Although I am fairly shameless in my love for pop music, I was never a One Direction fan and know very little about Harry Styles other than that he dated Taylor Swift ​and went on holiday with Adele and James Corden recently. But my friend's daughter introduced me to his new album Fine Line, and I'm in love! The music references the 60s and 70s — I can hear little bits of Simon & Garfunkel, the Beatles, and CSNY — with a lovely California vibe. Standouts for me are Golden and To Be So Lonely.

As I've been writing my own children's book, I've been reading about and researching the market, and one of my absolute favorite discoveries is Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall. Blackall is a two-time Caldecott Medal winner, for Hello Lighthouse, which she wrote and illustrated, and for Finding Winnie, which she illustrated. I'm in love with the illustrations in HL — the different ways she shows weather in the water, the nostalgic subject matter, and the color palette. Plus, it's a lovely and gentle story about humans and the changes brought by time. 

Hair Love, an Oscar-winning animated short, packs an emotional wallop into its 7 minutes. I'm always a softie for daddy-daughter stories, and this one is a heart warmer. Also, in a year in which the Oscars was stupidly short on representation of anyone other than white men, this film is a powerful reminder that all kids should — and need — to see themselves in the art and culture around them. I also found it fascinating to discover that the filmmaker, Matthew Cherry, is a former NFL football player who moved into entertainment after retirement to become a director and producer.