1. Hello and Happy March! Has it come in like a lion or a lamb where you are? Whatever the case may be, March is known for changeable weather, so why not welcome it with a bit of beauty in anticipation of spring?

Oregon artist Katie Daisy — one of our faves — always brings the sunshine, joys of nature, and upbeat inspiration. Think wildflowers, songbirds, meadows, wide open prairie skies, magic and enchantment. Can’t get enough of her vibrant colors and vintage hand lettering (so many great quotes!).

Whenever I’m feeling down, I pop over to her Etsy Shop to see what’s new. This time around, the designs that caught my eye were her stamp collection, prairie dresses, happy home, sweet as pie, and the adorable morning glory brunch club (yum!). 🙂

Just so many lovely designs! Besides prints, she sells t-shirts, notebooks, greeting cards, mugs, tote bags, etc., and she’s recently added fabrics and gift wrap. Something for everyone. For much more, visit her Official Website, The Wheatfield, her Facebook and Instagram.

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2. New Picture Book Alert: Today is official release day for Next Year in the White House: Barack Obama’s First Presidential Seder by Richard Michelson and E.B. Lewis (Crown BFYR, 2025):

The true story of how a small Seder dinner on the campaign trail inspired Barack Obama to bring the tradition into the White House and host the first ever Presidential Passover celebration.

In 1800, President John Adams held the first formal Christmas dinner at the newly built White House. In 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes observed Easter with a public “Egg Roll.” But it wasn’t until 2009 that a US president officially celebrated Passover.

A year earlier, on the campaign trail, three staffers had to get creative in order to host a Seder dinner. They gathered in a hotel basement, joined by candidate Barack Obama. They made the most of their surroundings and modest dinner, shared the stories and rituals of the holiday, and found connections between their communities. They made a toast and a promise to a future, grander celebration: next year in the White House.

For the first time, this story is told for picture book readers by award-winning author Richard Michelson and lauded illustrator EB Lewis in this special partnership with PJ Library.

What a cool story! Didn’t realize President Obama hosted the first ever Presidential Passover celebration at the White House. He’s always been my most favorite President of my lifetime, and now there’s even more reason to love and admire him. 🙂

I do enjoy learning as much as I can about Jewish culture and traditions (especially when food is involved), so am really looking forward to reading this one. The book has earned **starred reviews** from Booklist and Kirkus, who deemed it “essential reading for children — and adults — who hope for freedom for all.”

Happy Book Birthday to Richard and E.B.!!

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3. Oh, you beautiful doll: Are you familiar with Mimi Kirchner’s handmade recycled wool dolls? First learned of Mimi’s work about 15 years ago (she was a Boston resident for many years but now lives in Chicago). She’s been a working artist for 40+ years and started making original cloth dolls in 2000.

Story goes, back in the fall of 2005, when she was cleaning out her parents’ home, she came across the remains of 50+ years of her mother’s fashion sewing (beautiful fabrics, clothing, yardage, scraps and bolts). This inspired Mimi to start making cloth dolls from these wonderful materials.

All Mimi’s dolls are her original designs and patterns. She makes the dolls in series — using the same pattern but with different fabrics and details, so considers each doll OOAK. She mainly works with natural fibers, especially all kinds of wool (recycled or new 100% wool felt).

She also incorporates new, vintage and antique trims, buttons, lace and sewing notions. The dolls are stuffed with high quality polyester and/or wool.

See the complete collection at her Etsy Shop.

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4. What the world needs now: Just released in January is this touching photo-illustrated picture book, Love is a Big Feeling by Shelley Rotner (Holiday House, 2025) :

Love is everywhere… open your eyes! Award-winning photographer Shelley Rotner captures the joy that arises when we embrace our feelings, and our friends, in this warmhearted picture book.

Choose love.
Feel it…
Say it out loud…
I LOVE YOU.

There are many ways to show love: with a smile, a hug, or a helping hand. There are even more ways to FEEL love, like spending time with friends and family, reading a story, or climbing a tree. When you open your heart, love is everywhere. Let it in! Let it show!

Big feelings meet simple text in this cheerful celebration of love in all its forms. National Geographic photographer Shelley Rotner pairs accessible language with her signature upbeat portrait photography to capture the joy of self-expression and encourage kids to share their love with the world around them.

