Unabridged Podcast

Welcome to Unabridged, the podcast where teachers take on books! Every week, Sara, Jen and Ashley (shown left to right in the photo) talk books, share recommendations, and celebrate all things bookish. On our blog (see our posts below!) we share bookish faves, pub day shout-outs, show notes, and book reviews each week.

Want to get more involved? Check out our 2022 reading challenge, join our buddy reads on Instagram, or sign up on Patreon!

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Mar 25, 2020
2 min

118: 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 w

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Feb 3, 2020
1 min

Best Reads of 2019 - Jen's Picks

Oh, friends. I gave 51 books five stars in 2019, so this was tough for me! Ultimately, I settled--somewhat arbitrarily--on a top 15, ranging from middle-grade reads like Kelly Yang's Front Desk to Michelle Obama's brilliant memoir Becoming to a stunning multi-genre novel in Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archive (which I really need to re-read!). Anyway, here are 15 of the books I loved in 2019, in COMPLETELY random order (you can find reviews for all of them on Instagram,

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Jan 22, 2020
2 min

Welcome - Introduction and Overview

Just getting started with Unabridged Podcast? Welcome! We're Ashley, Jen, and Sara, and we are teachers and podcasters who are passionate about books. We have four kinds of posts here on our blog. On Mondays, we post about our Bookish Faves, on Tuesdays we do Pub Day Shout-outs, on Wednesdays our episodes drop, and on Fridays, we post book reviews. (Be on the lookout on Thursdays, too; we sometimes have an extra post then!) There are many ways to connect with us! In addition

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Oct 25, 2019
1 min

Rainbow Rowell's PUMPKINHEADS, illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks -- Jen's Review

Thanks to Partner NetGalley for the egalley chapter sampler of Rainbow Rowell's Pumpkinheads! Rainbow Rowell is one of my favorite authors, and Pumpkinheads promises to be a fabulous addition to her oeuvre. Based on this chapter sampler, her graphic novel with illustrator Faith Erin Hicks offers realistic, vulnerable, charming characters in a perfect setting for a YA focus. Josiah and Deja are embarking on their last day working at the pumpkin patch before they leave for coll

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Oct 11, 2019
2 min

Kami Garcia's TEEN TITANS: RAVEN, illustrated by Gabriel Picolo -- Jen's Review

Thanks to Partner NetGalley for the digital ARC of Kami Garcia’s Teen Titans: Raven, illustrated by Gabriel Picolo, in exchange for an honest review. The book released on July 2, 2019. I know next to nothing about the Teen Titans, other than what I learned when watching of Teen Titans Go! to the Movies with my boys. Kami Garcia and illustrator Gabriel Picolo’s graphic novel Teen Titans: Raven does a beautiful job communicating the backstory of Raven . . . even to the uninitia

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Jun 19, 2019
1 min

78: Laurie Halse Anderson Highlight - It Is Okay to Fight

For our last Unabridged Highlight episode of season 2, we're discussing the influence of one of our favorite YA authors, Laurie Halse Anderson. After seeing her at the Virginia Festival of the Book and reading her new memoir in verse Shout, we were inspired to consider her place in YA literature. It's the 20th anniversary of her seminal work Speak, and the new edition features some excellent resources and an afterword by Jason Reynolds, another Unabridged favorite. We were al

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Dec 12, 2018
1 min

51: Our Kids' Current Reads - It Is Just So Precious

-Alternate Titles- Over and over and over and over OR We’re always making fun of him OR He has a ghost writer Works Mentioned in Episode Jen - 11-year-old Stuart Gibbs’s series, particularly Spy School books Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christopher Paolini’s Eragon 8-year-old Jeff Smith’s Bone series Geronimo Stilton’s Kingdom of Fantasy series Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series Ashley - 2-year-old and 4-year-old Susan Verde and artist Peter H. Reynolds’s I Am P

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Nov 21, 2018
1 min

48: Graphic Novels and Comic Collections - Stay the Course and Go for It

It's fear that makes us lose our conscience. It's also what transforms us into cowards.” ― Marjane Satrapi, The Complete Persepolis Works Mentioned in Episode Jen - March Trilogy by John Lewis with Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson Runaways by Rainbow Rowell and Kris Anka Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8 by Joss Whedon (Author), Georges Jeanty (Illustrator), Andy Owens (Illustrator), Jo Chen (Illustrator) American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang T

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Aug 1, 2018
1 min

32: Tiffany Haddish's THE LAST BLACK UNICORN - Describe That in Detail

In this book club discussion, we talk about Tiffany Haddish's The Last Black Unicorn with all of its intrigue, humor, and heart.

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