Hi, I’m Rebecca. I write books and I write here at This Joyful Mess to inspire everyone to find JOY in the everyday messes of life. Here you’ll find inspiration, educational resources, and so much more. Please explore and connect—I’d love to hear from you!
Fire and Brimstone (Journals)
A novel in verse. First person with various voices and stories that weave in and out of one another all culminating in one hate-filled young man’s desire to blow away everyone on his sh@t list. Brilliant, beautiful...
Racial Harmony in Picture Book Form: The Other Side
Beautiful, moving, inspiring. Woodson writes with a lovely, authentic voice and tells a story of hope for racial reconciliation by showing instead of telling. The fence is an obvious metaphor, but the symbolism could easily transcend...
Little Girls in Two Straight Lines: Madeline
Sweet Matisse-like illustrations with a strong plot. Madeline is characterized as being fearless, but she cries at her pain (her appendix!), so the severity of her illness is obvious. Everyone’s concern for her is...
I'm so Frankweilerely Mixed Up!
The story of a girl (and her brother) running away to find herself. The plot is not as tidy as Because of Winn Dixie, which was wonderful. The story is told in Mrs. BEF’s voice and her telling, so smooth and easy, is the perfect way to get inside both children’s heads and facilitates perfectly...
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
One of my favorites from childhood. Simply written but vivid and moving.
Short sentences and accessible vocabulary are used, but this does nothing to slow or dilute the story. Characterization of the narrator, Anna, is not that clearly drawn and Caleb seems emotionally about five, but intellectually...
Old Yeller For Girls: Because of Winn-Dixie
It’s like Old Yeller for girls. DiCamillo writes this story in the adorable 10-year-old voice of India Opal Buloni, the preacher’s kid whose mother ran off when she was three. The story opens with a lonely Opal rescuing a stray dog, who within a day...
A Common Question: Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret
A delightful coming of age story involving controversial topics such as bras, menstruation, and religion.
Margaret Ann Simon’s mother is Christian, her father a secular Jew. Her grandmother, quite an influence in her life, is a devout Jew and hopes to see Margaret become...
A Rare Van Allsburg: The Widow’s Broom
A clever and harrowing tale with a surprise ending. Van Allsburg confronts ignorance in an Aesop’s Fables sort of way. Yet he has a non-traditional twist in that the witch’s broom, normally seen as evil, ends up being good. Illustrations are what one...
Bronzeville Boys and Girls: Poetry and Art
Poems that celebrate childhood.
Brooks’ highly regional poems have universal appeal, transcending race and place. Who hasn’t felt as Rudolph has in, “Rudolph is Tired of the City”? And nearly every child has had...
Three Little Piggies, Take Two (The True Story)
Twisting and turning a traditional story to make something new. Scieszka takes the well-known 3 Little Pigs story and tells it from the wolf’s point of view. Many of the details remain the same, yet the story has new...