#DWJMarch: Hexwood

Jacket Blurb: When Controller Borasus receives a strange letter from Earth he is both curious and alarmed. Someone has activated an ancient machine and is using it for most trivial purposes. Surely no one would dare to tamper with Reigner seals in this way? Yet the effects of such interference resonate throughout the universe, so he decides to go to Hexwood Farm to investigate…

On Hexwood Estate, Ann watches the mysterious comings and goings with interest. She knows something deadly is going on – or is Hexwood simply altering her too?

If you were cooking up stories and experimenting with mixing recipes, and for some reason you used both fantasy and science fiction, mixed in some Arthurian legends, bits of dystopia and portal fantasy, a pinch of Norse mythology, and then gave it a nice thick glaze of escape rooms, you would wind up with something very like Hexwood.

Yes, I love it.

Some Tips on Reading Hexwood

• Keep a character list as you go along. A lot of characters have more than one name, nicknames, or are going under a fake name.
• Keep track of timelines??? I mean it’s pretty much impossible, but make a list of anything weird or contradictory you notice about how time is passing, how different characters remember (or don’t remember) certain events, etc.
• Don’t trust any of the characters. Pretty much all of the characters in this novel are supremely confident that they know what’s going on and what’s real. Most of them are wrong at least once.

Of course, you can ignore all of the above tips and still enjoy the book, so if you would rather do that, go for it! The first time I read Hexwood I had no idea what was happening most of the time, and it still became one of my favorite books. Peeling back the layers of what’s going on, both in the plot and with the characters, is really well-paced and structured and it just MAKES ME REALLY HAPPY, OKAY?

Also did you know you could rebel against tyranny by keeping everyone well-stocked on thrift clothes? Hexwood will show you how!

Truly Horrifying Hexwood Covers

 

That one with Mordion in the red coat will give me nightmares.

#DWJMarch: Howl’s Moving Castle

I’ve read Howl’s Moving Castle at least twenty times, but this time it was on audiobook! Now it’s my new favorite way to reread this book too many times.

Jacket Blurb: Sophie has the great misfortune of being the eldest of three daughters, destined to fail miserably should she ever leave home to seek her fate. But when she unwittingly attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste, Sophie finds herself under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady. Her only chance at breaking it lies in the ever-moving castle in the hills: the Wizard Howl’s castle. To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Along the way, she discovers that there’s far more to Howl—and herself—than first meets the eye.

I haven’t heard this narrator, Jenny Sterlin, before, but she did an outstanding job. When I read this book I usually hear the voices from the Ghibli film (even though that makes no sense) but Sterlin’s voices for Sophie, Howl, and Calcifer especially were spot-on based on their descriptions in the book.

I was absurdly pleased by Howl’s Welsh accent, even though obviously he should have a Welsh accent and if he didn’t it would be INCORRECT. Concept: Welsh Howell Jenkins reading the dictionary. We could make billions. 

The other standout audio moment was when Sophie is yelling “Be daffodils!” in a rage (Sometimes you just have to work out your anger through botanical experiments resulting in weedkiller). Sterlin’s delivery cracked me up.

I’ve talked about my favorite quotes from this book in another post. “What a stupid way to treat a building!” is my current favorite exclamation. But there are just so many good one-liners that it’s ridiculous, and hearing them was so much fun.

 

In other March Magics news, I’ve started listening to Year of the Griffin and I’ve started rereading Fire and Hemlock, but I’m not sure if I’ll finish either/both of them this month. I’ll most likely do another post later this week on Hexwood (which I finished) but I’m not sure what, if anything, else.

#DWJMarch: Dark Lord of Derkholm

Happy Day 9 of Social Distancing. The locals are very restless, but Diana Wynne Jones’ books are keeping them from rioting. For now.

Kit is looking fine.

I listened to the audiobook of Dark Lord of Derkholm, thanks to hoopla, narrated by Gildart Jackson. I’ve previously listened to Dracula by the same narrator, so that was a little jarring at first, but I really like his narration and voices.

The only exceptions were some of his creature voices. The narrator chose a sort of nasal, bird-like voice for the griffins, which I understand in principle, but in practice it can be unpleasant to listen to after a while. He gave the dragons and demons very gravelly, scrape-y voices, so those could be a little tiring too.

