Ep. 108: Hot Reader Summer

EQ: What can woke-aspiring individuals do to have a hot reader summer (hint: read books)?

Megan and Hope are joined by Lincoln High School Librarian, Kristen Sierra. They sit down to discuss all of the best reads and what has been at the top of their list. From easy vacation reads, books to read as a family, and books to push your thinking and learning, they cover it all in this episode! Check out a previous conversation with Kristen about Decolonizing Your Bookshelf.

Vacay Reads/Easy Reading:

• Furia, Yamile Saied Mendez

• Leviathan Wakes (Expanse Series), James A Corey

• Rodney Scott’s New Cookbook - Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ

• Roar, Cecilian Ahern. Short stories separate so something you can read and put down/pick up easily.

• A Wicked Kind of Husband, Mia Vincy (romance)

• The Lovely War, Julie Berry (highly recommend the audiobook on Libro.fm)

• Firekeepers Daughter, Angeline Boulley

• Patron Saints of Nothing, Randy Ribay

Young Adult:

• Grown, Tiffany Jackson

• White Smoke, Tiffany Jackson

• Blackout, Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon

• Clean Getaway, Nic Stone 

• Dear Justice, Nic Stone

• From Little Tokyo, With Love, Sarah Kuhn (silly YA Romcom)

• Concrete Rose, Angie Thomas (especially the audiobook)

• Emergency Contact, Mary Choi  (YA romcom)

• Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech

• On the Come up, Angie Thomas

• Concrete Rose, Angie Thomas

Nonfiction Favs:

• What Unites Us: The World Citizen Series, Dan Rather

• (Several Channel 253 members recommended) How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, Clint Smith

• March, John Lewis

• How We Get Free: Black Feminism & the Combahee River Collective, Keeanga Yamahtaa Taylor

• Treatise on investing mutual funds. Stock picking is like picking a needle in a haystack with index fund investing, you buy the whole haystack: The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, John Bogle

• Know my Name, Chanel Miller (was a #nerdfarmreads book)

• Unrig, Dan G. Newman

• Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect us Today, Cynthia Levinson and Sanford Levinson

• Caste: The Origins of our Discontent, Isabel Wilkerson

• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Marjane Setrapi, Mattias Ripa

• After the Fall: Being American in the World We’ve Made, Ben Rhodes

• Up From Slavery, Booker T. Washington

• Yes Please, Amy Poehler

• Bossypants, Tina Fey

• A Promised Land, Barack Obama

Something You Can’t Help But Love

• The Once & Future Witches, Alix E Harrow 

• The Pale Horse, Agatha Christie

• Open Book, Jessica Simpson

• Green Lights, Mathew McConnaghy

Something Every Teacher Should Read:

• “These Kids Are out of Control: Why We Must Reimagine Classroom Management for Equity”, Milner, Cunningham, et al

• We do this Till We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice, Mariame Kabe (the science & art of organizing)

• Kristen Sierra’s book “Core Values in School Librarianship”

• Pillars of the Republic: Common Schools and American Society, Carl F. Kaestle

• The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, Ronald A. Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, Marty Linsky

• Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work, Akila S. Richards

• Silencing the Past, Michel-Rolph Trouillot 

Things to Read as a Family:

• I survived (series), Lauren Tarshis

• Percy Jackson (series), Rick Riordan

• Babysitters Club (newer series), Jordan Silver