Sunday, May 17, 2026

This Week in Booktube: May 17, 2026
(These are the Booktube videos I watched this week. As always, I encourage you also to check out each of the videos I've linked to down below.  Support Booktube.  And let me know what you've watched this past week.)

Google document: docs, pub

Abby Reads "The Silence of Six" by E.C. Myers | A 5P Review

Randy Ray What Happens if You Quit Social Media and Read Instead

Steve Donoghue Response Video:My BookTube Experience - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!

Marian H Mrs Bridge A Great American Novel

Steve Donoghue Epic Comic Book Wednesday: Superman - The Triangle Era!

Michael K. Vaughan Superman: The Triangle Era

William's Library The Apocrypha (part 4)

William's Library The Apocrypha (part 3)

Steve Donoghue Another Solo Vacation Book-Haul!

jim's books reading & stuff What are YOU Reading Wednesday (52)?

Joseph Francis Burton JFB does The BOOKTUBE NUMBER TAG CHALLENGE..!!

Bucky749 Booktube: Astro City : vol: 2 issue 3 review

Joseph Francis Burton A God Strolling in the Cool of the Evening, Mario de Carvalho - Book Review

Reading is a Skill I'm not sure I get Sapiens
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The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald read by Tamaryn Payne: Review



Started: April 26, 2026




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Saturday, May 16, 2026


A few days ago, my kids came into my room and saw me on the computer while I was reading Freddie Deboer's substack, and they were immediately attracted to the Daffy Duck gif.

They wanted to see more of it, so I indulged them by showing them the full cartoon on Youtube.  And since then, they've asked to see that cartoon again every time they come into my room and see me on the computer.

My kids haven't been exposed to Looney Tunes yet (something that was often on TV when I was a boy) so I thought it might be nice to show them some Looney Tunes on the big TV screen downstairs.


Okay, so we can't find the Looney Tunes cartoon shows on HBO Max anymore, but maybe there would be a Looney Tunes movie, I thought.  So I set about searching.  

Bugs Bunny: Superstar?  Nope, turns out that one isn't available.

The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie?  Nope, not that one either.  

...and right on down the list.  Turns out they've only got a couple of Looney Tunes movies available, one of which is The Day the Earth Blew Up, which I had never heard of before, but it looks like this came out last year.  
Since both I and the kids were in the mood for some Looney Tunes, I was already predisposed to give this a try, but I checked the reviews section on Wikipedia first just to make sure I wasn't wasting my time:  

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 111 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Restoring much of Looney Tunes' quintessential charm with a daffy dose of high energy and inventive gags, The Day the Earth Blew Up goes to show that these iconic characters remain evergreen fun."[43] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[44] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an 89% overall positive score, with 72% saying they would "definitely recommend" it.[41]

Peter Debruge of Variety praised the film for its comedy and emotional core, and felt that the entire project was "crafted with love and a genuine respect for the franchise".[5] Rafael Motomayor of IGN awarded the film a 9 out of 10-star rating. He praised its comedy, emotional core, animation and Bauza's voice performances, and referred to it as "one of the funniest movies of the year".[45]

Yeah, okay, sounds like this could be good.

...and, it was not good.  I made it 15 minutes through the movie before I decided I was out.  I told my kids to enjoy the rest of the movie, but that I was going back upstairs to read my book.
They made it another 10 minutes after I left.
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The Best Game the Fairies Play by Rose Fyleman: Poem

(TESOL Worksheets--Poems ESL Listening)

Transcript: docs, pub
Video: HERE


The Best Game the Fairies Play by Rose Fyleman: poem


Video: https://youtu.be/imlVYl4Q5tw


The best game the fairies play,

    The best game of all,

Is sliding down steeples—

    (You know they’re very tall).

You fly to the weathercock,

    And when you hear it crow,

You fold your wings and clutch your things

    And then let go!

They have a million other games—

    Cloud-catching’s one,

And mud-mixing after rain

    Is heaps and heaps of fun;

But when you go and stay with them

    Never mind the rest,

Take my advice—they’re very nice,

    But steeple-sliding’s best!


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Friday, May 15, 2026

Started: Superman: The Triangle Era Omnibus Vol. 2
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The Decline and Fall of the British Empire: 1781-1997 by Piers Brendon: Book Review


This is part of my so-called "Scripted Review" series, in which I make a Youtube video based on an old blogpost.  For more information on what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE:

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Thursday, May 14, 2026

Aman Park, Tallmadge Township (Spring): Guide to West Michigan

(Travelogues--West Michigan)



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Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Floating Weeds: Movie Review



This is part of my so-called "Scripted Review" series, in which I make a Youtube video based on an old blogpost.  For more information on what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE:
In this case, the old blog post is here: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2014/05/floating-weeds.html


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Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman


And here I am posting about it again.  (I recently used this book with a group of students who to practice their reading.)

So for all that, you would think I was a big fan of this book.  But truth be told, I never liked this book when I was a kid.  I always found it boring, and repetitive, and the ending I thought had very little pay-off.

But, despite my own lack of enthusiasm, it has remained a popular book over the years, and is still in bookstores and libraries everywhere.

And it is good for beginner readers, because of it's simple words and repetition of vocabulary.  Which is another reason I used it.  (In addition just the fact that it was readily available in my school library.)

Supplementary materials:
Kahoot: I found a Kahoot online that worked well with this book.  After my students had read through the book, we played the Kahoot as a reward: Are You My Mother? Kahoot 
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Late Autumn (1960): Movie Review



This is part of my so-called "Scripted Review" series, in which I make a Youtube video based on an old blogpost.  For more information on what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE:
In this case, the old blog post is here: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2014/04/late-autumn.html


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