Polly Farquhar

@pollyf

Author of LOLO WEAVER SWIMS UPSTREAM (2023), ITCH (2020), some short stories. No dairy, no tree nuts, no peanuts, no sesame, all the books. She/her. www.pollyfarquharauthor.com

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Polly Farquhar@pollyf· 19d

Watching the Tour de France has reminded me of one of my very favorite books for kids, THE ADVENTURES OF A GIRL CALLED BICYCLE by Christina Uss. It's original and so much fun. #TDF2026 #Booksky

Book cover for THE ADVENTURES OF A GIRL CALLED BICYCLE by Christina Uss. Image is a girl on a bike, leaning forward and pedaling. There's a horse and jockey following, and some pigs! Read to find out why!

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· 26d

What middle grade reader wouldn't love a book about a garbage? 📚👍

Book cover image of LANDSLIDE by Betty Culley. A giant brown mountain of garbage (a dump) looms behind a red house. A kid on a bike is in foreground. The word landslide is a on a diagonal.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Jul 9

Thanks to #Booksky, I read this book at the start of the summer. 100% recommend, especially if you're white, if you need a history refresher, if you know slavery was awful and you're facing a world that wants you to forget that. It's history book, but will help you think about now.

Cover of book THE HALF HAS NEVER BEEN TOLD: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist. Cover image is a black and white filed of cotton.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Jun 20

If you're currently into algae, have I got the kids' book for you! Bad infrastructure requires the partial drainage of a man-made lake, and algae ensues! Also, some great kids who love a dog. bookshop.org/p/books/lolo... #BookSky #Algae

Book cover for LOLO WEAVER SWIMS UPSTREAM by Polly Farquhar. Brightly yellow canoe in greenish water. A dog sits at the head of the canoe, two kids behind him. One paddle.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Jun 19

Did not write The Sweetest Kind of Fate, either.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Jun 19

I remember reading A PET FOR PETUNIA to my kids and loving it, but I didn't not write it! Nor did I write Mabel Opal Pear and the Rules for Spying.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Jun 19

But it's also wrong (no OCD in ITCH):

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Jun 19

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Jun 16

Seriously? Also, let us contemplate "senior" here. Blarg.

"Here I was, the most senior Catholic in the US government, and the Vatican seemed unwilling to move its moral guidance past the point of platitudes," Mr. Vance writes. From https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/16/us/politics/jd-vance-communion-book-takeaways.html but why did I waste my life reading it??? I have better things to do.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· May 21

I believe in and support the United States Postal Service, but WTF?

Screen shot of USPS tracking, showing an item arriving and then departing (presumably) the same distribution center, over and over, sometimes simultaneously. The first city listed is actually pretty much its destination. Then it went to Cleveland. Go figure.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· May 11

📚👍My most recent #kidlit middle grade read: the delightful NO VACANCY by Tziporah Cohen. An upstate NY book with a Virgin Mary apparition (or not)-- felt tailor made for a young me.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Apr 16

Same, Bluesky, same.

Screen shot of Bluesky page when it failed to load. Red banned with an exclamation point reads "Not Enough Resources."

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Apr 7

Absolutely complete coincidence that I've had this book out for MONTHS, not a coincidence that I read it this weekend:

Cover image for graphic novel THE COMPLETE PERSEPOLIS by Marjane Satrapi. A bright red background with a picture of a girl with a defiant expression being grabbed/scolded by two women who are robed head to toe.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Feb 17

📚👍THE MOON WITHOUT STARS by Chanel Miller is (no surprise) an excellent, A+, 💯 of a book, just dead-on perfect for that #MG and #YA gap. Seventh-grade narrator! Read it, too, if you're a former kid, and read it if you're a writer.

Cover of book The Moon without Stars by Chanel Miller. Doodly images of maxi pad, alien, poppy, cracked egg, etc. Center image is girl holding a book, background is 2 kids walking with backpacks. This is a fabulous book!

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Feb 13

Can't ever go wrong with Rebecca Stead. I loved her new book and give it bonus points for Calvin and Hobbes references! 📚👍

Cover image for book The Experiment by Rebecca Stead. Two boys with their backs to us sit up high, looking out over NYC. Boy on left is in a red puffer coat. Boy on right is in a hoodie, with a long tiger-like tail extending out from it.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Jan 23

Here's another book to meet the moment, the amazing ONE CRAZY SUMMER by Rita Williams-Garcia. Bonus: if you don't know much about the Black Panthers, you'll learn. 📚👍

Cover of book ONE CRAZY SUMMER by Rita Williams-Garcia. Has a lot of awards stickers, including a Newbery Honor! Image shows three Black girls in walking across the street. They are sisters and in order of height, oldest to youngest, who carries a doll. Their dresses are colorful with geometric print; the city street is a peachy, summery, orange.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Jan 5

THE GENIUS UNDER THE TABLE by Eugene Yelchin is one of my favorite books, and so I wasn't surprised to be engrossed + moved by his new YA graphic novel, especially as a cold war kid myself. (Oh, yeah, and everything hits differently rn.) 📚👍 #booksky

YA Graphic novel by Eugene Yelchin (we know he's a great writer + artist, but did you know he's the guy behind the polar bear Coca Cola ad??) Image is gray scene of building in Leningrad. A m/f couple stands with their backs to us, holding hands. Drab color scheme interrupted by woman's pink coat and boots, then striped scarf around young man's neck.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Dec 9

📚👍Loved the wonderful THE UNEXPECTED LIVES OF ORDINARY GIRLS by @jandersoncoats.bsky.social for many reasons, but especially as a love letter to libraries. 👀that second paragraph! #kidlit #library #IdWearATeeShirtWithThat

Pic of passage reading: "The only other place I can think of that's even close to this is the church, but the church wants you to kneel. The library wants you to stand tall. It even gives you a step stool to reach the highest shelves."

