Check This Out

Welcome to Season Six of the podcast! This season we will be reading four books: three from the Winter Reading Challenge, and one from our Classics Campaign. In today's episode we will discuss part one of "Hemlock and Silver" by T. Kingfisher. This is Emily H's pick from the "Retelling of a Classic" category in the Winter Reading Challenge. Titles mentioned in this epis...

Join Danae as she talks with Jessica and Andy about their top five reads of the year! Titles mentioned in this episode: Everything is Tuberculosis Dungeon Crawler Carl Tress of the Emerald Sea A Short Stay in Hell The Husbands The End is Always Near Nuclear War James Berlin The Road to Tender Hearts The House of Leaves A Marriage at Sea music provided by Pixabay

Join Danae, Allie, and Emily as they discuss their top five reads of 2025 and talk about what is ahead for Season 6 in the new year. Titles mentioned in this episode: Zip It: The Keep It Shut 40-Day Challenge All You Have to Do Is Call Theo of Golden One Dark Window and Two Twisted Crowns Duology When the Sea Came Alive Life & Death & Giants Eight Perfect Murders The Rose Code The Correspo...

Join Danae, Allie, and Emily for the last episode of Season 5 as they discuss Charlotte's Web by E.B. White and give their adult reading recommendations. Thank you for joining us this season and stay tuned for our best reads of the year episode! Titles mentioned in this episode: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt Animal Farm by George Orwell The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott Timbuktu...

Join Danae, Allie, and Andy as they discuss the first book in the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine and give their adult horror read alikes for this book. Enjoy this episode just in time for Halloween! Titles mentioned in this episode: Salem's Lot by Stephen King Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ra...

Join Danae, Allie, and Emily as they discuss the very first Nancy Drew mystery by Carolyn Keene and give their adult mystery recommendations. Titles mentioned in this episode: The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke The Trespasser by Tana Fr...

Join Danae, Allie, and Emily as they discuss the first book in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and try to find adult recommendations with dark humor and absurdist plotlines! Also, how serendipitous that we are publishing this on the 13th of the month! Titles mentioned: Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury The Hitchhiker's Guide to...

Join Danae, Allie, and Emily as they discuss the first book in the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and talk about adult pioneer stories that are engrossing reads! Titles mentioned: Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser Caroline: Little House, revisited by Sarah Miller A Wilder Rose by Susan Wittig Albert Giants in the Earth: a saga of the prairie...

Join Danae, Allie, and Emily as they sit down and discuss "The Boxcar Children" by Gertrude Chandler Warner and recommend adult read alikes. Titles mentioned in this episode: The Dutch House Ann Patchett Fun For the Whole Family Jennifer E. Smith The Turner House Angela Flournoy The Orphan Collector Ellen Marie Wiseman A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers When in Rome Se...

Join Danae, Allie, and Emily H. as they sit down and discuss "Beezus and Ramona" by Beverly Cleary and talk about adult read alikes that feature sister relationships. Titles mentioned in this episode: Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen The Princess of Thornwood Drive Khalia Moreau Sisters First Jenna Bush Hager The Bookbinder Pip Williams My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult Home is Where...

Join Danae, Allie, and Emily H. as they re-read or read the first book in The Babysitters Club series by Ann M Martin. Emily and Danae recommend six novels for adult read-alikes if you loved The Babysitters Club. Titles Mentioned in this Episode: The Giver of Stars Jojo Moyes The Guncle Steven Rowley The Confession Club Elizabeth Berg The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Mary Ann Shaf...

Welcome to Season Five of Check This Out where we will be reading nostalgic grade school classics and pairing them with grownup read alikes. Join Danae, Allie, Emily H., and Andy as they sit down to discuss one of the American Girl books: "Meet Molly" by Valerie Tripp. Titles mentioned in this episode: The Kitchen Front Jennifer Ryan The Call of the Wrens Jenni L Walsh The Last Year of t...