Hooray for a book that touts the joy of spreading love, kindness and positivity! It does often seem that many have forgotten what it means to ‘love thy neighbor,’ so this one is especially timely. It’s a good lesson, learning to be generous with your feelings.

We’ve shared and enjoyed several of Shelley’s previous books here before, most recently, Yummy!: Good Food Makes Me Strong, a collaboration with Sheila M. Kelly. Her color photos of kids from diverse backgrounds are always a treat, as she really has a knack for capturing a wide range of emotions that truly touch the heart. Don’t miss this much needed feel good title!

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5. Ceramics Fix: Recently stumbled upon these wonderful painted plates by UK potter Robina Jack. Love her portrayals of whimsical animals and the colorful, patterned borders.

Makes sense that she has a special kinship with animals since she grew up on an Oxfordshire farm. Hence the “wistful horses” and “purposeful hens.” There’s just something quite endearing about them all. 🙂

There’s also a nautical motif in some of her pieces, a nostalgic allusion to her family’s maritime connections and to a great- grandfather who captained a transatlantic clipper during the reign of Victoria. Pretty cool, no?

As far as I can tell, her pieces are periodically available for sale online via several galleries, the most recent being David Messum Fine Art (November 2024). Best way to learn of upcoming gallery shows is through her Official Website and Instagram. She also accepts commissions (see her Contact page).

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6. New Middle Grade Novel Alert: Just released in January is The Secret of Honeycake by Kimberly Newton Fusco (Knopf BFYR, 2025):

Hurricane is quiet while her Aunt Claire is a force of nature with very particular ideas–and a host of Latin sayings to back them up. When Hurricane gets stuck living with her, she retreats into herself…until a series of unexpected friends, including a mangy cat, help her find her voice in a whole new way.

A recipe for The World’s Most Comforting, Twelve-Layer Honeycake:

1 quiet girl named Hurricane, who runs like the wind along the Mighty Atlantic with her old dog Brody-Bear.

1 imperious aunt, who steps up when Hurricane’s world turns upside down.
1 kind-hearted boy, who helps wounded animals (and may smell a little of fish).

1 lonely and flea-bitten cat with a ragged ear and a crooked tail.

1 gentle chauffeur, who knows exactly what to say…and when not to say a thing.

Mix them all together in big, fancy house in the city. What you get might surprise you.

This one takes place after WWI at the beginning of the Great Depression, and features 11-year-old Hurricane and a cast of eccentric characters. She is sent to the city to live with her Aunt Claire after her older sister (who had been raising her after their mother’s death) contracts tuberculosis and is confined to a sanitarium for treatment.

The Secret to Honeycake sounds like a great read for historical fiction fans who would enjoy rooting for an introverted character who finds new friends and her own voice (via writing!) as she adapts to change. Just read an excerpt from the book and enjoyed getting to know Hurricane and liked the fast pace of the story.

The book has received glowing reviews thus far, including a *starred* review from Kirkus, who said, “”Hurricane employs stunningly beautiful, highly descriptive language to narrate her own tale with a depth of feeling and growing awareness of her attributes and true strength of character….Powerful, emotional, and wondrous.” 

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7. Heads up puzzle makers and model car lovers: Have you seen these awesome wooden 3D Puzzle Kits? Len recently received several as gifts and absolutely loved making them.

He’s a model car maker from way back, but hadn’t seen these laser-cut wooden 3D puzzles. He enjoyed the challenge of punching out and assembling this 19th century vintage roadster (289 pieces, no glue required). It did take a LOT of patience, as some of the pieces were very small (hello magnifying glass and tweezers). He said the instructions were clear and everything he needed to complete the car was included in the box.

Since impatience is one of his major character traits, I was surprised at how patient he can be with certain things. He wasn’t daunted by the number or size of the pieces, and happily spent hours at his worktable completing the car.

Needless to say, we found some willing passengers ready to take a ride and pose for the camera.

After completing the roadster, he made the Steam Express, Cruiser Motorcycle and London Bus. Perfect pastime for frigid winter days when he was stuck indoors and needed to keep busy. Actually, he found the practice quite relaxing after getting “into the zone.”

There are oodles of different kits available from several different brands. He made three ROKR kits and one from Rolife (London Bus). The vehicles are authentic, to-scale replicas and are fun to display afterwards.

