Wonder World Book Cafe'

(⏰10 minutes)  WWII. Liesl's family must flee East Prussia in 1944. Through Liesl's story of survival, we learn about Wolfskinder, or wolf children. These were the countless, real children who were orphaned by the war and left to survive on their own, often in forests for long periods. Be inspired by Liesl, her maturity, and ways of finding hope and joy in the darkest moments.  Transcri...

(⏰10 minutes)   🌟Celebrating episode 30!  Middle schooler Mac and his friends are shocked when they discover the book, The Devil's Arithmetic, about the Holocaust they've selected for their reading group has sections blacked out. Explore the idea of censorship with assertive Mac as he's ready to stand up for his beliefs.  Transcript here  

⏰Listening commitment: 9 minutes When 12 year old Addie's step dad proposes the idea of adopting her, Addie sets off to find her biological dad. With no help from the adults in her life, Mom included, she finds him and learns she comes from a long line of Mexican wrestlers. She meets Manny (her dad, but she can't get herself to call him that) and loves spending time with her new found abuela, abu...

⏰Listening commitment: 9 minutes  Written in verse, What about Will brings light to a dangerous society issue: opioid addiction. After a football injury sends Will into a coma, the aftermath of physical and emotional pain follows. His younger brother Trace, 12, takes on all of his family's problems including Will's frightening mood swings, his stealing, his lying, and his pills. Trace hides...

⏰Fun sized and fewer than 10 minutes.  With one comedic event after another, come onboard The Oceania II with 12 year-old JB and his accidental stowaway, Sidney. Readers will laugh often at their escapades while learning about the threats to our oceans especially Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Learning through story is the best way to learn! Welcome aboard! Transcript here  

Minni's story shines a bright spotlight on water inequities worldwide. Living in Mumbai, access to fresh water is difficult. People endure long lines at the public water source to get meager amounts of water. Fights over water are common. Water thieves, trying to get rich, exacerbate people's basic right to fresh water. Minni's poetry and her tenacity will delight and inspire our middle grade read...

⏰Listening commitment: 9 minutes Latika wants to make a significant change in her rural village in India - she wants toilets so the females don't have to walk great distances every night "to do what they need to do." Brave Latika will inspire our young people to again realize they can make significant positive impacts in the world. Written in verse with stunning illustrations, this story may be s...

Listening commitment: 9 minutes. Danny is growing up in an Appalachian town during WWII and befriends an older boy, Jack, with a haunting past. Here readers learn what it's like for American towns to do their part to support war efforts and how injustices in the world occur right in our communities.  Transcript here  

Listening commitment: 9 minutes Ava feels like she isn't enough: Persian or American. She loves the poet Rumi, surfing, and claims she's mildly OCD. Summer is here and after this, she's headed to high school, so she plans to surf all summer with the only person who gets her-Phoenix. Life has other, heart breaking plans for both Ava and Phoenix. Readers will delight in the music and poetry. Friends...

Listening commitment: 10 minutes If 8th grade Haz plans to return to the football field, he must go participate in therapy for his overly aggressive behavior. Couple this with his dad's current job deployment in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army, and quickly realize Max is shouldering some heavy events.  Transcript here  

🌟🌟Celebrating Season 2! Listening commitment: 8 minutes At 6 feet tall and a recent ADHD diagnosis, sixth grade Max's life is tough enough, but nothing compares to the accident where his best friend, Will, is injured on a fateful night when a group of boys snuck out into a nearby forest. Will is now in a medically induced coma, and nobody knows what occurred during the forest visit to cause Will...

✨✨Celebrating episode 20! ⏰Listening commitment: 9 minutes Samira and her family are left without a country to call home when her own country of Burma (now Myanmar) ceased to recognize them as one of their 135 ethnicities, so they flee to Bangladesh, where they are also unwelcome. Samira is a strong, curious girl, and Rohingya. Learn about her desire to attend school, learn to surf, and her his...