Join Danae, Emily H., and Allie as they sit down and discuss the books that they have loved reading this summer. This is the last episode for the summer and Check This Out will be back in September with a whole new season! Books mentioned in this episode: The Heartbeat Library The Four Loves The Correspondent The Nickel Boys In the Likely Event What Kind of Paradise James Wicked Before Dorothy The...

Join Danae and Allie as they "unbox" Teagan Debban who works part-time in our circulation department. Books mentioned in this episode: A Tale of Two Cities The Wedding Planner's Daughter The Housemaid series The Chronicles of Narnia Do Not Disturb The Soul of Shame music provided by Pixabay

Join Danae, Emily H., and Allie as they discuss "My Friends" by Fredrik Backman and discover why Allie says, "This book made me feel things." Other books mentioned in this episode: A Man Called Ove Anxious People Beartown music provided by Pixabay

Join us for a special bonus episode with Danae and Allie as they unbox Jennifer Olson, our library's administrative assistant. Titles mentioned in this episode: Watership Down The Star Thrower Finding Me Green Lights The Earth Sea series We Used to Live Here Doppelganger Gwenhwyfar Home Before Dark Black Woods, Blue Sky Heartwood Ordinary Time Music provided by Pixabay.

Join Danae as she sits down with prolific author Dr. Lydia Kang who will be coming to the Norfolk Public Library on June 17th* at 6:30pm as part of our Norfolk Library Comicon. *edited to say that Dr. Kang will be coming on Monday June 16th at 6:30pm. Titles mentioned in this episode: Dick and Jane books The Secret Kitten Mr. Pine's Purple House Charlie and the Chocolate Factory James and the...

Join Danae, Whitney, and Jessica as they sit down and talk about cosplay, how it will be utilized in our Norfolk Library Comicon, and how you can use our library resources to help you make a great costume! Books on cosplay from our library: A Guide to Film and TV Cosplay Level up! Creative Cosplay 1000 Incredible Costume and Cosplay Ideas The Art of Cosplay and Creative Makeup Music provided by Pi...

Join Danae as she sits down with special guests Sierra Steinhauser and Charlie Henkel as we talk about two aspects of our Norfolk Library Comicon: RPGs and LARPing! Say what? Tune in for a great rundown of these two events! jchobby.com Music provided by Pixabay.

Join Danae, Whitney, and Amy O. as they sit down to talk about graphic novels vs comic books and why graphic novels are such an important part of our library's collection. This is a continuation of our series on our Norfolk Library Comicon. Graphic novels mentioned in this episode: A Contract with God The Road One Piece series Max Axiom Babysitters Club Magic Treehouse Hello Kitty Pokemon Sweet Va...

Welcome to Season Four of Check This Out! Join Danae, Whitney, and Amy O. as they discuss Norfolk Public Library's first ever Comicon! https://doartproductions.org/ https://bobhall.com/ https://lydiakang.com/ Music provided by Pixabay.com

Join Danae and Allie in this special bonus episode where we unbox our new Patron Services supervisor, Andrew McClemens. Next week we will begin Season Four of our podcast all about our first ever Norfolk Library Comicon! Titles mentioned in this episode: Drummer Hoff Goosebumps series American Girl Series Wicked Elphie Berlin graphic novel Stephen Biesty's Cross-Sections Castle The Perfect Couple...

Join Danae, Allie, and Emily H., as they discuss their opinions of the latest Hunger Games book, "Sunrise on the Reaping". Music provided by Pixabay.

We are ACTUALLY wrapping up Season 3 by talking about all of the categories of the Winter Reading Challenge and what we thought of this year's challenge. Books mentioned in this episode: The Darling Dahlias and the Poinsettia Puzzle Accidentally Engaged What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking The Track the Whales Make Whale Day and other Poems A Tale of Two Cities This is a Love Stor...

Join Danae, Emily H., and Jessica as we discuss parts 10-12 of "The Friend" by Sigrid Nunez. This completes our podcast book club discussions for the Winter Reading Challenge. Link to the article mentioned in this episode: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/05/13/an-a-list-animal-trainer-prepares-a-great-dane-for-his-film-debut Also, the Winter Reading Challenge ends on March 14th, NOT March...