Crystal Brunelle
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librarygrl2.bsky.social
Crystal Brunelle
@librarygrl2.bsky.social
2.3K followers 1.2K following 570 posts
I’m an elementary teacher librarian, avid reader, tea drinker, and co-founder/YA blogger at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/. I also post on a personal blog readingtl.blogspot.com & Storygraph at crystalreading. (she/her)

#kidlit #ethnicstudies
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librarygrl2.bsky.social
Very happy to see Graciela in the Abyss by Meg Medina on display at the local indie bookstore this weekend. #booksky
The book Graciela in the Abyss by Meg Medina is in a display on a shelf in the bookstore. There is a girl underwater with a few fish swimming about. There are palm trees at the shore off in the background.
September 14, 2025 at 5:57 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
Im looking forward to singing along 😊🎶 #kpopdemonhunters
Three young woman are smiling and wearing white and black outfits and white boots. There are walls of windows behind them and there is a night cityscape with little pockets of neon pink glowing here and there. Under that image is text that says news. A special Kpop Demon Hunters sing-along event is headed to a theater near you.
August 20, 2025 at 4:41 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
Yesterday we got to hike by the ocean for a bit. Always makes my heart happy.
Ocean waves hitting rocks on a rocky coast. Fog above with a little bit of blue sky.
August 11, 2025 at 12:40 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
Trying to finish reading Robot Salvaje before school starts. I have 80 pages left. It will be the first full length chapter book I’ve read in Spanish. I picked it because the chapters are short & many of my students read it. I’m usually a speedy reader so this has been an exercise in patience.
Cover of Robot Salvaje. Illustration is from the movie and shows a large robot holding a tiny bird in one hand. A fox is looking at the bird.
August 11, 2025 at 12:05 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
It’s really neat to be able to go to an intensive Spanish program in this beautiful place though we are inside a lot of the day.
Sunset over mountains in background. Nearby are waves of Lake Tahoe hitting rocks. Sign for Lake Tahoe Community College with pine trees and building behind it. Blue sky with a few wispy clouds.
July 29, 2025 at 4:44 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
So excited to get a copy of Leo’s First Vote by @soontornvat.bsky.social today at a Teaching Civics conference. We’ll have a whole lesson about using it in elementary classrooms too. 😊 #booksky
Cover of book Leo’s First Vote. Young brown skinned child holding a ballot up in one hand and a ballot box in the other.
July 8, 2025 at 5:02 PM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
I’m finally reading Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa and see so many connections to current events amidst the adventure. Quite a page turner but also would love to hear students discuss this one. 📖 #booksky #middlegrade
Book cover of Pilar Ramirez. Shows young girl holding onto a vine while swinging through a forest. She has brown skin and dark brown thick curly hair. She’s wearing rectangular glasses, jeans, a t-shirt and purples tennis shoes. Her mouth is open in surprise and there are three monsters with open snarls looking at her from the ground and a menacing bird flying above. There is also a woman on another vine in the background.
June 27, 2025 at 2:42 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
Happy book birthday to Until My Memory Fails Me: Mindfulness Practices for Cultivating Resilience & Self-Compassion in the Face of Cognitive Decline by Sharon Lukert. #booksky
Hand holding book in front of the bookstore window of The Avid Reader. The cover background is calm water with blue and white clouds above.
June 4, 2025 at 4:42 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
I really appreciate the Bay Area Book Festival making time and space for so many excellent author panels. #booksky Thanks @berkeleypubliclibrary.org
Five people on a stage next to a screen that shows the title All Bodies All Selves. Author Zetta Elliott, Maya Kobabe, Sarah Peitzmeier, Seems Yasmin and a moderator are looking at each other.
May 31, 2025 at 7:16 PM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
And here are the gorgeous spredges of @authorgracelin.bsky.social for all to admire. #booksky #middlegradelit #kidlit
My hand holding the books sideways to see the ends of the paper. They are sprayed red with details of a dragon, a ball, and many clouds painted in yellow.
May 10, 2025 at 10:59 PM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
Went to the bookstore before wandering down to the festival and have been stopped and asked about The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon by @authorgracelin.bsky.social many times. The spredges get soooo much attention. All want to know more about it and of course I gush about it. 😊 🐉 #booksky
Holding two copies of the gate the girl and the dragon. Shows a girl to the left of a stone dragon with a ball in its mouth. There is a golden dragon along the right side. There is a large red gate behind with a green roof.
May 10, 2025 at 10:45 PM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
We read En cada vida in my Spanish class today. So beautiful. #kidlit #booksky @marlafrazee.bsky.social
Cover of book is golden with sunlight shining through trees. A person is pushing a stroller and a young child is running ahead on the path.
April 29, 2025 at 1:12 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
I had a nice time at the UC Davis Powwow. Our school district Title Vl program coordinator and a few other folks had a table with some of their books and a few from one of the school libraries I work at. I love seeing great books out and about. #booksky
Table with native blanket as tablecloth. Title Vl brochure, book called q̓apkiǂ, another book My Heart Fills with Happiness and another called Notable Native People are all on the table.
April 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
My final bookish activity of spring break was making a book collage inspired by the work of June Daskalakis readingtl.blogspot.com/2025/03/slic... #booksky
Collage that has images of books, a quote from Peter Rabbit, the word mindful, the definition of commas, the definition from a dictionary of literary and a few other related words. There’s also a quote that says books let you travel without moving your feet by Jhumpa Lahiri.
March 31, 2025 at 5:20 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
It’s a rabbit kind of day. #spring
A vase of purple irises and calla lilies is at the center of a table. In front are two stuffed rabbits and a shallow dish with pink camelias. A mosltly white rabbit is sitting in front of a small animal carrier.
March 30, 2025 at 5:16 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
I found some great titles at the university library today. I had a tour and now can find the Kidit, YA, and graphic novels. Also, educators get free cards. 😊
Cover of Prince and the dressmaker showing one person with braids a dress and an apron using measuring tape with another person who is wearing pants, a shirt, and a cape. Person with short dark brown hair and glasses holding a book. The person is wearing a coat and pants and the skin tone and clothes are all mostly the same light brown color. Behind the person is green water with a mermaid swimming through. Books on a shelf. Spines say Ember in the Ashes, Cemetery Boys, Lost in the Never Woods, the Sunbearer Trials and The Hate U Give. Cover of the book the Moon was ours by Anna-Marie McLemore. Bright yellow moon with gray and blue clouds above below and some slightly covering the bottom of it.
March 24, 2025 at 7:54 PM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
If you see this, quote with flowers from your photo gallery.