Jacket blurb: Everyone – wizards, soldiers, farmers, elves, dragons, kings and queens alike – is fed up with Mr Chesney’s Pilgrim Parties: groups of tourists from the world next door who descend en masse every year to take the Grand Tour. What they expect are all the trappings of a grand fantasy adventure, including the Evil Enchantress, Wizard Guides, the Dark Lord, Winged Minions, and all. And every year different people are chosen to play these parts. But now they’ve had enough: Mr Chesney may be backed by a very powerful demon, but the Oracles have spoken. Now it’s up to the Wizard Derk and his son Blade, this year’s Dark Lord and Wizard Guide, not to mention Blade’s griffin brothers and sisters, to save the world from Mr Chesney’s depredations.

I know I keep saying this about all the DWJ books I’ve read this month, but it’s been a few years since I first read and loved this one, too. The most surprising parts for me this time were how Dark it is (even though that’s literally in the title) and how upsetting the Derk/Mara subplot is! Fortunately, all works out in the end. Sort of. Except for all the bodies. There are a lot of bodies.

I honestly can’t believe how MUCH is packed into this book. It’s simultaneously a) deconstructing the entire post-Tolkien epic fantasy genre; b) introducing at least 8 main characters; c) giving each of those characters subplot growth arcs; d) introducing and explaining all of the different fantasy races and their subplots; e) satirizing the modern world and modern colonialism; f) criticizing modern habits like the glorification of violence, subjugation of peoples for their own good, racism, classism, etc etc etc.

Somehow Dark Lord of Derkholm succeeds juggling all of its many balls. And it’s fun and magical, too.

***

I hope March Magics is going well for you all!

I’m currently listening to Howl’s Moving Castle (via Library2Go), and then I’m going to listen to Derkholm’s sequel, Year of the Griffin (back to hoopla).

#DWJMarch: wandering through Hexwood and other bits and bobs

I’m rereading Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones for the first time in years. I’m about a hundred pages in and trying to a. remember everyone of importance that’s been mentioned, and b. figure out all the other people they are.

So far this reading is making more sense than previous readings, but we’ll see how it goes. I know there’s layers and layers of shenanigans and I’m only on the top layer.

How is March Magics going for you all? I’m on a social media break so I’m sure I haven’t seen lots of fun DWJ-related things, but I recommend this Howl’s Moving Castle-inspired poem by krobats. I also found this thoughtful post from Emerald City Book Review on A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett and The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones.

#DWJMarch: Everard’s Ride

At last he heard murmurs of “The Prince,” “His Highness, the Prince,” “Your Highness,” and looked up at the dais. The boy he had fought on the island was standing there, with his hands on his hips, looking down at him in astonishment.
“You again,” the Prince said. He had the most beautiful black eye. Or rather, by this time it was not black any longer, but blue and purple and yellow, with red around the edges. “My goodness,” Alex thought, “I did hit him perfectly.” Most of his fear and embarrassment vanished. He was so pleased with that eye that he smiled broadly, and put his hands on his hips too. “Yes,” he said. “Me again.”
“Good!” said the Prince. “Good.” To Cecilia he sounded quite murderous. He stared at Alex in a dreadful, satisfied way, which turned Cecilia cold and faint. Alex stared back, admiring that black eye, cocking his head sideways, almost as if he had painted it on the Prince’s face with the finest of brushes.
The Count of Gairne stepped up onto the dais and interrupted their looking at one another. “Your Highness, these people were discovered riding about the countryside in direct contravention of your decree.”

Diana Wynne Jones writes a lot of portal fantasy. She grabs children from our world and time and drags them into some other fantastical world, where they are forced to save themselves by doing some magic or starting a revolution or saving Time.

Everard’s Ride is one of these, although a lesser-known Diana Wynne Jones novella. It often feels like a much older book than it is, and it reminds me very much of The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope (1974), which does a beautiful mix of historical fiction, Faerie, and intense claustrophobia. Everard’s Ride is vaguely historical, vaguely Faerie, and all of the characters are extremely trapped, whether it’s physical imprisonment, class differences, or something else that is limiting their autonomy.

