Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest Adrian Nester, English Department chair at Tunstall Highschool, and self-admitted library girlie. We discuss cutting edge reading technology such as audiobooks on cassette and magazines on sticks, our newest idea for a party bus for reading(™), and the importance of formats like audiobooks and graphic novels to make reading accessible and enjoyable for all.

Books/Authors we discuss include:

• “Nancy Drew Mystery Stories” series by Carolyn Keene (a pseudonym for various ghostwriters, notably Mildred Wirt)
• “Sweet Valley Twins” series by Jamie Suzanne, created by Francine Pascal
• “Horse” by Geraldine Brooks
• “The Marriage Portrait” by Maggie O’Farrell
• “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
• “Their Eyes Are Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
• “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë
• “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” by Thomas Hardy
• “Tuck Everlasting” by Natalie Babbitt
• “Goosebumps” series by R.L. Stine
• “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones
• “Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders” by Vincent Bugliosi
• “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad
• “They Called Us Enemy” by George Takei, illustrated by Harmony Becker
• “Vanity Fair” by William Makepeace Thackeray
• “Patron Saints of Nothing” by Randy Ribay
• “Knuffle Bunny” by Mo Willems

Russell, Rachael, and Rachel discuss the May Reading Challenge to read books that we MAY or MAY NOT have read in the past. This could include books you lied about for an assignment in school, books you’ve been too embarrassed to read, or books you just cannot remember if you have actually read. We chat about the delightful discoveries we made delving into books we may have missed in the past!

Books/Authors we discuss include:

• “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy
• “This Is How You Lose the Time War” by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone
• “Old Yeller” by Fred Gipson
• “Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls
• “Pippi Longstocking” by Astrid Lindgren
• “Anne of Green Gables” by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• “One Heart To Win” by Johanna Lindsey
• “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White
• “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmond Rostand
• “The Courtship Plan” by Kathleen Fuller
• “Walden or, Life in the Woods” by Henry David Thoreau
• John Muir

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest Bailey Cline, Program Coordinator at Ballou Recreation Center and our certified number one fan. We discuss finding your way back to reading despite the responsibilities of adult life, the joy of audiobooks, and our strong opinions about movie adaptations.

Books/Authors we discuss include:

• “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister
• “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” by Judi Barrett, illustrated by Ron Barrett
• “How To Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay” by Jenny Lawson
• “I Know What You Did Last Summer” by Lois Duncan
• “His & Hers” by Alice Feeney
• Freida McFadden
• “The Menagerie” Series by Tui T. Sutherland, Kari H. Sutherland
• “Your Baby’s First Word Will Be DADA” by Jimmy Fallon
• “The Night Before Christmas” allegedly by Clement Clarke Moore
• “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Dr. Seuss
• Carl Hiaasen
• “The Green Ember” series by S.D. Smith, illustrated by Zach Franzen
• “Hamlet” by friend of the pod, William Shakespeare