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phillyhart4.bsky.social
Philly 🇵🇸 🍎
@phillyhart4.bsky.social
2.3K followers 6.7K following 1.2K posts
Researching Educational Isolation to understand impact on schools. Education, social justice, disability, ME/CFS, neurodiversity, LGBTQ, books, medieval history, all things Nordic. She/her. Views mine.

[banner photo: candle burnt down, looks like a crown]
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phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The memoir 'Black Boy', published in 1945 and about racism, by Richard Wright. The book describes Wright's life growing up in Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee because he moved to Chicago.
The 75th anniversary edition of 'Black Boy'. The title and author's name are in bold, white Times New Roman capitals across the top of the cover, title above author's name. The image is a close up photo of one side of a Black boy's face. His hair is short and the eye shown is black. The image has a yellow tint down one side, blue in the middle and red on the other side.
November 27, 2025 at 5:58 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The award winning sci-fi novella 'The Tea Master and the Detective', by Aliette de Bodard, described to me as a Sherlockian, Asian space opera. Got this for my birthday, and I can't wait to finish the current books I'm reading to begin this one!
Cover of the novella 'The Tea Master and the Detective'. The title is in black, bold letters at the top of the cover, slightly off-centre, with the author's name below in much smaller lettering. There's a thin Asian woman with her dark hair up and an elaborate hairdo. She's wearing pale pink, blue and white clothing that looks like a robe or kimono with a white collared shirt with a light grey cross pattern under it. She's leaning against a large, round window through which the viewer can see a small mechanical spider at woman's elbow and a large, distant submarine that looks like it's floating in a sea of peach, pink, pale yellow and black with white stars at the top. There are also a couple of small adult bodies floating as well.
November 26, 2025 at 6:43 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The 2019 graphic memoir 'Gender Queer: A Memoir', exploring gender identity and sexuality, by Maia Kobabe.
The cover of the graphic memoir 'Gender Queer'. The top half shows a drawing of a young white man with short, brown hair and hairy legs standing up to his calves in water and against a mustard yellow background with a few clouds. He's holding his rolled up trousers up above his knees. He's looking down into the water. The bottom half shows an upside down drawing of a shirtless person with long, brown hair and clean-shaven legs - presumably the same person - also standing in water. The pool or lake they're in is in a forested mountain area and they sky is blue. Here, the person is wearing mustard yellow swim trunks or shorts and nothing else. Their arms are stretched out partway to their sides, they're smiling and they look freer.
November 25, 2025 at 8:03 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The dystopian novel 'The Marrow Thieves', by Cherie Dimaline. A novel with Indigenous Canadian protagonists, about global warming, dreaming and madness.
Cover of the book 'The Marrow Thieves'. The title is at the bottom of the image, in yellow capital letters, with the author's name above it in white capitals. Against a navy blue background with white flecks in it, there's a picture on the left side of the cover of half the face of a indigenous person - perhaps male because he seems to have slight upper-lip facial hair - with long, straight, black hair, dark eyes, and a white streak of paint down the cheek. Down the right side of the cover are 5 circles in white or gold, all of which indicate nomination for or winner of an award.
November 24, 2025 at 7:30 PM
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Today's art: The coming-of-age novel 'Man o'War', about an Arab American trans swimmer growing up in a small town in Ohio, by Cory McCarthy.
Cover of the novel 'Man o'War. The image is of a young man mostly underwater in what looks like a pool, with only his mouth and head above the water and wearing a white t-shirt. The left side is blue and purple, the right peachy-pink and skin coloured and white. There's a label on the cover stating this is a Stonewall Honor Book.
November 24, 2025 at 12:50 AM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The award-winning novel 'Darius the great Is Not OK', by Adib Khorram, about an Iranian-American teenage boy who travels to Iran when his maternal grandfather gets very ill.
Cover of 'Darius the Great Is Not OK', written in bold, plain capital letters in the middle. The first three words are white, the last three light blue. The words are set against a washed-out red background at the top, while about two-thirds of the way down, this changes to a brown and black view of the town with a few blue roofs where Darius stays in Iran. We can see Darius and another man in grey and black from behind as they look out at the town from a rooftop, one wearing a dark denim jacket, the other in a lighter-coloured hoodie.
November 22, 2025 at 9:44 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The Memoir 'Being Jazz: My Life As a (Transgender) Teen', by Jazz Jennings. She wrote the book when she was 15, and it's seems to be a good resource for other trans children and teens, reminding them they're not alone.
