition or illness that we now either prevent with better nutrition, clean water, vaccines, municipal sanitation, etc. or have such effective treatments for that the average person may not realize how dangerous or painful it was for previous generations. It’s exhilarating to read about all of the progress we’ve made.

10. Mutual Aid

That is, stories about people working together to solve seemingly insurmountable problems. It’s easy for this topic to come across as an cheesy after school special, but when care is taken in fleshing out the characters and exploring the conflict(s) they face in depth, the hopefully happy ending that eventually comes can be immensely satisfying.

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A Review of Refuge

Book cover for Refuge
 by N.A. Ratnayake. Image on cover is a drawing of a pink cloud that looks like a humanoid face. It is in the dark blue sky and peering down at a green humanoid face floating in an ocean. The green face has a pink flower in its mouth. Title: Refuge

Author: N.A. Ratnayake

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 29, 2025

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 6 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

A weary traveler coming from Earth discovers a new form of consciousness on an alien world and finds hope despite climate change.

Content Warning: Brief references to climate change.

Review:

A better world is possible.

I review a lot of short stories, and this particular tale is an excellent example of why a few pages can be more than enough space to make a difference. The author placed memorable characters into a challenging environment and threw in a thought-provoking plot twist into less space that most storytellers would use to write the opening chapter of a full-length novel. Pulling this off is a skill that should be acknowledged and celebrated, and it has only deepened my resolve to see what else this author has written and hopefully review it in the near future.

Climate change is a common theme in this genre, of course, but it’s generally not approached from such a hopeful perspective. While I can’t go into much detail about how it affected the plot without sharing spoilers, I can say that I loved what this writer did to make this topic feel fresh again and I would have happily read a whole novel or series of short stories about this protagonist’s quest if such things existed. There were some interesting ideas being played around with here that, while they worked perfectly well as gentle nudges, would have also provided plenty of material for conflict and plot advancement had space allowed for deeper explorations of these possibilities.

Xenofiction is something that isn’t covered in modern science fiction as often as I’d prefer to see, so I looked forward to finding out what the non-human intelligence was like and how its thought processes might differ from the way you or I would approach the same conflict or conversation. Exactly who or what is featured here is something that other readers should discover for themselves, but what I can say is that this character was creatively written and genuinely felt like something that, while incredibly smart, had never been and will never be human.

Refuge was the perfect introduction to this universe, and it made me yearn for more.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Genres I Want to Read More of This Year

A laptop sitting on a wooden table. The text reads: “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.”

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Simple black sketch of how protons and electrons move around an atom. There appears to be three protons or neutrons in total, but it doesn’t give more information than that. This year I’m hoping to read more nonfiction about medical and scientific advances.

I’m keeping the specific sub-genre open. Biology is interesting, and so is palaeontology, archeology, chemistry, astronomy, and a wide variety of other subjects. I will even read about math so long as you’re not actually expecting me to solve any equations. Ha!

The important thing to me is that they’re taking abut positive developments because I need more good news in my life.

A book about the invention of the atom bomb or how many airborne diseases spread so quickly in the winter, as interesting as they may be, isn’t quite what I’m looking for.

Something that talks about promising treatments, preventions, or cures for life-threatening illnesses, or what scientists are discovering about distant solar systems,  or new species of plants or animals we’re discovering in remote corners of the Earth would be right up my alley.

If you’ve read something along these lines, I’d love to hear about it.

In the meantime, I’ll be scouring the Internet and my local library for hopeful scientific and medical news.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Spring 2026 To-Read List

The text reads, “Top Ten Tuesday. www.thatartsyreadergirl.com.”
Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A few of these books have already been released. As usual, I’m including publication dates for the rest of them.

I have two Top Ten Tuesday bloggers to thank for blogging about a couple of these titles earlier, so keep an eye out for those mentions.

 

Book cover for Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer. Image on cover is a photo of Judy Blume with short curly hair and in a black turtleneck sweater. She’s smiling faintly and looking off to her left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer

Why I’m Interested: I adored her books when I was in elementary and middle school but know nothing about her personal life.

 

Book cover for Poisonous People: How to Resist Them and Improve Your Life by Leanne ten Brinke. Image on cover shows a neon green background and what appears to be a black puddle of something possibly poisonous off to the right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Poisonous People: How to Resist Them and Improve Your Life by Leanne ten Brinke

Why I’m Interested: Hopefully it will have some excellent advice for identifying and neutralizing troublemakers in any community.

 

Book cover for Phases: a Memoir by Brandy Norwood. Image on cover is a close-up photo of her face as she wears a blue silk garment and gazes thoughtfully off into the distance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Phases: A Memoir by Brandy

Publication Date: March 31

Why I’m Interested: This is at least the third time I’ve blogged about this memoir while waiting for its release due to how excited I am for it. One more week to go before I hopefully get to learn more about my favourite singer’s life behind the scenes. In the meantime, I’m trying to get on my library’s waitlist for it as soon as I possibly can today as they generally open it up for requests a week before a book is published. Wish me luck!

