Unabridged: A Book Podcast

Readers' Choice Pick - Katharine McGee's AMERICAN ROYALS

In this Unabridged Podcast book club episode, we discuss the readers' choice spring 2020 pick, Katharine McGee's American Royals. We pair it with other books we've loved, including Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians (which we discussed in a film adaptation episode here!), Kiera Cass’s The Selection series, and Melissa Bashardoust’s Girls Made of Snow and Glass. We ended the episode by sharing (confessing?) things that we love to do to relax.
 
Timeline
Intro and Bookish Check In: 00:00 - 06:13
Book Club Discussion: 06:14 - 45:14
Give Me One: 45:15 - end
 
Bookish Check In
Ashley - Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown
Jen - Maggie Downs’s Braver than You Think (out May 12)
Sara - Abby Jimenez’s The Happy Ever After Playlist
 
Book Pairings
Ashley - Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians
Jen - Kiera Cass’s The Selection series - The Selection Book 1 / Complete Box Set
Sara - Melissa Bashardoust’s Girls Made of Snow and Glass
 
Other Mentions
Libro.fm
Hamilton the musical
Our Bookish Turn Offs episode
Our Crazy Rich Asians Book-to-Film Adaptation episode
The Bachelor
Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games
 
Give Me One - One Thing You Do to Relax
Ashley - coloring and lettering
Sara- exercise routine
Jen - reality TV / reading
 
 
Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.
 
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How to Help Young People Keep Reading when School Is Out

This week, we're talking about all of the things that work for us and that have worked for our students to keep the reading momentum going! We talk about favorite authors like Jason Reynolds, Jacqueline Woodson, and Mo Willems, and we share about awesome audio options like Lavar Burton's weekly reading opportunities. To get full access to all of the resources we curated, be sure to sign up for our newsletter where you'll be able to download our guide!
 
Bookish Check In
Sara - Katharine McGee’s American Royals
Jen - Mikel Jollett’s Hollywood Park
Ashley - Cassandra Clare’s Lady Midnight
 
 
 
Mentioned in Episode
AudioFile's Audiobook Sync
Jason Reynolds - Instagram / Library of Congress
Kwame Alexander - Twitter / YouTube
Jacqueline Woodson - Twitter
Lavar Burton - podcast / Twitter livestream
Mo Willems’s "Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems"
Coco Simon's The Cupcake Diaries series
Anne Bogel’s Don’t Overthink It
Scribd
 
 
 
Give Me One - A Worthwhile Purchase during Quarantine
Ashley - Kimberly McLeod’s Fun and Easy Crafting with Recycled Materials: 60 Cool Projects that Reimagine Paper Rolls, Egg Cartons, Jars and More!
Jen - John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series (book 1, The Ruins of Gorlan)
Sara - Canvas set for art projects
 
 
 
Other Mentions
Lego Masters show
Little Fires Everywhere series
Asia Citro's 150+ Screen-Free Activities with Kids
 
 
 
 
Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.
 
 
 
 
 
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For a transcript and book images, click here.
 
 
Please note that we a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Bookish Turn Offs and What to Do about Them

In this Unabridged podcast episode, we're discussing some bookish turn offs we each have and when it's worth it to push past those turn offs (and when to accept them and move on!). We discuss tons of books including some of our collective favorites like John Boyne’s The Heart’s Invisible Furies, Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, and Alan Gratz’s Refugee. While we each have different turn offs, we all agree that there are certainly things that attract us and repel us when it comes to choosing books, and it's fun to discuss what those are!
 
Bookish Check In
Ashley - Abi Daré’s The Girl with the Louding Voice
Jen - Eowyn Ivey’s The Snow Child
Sara - Riley Sager’s Lock Every Door
 
Books Mentioned
Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl
Miranda Popkey’s Topics of Conversation
Kate Quinn’s The Alice Network
Martha Hall Kelly’s The Lilac Girls
Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life
John Boyne’s The Heart’s Invisible Furies
Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold’s The Almost Moon
Alice Sebold’s Lucky
Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train
Blake Crouch's Dark Matter
Tatiana de Rosnay’s Sarah’s Key
Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief
Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See
Janie Chang’s The Library of Legends
Ruta Sepetys’s Salt to the Sea
George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy
Georgia Hunter’s We Were the Lucky Ones
Alan Gratz’s Refugee
 
Give Me One - A Show to Binge
Jen - Locke and Key (book), My Brilliant Friend (book)
Sara - Broadchurch, Cheer
Ashley - Schitt’s Creek
 
Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.
Loving what you see here? Please comment below (scroll ALL the way down to comment), share this post using the social media buttons below (scroll down for those as well!), and find us on social media to share your thoughts.
 