Everard’s Ride feels like even more of a throwback to portal fantasy like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, because the kids are from Victorian England rather than our own time, and the rules are sometimes confusing (rather than systematically laid out as in current portal fantasy). When they go to the island, where are they? WHEN are they? What exactly keeps people from going back and forth? Why is harming Outsiders so taboo?

Additionally, many of DWJ’s most-used tropes aren’t present. For example, the weirdest part for me is the lack of a terrifying matriarch (whether good or evil). The closest we get is the mother of our outlaw hero Robert, and although she is a Countess, she is trapped more than any of the other characters. The timeline (TIME ZONES) can be tricky to figure out, but not anywhere close to the thorny tangle of, say, Hexwood.

This novella is one of Diana’s darker stories, too, with a lot of blood shed before it’s through. Most of the characters who suffer the most in this book don’t deserve it (although the villains certainly get their comeuppance), and while injustice is a very common theme in DWJ, it is more brutal in this story than some of her others. Honor/dishonor is the big binary between the villains and heroes here, but it takes some time to figure out who is behaving with honor, because SURPRISE motivations are complicated. it takes a while for the heroes to find each other and connect, because of the lens each of them is bringing to bear on the situation, and none of them have the full vision of what’s going on.

Not to worry, there is still plenty to keep us entertained in spite of the darker bits. Both the children from England and the children from the island are likable, empathetic characters, and the suspense over their fates is well-paced. There’s a romance, and a bromance, and Hugo Arbard’s subplot in this book is the perfect mix of hilarity, horror, and relief that Diana does so well.

This was my second time reading Everard’s Ride, and while it isn’t as classically Diana as some, it didn’t let me down and is a really fun ride in its own right.

#DWJMarch: Eight Days of Luke

Reasons Eight Days of Luke is the best Loki story ever:

• shapeshifting to make life more convenient
• mortals are much more reasonable than gods
• or do i mean more adorable
• fire is pretty
• woden is the smartest dumb person
• what is gender
• exploitation goes in all directions
• unintentional consequences because i was distracted by the fire
• amoral doesn’t equal evil
• it doesn’t equal good either
• yay fire
• this escalated quickly

I am not taking questions at this time.

#DWJMarch: The Islands of Chaldea

“But I’m so short,” I said. “Riannan’s nearly as tall as you.”

“Quite a beanpole,” Ogo said impatiently. “If you’re determined to think of yourself as an ugly midget, go ahead. But don’t expect me to sympathize.”

I finished the Islands of Chaldea, by Diana and Ursula! This was my first time reading it, and I found it delightful. I was half-expecting a DWJ version of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but I was both wrong and incorrect in that expectation. The Islands of Chaldea was very much its own thing and very Diana.

I am very curious about where Ursula took over the story. Her afterword explains that the manuscript broke off partway through, and Diana never kept notes for her stories, so Ursula had to just figure it out and make it happen. My tentative guess is that Ursula started writing around chapter XI, because at that point the story starts getting a little too tidy and the different open threads start gathering themselves up a little too easily. Diana’s stories always seem chaotic and messy until the very end, where you realize everything was inevitable all along, so the tidiness of the last few chapters of this book stood out to me.

(If any of you have read this book and have a theory on where Ursula started writing, let’s chat because I love hearing opinions on this.)

In Diana’s stories, a lot of the real magical work is always left up to the children, and so there’s often a high number of bad and/or incompetent adults. This was still the case in the Islands of Chaldea, but there was actually more than one good adult, too! I especially loved Aunt Beck. She reminded me of an older, somewhat more arrogant and bitter Sophie Hatter (the story explains why by the end). I could definitely picture Sophie acting like this and making these choices, if she were in this situation. Finn the monk was another good adult character and I loved his pure observations on everything. He did not get distracted by drama.

I never expect romance in Diana’s books, and then I’m always surprised if/when there is one. No spoilers but the romance in this book was freaking cute, and I loved Aileen’s “Ah yes, I have chosen him to be my husband, it is known, let it be thus” attitude.

There’s a good sense of the history and mythology of Chaldea, thanks to the main characters essentially taking a walking tour of the islands. I would love some more stories about this world, especially about the bards of Gallis and the Guardians of the islands. And the Land of Lone! The set-up is good enough for another quartet like Dalemark. Alas.

