Review of Burn the Haystack, by Jennie Young, PhD

Nonfiction Review, Personal Growth, Starred Review 0

Burn the Haystack

Decode Dating, Torch the Duds, and Make Room for Men Who Matter

by Jennie Young, PhD

William Morrow (HarperCollins), 2026. 302 pages.
Review written June 14, 2026, from an advance reader copy.
Starred Review

This book is absolutely brilliant! When I first took it home from our shelf of advance reader copies at work, I got hooked and stayed up way, way too late reading it. Then I put it down and tried to avoid reading it again because I didn’t want to stay up too late!

I had just finished reading another book about dating, which made me glad to not even be trying it again – but this book has changed my perspective, and I might actually try going back on the apps, if I get to a place where I’m willing to give it a little time. Whereas the other book implied that if you want to date with a matchmaker, you should be willing to put in plenty of effort – this approach is different and encourages you not to spend a lot of time on the apps.

Here’s the premise: Finding a man who’d be a good partner in a long-term relationship is like finding a needle in the haystack. How do you find a needle in a haystack? Burn the haystack of course!

The key step to burning the dating app haystack is “Block to Burn” or B2B. Once you’ve figured out a man is not an appropriate match, you don’t apologize. You don’t explain. You block him. If you don’t block, the apps will cycle back to the same men they already showed you.

She admits you’ll go on fewer dates with this method – but they should be better ones.

And that’s not all. Jennie Young has a PhD in Rhetoric. So she shows you not one, not two, but thirty-three red flag rhetorical patterns – and she explains what these patterns tell you and why you don’t need to feel guilty about blocking to burn.

This part delighted me – because in my experience with online dating, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every one of these patterns. They are not rare (and many men combine several). But when I tried to explain why I don’t like strangers calling me “Dear” in their first message, some friends tried to tell me I was being too picky and should give them a chance. So I laughed out loud (and felt vindicated) when I read this (meant to be humorous) about the rhetorical pattern of people who quickly give you a pet name:

It seems obvious that people shouldn’t use pet names with strangers, but men do all the time. Rather than spending too much time trying to figure out why, let’s focus on what calling women pet names reveals about the men who are doing so:

–That they are presumptuous enough to assume women will be okay with this and/or like the pet names they choose.
–That they view women as objects and animals rather than complex human beings whom they do not know.
–That they’ve somehow missed sweeping changes to discourse norms for the past several decades. It’s true that there was a time when men could get away with calling women they didn’t know “honey” or “sweetie pie,” but that time is long past.
–That they are socially clueless and insensitive.

Any one of these revelations suggests a man is undatable. Block to burn the pet namers.

Another pattern it felt vindicated to see mentioned was the “No drama” guys. I once posted a PSA on Twitter about what a bad idea it is to put “No Drama” in your dating profile – It totally implies that this guy does not and will not take his girlfriend’s emotions seriously. But when I posted that, some random guy on Twitter mansplained to me why it’s actually okay! Needless to say, he convinced me even more deeply to avoid such men. And now I know that everyone following the Burn the Haystack Method is doing the same!

Or then there’s the people whose first message is “Hi!” There’s a whole sidebar about why you don’t need to bother with them. I’d learned that the hard way, but felt guilty about it. Now – B2B.

Honestly, I was already considered “too picky” by many of my friends. I’ve only been on four first dates with men I’ve met online – but they were all good dates, and two of them led to further dates. But the catch was I only blocked obvious scammers. So yes, I saw the same people I’d ruled out again and again. And I got tired of wading through the hay, and just gave up on online dating.

And the best part? I was afraid I’d forget some of the thirty-three rhetorical patterns. But I joined the author’s Burn the Haystack Facebook group! People post examples, and the whole community chimes in. Most are encouraging the person posting to block, but just today, someone got the opposite advice because it was probably not a red flag the way it was worded. So the group doesn’t just bash every man. And many success stories are also posted. With every posting, I’m learning more about the method and will feel less and less guilty about blocking men whom I definitely don’t want to start a relationship with.