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Click here for a full transcript that you can read while listening provided by otter.ai. For a transcript and book images, click here.

Learn More about Yourself by Exploring Enneagram Books

In this episode, we have a great time discussing what we've each learned about the enneagram. We each chose a book (Ashley chose Millenneagram: The Enneagram Guide for Discovering Your Truest, Baddest Self, Jen chose The Essential Enneagram, and Sara chose The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery) to read that explored the enneagram, and we did our best to figure out our numbers. It was an adventure, and we had fun sharing with you! Stick around for our board game recs during our Give Me One at the end of the episode.
 
Bookish Check In
Jen - Maggie Stiefvater’s Call Down the Hawk
Sara - Ali Wong’s Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life
Ashley - Helen Hoang’s The Kiss Quotient
 
Enneagram Books We Each Read
Ashley - Hannah Paasch’s Millenneagram: The Enneagram Guide for Discovering Your Truest, Baddest Self
Jen - David Daniels, M.D., and Virginia Price, Ph.D.’s The Essential Enneagram
Sara - Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile's The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery 
 
Other Mentions
Free Enneagram Test that Ashley took
Paid Enneagram Test that Sara took
True Colors Personality Test
 
Give Me One - Favorite board game to play with your family
Ashley - Simple Farm Bingo (farm animal bingo), 5 Minute Dungeon, Mancala
Sara - Qwixx
Jen - HedBanz
 
Other Games Mentioned
Spot It
Uno Moo
 
To see a full transcript and listen at the same time, click here to access it on Otter.ai.
 
Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.
 
 
Want to support Unabridged?
 
Check out our Merch Store!
Become a patron on Patreon.​
Follow us @unabridgedpod on Instagram.
Like and follow our Facebook Page.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Check out our Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Follow us @unabridgedpod on Twitter.
Subscribe to our podcast and rate us on Apple Podcasts or on Stitcher.
Check us out on Podbean.
 
Please note that we a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Find Your Way Back to Reading with Comfort Reads

In this episode, we talk about what kinds of reads are bringing us comfort during these challenging times. Sara shares her love of cookbooks like Michelle Smith’s The Whole Smiths Good Food Cookbook, Ashley shares her love of poetry including the grief anthology Kevin Young’s The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing, and Jen shares some great fantasy reads that she's loving including Sarah J. Maas’s House of Earth and Blood. We'd love to know what you're reading that is bringing you comfort! Let us know here or on social media @unabridgedpod!
 
Bookish Check-in
Ashley - Louise Penny’s Still Life
Jen - Susannah Cahalan’s The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission that Changed Our Understanding of Madness
Sara - Katherine Center’s Things You Save in a Fire
 
Comfort Read Recommendations
Sara -
Cookbooks
Annie F. Downs’s 100 Days to Brave: Devotions for Unlocking Your Most Courageous Self
(See this episode 198 from What Should I Read Next?)
 
Jen -
Sarah J. Maas’s House of Earth and Blood
Elana K. Arnold’s Damsel
Brigid Kemmerer’s A Curse So Dark and Lonely
 
Ashley -
Wendell Berry’s Window Poems
Mary Oliver’s West Wind
Nikky Finney’s Rice and Head Off and Split
Kevin Young’s The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing, including Phillis Levin’s “Vigil”
 
Don't miss our episode where we talked about ways to beat a reading slump in Episode 54!
 
Other Mentions
Susannah Cahalan’s Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
Katherine Center’s How to Walk Away
Anne Bogel’s Don’t Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life
Michelle Smith’s The Whole Smiths Good Food Cookbook: Whole30 Endorsed, Delicious Real Food Recipes to Cook All Year Long
 
Give Me One - What's Getting Us By Right Now
 
Jen -
Jarrett Lerner’s activities online
online streaming of new movies (Onward)
 
Sara-
Joe Wick - daily PE activities for kids (and adults!)
Lindsay Brin - Kids' workouts
Yaymaker - Virtual paint class
 
Ashley -
Wow in the World podcast (now releasing daily with “Two Whats and a Wow!” as well as weekly!)
Highlights Magazine Hidden Pictures - set of 4
 
To see a full transcript and listen at the same time, click here to access it on Otter.
 
Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.
 
