In this touching video created by The Chicago Lighthouse, photographer and author Larry Broutman shares his inspiration for creating the children’s book, Chicago Treasure, and what the process taught him about what inclusion truly means. Diverse children take the lead roles in classic fairytales and nursery rhymes when photographs of the kids are digitally imposed with colorful fairytale illustration backgrounds by Rich Green. Local children and their parents explain why seeing their faces in the pages of this book is so meaningful. Interspersed throughout are scenes from the Chicago Treasure Book Launch where 250 Chicagoans came to The Chicago Lighthouse to celebrate the release of this enchanting book.

So, aside from the fact that the cicadas are screaming and the children are screaming and ALL THE THINGS ARE SCREAMING, please to enjoy: this book haul! =D

THE BOOKS:

United We Spy | Ally Carter

Six Months Later | Natalie D. Richards

The Dragon's Tooth | ND Wilson

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict | Laurie Viera Rigler

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict | Laurie Viera Rigler

The Trouble with Flirting | Claire LaZbenik

The Distance Between Us | Kacie West

The Subtle Knife | Philip Pullman

Summer and Bird | Katherine Catmull

Also mentioned:

The Dragon's Tooth excerpt

Laurie Viera Rigler's "Sex and the Austen Girl"

Sam @MerryGoDown and River @innocencewalker and their "Contemporary Summer Fling"

My August Rewind (up late, but better late than pregnant... Err, never. Better late than never.

THE BOOKS:

The Fairest of Them All | Carolyn Turgeon [review]

Mansfield Park | Jane Austen (obvs)

Among the Janeites | Deborah Yaffe [review]

The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. | Adelle Waldman [review]

Austentatious | Alyssa Goodnight [review]