Yes, she admits you’ll date fewer men with this method. But I, for one, think that’s much, much better. I was already ruling a lot of people out – but this will make it easier and completely guilt-free. And who knows? Maybe a needle will come up.

In closing, I have also been accused of being judgy – and here’s the author’s response to that accusation:

It’s definitely judgy, but I don’t see that as a negative. I love to judge things. I consider myself an excellent judge. It isjudgy, and it should be. You are choosing a human being, potentially for the rest of your life. There is no scenario that calls for more judgment. Being judgy keeps us safe, protects our boundaries and our time, and results in far better selections. Judge away, I say!

Oh, I should also add that this method is primarily for women looking for a long-term monogamous relationship. The author never implies that anything else is bad – that’s just what this method is designed for. Men who read the book can learn what not to say in their dating profiles. But if they don’t mean it and clean up their intentions behind those words – I do think red flags will slip out anyway. If you avoid these red flags and really mean what you’re saying – I think you’ll end up being a better relationship partner, so it’s all good.

So, will I use this info and jump into the dating pool again? I’m not sure, but meanwhile, I’m thoroughly enjoying watching empowered women in the Facebook group ruthlessly block to burn and end up finding their needles. Or simply being happier on their own.

If you’re single, I highly recommend this book. If you’re not single, you might get a kick out of it, too. At least stop giving dating advice to single friends until you’ve read it, please.

burnedhaystack.substack.com

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Review of Young World, by Soman Chainani

Science Fiction, Starred Review, Suspense, Teen Fiction Review 0

Young World

by Soman Chainani

Random House, 2026. 474 pages.
Review written June 11, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

This novel is bonkers, chaotic, and far-fetched – but the truth is, I loved the wild ride.

The premise is that a 17-year-old named Benton Young, to impress an earnest girl, made a video that went viral and won the US presidency as a write-in. Okay, he didn’t get 270 electoral votes, and then there’s that little detail about it being unconstitutional – but politics got him actually in the White House. You see, his election started a global movement – a Young Revolution – and across the globe young people got put into positions of power. (The politicians were afraid of the movement and put the right pressure on the Supreme Court to say his election is okay. They’re planning to impeach him soon anyway.)

But being elected isn’t the same as wielding the power of the presidency. The powers that be don’t even want to let him appoint his own Cabinet – until he strikes a deal and gets his two best friends in.

But then the stakes move to a G-8 summit in Sweden. And it’s all about an island found in the Arctic among the melting ice caps that is claimed to be the ticket to great wealth for the country that claims it. But rumor has it, there’s a giant volcano under that island that could wipe out the planet.

So this is what’s being discussed when one of the leaders at the summit is murdered and the whole world thinks Benton did it. So for the rest of the book, he’s on the run across the globe and different powers are after him and trying to make deals with him and he can’t tell whom to trust or what to do. And that’s where it gets pretty chaotic at the end. I couldn’t completely picture what was happening in the big climactic scene.

But there’s lots and lots of action, along with plenty of thoughts about power and about what’s important. Benton comes to power because he sees the world as divided not by Red and Blue but by the Spend-Its and the Save-Its – the Save-Its being the young people who want to live in a world that’s going to last until they’re old. This book leaves you with lots to think about while you’re enjoying the wild ride.

somanchainani.com

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Review of What Emma Wrote, by Ann Diament Koffsky, illustrated by N. Tarcan

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

coverWhat Emma Wrote

The Woman Behind the Words on the Statue of Liberty

by Ann Diament Koffsky
illustrated by N. Tarcan

Apples & Honey Press, 2026. 44 pages.
Review written July 6, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

This picture book biography seems especially appropriate for America’s 250th birthday. It’s the story of Emma Lazarus, the author of the poem “The New Colossus” engraved on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, told simply for young readers.

