The fourth Sunday of July is National Parents' Day. (Oh, shush up -- it is too a real thing!) Established in 1994, this is a day for “recognizing, uplifting, and supporting the role of parents in bringing up their children.” At Family Reading we extend that to include all caregivers, especially now.

There was no global pandemic in 1994, and the various pressures -- in this moment -- on families is off the charts (and believe those medical charts!). As I continually remind my kids, we are living history. While there may no substitute for real-life physical contact -- or under-12 vaccinations...yet -- here are some feel-good articles, interviews, and reviews all about familial love and parental appreciation -- and about giving ourselves a break.

2021 Summer Reading list

Ask Family Reading: Non-wicked stepparents

Mothers' Day 2021

Doing things with Dad 2021

Happens to the best of us

Oge Mora's 2020 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award speech for Saturday

Five Questions for Isabel Quintero and Zeke Peña about My Papi Has a Motorcycle

Five Questions for Alice Faye Duncan about Just like a Mama

Lift Every Voice: "'Four Women' and Me" by Jason Reynolds

Lift Every Voice: "Dreams Never Realized" by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Varian Johnson's Boston Globe–Horn Book honor speech for The Parker Inheritance

"Pocketful of Memories" by Kitty Flynn

“Words for Flora’s Mother (and Other Imperfect Parents)” by Megan Dowd Lambert (May/June 2014)

“The Adventures of Mommy Buzzkill” by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (March/April 2009)

A Chair for My Mother: Vera B. Williams’ Boston Globe–Horn Book Award acceptance speech