Unabridged: A Book Podcast

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...

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...

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 num...

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...

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 u...

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...

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...

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...

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 M...

In this episode, we're discussing the benefits of using Read Alikes within book clubs and within the classroom. We touch on some of our favorite YA lit books, such as Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give , as well as classics like Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 . We talk about strategies for making read alikes work and ways to manage the difficulties in order to reap the rewards of exploring a variety of...

In this episode, we focus on classroom teachers and talk directly about how and why we incorporated Young Adult literature into our classrooms. We talk about series we saw our students loving like Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games , Stephanie Meyer's Twilight , and Veronica Roth's Divergent , and we talk about seeing our students fall in love with books. From classics like S.E. Hinton's The Outsi...

In our 2020 Love Is in the Air episode, we're talking all things romance. In this episode, we discuss some of our favorite romance novels, including Linda Holmes's Evvie Drake Starts Over , Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue , and David Yoon’s Frankly in Love just to name a few. While we have varying degrees of expertise in this genre, we all have some recommendations to share with you!   J...

In this Unabridged Book Club episode, we discuss Bryn Greenwood's The Reckless Oath We Made . We discuss our overall impressions, what worked and didn't for us in the novel, and some memorable quotations, before getting into our pairings, including Peter Heller’s The Painter , Tracey Garvis Grave’s The Girl He Used to Know , and Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, the Serial Killer . We also share ou...

In this Unabridged Podcast episode, we are sharing about a favorite topic of ours, seasonal reads. We discuss some favorite reads that revolve around winter in some way, including Fredrik Backman’s Beartown , Eowyn Ivey’s The Snow Child , Ruta Sepetys’s Between Shades of Gray , and George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series.   Our Recommendations Ashley - Fredrik Backman’s Beartown Neil Gai...

In this episode, we're facing the new year (and new decade!) and considering our reading lives and goals. We've also each signed up for a different reading challenge including Book Riot's 2020 Read Harder Challenge , the Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge , and The Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge for 2020. We're talking all things goal and resolution-oriented, and we're making grand plans for...

In this episode, we're discussing some books we can't wait to read in 2020, including Brigid Kemmerer’s A Heart So Fierce and Broken , Bianca Marais’s Hum If You Don’t Know th e Words , and Rebecca Serle’s In Five Y ears . We also talk about Sarah J. Maas's works and end our episode talking about some of our favorite places to eat.   Ashley’s Picks Brigid Kemmerer’s A Heart So Fierce and Broken -...

In this Unabridged Book Club (#unabridgedpodbookclub) episode, we discuss Mary Beth Keane's Ask Again, Y es , the amazing multigenerational novel examining two families in a planned community. We make connections to Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywher e , John Boyne’s The Heart's Invisible Furies , and Ann Patchett’s The Dutch Hous e , and we thoroughly discuss the intricacies of relationships ove...

The hosts of Unabridged once again gathered to reflect on our year of reading and to choose some of our favorites. While Jen (as is typical) wanted to talk about all the books, Sara and Ashley did a much better job reining it in. Check out the episode to hear us talk about  The Song of Achilles ,  Good Talk ​ , and  The Heart's Invisible Furies . We revisit favorites from the podcast and share som...

In this special holiday episode, we're wrapping up 2019 with 3 recent favorites. Stay tuned next week for our 2019 Unabridged Awards! How would you wrap up YOUR year? What are some of your 2019 favorites? Let us know on social media!   timeline Click the episode title to access show notes: *Introduction (0:00 - 2:01) *Episode 87, " Get to Know the Hosts " (002:10 - 28:00) *Episode 86, " Favorite A...

The Unabridged debate over what makes a holiday movie gets a  little  contentious as Jen and Sara face off (primarily) about  Love Actually . Poor Ashley serves as moderator (sorry, Ashley!). What do YOU think makes a Christmas movie? Does it have to be ABOUT Christmas, or is it enough to be set during the holiday season? Let us know what you think @unabridgedpod!   movie mentions * Love Actually...

Unabridged is back with more unpopular opinions! For our second Unpopular Opinion Alert, we take on  Where the Crawdad Sings ,  Verity , and  The Female Persuasion . What books did everyone else love that you . . . well, that you don't? Head over to our social media to share your opinion in a safe space. Move past YOUR trepidation to let us know what you REALLY think. And let us know what you thin...

Friends, for our Unabridged Book Club book this month, we're reading Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb's epistolary novel  ​ Last Christmas in Paris . This book, set predominantly during World War I, unveils the relationships of two characters, Evie and Tom, through the letters they write to each other and to friends and family. Through the lens of their very personal letters, readers also gain an und...

The three of us had an amazing conversation with RuthAnn Deveney about ways that everyone can combat human trafficking every day. We discuss  Dressember  (find Ashley and Sara on social media to support their Dressember campaigns) and about how to talk to kids of all ages about human trafficking and how to make a difference. We also share an array of book recommendations for all ages, including  G...

​It's that time of year again, friends. You know it: the time of year when we are all about finding the perfect gift for the bookworms in your life. We have a great time in this episode talking about some of our favorite bookish shops and items for all your bookworm gift-giving needs! Listen to find out about book sleeves and headbands and earrings and bookmarks and so much more!   featured busine...

What do you think of the classics? And, for that matter, how do you define  classics ? We take on these issues and more in today's episode, discussing the merits of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Zora Neale Hurston, and more. Listen to the episode, and then join us on social media to let us know where YOU think about this debate.   works and authors mentioned *Jane Austen’s  Pride and Prejudice , ...