Cover of the book 'Being Jazz', the title of which is written in large, white bold, simple letters across the middle, and the subtitle in small, white, letters that look handwritten below. These are superimposed on a photo of Jazz wearing a pair of cutoff denim shorts and a pinkish-red, thin top that seems to have two layers: the bottom is a strappy, fitted tank top and the top is long-sleeved, lacy, floral-patterned and see-through. Jazz herself is photographed against a plain grey background. She has light brown skin and waist-length, ever-so-slightly wavy dark brown hair. She's smiling broadly and her hair is partially covering one side of her face. Her name, as the author, is at the very top in simple capital letters the same colour as her top.
November 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The graphic novel 'Flamer', by Mike Curato, which deals with toxic masculinity, homophobia, suicide ideation and struggles of identity.
Cover of the novel 'Flamer'. Against a white background, there's a drawing of a boy with dark, curly hair and wearing white t-shirt is holding up his right hand. He has 3 fingers up with his thumb and little finger down, in a Boy Scout salute. He's wearing fabric bracelet on this wrist. The boy is in amongst large red, orange and yellow flames, and the title is in bold, white capitals that simulate flames. The author's name is in smaller black, bold capitals below the title.
November 20, 2025 at 4:40 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The historical YA novel 'Out of Darkness', by Ashley Hope Perez. Set in 1937 Texas, the novels tells the story of a Mexican girl attracted to a Black boy. It deals with racism, classism, segregation, love, family and those living on the margins of society.
Cover of the YA novel 'Out of Darkness'. The title is in 'informal', capital letters bear the top. We can see the profile of a Mexican American girl's head on the left and a Black boy's head on the right. She has black eyes and long, black hair braided in pigtails starting near her ears. He has short, black hair, dark skin and black eyes. They're looking intensely into each other's eyes. The background is mostly deep red with dark grey at the bottom and what looks like a black pillar of smoke between them. The book won an award from the American Library Association.
November 18, 2025 at 4:47 PM
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Today's art: 'There Are Rivers in the Sky', by Elif Shafak. Got this book for my birthday, and very much looking forward to reading it!
Cover of the book 'There Are Rivers in the Sky', by Elif Shafak. The cover is mainly royal blue and cream. There is a large, blue teardrop shape in the centre of the cover, with the title at the top of this in capital gold letters, and the author's name in larger, white capital letters at the bottom. The teardrop is enclosed in an wide, oval outline in blue with small, white, daisy-like flowers against the blue. There's also what looks like gold rain inside the oval, as well as a quote by Ian McEwan: 'A unique and powerful voice in world literature'. Outside the oval are other designs in blue and white - floral and geometric patterns, tendrils, etc.
November 17, 2025 at 2:44 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The dystopian novel 'Coldwire' by Chloe Gong.
Cover of Chloe Gong's novel 'Coldwire'. The author's name is in large, capital, neon fuchsia letters and the title in large, capital, neon aquamarine letters across most of the cover. The background is of a high-rise cityscape at night with what looks like neon aquamarine water streaks at the bottom. The tagline 'Everybody wants to rule the world' is visible, as is the information that Gong is a NYTimes bestselling author.
November 17, 2025 at 12:03 AM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: the graphic novel 'Bingo Love', by Tee Franklin, and Joy San and Jenn St-Onge (illustrators). A story of forbidden love between two girls / young women, spanning generations, with their story as older protagonists told. Good to see these demographics represented.
Cover of the graphic novel 'Bingo Love'. The title is in white capiutal letters at the top, with the 'o' in in bingo as the number 63 bingo ball, and the 'o' in love as a red heart. The cover shows two females in three difference scenes, as children, as young adults and as older women. One woman is Black, short and stocky. The other woman is tall, slim and perhaps Asian or mixed race. In the first, they're roller skating and chatting; in the second, they're sitting on a park bench kissing; in the third, they're sitting next to each other playing bingo.
November 15, 2025 at 7:20 PM
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Today's art: 'Ocean's Blood', by the lovely Thelma Mantey. Very excited about this novel!
Cover image is of an otherworldy, androgynous person with long, flowing, black hair and white, tendril-like designs all over them. The title is at the top in large, white, plain capital letters, with the author's name above that in the same font, but smaller. At the bottom, it says 'Book 1 of the Drowning'. The background is navy blue, the colour darkening as it goes lower down the cover. From the top left it looks like there are rays of white sunlight spilling downwards at a slight angle.
November 14, 2025 at 3:32 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: 'Parable of the Sower', by Octavia Butler. Still so relevant.