Even as a child, Emma wanted to be a writer. Her family made a book of her poems and stories that they shared with friends. As she grew up, she became aware of the plight of Jewish immigrants facing hard times. Her own family had immigrated to the United States almost two hundred years before, but she remembered their history and felt a kinship.

And her work helping immigrants with practical needs also led to using her writing to rebut people who tried to name immigrants as the problem in America.

She wrote about the people she had met on Wards Island. She explained that they deserved to be welcomed and helped.

Emma didn’t stop after that. She wrote article after article and shared even more stories about immigrants.

Activism on behalf of immigrants plus writing skills made Emma Lazarus the perfect person to write a poem about the Statue of Liberty while it was being built.

I enjoyed reading the entire poem. I wish the name for the Statue of Liberty that she suggests had stuck: “Mother of Exiles.”

There are facts about the statue and about Emma Lazarus at the back of the book.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to commemorate the one hundredth birthday of the United States. How fitting to think back on it at our 250th birthday – but also reflect that some of the issues are still the same, that we still need to be reminded that one of our great strengths lies in welcoming people the rest of the world casts off.

Or, as Ann Diament Koffsky writes for children:

Emma’s poem is carved into a metal plate inside the statue’s base. It reminds visitors how important it is to welcome immigrants with kindness.

annkoffsky.com
nazlisillustrations.com

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Review of Whistler, by Ann Patchett

Contemporary, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Whistler

by Ann Patchett
read by the Author

Harper, 2026. 10 hours, 45 minutes.
Review written July 1, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Whistler is another rich, warm tapestry of a novel from genius author Ann Patchett.

This one begins when Daphne’s husband notices that a man is following them in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The stranger turns out to be Eddie Triplett – her former stepfather. They haven’t seen each other in 44 years, since Daphne was nine years old.

Of the three men her mother married, Eddie was Daphne’s favorite. Her mother had told Daphne that he had to leave because he’d endangered her life in the car accident that happened shortly before she sent him away. Now as an adult, Daphne learns about the real reasons. And she has a lot of unpacking to do.

The story of that car accident from 44 years ago weaves through the book. While her sister was in the hospital with appendicitis and their mother was by her side, Eddie drove Daphne up to a closed-for-the-winter blackberry farm to see the stars – and drove off the side of the hill. Eddie was injured and couldn’t get out, and they spent significant time talking together in the toppled car. Eddie was an editor and told Daphne a story of a book proposal he’d just read where a woman was in an accident and was saved when her horse, Whistler, came back for her.

But the book isn’t simply about that long-ago car accident. It’s also about the present, about reconnecting while making new sense of the past. And above all, it’s about the joy of reuniting with a beloved father figure.

A richly written and evocative book about joy and love. Can I give a stronger recommendation?

annpatchett.com

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Review of We the People Is All the People, written by Howard W. Reeves, illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

We the People Is All the People

written by Howard W. Reeves
illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh

Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2026. 36 pages.
Review written June 4, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

The concept of this picture book is simple and beautiful. The first page after the title page lists the Preamble to the United States Constitution, of course beginning with “We the People.” The rest of the book shows the wonderful multi-faceted diversity of the people of the United States.

Here’s how it begins:

“We the people” is all the people.

People
next door,
down the street,
and across the country,
in cities,
towns,
and farms.

People
living in houses,
apartments,
and in shelters,

who worship in churches,
mosques,
and temples.

People
who were here,
who arrived later,
who still come today.

And so it continues. Of course the pictures add great resonance – showing us a wide variety of people who fit each description.

A later section includes:

People
who look different ways,
love different ways,
and communicate different ways.

People
on assembly lines,
bread lines,
and protest lines.

And the last couple spreads:

Her. Him. Them.
You. Me. Us.

“We the people” is ALL the people.

There’s an author’s note at the back where he does acknowledge that the Constitution was originally written not for all the people, but for landowning white men. But I like his conclusion:

Some injustices have been corrected, such as emancipating the enslaved and giving women the vote, while others we are still working on.