Overall, I was surprised by how coherent this book was (since it was an unplanned collaboration), and pleased with how much magic, humor, and fun was smashed into one small book.

***

Next up: Eight Days of Luke! It’s been years since I’ve read this one but it’s a favorite.

#DWJMarch: Reflections on Reflections

Happy Diana Wynne Jones March! #DWJMarch and #MarchMagics are hosted by WeBeReading.

I cheated a little bit and reread Reflections, Diana’s collection of essays, last month. I encourage you to read it if you like her work, if you’re a writer, or if you’re a reader of fantasy. There is a big variety of topics in the book, but most of the pieces are focused on writing, Diana’s life, and books/reading.

If you want to learn about Diana herself, my favorites in this collection are:

• Something About the Author
• The Girl Jones
• Halloween Worms
• A Day Visiting Schools

They have lots of humorous anecdotes (and not-so-humorous) about her childhood and about her professional life. You can spot a lot of connections to things in her stories, too (especially Time of the Ghost!).

If you’re a writer or you want to know more about Diana’s process, my favorites in this collection are:

• The Heroic Ideal: A Personal Odyssey
• A Talk About Rules
• Answers to Some Questions
• Two Kinds of Writing?
• Writing for Children: A Matter of Responsibility

“The Heroic Ideal” goes into detail on the structure of Fire and Hemlock, which I find one of her most perplexing books. I always think of it as the “Tam Lin” book but as she explains, she drew from a LOT of stories as well as her personal life to write this one. “A Talk About Rules” and “Answers to Some Questions” are just fabulous insights on how to tell a good story and craft it. “Two Kinds of Writing?” and “Writing for Children” explain why she mostly wrote for children, and discusses how formative childhood books are and why that’s both amazing and dangerous.

In addition, I really enjoyed these two essays, which are directed specifically toward young writers:

• Our Hidden Gifts
• Characterization: Advice for Young Writers

They’re helpful for older writers too! She’s sneaky like that.

Last but not least, if you’re a fan of the Lord of the Rings you absolutely have to read:

• The Shape of the Narrative in the Lord of the Rings

It’s one of the best structural analyses of these books, and it’s fun to read because Diana is both respectful of Tolkien’s genius and critical of his weaknesses.

The ones I’ve listed above are only a smattering of the pieces in this collection, and it’s well worth reading all the way through.

***

As a more general #DWJMarch update, I’ve begun reading the Islands of Chaldea and it is, unsurprisingly, delightful.

#DWJMarch 2020!

I will once again be participating in #DWJMarch (also known as #MarchMagics), hosted by WeBeReading, in which we read and celebrate the books of Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett. I will only be posting about it here on my blog, as I’m taking a social media break next month. I am planning to post one or two times a week with quotes and thoughts about whichever book I’m reading.

I’ve been rereading Reflections (Diana’s collection of essays and other nonfiction) this month already, so I am raring to go! Diana Wynne Jones is one of my all-time favorite authors, and I am always excited to read her work and talk about her to whoever will listen.

I have quite a few DWJ books I would like to reread, but I’m sure I won’t get to them all. I haven’t read Islands of Chaldea before, so that will be a first-time read for me. In order of priority, here are the books I will be choosing from:
Islands of Chaldea
Eight Days of Luke
Hexwood
Everard’s Ride
The Lives of Christopher Chant
Charmed Life
Conrad’s Fate
The Pinhoe Egg
Aunt Maria
Fire and Hemlock
Earwig and the Witch

Thanks to Hoopla, I have access to the audiobooks of Dark Lord of Derkholm and Year of the Griffin, so I will be listening to those in between other things.

Are you participating? What are you planning to read?

 

Other Diana Wynne Jones-themed posts by me:

What I Owe to Diana Wynne Jones

The Women of DWJ: Howl’s Moving Castle

Howl’s Moving Castle Quotes, Relevant to Many Occasions

The Turn of the Screw: Ch. 19-24

Here we are, at the end of our winding way through the maze of The Turn of the Screw. Based on some of your reactions on Twitter, I’m going to start by saying that this book is expertly ambiguous, I warned you at the beginning of the readalong, and I am still puzzling over certain parts of this story (especially the end). If you want simple answers, or even just ANSWERS, you might be out of luck. But let’s work through it and see where we are at.

