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Every Monday, author Beth Dooley and her son Kip have a standing zoom call. On their call, they cook a meal together, without a recipe, using only whatever staples they have on hand. They also talk—a lot!—about limits (real and metaphorical), substitutions, and what it means to ‘make do’ without feeling deprived. In Beth’s words, “it’s not really about being optimistic; it’s about living within our means and allowing what we DO have to spark creativity.” They’ve dubbed their…

Welcome, friends, to the latest installment of 5 Reasons to Teach This Book! In this interview series, we examine what we can learn from Milkweed’s titles by discussing our books with educators, authors, and booksellers. This month, we’re featuring The Blue Sky, a novel that originally joined our catalogue in 2006 but will be reissued this summer as part of the Seedbank series.

The Blue Sky is a tale of family—blood and found—and the distances we travel to preserve our chosen bonds. In fictionalizing his own childhood, author Galsan Tschinag walks readers through the familiar and anxious…

Note: To view the closed captions, click the YouTube logo in the bottom right corner to view the video on YouTube. 

Welcome to the second episode of What Matters Most, a new video series by and for the Milkweed community. This week, poet Su Hwang invites us into her home and reflects on the ideas of interconnectedness and earthly wisdom that are comforting to her. Su also asks us to reflect on how we can sustain ourselves and each other through this difficult time—finding solace in the words of fellow Milkweed author, Robin Wall Kimmerer.

“When I…