Although things are better today, and there are more people included in “we the people” than when the preamble was written, for every step forward there is often a step backward, and there are still so many people left out. We still have much more work to do to include all the “we” in “we the people” as we strive to create a more perfect union.

This simple and beautiful picture book helps me believe that we can raise up the next generation to help make it so. Reading this book is a perfect way to celebrate America’s 250th birthday.

DuncanTonatiuh.com
abramsbooks.com

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Review of How to Survive the End of the World, by Katy Doughty

Graphic Novel, Science, Starred Review, Teen Nonfiction 0

How to Survive the End of the World

A Graphic Exploration of How to (Maybe) Avoid Extinction

by Katy Doughty

MiTeenPress, 2026. 250 pages.
Review written June 9, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

I did not expect to enjoy this graphic nonfiction book as much as I did. (“Graphic” as in “graphic novel” – it’s got a comics format, but is not a novel.) I don’t like to think about the end of the world, but do like to think that I’m old enough the earth will outlive me, anyway. But young people today aren’t so sure, and this book addresses some legitimate concerns.

Basically, it’s a graphic novel presentation about the ways the earth might end – and what mankind is, or should be, or could be, doing about those things. After a chapter about “The Beginning,” we’ve got chapters on “Plagues and Pandemics,” “Deadly Blasts,” “Climate Meltdown,” “Killer Machines,” “Falling Skies,” and “Cosmic Collapse.” Most of the chapters include historic events in those categories that threatened life on earth – we read of the Black Plague, of smallpox in the Americas, of enormous volcano blasts, and of meteorites that may have wiped out the dinosaurs.

There’s also speculation about ways humanity could survive, including colonizing other planets – and the ethics that raises. But we’ve also got ways scientists are trying to prevent these disasters from happening – from pandemics to meteorite strikes, climate meltdown to AI destroying humanity.

It’s all more interesting – and less morbid – than I had anticipated. I think it’s fair to give teens the facts and set their minds thinking about the project of helping humanity survive. I was amazed by some of the innovative ideas presented here (part of what made it more hopeful than morbid) – and who knows whether readers of this book will set their minds to contributing more answers?

katydoughty.com
mitpress.com
candlewick.com

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Review of Braving the Truth, by Rachel Held Evans

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

coverBraving the Truth

Essential Essays for Reckoning with and Reimagining Faith

by Rachel Held Evans
edited by Sarah Bessey

HarperOne, 2026. 383 pages.
Review written May 17, 2026, from my own copy, ordered via Amazon.com
Starred Review

Rachel Held Evans was a Christian writer who wrestled with her faith in print – and changed people’s lives. She died way too soon in 2019, only 38 years old. She started blogging in 2007, shortly before she started publishing books – and this book collects many of those blog posts.

Editor Sarah Bessey chose the selection of posts to collect in this book, and she also included tributes from 37 other authors – usually after a blog post from Rachel that especially inspired that author when it was first posted.

This book makes me so wish I was following Rachel when she was blogging. [Yes, I was blogging at the time, but I wasn’t reading a lot of blogs because I was so busy with books. I also didn’t have a good feed reader, so attempts to read blogs usually got forgotten. Now that many authors have switched to Substack, my email has blown up with unread emails, so maybe it’s just as well?] Anyway, now that it’s in book form, I can see so much wisdom coming from this young woman. It does make me wish I’d been in on the conversations she got going on her blog.

What is it about? The essays (That sounds more book-like than posts, doesn’t it?) are presented in categories, rather than chronologically, though the book does start with her first blog post and end with her last. The topics covered are Evolving Faith, Patriarchy and White Supremacy, the Church, Gender and Sexuality, and “Life in the Midst of It All.”

This is full of wonderful writing, Braving the Truth is an appropriate title, because Rachel gets real with her readers, and that wasn’t an easy thing to do.