Previously on TOTS: at the end of chapter 18, Butch Governess and the Grose Kid realized Flora had escaped the house while Miles was distracting them with his pianist wiles. Chapter 19 stresses me out because it evokes the panicked kind of searching one does when one is searching for a child, when said child has run off in a park or disappeared in a grocery store. TG and Mrs. Grose find Flora, who is incredibly unrepentant, similar to when she sneaked out of bed earlier, and similar to Miles when he sneaked outside the house. Flora is not bothered by everyone else’s panic, instead “smiled as if her performance had now become complete.” which again evokes relief/anger mix when after your panicked search you find the kid harmlessly playing nearby.

TG’s bias is very strong in this chapter, because we’re swept up in the idea that Miles is off with Quint and Flora is with Jessel, but we don’t see any actual proof of it. For example, she claims, “They say things that, if we heard them, would simply appal us.” HOW DO YOU KNOW, TG? And then when the boat is missing, she says that “Our not seeing it is the strongest of proofs”, which really sums up her argument throughout this book. The absence of witnessing something horrible is stronger than actually witnessing it, if you have hints or knowledge of it happening.

Even once Jessel has appeared (in chapter 20), it isn’t clear whether she’s been with Flora or just come onto the scene. TG is elated: “She was there, so I was justified; she was there, so I was neither cruel nor mad.” However, to TG’s disappointment, Mrs. Grose can’t (or won’t?) see Jessel, and Flora can’t (or won’t?) see Jessel. TG is the only one who A. can see Jessell and B. admits to seeing her. Do you think Mrs. Grose can see and is lying, or that she can’t? What bond does TG have that enables her to see the ghosts? Is it because she’s replacing Jessel? Is it because she’s emotionally close to the kids? Or, is TG just crazy and Jessel isn’t even there?

Personally, I think the book supports the idea that the ghosts are real. But it’s definitely a mess and could go several ways. If Jessel IS there, and Flora CAN see her, Flora’s grouchiness and rejection of TG is especially vicious; TG sees her as “hideously hard” and “common and almost ugly.” If TG is crazy, too many things in this story don’t add up and/or go unexplained. But I would also believe that Flora’s mere disagreement with TG would destroy her angelic beauty in TG’s eyes, because TG’s opinions are rather polarized that way.

Flora is so wound up by her outside adventure, TG’s sighting of Miss Jessel, and TG’s accusations to Flora, that the little girl makes herself sick. But is it from fear of TG’s insanity, or fear that TG will interfere with Jessel and Quint? According to Mrs. Grose, Flora is saying vicious, precocious, adult things about TG, which would support the idea that at the very least Flora was under a real bad influence in the past, and at the worst that Flora is currently under the influence of ghost Jessel and/or Quint.

“It’s beyond everything, for a young lady; and I can’t think where she must have picked up-“

“The appalling language she applies to me. I can, then!”

TG assures Mrs. Grose not to feel bad if she feels deceived by Flora, because “You’ve the cleverest little person to deal with.” The way TG talks about the kids is odd; sometimes she places all of the blame on the ghosts working their will through the kids, but sometimes she talks as if the kids, under the influence of the ghosts, are using their agency to be terrible awful sinners. Maybe she herself is confused on this point. In any case, she’s ludicrously happy that Flora is showing her true colors, so to speak, because “It so justifies me!” TG wants to put a stop to Quint and Jessel, but she also wants to make sure that she stands out as the one who hasn’t done anything wrong. Even though in the previous chapter, she admits to having lost Flora to Jessel, she agrees with Mrs. Grose to send the little girl away, in the hope that the ghosts’ influence will dissipate. I’m really not sure of the effectiveness of this plan.

As pertains to Miles, Mrs. Grose has identified that Miles must have taken the letter which TG wrote and left on the table to be sent to the employer. After all, noooooooo one else in the house has motivations to keep things from the employer (right? Right??). TG still wants to save Miles, which she can’t do by taking him away from the house because REASONS, I guess? DISCUSS.

 

“If he confesses he’s saved. And if he’s saved-“

“Then you are?”