Cover of Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Bulter. The cover is dark teal with bold, writing in gold capital letters. The image in the middle of the cover is of a Black woman wearing a scoop-neck black top. Her arms are bent at the elbow, and she's holding her open hands by the sides of her chest, palms facing forward and two smallest fingers somewhat curled in, almost in a gesture reminiscent of prayer or blessing in medieval iconography. There's a small ball floating in front of her chest just below her collarbone, and the ball looks like a very small Earth. Behind her can be seen a sky with stars and perhaps a moon, with what looks like fire on the horizon.
November 12, 2025 at 1:09 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: the horror novel 'Hazelthorn', by CG Drews. This sounds like such a good read!
Cover of 'Hazelthorn', by CG Drews. The image is of a person, maybe a man from the chest up. His head looking up sharply, lips slightly parted, hair falling back away from his face. There are thorny vines covering his eyes, with blood dripping down his face. The vines wind around his face and head, and one is around his neck, a thorn piercing the side of it. He's wearing an olive green woollen jumper that blends in with the vines around him. There are a few small, pale flowers among the thorns, and the background is the colour of papyrus. The title Hazelthorn is written in a Gothic-like, white font at the bottom, with the authors name is smaller lettering below.
November 11, 2025 at 1:06 AM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: 'Why Fathers Cry at Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Recipes, Letters and Remembrances', by Kwame Alexander. I have high hopes for this look at navigating relationships through the author's personal experiences.
Cover of 'Why Fathers Cry at Night', by Kwame Alexander. The background is black. The title is in bold, purple capital letters at the top and the name in similar white ones at the bottom. The letters in 'CRY' are thicker than all the others. The sub-title, 'A Memoir in Love Poems, Letters, Recipes, and Remembrances', is in much smaller, yellow capital letters below on the left of the title. The books is by a New York Tomes bestselling author.
November 9, 2025 at 6:22 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
For #Caturday (just), Indy's chilling in the hallway, without a care in the world.
A pale ginger tabby kitten lying on his side on the top carpeted step of three in a hallway. The front half of his body is off the top step and above the one below; it's not lying on its side but upright, so that he's twisted 90 degrees in the middle. His front paws are stretched outward and down, resting on the next step. He's looking directly in the camera with a slightly quizzical expression, as if to say, 'What? Isn't this normal?'.
November 8, 2025 at 11:06 PM
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Today's art: the middle-grade novel 'Ghost Boys', by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Jerome, a young Black boy from Chicago, is shot & killed by a police officer who thinks Jerome's toy gun is real. It includes the character of Emmett Till as a ghost, & deals with themes of racism & socio-economic injustice.
Cover of 'Ghost Boys'. The background is red and shows a young Black boy's face from the bridge of his nose up. He has short hair and is looking upwards. Above his head are silhouettes of streetlights and traffic lights which seem to branch into the space above the street. The title and author's name (Jewell Parker Rhodes) are written in white, the title across the middle of the book in large, mostly capital letters, the name at the top in smaller letters. At the very top, Angie Thomas, the author of 'The Hate You Give', is quoted, saying 'A must read'.
November 8, 2025 at 4:05 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: The sci-fi comic 'Monarch', by Rodney Barnes and drawn by Alex Lins, about orphaned city children who find a foster family and have to fight to save it.
Cover of 'Monarch', which is written in bold, capital deep sky blue letters down the left side of the cover. The colour from top to bottom goes from the same vivid blue, getting paler as it moves toward the middle, to primary red at the bottom, which is lighter red in the middle. There are three names above the title, all in small, thin, white, capital letters: Rodney Barnes, Alex Lins (artist) and Luis NCT. The image shows three Black children, perhaps pre-teen or young teens, in an urban area standing in front of an old, brick building with a large broken window. The ground is littered with paper, broken wooden planks and sticks. There's a chain fence in the foreground. The children are dressed casually - jeans, t-shirt, sweatshirt, trainers, sandals. One has a backpack on, wears glasses and holds a metal pipe or bar, wielding it in self-defence. Another has a large, full, cross shoulder bag. Her long hair is pushed back off her face and held in place by a hairband. The third is a step behind the other two. They are all looking at someone straight ahead with surprise and perhaps fear.
November 7, 2025 at 1:59 PM
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Today's art: 'The Poet X', by Elizabeth Acevedo. I remember hearing about this book some time ago, and I'm looking forward to reading it.