Let me copy a few examples of quotations I marked to give you an idea:

This is from a post on lessons she learned the hard way:

It’s not always right to rock the boat. I get frustrated with Christians who seem to find it easy to believe everything their pastor tells them to believe. It makes me especially angry when my friends refuse to even listen to new ideas because they are either too certain or too afraid to see things from another perspective. But I’ve learned that it is not my job to test other people’s faith. My job is to be a friend to people who are already struggling through tough questions, to offer companionship on the difficult journey through doubt. I am to be a counselor, not a recruiter. It’s not always right to rock the boat.

This is a post about what she’d say if she got a chance years later to redo the commencement address she gave as a graduate of a conservative Christian university:

I thought God wanted to use me to show gay people how to be straight. Instead God used gay people to show me how to be Christian.

I thought the world needed my answers, but as it turns out, I needed the world’s questions. I needed to learn how to doubt well, listen better, and be humbled by how little I know. I needed to discover that evangelicalism is just one table in Christ’s banquet hall, the Great Cloud of Witnesses far more sprawling and diverse than I’d ever imagined.

And this is from an essay called, “I love the Bible.”

I love the Bible more now than ever before because I have finally surrendered to God’s stories.
God’s long, strange, beautiful stories.
We asked questions.
God told stories.
We demanded answers.
God told stories.
We argued theology.
God told stories.

And when those stories weren’t enough, when the words themselves would not suffice, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, laughed among us, wept among us, ate among us, told more stories among us, suffered among us, died among us, and rose among us. The Word entered our story and invited us into his.

If you’ve already read any of Rachel Held Evans books, I probably don’t need to tell you that, yes, you’ll want to read this one. If you haven’t read any of her books, this would be a great place to start. Many of the posts (essays!) were written before her books were published, but they also give a great overview of the topics that she wrote about in her other published books. This brings her thoughts together, and the tributes alongside show that she powerfully affected people’s lives in good ways.

You couldn’t ask for a nicer tribute than this lovingly collected volume.

rachelheldevans.com
harpercollins.com

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Review of I Don’t Wish You Well, Jumata Emill

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Mystery, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

I Don’t Wish You Well

by Jumata Emill
read by André Santana and five more

Listening Library, 2026. 10 hours, 7 minutes.
Review written June 9, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I Don’t Wish You Well is a novel about a teen journalist digging into an old murder case for a school project. When I realized that, I almost stopped the audiobook right there, because I’ve seen that basic plot before, and often it has felt like artificial motivation. I’m so glad I kept going. This book has lots of heart and plenty of layers of complexity in both the mystery and the multiple social issues behind the murders. Plus, the protagonist, Pryce Cummings, was a kid I grew to love – and his deeper motivation quickly became clear.

The novel opens as Pryce is on his way home after his Freshman year of college, where he’s a journalism major and has gotten some good articles published. He’s a little sore that he wasn’t chosen as a summer intern in the journalism department, even though that’s unheard of for Freshmen.

But he sees a comment on an article about a five-year-old murder case from his hometown – that maybe Douce, the Black gay teen everyone thought was responsible, didn’t murder the four football players after all. So Pryce pitches to his professor that he’ll investigate the murders while he’s home for the summer and do a podcast in the Fall.

Sure enough, when he interviews the commenter on his way home – he learns that the alleged murderer – who was found dead with a gun in his hand and evidence in his room – actually was hours away on the night of the first murder, but the police would never listen to his testimony.

Pryce has a personal interest in clearing that boy’s name. He is also gay, but not out to his parents. The whole town sees the murders as proof that being gay is depraved and sinful. Maybe if Pryce finds out the truth he can change the narrative.

And so Pryce begins asking questions. And begins finding things out. It turns out that the four football players who were killed had dark secrets in their pasts – and reasons many people may have wanted them dead. But if that happened, why did they kill and frame Douce? And why didn’t the police follow up other leads?