Visit the ROKR store to browse all the options (you’ll be amazed at the variety). These kits are recommended for teens or adults, and make great gifts for men, who are often hard to buy for. 🙂

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8. Stuck on you: Look what came out last October: a brand new Nathalie Lété Sticker Book (Artisan, 2024):

Add beauty to any surface with this highly giftable sticker book collection from a globally renowned artist.

From globally renowned artist Nathalie Lété, the Nathalie Lété Sticker Book is the ultimate gift for sticker obsessives (and who doesn’t love stickers?) and fans of Lété. There are over 800 stickers in the book, all created in Lété’s signature dreamlike and enchanting style, including some of her most popular and beloved illustrations, like Mushrooms and Dancing Butterflies, and new creations made just for the book, like a scene from Noah’s Ark. There are vibrant patterns, playful critters, and fanciful landscapes. Bring the beauty of Lété’s art home for an amazing value.

Have loved her art for several years (see my 2020 spotlight post about her), so was happy to have stumbled upon this. 🙂

Confession: I’m a bit of a sticker maniac and have an entire drawer full of stickers I’ve collected over the years. This obsession dates back to my snail mail letter writing days, when it was sacrilege to allow an envelope to leave the house without stickers decorating it.

It’s nice to have some of Nathalie’s beautiful, enchanting designs in a sticker book. One small problemo: they look too nice to actually use . . .

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9. A Little Something for Women’s History Month: Check out Women in the Kitchen: Twelve Essential Cookbook Writers Who Defined the Way We Eat, from 1661 to Today, by Anne Willan (Scribner, 2020):

Anne Willan, multi-award-winning culinary historian, cookbook writer, teacher, and founder of La Varenne Cooking School in Paris, explores the lives and work of women cookbook authors whose essential books have defined cooking over the past three hundred years. Beginning with the first published cookbook by Hannah Woolley in 1661 to the early colonial days to the transformative popular works by Fannie Farmer, Irma Rombauer, Julia Child, Edna Lewis, Marcella Hazan, and up to Alice Waters working today.

Willan offers a brief biography of each influential woman, highlighting her key contributions, seminal books, and representative dishes. The book features fifty original recipes—as well as updated versions Willan has tested and modernized for the contemporary kitchen.

Women in the Kitchen is an engaging narrative that seamlessly moves through the centuries to help readers understand the ways cookbook authors inspire one another, that they in part owe their places in history to those who came before them, and how they forever change the culinary landscape.

I think in my next life I’d like to be a culinary historian, so reading books like these will give me a decent head start and provide a good overview, as it places these women in a meaningful chronological context. I already know a little about some of the women profiled (Edna Lewis, Alice Waters, Julia Child), and have featured picture book biographies about them on this blog. Now I’m anxious to read about the others. Since the author, Anne Willan, is new to me, I’m also looking forward to learning more about her.

What will you be reading to celebrate Women’s History Month?

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Our Swoon Tune this month honors James Taylor, who turns 77 on March 12. “Long Ago and Far Away” is definitely one of my favorites; it appeared on Taylor’s third studio album, “Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon” (1971) and features a group of insanely talented musicians: Carole King (piano), Joni Mitchell (background vocals), Danny Kortchmar (congas), Leland Sklar (bass guitar).

Deemed a “lesser known musical gem” by some critics, the song captures the melancholy and disillusionment of reality not living up to one’s dreams — something most of us can relate to. Though I liked all the songs on “Mud Slide Slim,” this one stood out for me — one of those songs I played over and over . . .

James’s warm voice and guitar, so wistful and affecting, feel especially comforting and soothing during these dark, divisive times. That someone who was battling depression and addiction could transform his pain into something so lyrically beautiful is awe inspiring.

Enjoy James performing the song live on “BBC in Concert” on November 16, 1970 — freshly written before it was recorded for the album. He was just 22. Second video features audio of the finished track with Joni, et. al.

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HAPPY TUESDAY

HAPPY WEEK

WEAR GREEN FOR ST. PADDY’S DAY

WATCH OUT FOR LEPRECHAUNS

DREAM OF SPRING

READ A GOOD BOOK

EAT PIE

LISTEN TO MORE JT

STAY THE COURSE

BE TRUE

FIND YOUR POT OF GOLD

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**Copyright © 2025 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.