Cover of the book 'The Poet X', which is written in a bold white font that looks handwritten in the middle of the cover on the left side. The title is in the hair of the beautiful Black woman on the cover. Her hair spreads out from her head in a dark mass, and around the edges it looks like splotches of black paint. This makes it look like an afro. The top of the cover is a a very pale grey colour, and down the right side of the cover, the book is pale pink, light orange, yellow, white and a little bit of dark pink / almost red. The woman's neck has some of these colours on it, and her face has writing across it, which seems to be wafting rightwards across the mixture of colours. There's a bird's head, perhaps a mockingbird, that can be seen in the colours, and 'A NOVEL BY ELIZABETH ACEVEDO' is written in black, bold font. Across the top of the cover towards the left side there's a quote by Laurie Halse Anderson, author of 'Speak' and 'Chains': A story that will slam the power of poetry and love back into your heart.
November 7, 2025 at 1:22 AM
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Today's art: 'Gabi, a Girl in Pieces', by Isabel Quintero.
Cover of 'Gabi, a Girl in Pieces', by Isabel Quintero. The image is one of different parts of a young woman's body, seemingly taken from different women and making up an approximation of a girl. Some of them are living: a dark eyebrow, small section of hair and dark eye in brown skin looking upwards; a wide, red-lipped smile; an arm with a white bracelet and simple ring; a full chest and shoulders wearing a red, shoulderless top; the upper thighs of a pair of legs. But there are also others: a skeletal torso against a red background; another arm but skeletal and against a red background; a large heart outside the torso, with an arrow in it. All of this is against a greenish-yellow, patterned background. There are 3 red books behind the girl's arm with the jewellery, a red and white bag of chips next to her eye and mouth, and a brown item at the bottom below the skeletal arm. A yellow piece of paper looks as if it hangs from the ribcage, reading: 'Gabi [next line] A Gordita (this is crossed out) [next line] A Fatgirl (this is also crossed out) [next line] A Girl in Pieces'. [next line] Below a dashed line is the author's name.
November 5, 2025 at 2:29 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Indy is still living up to his name!
Pale ginger kitten squeezed into the small space between the thin wooden shelf below the mirrored bathroom wall cabinet and the cabinet itself. His big, fluffy, stripey tail is quite spectacular, making us wonder if he's part red panda, lemur or raccoon.
November 4, 2025 at 7:07 PM
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Today's art: the YA novel 'Cemetery Boys', by Aiden Thomas.
Cover of 'Cemetery Boys' by Aiden Thomas. The background is deep red, with a pale yellow moon at the top and an androgynous dead person in it. The person is missing some skin on their head and their skull can be seen in places, and their chest and hands are skeletal. They're wearing a dark robe-like garment with a hood and floral 'crown', and their arms are outstretched by their side. The main image on the cover is two young, good-looking men with dark hair cut short, dark eyes and strong features. The one in front is wearing a light-coloured collared shirt, jeans and an earring, and he's holding a cream-coloured, carnation-like flower. He's looking up and seems angry or very focused. The man behind him has his back to the man in front and is looking at him over his shoulder. He's wearing a dark garment, perhaps armour, with a full, white, shawl-like collar. His expression is wary, maybe suspicious. They are standing among what might be gravestones.There are 4 lit church candles amongst the gravestones and petals from a flower seem to be falling around them.
November 4, 2025 at 3:25 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: 'Last Night at the Telegraph Club', by Malinda Lo. This one is on my wish list for my birthday!
Cover of the book 'Last Night at the Telegraph Club', by Malinda Lo. It shows an urban street with lots of neon signs, and a couple in the foreground on the right standing under a streetlight. The design, cars and clothes look similar to those of the 1950s. The various signs on buildings are in English and in a far east Asian font. The street has buildings of 3-5 stories, some with far east Asian decorations in the architecture, especially near the top. In the background are much taller buildings, and the sky above them fades from brownish-orange to a dark pink to deep purple with stars in it.
November 3, 2025 at 2:01 PM
phillyhart4.bsky.social
Today's art: 'Model Home', by Rivers Solomon. Looking forward to reading this.
Cover of 'Model Home' by Rivers Solomon. Green cover with bold, thick, capital font for the title in black at the top, with the author's name in green at the bottom against a black background that represents a hill. On the hill stands a black, 3-storey house with white shutters and windows. The top floor has 3 dormer windows, and there's a chimney on the left side. There's also a giant spider on top of the roof. One window on the middle floor is yellow, presumably the light is on? There are two quotes about the book, one on either side of the house: 'Intense, original and wonderfully unpredictable' (Victor Lavelle) and 'A disturbing, brilliantly twisty psychological horror exploring family dynamics, memory, gender identity and sexuality' (The Guardian).
November 2, 2025 at 3:01 PM