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Dec 1

For historical fiction (kidlit? adult? marketed as both?) that resonated for me, as I was about the same age as the main character, also in upstate NY, I put forth TELL THE WOLVES I'M HOME by Carol Rifka Brunt.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Nov 27

Here's my MG book about a boy who itches, lives in rural Ohio, and has an after school job at a pheasant farm. It's got a little college football happening! And a tornado! An Ohio Grassman cameo! #Booksky bookshop.org/p/books/itch...

Book cover of ITCH by Polly Farquhar. A blue gray sky with a shadowy tree and a crescent moon. Hanging in the tree is a red bicycle. Silhouette of barn in silo in background.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Nov 26

Looking for a book for a kiddo who loves dogs? It's short (169 p)! It's funny! There is goose poop! "Not since Ramona Quimby has a character marched right out of a book with so much bravado, humor, and heart."--Barbara O'Connor #booksky bookshop.org/p/books/lolo...

A graphic of book cover LOLO WEAVER SWIMS UPSTREAM on an weathered wood background, showing quotes from reviews and that it is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. The pulled review quotes say good things like dog lovers will like this book, that it is face-paced, and Lolo "all but leaps off the page."

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Nov 26

This is from the FAQ from my area Blessing Boxes. I appreciate its clarity.

Screenshot of a Q and A. Bolded questions: What if someone takes all the food from the box? Answer: Then they must have needed it. This is a judgment-free project. You can't steal things that are free.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Nov 21

Coming in a little sideways perhaps. . .THERE'S ALWAYS THIS YEAR by Hanif Abdurraqib

Cover of THERE'S ALWAYS THIS YEAR on Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib. Image is a basketball hoop with a young black boy sitting atop it.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Nov 1

I'm reading SOMETHING IN THE WOODS LOVES YOU by Jarod K. Anderson now and loving it. So thoughtful + just full of sentences that are straightforward and gobsmacking and the same time. Oh, and the best part? The nature is common Ohio nature! #booksky #memoir

Cover image for SOMETHING IN THE WOODS LOVES YOU by Jarod K. Anderson. Beautiful cover with a dark background with lighter, sort of illuminated depictions of a creek scene with dragonflies, frogs, lilly pads, jumping fish, a bird. Heron is central image. Feel like I should be able to compare this style to something--a tapestry??--but I'm drawing a blank.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Oct 8

Friends, the best chocolate chip cookie recipe is in this cookbook. Fat + Flour by Nicole Rucker. (Classic soft oatmeal chunk cookie. But I'm only 2 recipes in, so this could change!) #ColdButterMethodWhoKnew

Cover of cookbook Fat + Flour The Art of the Simple Bake by Nicole Rucker. Background is pink, with 3 piles of cookies in foreground. Look to be varieties of choc chip cookies!

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Sep 15

SCATTERGOOD by H.M.Bouwman is such a fantastic novel! It's children's literature--upper MG--but you know what? It's an excellent book, period. Messy, imperfect characters in a hard world, but beautiful all the same. 📚👍

Cover image of book SCATTERGOOD by H.M. Bouwman. Image is a girl walking toward a big boarding-school type building against the backdrop of an orange and yellow sky. A flock of black birds is flying across the top of the image.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Sep 5

New thing for old people to learn: Wedding Content Creator.

Screen shot with headline reading "Wedding content creator" and a bit of text underneath reading "Can anyone recommend a talented wedding"

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Aug 29

#booksky Reasons to read Neko Case's memoir: 1) It's great 2)She makes great music 3) Maybe you too were a 70s kid + remember some KISS poster in a friend's brother's room + you were a little kid + u couldn't look at it bc SATAN 4) You were once a child 5) You are a human being 6) Lines like this:

Pic of page of text from Necko Case's book THE HARDER I FIGHT THE MORE I LOVE YOU with this highlighted line: "Loving someone else's art can give you a ride at least halfway to where you are trying to go. Even if you don't know where that is yet." Wowza.

Cover pic of NEKO CASE's memoir titles THE HARDER I FIGHT THE MORE I LOVE YOU. COver image is a young girl in a bathing suit holding an orange cat. Behind her is a cut out/black image of a wolf with an open mouth and sharp teeth.

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Aug 17

Looking for one last summer read? LOLO WEAVER SWIMS UPSTREAM is a cool 169 pages, so you + your kiddos can still squeeze it in! (Unless you're my kids, who start school tomorrow. They're in HS now (!!) so I guess they technically could finish it before school...) #booksky 🐕🐟🛶🦨🐕 #kidlit

Book cover of LOLO WEAVER SWIMS UPSTREAM by Polly Farquhar. Cover image is 2 kids in a yellow canoe with a good doggo in a lifejacket. The lake water is murky and green. Blurb from Barbara O'Connor reads: "Not since Ramona Quimby has a character marched right out of a book with so much bravado, humor, and heart." I like to think she's right! LOL

Polly Farquhar@pollyf· Aug 9

Loved Ann Braden's INTO THE RAPIDS! Less than 200 pages and still full of action and heart. Oh, and I love a canoe book! 📚👍 #kidlit #booksky (I also love a book set in VT and a girl who can swing an axe.)