Since this is happening in a novel, we’re not actually surprised when Pryce’s investigation puts him in danger. The original killers wore a Trojan mask (used to celebrate the town’s football team), so it’s unnerving when Pryce starts seeing a shadowy figure wearing a Trojan mask.

Besides that, it’s Pryce’s brother’s senior year coming up – and he’s planning to lead the team to a winning football season. The football fans in town, which is pretty much everyone, aren’t happy about Pryce stirring up old ghosts.

The title? That’s because most people in town don’t actually want to know the truth. So they don’t wish him well in his efforts.

Once again, my summary doesn’t do this book justice. I was a little impatient with the set-up, but the book quickly got rid of all my skepticism. The case was much more than a class project to Pryce and besides the compelling investigation, he uncovered issues about power dynamics in a football town, about racism and sexism and marginalization of gay people. And it’s all woven together in a story about a kid you come to love.

jumataemill.com

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Review of Legends and Lattes, by Travis Baldree

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Legends and Lattes

by Travis Baldree
read by the Author

Macmillan Audio, 2022. 7 hours, 19 minutes.
Review written April 15, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I discovered Travis Baldree from an interview in Writer’s Digest Magazine. When they described his books as “cozy fantasy,” I decided to try them, and I am completely delighted. When I read this one, I wished I had started with it, instead of the prequel, Bookshops and Bonedust – which in the Epilogue gives away a bit of how things turn out, so I wasn’t in as much suspense. But it was a minor thing and didn’t ruin my complete delight with this book.

Legends & Lattes is about an orc woman named Viv who gives up the sword-for-hire life and settles down to start a coffee shop – in a city that’s never heard of coffee.

In her last adventure with the band of mercenaries, her only payment was an artifact that is supposed to bring good fortune. But she’s got a lot of obstacles – an old shop to renovate, some way to drum up business, and people to work with. The people she does find are what make the book especially delightful. There’s a gnome who does construction, a succubus to help run things, and a ratkin who makes amazing pastries to go with the coffee.

But Viv also has to deal with the syndicate running the city and someone who seems to be after her artifact. Will everything fall apart if she loses that token of good fortune?

I enjoyed the way the gnome called coffee “bean juice” and Viv’s explanation that “Latte” was named after the person who invented it. Viv’s got some insecurities trying to be a business owner after years of using force to do things. And definitely has to deal with other people seeing her as a stereotype. Getting to know all the characters in this book was as delightful as eating a chocolate croissant.

travisbaldree.com

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Review of Charts for Babies, by Michelle Rial

Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Charts for Babies

by Michelle Rial

Abrams Appleseed, 2026. 36 pages.
Review written June 2, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

This book makes my mathematical heart happy! Mind you, I’m the mom who, frustrated when grading third-semester calculus papers, taught my small children the chain rule of calculus. (Just the pattern, not anything about the concepts behind it.)

This book, too, gives small children some patterns – and maybe they’ll notice some concepts. But that’s kind of not the point.

It’s all light and happy with pages in rainbow colors and rhyming text. And we see things in charts. Here are a couple of examples of the text in spreads:

This is wide.
This is narrow.
This is a line.
This is an arrow.

And of course that’s accompanied by an appropriate chart. Here’s another:

This is a block.
This is a stack.
This is a duck.
The duck says, “Quack Quack!”

The charts are all pretty much that simple, with some excuses to give hugs at the end.

And then on the final end papers, we get a key to the types of charts used – in a chart: Venn diagram, column chart, dumbbell chart, area chart, scatter plot, bubble chart, matrix, pie chart, bar chart, sound wave chart, timeline, decision tree, line chart, concentric diagram, spiral graph, and key. That last box is wonderfully self-referential.

So you see – they will learn something! It’s all clever and fun. What is a chart, after all, but a visual representation of something, a way to understand it at a glance? I always love a read-aloud that parents will enjoy, too, and this one is 100% fun!

michellerial.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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