⏰Listening commitment: 9 minutes  Meet quirky, word-loving, lexicographer "Worser." He's quick to correct grammatical errors, has one humongous heart, and is learning to live with his new life, one where his mom is recovering from a stroke. Root for and love Worser, and pick up numerous new words to add to your own vocabulary along the way.  Transcript here  

⏰Listening commitment: 9 minutes Addie advocates for people wrongly accused of witchcraft in Scotland, centuries ago. Addie is autistic and realizes she too could have been one of those sentenced to death had she lived during this time only because she is "different." This beautiful and much needed story can span age ranges of readers as it works to dispel stereotypes about autism. Come along on...

⏰ Listening commitment: 9 minutes Muki and his family are "moths" in the country of Mariposa. Muki uncovers the president's plan to send moths, people not born here to camps and maybe out to other countries. The president commits to protecting the butterflies, those who "belong in Mariposa" because this is their country where they and their family have lived for many generations.  Transcript...

⏰Listening Committment: 10 minutes  In Leng'ete's memoir, learn how she escaped the dangerous, potentially deadly, age-old Maasai coming-of-age tradition, female circumcision or FGM (female genital mutilation). Leng'ete is honest about her Maasai traditions as she juxtaposes what she loves, honors, and respects versus what must change. Learn about the all-important work Leng'ete has done and...

⏰Listening Commitment 10 minutes  The last slave ship, The Clotilda, illegally brings 110 West Africans to Mobile, Alabama. When freed after The Civil War, they go onto create a town all their own called African Town. Inspired by true events. Transcript here  

⏰Listening Commitment 9 minutes Petra and her family are desperately trying to flee the Federales during Mexico's Revolution in 1913. They trudge through the life-threatning desert in an attempt to survive. Inspired by the author's great grandmother's tales, readers will cry with and cheer for Petra Luna.  Transcript here  

⏰Listening commitment: 8 minutes  High school students, Moth and Sani, have devastating pasts. In each other, they find what feels like "home." The the adults who are supposed to take care of them fail; this becomes the catalyst for a summer road trip where Moth and Sani seek the ghosts of their Black and Native American ancestors. Amber McBride's debut YA novel written in verse is haunting...

⏰Listening commitment: just 9 minutes  Living in India, at the age of 13, Meera is already a widow. She was wed to her husband when she was four years old, and was to move in with him and his family on her 13th birthday. Meera was momentarily thrilled when she learned her husband was killed in a riot with the British who are occupying India. The joy quickly turns to despair when Meera learns...

⏰Listening commitment: just 8 minutes ✨✨Celebrating the 10th episode in our cafe! ✨✨ Young adults and those well beyond will be captivated by this swift moving story that crosses generations, cultures, and countries. All My Rage is filled with so many topics to discuss: grief, trauma, forgiveness, rage, hope, and music (when all else fails, song lyrics say it best). Settle in with All My Rage...

⏰Listening commitment: only 7 minutes 🇬🇭Living in Accra, Ghana, sixteen year old Amerley bears the weight of her three younger sisters and emotionally absent mother. Leaving her village to work as a servant seems the only way to help her family survive. While working in a luxurious compound, Amerley is raped, and it seems to be all her fault. Read Even When Your Voice Shakes to learn about the st...

Listening commitment: only 9 minutes Eleven-year old Zlata loves her beautiful city, Sarajevo in the country of Bosina and Herzegovina. Then in 1991, the war starts. Zlata and her family and friends endure constant nearby bombings, food shortages, no electricity, and hauling water to their apartment. Turn Zlata's diary pages to read about about living through wartime horrors. During the war, Zlata...

Listening commitment: Only 9 minutes Meet Reha who is grappling with her identify: Her parents are from India, and she was born in the U.S.  Enjoy music from the 80s as a natural part of this story, then learn how a 13 year-old can be strong enough  to help her family when her mother is diagnosed with a serious illness.  Transcript and episode notes here . 

Listening commitment: Just 10 minutes You'll  discover a story you'll want to read and put in the hands of young adult readers. While fictional, many aspects contained on the pages in This Light Between Us are true. In the beginning, readers will be delighted with playful, innocent letters exchanged between two unlikely ten year olds. Alex, a Japanese-American, living on Bainbridge Island in...