Russell, Rachel, and Rachael welcome guest Chrislyn Gardner, Youth Services Librarian, to discuss Summer Reading, literary favorites, and childhood memories.

Books we discussed include:

• “The Rose Code” by Kate Quinn
• “A Chair for My Mother” by Vera B. Williams
• “The Vingananee and the Tree Toad: A Liberian Tale” Retold by Verna Aardema
• “The Monster at the End of this Book (Starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover)” by Jon Stone
• “Each Peach Pear Plum” by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
• “The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat!” by Stan and Jan Berenstain
• “I Am a Bunny” by Ole Risom and Richard Scarry
• “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” by Judi Barrett
• “Sealed with a Kiss” by Beth Ferry
• “Leonardo, the Terrible Monster” by Mo Willems
• “Big Pumpkin” by Erica Silverman

The reading challenge continues into May with graphic novels. A lot of titles get discussed on the show.
The many, many books we discussed include:

• “Strange Fruit: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History” by Joel Christian Gill
• “Stamped From the Beginning: A Graphic History of Racist Ideas in America” by Joel Christian, adapted from the novel by Ibram X. Kendi
• “March” by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
• “MacBeth” by Gareth Hinds - a graphic novel adaptation of the play by William Shakespeare
• “Birds of Prey: Terrifying Talons, Science Comic Series” by Joe Flood
• “Ironheart: Meant to Fly” by Eve L. Ewing
• “Silk: the Life and Times of Cindy Moon” by Robbie Thompson
• “Captain America: The Ghost Army” by Alan Gratz
• “Redwall: the graphic novel” by Brian Jacques
• “The Invasion: The Animorphs Graphic Novel, Book One” by Katherine Applegate
• “The Witches: the graphic novel” by Penelope Bagieu, adapted from the novel by Roald Dahl
• “Animal Farm: the graphic novel” by Odyr, adapted from the novel by George Orwell
• “Kindred: the graphic novel” by Octavia Butler
• “This One Summer” by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
• “Roaming” by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
• “Pumpkinheads” by Rainbow Rowell
• “Heartstopper” by Alice Oseman
• “Skyward” by Joe Henderson
• “Wings of Fire: the graphic novel, Book One: The Dragonet Prophecy” by Tui Sutherland, adapted by Barry Beutsch
• “Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Creation of D&D” by David Kushner
• “Living with Mochi” by Gemma Gene
• “Meal” by Blue Delliquanti, Soleil Ho

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael welcome Riley, the first guest star, to the show to discuss some of her favorite books and tell a few fun stories.

Books we discussed include:

• “Starling House” by Alix E. Harrow
• “Ten Thousand Doors of January” by Alix E. Harrow
• “Midnight Library” by Matt Haig
• “Weyward” by Emilia Hart
• “Storm Front” by Jim Butcher - Dresden Files Book 1
• “Iron Flame” by Rebecca Yarros
• “Black Beauty” by Anna Sewell
• “Because of Winn-Dixie” by Kate DiCamillo
• “We Were Liars” by E. Lockhart
• “A River Enchanted” by Rebbecca Ross
• “Dungeons and Drama” by Kristy Boyce
• “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” by Victoria Schwab
• “Claus: Legend of the Fat Man” by Tony Bertauski

Rachael, Rachel, and Russell explore the world of poetry. The Rach(a)els share very moving poems while Russell opts for pirates.

Books we discussed include:

• “The Crossover” by Kwame Alexander
• “Good Different” by Meg Eden Kuyatt
• “The World’s Wife” by Carol Ann Duffy
• “You Better Be Lightning” by Andrea Gibson
• “Where the Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstein
• Nick George the Poet
• “The Rose that Grew from Concrete” by Tupac Shakur
• “For Everyone” by Jason Reynolds
• The Collected Works of Nikki Giovanni
• “The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country” by Amanda Gorman (read at President Biden’s 2021 inauguration)

Rachel, Rachael, and Russell discuss the library reading challenge and reading literature written by female authors.

Books discussed in this episode include:

• “She Gets the Girl” by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick
• “The American Queen” by Vanessa Miller
• “The Which Way Tree” by Elizabeth Crook
• “Legend” by Marie Lu
• “The Other Black Girl” by Zakiya Dalila Harris
• “Arsenic and Adobo” by Mia P. Manansala
• “The Wishing Game” by Meg Shaffer
• “The Girl Who Drank the Moon” by Kelly Barnhill

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael introduce the new podcast and point out that listening to audio books is still reading.

Book we discussed include:

• “Who Owns This Sentence?: A History of Copyrights and Wrongs” by David Bellos
• “Heroes: A Novel of Pearl Harbor” by Alan Gratz
• “North Woods” by Daniel Mason
• “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” by Walter Mosley
• “The Golden Spoon” by Jessa Maxwell