Want to support Unabridged?
 
Check out our Merch Store!
Become a patron on Patreon.​
Follow us @unabridgedpod on Instagram.
Like and follow our Facebook Page.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Check out our Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Follow us @unabridgedpod on Twitter.
Subscribe to our podcast and rate us on Apple Podcasts or on Stitcher.
Check us out on Podbean.
 
Please note that we a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Samira Ahmed's INTERNMENT -- April Unabridged Book Club

For our April Unabridged Book Club episode and discussion, we talk about Samira Ahmed's near-future YA literature novel, Internment (which was also our buddy read on Instagram in March!), and we make connections to other works including Mark Oshiro’s Anger Is a Gift, George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy, and Nic Stone’s Dear Martin. We end the episode by discussing some things that are helping us cope during this challenging time for our Give Me One. Join us all month on social media as we continue this discussion about Ahmed's Internment!
Timeline
Intro and Bookish Check In: 00:00 - 06:45
Book Club Discussion: 06:45 - 29:52
Give Me One: 40:00 - end
 
Bookish Check In
Ashley - Gary Schmidt’s The Wednesday Wars
Jen - Rebecca Serle’s In Five Years
Sara - Sarah Dunn’s The Arrangement
 
Our Pairings
Ashley - Mark Oshiro’s Anger Is a Gift
Jen - George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy
Sara - Nic Stone’s Dear Martin
 
Give Me One - One Thing Helping Us Cope
Ashley - Cincinnati Zoo Safari Live Events (on their Facebook page and on their YouTube channel) and spending time outside
Jen - Lego Masters show
Sara - FaceTime with family
 
Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.
 
Want to support Unabridged?
Check out our Merch Store!
Become a patron on Patreon.​
Follow us @unabridgedpod on Instagram.
Like and follow our Facebook Page.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Check out our Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Follow us @unabridgedpod on Twitter.
Subscribe to our podcast and rate us on Apple Podcasts or on Stitcher.
Check us out on Podbean.
Please note that we a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Hopeful Books to Engage Students - What Can I Recommend to Students Right Now?

In this episode, we consider books that we'd recommend to students as great choices to read independently. As the world around us has drastically changed and continues changing, we decided on this topic and talked about some of our favorites, including R. J. Palacio's Wonder, Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before series, Nicola Yoon's books, and anything by Jason Reynolds, as well as some other favorites. We focus our discussion on books we think students can access without teacher support and on books that are not extremely heavy but leave the reader with a sense of hope. (We shared our long list on our Bookish Faves post this past Monday.) Be sure to let us know ones you'd recommend on the comments here or on our Instagram posts.
 
Our Recommendations
R. J. Palacio’s Wonder
Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (Ep 90)
Jason Reynolds’s Track series or When I Was the Greatest (or any of his other works) (Ep 34)
John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down
Nicola Yoon’s Everything, Everything and The Sun Is Also a Star (Ep 75 - book-to-film adaptation)
Victoria Jamieson’s Roller Girl
Cece Bell’s El Deafo
Raina Telgemeier’s Drama and Guts
Julie Murphy's Dumplin’  (Ep 63 about the book & Ep 64 about the adaptation)
David Yoon’s Frankly in Love
 
Other Mentions
Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman’s Dry
R. J. Palacio’s Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories (including The Julian Chapter), White Bird: A Wonder Story
Click here to view the discussion between Jason Reynolds and Laurie Halse Anderson from Virginia Festival of the Book 2019
 
Give Me One - Something that Makes Us Happy
Jen - flowering trees and spring
Sara - red wine
Ashley - roller coasters
 
Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.
 
Want to support Unabridged?
 
Check out our Merch Store!
Become a patron on Patreon.​
Follow us @unabridgedpod on Instagram.
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Check out our Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Follow us @unabridgedpod on Twitter.
Subscribe to our podcast and rate us on Apple Podcasts or on Stitcher.
Check us out on Podbean.
 