 

Book cover for What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed. Image on cover shows a drawing of a white flower with thin yellow petals forming a ring around the thick white petals. This image is half covering a black circular object that I can’t identify. It looks like a black moon hanging in a blue sky, though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed

Publication Date: April 7

Why I’m Interested: Science fiction set on other planets often grabs my interest.

 

Book cover for American Fantasy by Emma Straub. Image on cover shows a drawing of a white cruise ship sailing on the ocean on a mostly cloudless day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.  American Fantasy by Emma Straub

Publication Date: April 7

Why I’m Interested: Actually dating a member of a boyband or other type of touring musician? No, thank you. Having a spouse who travels for work for most of the year sounds terribly lonely. Reading about a character who dates her boyband teenage crush, on the other hand? Sign me up.

 

Book cover for Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. Image on cover shows a train travelling along a train track next to a field of wheat. The image is warped, though, and has an unnatural bend to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Thank you to Living on the Sunny Side for bringing my attention to this title!

Publication Date: April 7 (I am apparently going to be doing nothing but reading on April 7. Ha!)

Why I’m Interested: No offence to anyone who likes this stuff, but I find tradwife content terribly confusing. It seems odd to me to make a living telling other women that they should not have jobs or ambitions outside of the home. By that logic, then, shouldn’t tradwife creators stop making new content and delete all of their old stuff, too? I love the fact that this novel is exploring those contradictions.

Book cover for Canon by Paige Lewis. Image on cover shows three scenes: a whale swimming through the ocean on the top of the cover, a full moon hanging over a mountain range on the right middle side of the cover, and, on the bottom, a two-paned drawing of a warring carrying a spear and shield charging at a woman wearing a t-shirt and black slacks who is standing in front of a large wall that protects the city behind them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Canon by Paige Lewis

Publication Date: May 19

Why I’m Interested: This sounds delightfully campy and silly.

 

Book cover for The Redemption Centre Is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hairston. Image on cover shows a computer-generated drawing of a little brown and white dog looking up at an ominous old house just after dusk. There is light streaming through one window in the house, and a shadowy figure is standing there looking down at the dog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8.  The Redemption Centre Is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hairston

Thank you to Spirit Blog for letting me know about this book.

Publication Date: May 26

Why I’m Interested: Mixing the mystery and science fiction genres together is a good way to get my attention.

 

Given that I have published seasonal TBR posts with as few as two books on them in the past, eight books is an excellent number for me even if it’s still a little less than the recommended amount.

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A Review of The Visitor

 

Book cover for The Visitor by Neil Shooter. Image on cover is a photo taken of a one-story ranch-style house after dusk. You can see the road bend in front of the house, some trees on the left, and the house itself sitting quietly, but all of this is shrouded in the darkness of night that obscures most details about any of them.

Title: The Visitor

Author: Neil Shooter

Publisher:  Self-Published

Publication Date: January 6, 2016

Genres: Science Fiction, LGBTQ+, Historical, Contemporary

Length: 11 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

On an ordinary blustery British night an extraordinary visitor comes, a time traveller, with a paradox. But time is relative.

Content Warning: References to alcoholism and mild homophobia.

Review:

How far would you go to correct the past?

The conversational structure of this short story kept my interest levels high. It takes effort to include necessary details about character and plot development while still making sure both characters are speaking to each other in ways that feel natural. Mr. Shooter did a good job balancing these needs while pushing the storyline forward with every reply. It felt like I truly was listening in on someone else’s conversation.

I had some trouble understanding the significance of the final scene due to how vague it was. While I have a theory about what it probably meant, I wasn’t sure if that was what the author was trying to convey or if I’d misunderstood something along the way. It would have been helpful to have a few more hints about what was happening and if my interpretation of it was the correct one (or one of the correct ones). This is something I’m saying as a reader who normally enjoys

It was also entertaining to see how Dean, the protagonist, explained how time travel works and why he decided to go back so many years. While I can’t share a lot of details about these aspects of the tale for spoiler reasons, they were reasonable and helped to answer several questions I had about how certain details were meant to fit together. It was also fun to get to know Dean a little better as his personality was a little bit of a mystery to me at first. Honestly, I would have made the same choice he did if such things were possible.

This was my first experience with this author’s work, and I will be coming back for more.

The Visitor was thought provoking.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Audiobooks I’ve Enjoyed

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Five hardcover books standing up on a white surface. They are held upright and together in place by a pair of earphones that are wrapped around them in the same way you’d see a person wear earphones. The first few times I tried audiobooks, I was not at all a fan of them because I can read much faster than the average narrator speaks and I’d much rather get to know characters through the written word instead of the spoken one.

My attention span tends to waver fairly quickly if I’m listening to something which is why I also am generally not a fan of podcasts or listening to lengthy speeches of any sort if I’m not physically present in the room at the time the speech is going on.

What shifted my perspective on this topic was when I tried rereading old favourites in audiobook form. This was something I originally did so that I could have something fun to focus on while cleaning or doing chores around the house, and it was key for me to find a way to enjoy this form of entertainment.

These books were amusing rereads in audiobook form for me. Will they also be a good option for you? That’s something each one of you will have to decide for themselves.

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

2. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

3. All seven Chronicles of Narnia books  by C.S. Lewis

4. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

5. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

6. All of the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary

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