#flowerreport

Photo taken in Butchart Gardens, British Columbia last summer.
About 12 daisy like flowers that have purple centers.
February 7, 2025 at 5:53 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
I had forgotten about this page in There Was a Party for Langston by Jason Reynolds and illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey & Jarret Pumphrey. Way too appropriate right now. #kidlit #booksky #freadom
It’s a two page spread with the illustration of a fire. There are black books scattered with words making up the spines. One says some folks think. The next says by burning books. Then another they burn and the final book says freedom. There are letters scattered in the fire some spell out the word free and the word love. The text on the left page says But not everyone understood Langston. Some people thought it was better to be word breakers, thought his spelling deserved yelling, wanted to take words like free and love and cut them in half, pull them apart, keep all the letters from touching and sharing. On the right page it says Keep the big H’s with the little h’s and the big A’s with the little a’s.
February 6, 2025 at 4:42 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
Couldn’t help but note that the chancellor of UC Davis had to explain his job in simple terms for our elementary school and he came up with principal, CEO & mayor of a small city all rolled into one.
A Black man is sitting in a chair with bookshelves behind him and a large window. Words are superimposed saying principal + CEO + mayor
February 6, 2025 at 3:37 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
I am so happy for Chooch! #caldecott #booksky
Cover of book Chooch Helped. Watercolor of two young children. A young girl in yellow dress with stripes around the bottom near knees is standing by with arms crossed and back to a boy standing on a stool in a red cape pouring water from a watering can into an overflowing woven basket.
January 27, 2025 at 6:46 PM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
I got some Woobles beginner packs and started crocheting over winter break. 😊
Two crocheted stuffies are sitting in a sunlit window. On the left is a blue round frog with a smile. On the right is a mushroom with yellow at the bottom and blue and purple glitter thread for the cap. It also has a smile.
January 6, 2025 at 5:39 AM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
Fun care package from friends in Japan has meant so many yummy snacks added to our celebrations this year. #snacks
Many snacks on a table including gummies, pocky, potato sticks, chocolate etc.
January 3, 2025 at 4:32 PM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
And then, we opened our care package from Japan today and found castella that I don’t even have to make. ;) #booksky
Japanese package that shows three slices of castella and says Castella sponge cake in English.
December 25, 2024 at 11:13 PM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
So happy to be part of #MDEAR - Midwinter Drop Everything and Read today and tomorrow. Lauren sent delightful tea along with some great reading. 😊 Thanks @cottonquiltsedi.bsky.social for making this happen.
On a table with a white cloth are a teapot, tea cup on a coaster and a book. The book title is Healer of the Water Monster. In the background are some twinkle lights.
December 25, 2024 at 6:21 PM
librarygrl2.bsky.social
Home to Medicine Mountain is a powerful story by Chiori Santiago about two Maidu brothers sent to a residential school who find a way home. A student drew and wrote about it here. #tlsky #kidlit
The title is centered. Around it there are smaller images. One is a train and says got transported there but…. The next is a house and says not always home. There is an image of a school that says Mission school. A child in a bed says they slept in cots. Another of a building that says in a dormitory. Another shows a child in bed dreaming and says dreams about home. Another is two stick figures with hands in air and says Stanley found a way home.
December 15, 2024 at 7:03 PM