 
 
Please note that we a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

The Unread Shelf with Whitney Conard - Curate that Unread Shelf and Actually Get Them Read

In this episode, we had the wonderful experience of interviewing Whitney Conard from The Unread Shelf. She joins us for our bookish check-in (we're big Camille Pagán fans!), shares the origin story of The Unread Shelf Project, and offers tips to help all of us pare down those burdensome stacks of unread books. We round out our discussion with our "Give Me One" segment, talking about our favorite teas.
Bookish Check In
Jen - Camille Pagán’s Forever Is the Worst Long Time (on audio; narrator Timothy Andrés Pabon)
Sara - Knox McCoy’s All Things Reconsidered
Ashley - Helen Hoang’s The Bride Test
Whitney - Camille Pagán's This Won’t End Well
 
Other Mentions
The Popcast
Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
Persephone Books
The Little Free Library program
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
Anne Cleeves - The Long Call
The Unread Shelf
Whitney's Email Course
Whitney's Post about Bookish App Recommendations
Join Whitney on this Journey - # theunreadsshelf + the year
Anne Bogel's podcast What Should I Read Next? - The life-changing magic of clearing your unread shelf
Madeline with Top Shelf Text on Instagram
 
Whitney's Top Tips for Your Unread Shelves
Count your unread books
Put all of the unread books in one place
Prioritize the top reads for you
Figure out your barriers and figure out how to overcome them
JUST READ!
 
Give Me One - Favorite Teas
Sara - Harney & Sons’ Hot Cinnamon Spice Tea (Black Tea with Orange and Sweet Clove), Herbal Element tea company
Ashley - Chai (Equal Exchange Organic Chai, 20-Count - Pack of 3)
Jen - Peppermint tea when sick
Whitney's recommendations - Irish Breakfast or Assam blend for coffee drinkers, Simpson and Vail tea company's author line (especially Jane Austen blend), Celestial Seasoning's Bengal Spice
 
Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.
 
Want to support Unabridged?
Check out our Merch Store! Become a patron on Patreon.​
Follow us @unabridgedpod on Instagram.
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Follow us @unabridgedpod on Twitter.
Subscribe to our podcast and rate us on Apple Podcasts or on Stitcher.
Check us out on Podbean.
 
Please note that we a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Anne Bogel's DON'T OVERTHINK IT - I Always Have the "Over" Problem

In this episode, we have fun discussing Anne Bogel's Don't Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life and its application to our lives. Although we don't go in depth about her other books, I'd Rather Be Reading and Reading People , we enjoyed reading and discussing those way back in episode 43.
 
Bookish Check In
Jen - Stuart Gibbs’s Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation
Sara - Jessica Simpson’s Open Book
Ashley - Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See
 
Other Mentions
 
Anne Bogel's I'd Rather Be Reading
Anne Bogel's Reading People
Our episode about Anne Bogel's other two books
 
Give Me One - Favorite Distraction
 
Ashley - Calm app / Cute animal videos
Sara - TV (Top Chef, Project Runway)
Jen - Romance novels (check out Jen's post of romance faves!)
 
Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.
 
Want to support Unabridged?
 
Check out our Merch Store!
Become a patron on Patreon.​
Follow us @unabridgedpod on Instagram.
Like and follow our Facebook Page.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Check out our Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Follow us @unabridgedpod on Twitter.
Subscribe to our podcast and rate us on Apple Podcasts or on Stitcher.
Check us out on Podbean.
 
Please note that we a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Kevin Wilson's NOTHING TO SEE HERE - Learning by Fire

For our March Unabridged Book Club discussion, we're focusing on Kevin Wilson's excellent Nothing to See Here (which was also a Book of the Month pick!). Listen to catch up with what we're reading now and to hear why we chose to pair books like Ninth House, The Girl Who Drank the Moon, and Young Jane Young with Wilson's novel. Finally, we're thinking about movies from our childhood in our Give Me One segment.
Timeline
Bookish Check In: 00:00 - 05:40
Book Club Discussion: 05:45 - 33:46
Our Pairings: 33:47 - 47:25
Give Me One: 47:25 - end
 
Bookish Check In
Jen - Pierce Brown's Dark Age (Red Rising Book 5)
Ashley - Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl
Sara - Megan Angelo's Followers
 
Our Pairings
Ashley - Kelly Barnhill’s The Girl Who Drank the Moon
Jen - Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House
Sara - Gabrielle Zevin's Young Jane Young
 
Give Me One - Movie from Childhood
Jen - E.T.,The Extra-Terrestrial
Ashley - The Secret of NIMH
Sara - Girls Just Want to Have Fun
 
Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.
 
Want to support Unabridged?
 
Check out our Merch Store!
Become a patron on Patreon.​
Follow us @unabridgedpod on Instagram.
Like and follow our Facebook Page.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Check out our Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Follow us @unabridgedpod on Twitter.
Subscribe to our podcast and rate us on Apple Podcasts or on Stitcher.
Check us out on Podbean.
 
Please note that we a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.