TG has her own salvation, or perhaps value in the eyes of the world/Mrs. Grose/her employer, wrapped up in what happens to the kids. So at this point in the story, TG feels that she knows everything that is going on with the ghosts, and her main goal is to get Miles to confess or to admit what is going on, and that he isn’t a perfect child but has been operating behind her back. If TG succeeds at this, she will have saved Miles because his facade will have dropped and the ghosts will have nothing to hide behind.

Miles returns from his own adventures in chapter 22, and TG is ready to have it out, but first they have to have a really awkward dinner with lots of vague table talk. TG has decided that her only hope lies in “taking “nature” into my confidence and my account, by treating my monstrous ordeal as a push in a direction unusual, of course, and unpleasant, but demanding after all, for a fair front, only another turn of the screw of ordinary human virtue.” In short, what she’s saying is that she can’t react to this whole crazy situation by freaking out, or running away, or treating it like a joke or a trick. She has to react to it like she would any other difficult situation, rationally and with compassion, but realizing that it will test her to the limits.

I think what makes me especially suspicious of Miles at this point is how chill he is about his sister coming down ill and being sent away with no warning. It seems like a normal kid, especially one as close to his sister as he is, would be really worried and ask a lot of questions. But they have a very calm civil dinner, and TG is very proud of herself for acting so normal and saying that Flora’s “journey will dissipate the influence” of her “illness” i.e. the ghosts. I don’t think I agree with her strategy of forcing everything to be normal as much as possible, in the hope of tricking Miles into giving her information. Why isn’t it okay to at least ask straightforward questions???

Chapter 23 really drives home that TG and Miles are queen and king of the land of vagueness. They talk about how “the others” are here with them, but they could be talking about the servants OR the ghosts. I think Miles especially is enjoying the vagueness and weird undertones. When TG asks Miles if he likes the freedom he has at Bly now that he is ignoring his lessons with her, Miles “stood there smiling; then at last he put into two words–” Do you?”–more discrimination than I had ever heard two words contain.” Pretty cheeky, but also interesting when you think about how free TG is at Bly. She’s one of many children to a country parson, and this is her first time away from home and independently making money. She’s also very free in terms of the kids – they don’t need or want her, and she can do whatever she wants, if she wasn’t so concerned with “saving” them.

All right, chapter 24. So here we are: Flora hates TG but is gone; Mrs. Grose still somehow believes in TG but is gone; TG wants to save Miles; Miles is feeling real chill about everything.

If we look at the “action” only:

• Peter Quint shows up at the window
• TG distracts Miles by grabbing him and hugging him
• Peter Quint disappears from the window
• Miles looks out of the window, removing himself from TG
• Quint shows up again
• TG grabs Miles again
• Miles struggles to get free and see who is there
• TG leaps at the window
• Quint disappears
• Miles looks out the window but sees nothing
• Miles dies

Miles is described throughout the chapter as struggling to speak or breath, and as “feverish.” It’s unclear if this is because TG is physically restraining him or because psychologically he is struggling to free himself from TG and/or Quint.

As far as things we learn through the dialogue: Miles admits to stealing the letter to his uncle, ostensibly to find out what TG was saying about him. Miles admits to “saying things” to boys at school he liked; I have no idea what that means but I assume he is a budding sociopath, due to Quint’s influence. Miles asks, “is she here?” and doesn’t disagree with TG when she names “she” as Miss Jessel. You could argue Miles meant Flora; but I’m not sure why he would be so desperate. Once Miles asks, “It’s he?” TG pins him down to admit that Miles means Peter Quint, whom he has not mentioned or named once up to this point.

Miles doesn’t seem to actually see Quint at any point in the scene. TG successfully keeps him from doing so, possibly because Quint is more powerful when Miles knows he’s there. I’m not sure how TG’s physical presence gets Quint to leave, while at the same time Quint’s absence kills Miles.

Of course, there’s the alternate reading, in which TG is completely deranged and kills Miles through a combination of terror and physical assault. I don’t quite buy this, but I really appreciate that the book can simultaneously support two wildly different interpretations.

What do you think? Which reading do you think is better supported by the story/characters/dialog/action? Or is there a third option that I’m not addressing? If you haven’t read the comments on these posts, I encourage you to read a very interesting theory that Kim commented on an earlier post. I’m sure there are others you might come up with.

Thank you for joining me on this readalong!