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.

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Nov 6, 2020
2 min

Hena Khan's AMINA'S VOICE - A Powerful Own Voices Middle Grade Read

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) I loved this beautiful story so very much. In Amina's Voice by Hena Khan (which would be appropriate for upper elementary students as well as middle or high), Amina is starting middle school. She has the struggles every kid that age has -- where does she fit in? how does she adjust as her friends change? -- but she also has struggles related to her specific experience as a Muslim Pakistani American child of immigrant parents

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Nov 3, 2020
4 min

Pub Day Shout-Outs! for November 3, 2020 featuring Meyer, Cardenas, and Davis

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Marissa Meyer's Instant Karma Description from Publisher: "In New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer's young adult contemporary romance, a girl is suddenly gifted with the ability to cast instant karma on those around her – both good and bad. "Chronic overachiever Prudence Daniels is always quick to cast judgment on the lazy, rude, and arrogant residents

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Oct 28, 2020
12 min

149: Read-Aloud Book Recommendations for Parents and Teachers

In this Unabridged Podcast episode, we're discussing books for all levels that we believe would work really well for read aloud choices. We were thrilled to be joined by Holly Hicks, a third-grade teacher and Unabridged Ambassador who has experience choosing and sharing read-aloud picks with her third-grade students. We also share our own experiences with read-aloud picks both at home and in the classroom. Bookish Check-in Ashley - Kate Clayborn’s Love Lettering Jen - Marissa

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Oct 26, 2020
4 min

Graphic Novel Roundup

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) This year has been a great one for me to dive into some wonderful graphic novels, graphic memoirs, and comic books. I read differently with these, using a different type of interpretation than when I'm looking solely at text. My boys, who are 10 and 13, love graphic novels, and I can always count on them to pass on the ones they love. Here are some recommendations from my reading this year: Molly Knox Ostertag's The Witch Boy trilogy (The Witc

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Oct 12, 2020
4 min

12 Books to Empower Young People of All Ages

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) With all of the tumult in our world right now, I'm thinking a lot about how we can encourage the young people in our lives to use their voices, to make wise choices, and to take action. Here are a few books for each age level that encourage young people to find their voices and to take action. Picture Books Chelsea Clinton's She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women who Changed History, illustrated by Alexandra Boiger - This i

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Oct 6, 2020
4 min

Pub Day Shout-Outs! for October 6, 2020, featuring Mbalia, Faruqi, and Gansworth

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) All right, book lovers, this is one of those pub days that overwhelms me, so I'm feeling obligated to share some extras today. I have FIVE books pre-ordered today, FOUR that I've already read thanks to NetGalley, and THREE more than I can't resist mentioning. Here we go: Pre-Ordered Books Jerry Craft's Class Act - My boys and I are SO excited about this follow up to the award-winning graphic novel New Kid. Tana French's The Searcher - French i

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Sep 23, 2020
6 min

144: Celebrating Global Read Aloud

In honor of the final year of the Global Read Aloud, Unabridged Podcast revisits our episode from last year, in which we discussed Cherie Dimaline's The Marrow Thieves, Padma Venkatraman's The Bridge Home, and Kelly Yang's Front Desk. Join us in celebrating this fantastic program, which highlights books for young people and promotes global collaboration. What have been some of your favorite Global Read Aloud books? Bookish Check-in Ashley - Mark Oshiro’s Each of Us a Desert (

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Sep 22, 2020
3 min

Pub Day Shout-Outs! for September 22, 2020, featuring Gros, Mclemore, Mejia, and Reynolds

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Kathleen Gros's Jo: An Adaptation of Little Women (Sort of) Description from Publisher: "With the start of eighth grade, Jo March decides it’s time to get serious about her writing and joins the school newspaper. But even with her new friend Freddie cheering her on, becoming a hard-hitting journalist is a lot harder than Jo imagined. "That’s not all that’s tough. Jo and her sist

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Aug 31, 2020
4 min

6 Great Novels in Verse to Read Right Now

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) I don't know about you, but this is a VERY busy time for me! When things feel crazy, I am always on the lookout for quick reads that I'm going to love. This list features some of our favorite authors (both to read and for the classroom) including Jason Reynolds, Jacqueline Woodson, and Elizabeth Acevedo. These novels in verse (along with one memoir in verse) are all middle-grade or YA lit books, but I believe they are all gre

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Aug 4, 2020
4 min

Pub Day Shout-Outs! for August 4, 2020, featuring Emezi, Garber, and Leong

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Akwaeke Emezi's The Death of Viveh Oji Description from Publisher: "One afternoon, in a town in southeastern Nigeria, a mother opens her front door to discover her son’s body, wrapped in colorful fabric, at her feet. What follows is the tumultuous, heart-wrenching story of one family’s struggle to understand a child whose spirit is both gentle and mysterious. Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suff

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Jul 31, 2020
2 min

Tehlor Kay Mejia's PAOLA SANTIAGO AND THE RIVER OF TEARS - The Perfect Blend of Middle School and Fo

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to partner NetGalley for the digital ARC of Tehlor Kay Mejia’s Paola Santiago and the River of Tears in exchange for an honest review. The book will be published on Tuesday, August 4, 2020. Paola Santiago is obsessed with the mysteries of the world: how humans can use algae to reduce fossil fuel use, what it's really like in space, why her mother won't let her get a dog, why her family never has enough money. But most of all, she wants

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Jul 30, 2020
6 min

Featured Books for August 2020

August Books In August, we're excited to share two books featuring the work of Jason Reynolds: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, written with Ibram X. Kendi, our Book Club pick, and All American Boys, written with Brendan Kiely, our Buddy Read choice. If you'd like to hear more about Reynolds' work, check out the re-release of this episode where we discuss three of his books. Let us know if you'd like to join the Buddy Read chat on Instagram discussing All American Boys!

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Jul 20, 2020
7 min

Some of Ashley's Favorite Reads of 2020 (So Far)

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) Oh my goodness, I'm already having A LOT of trouble choosing only five books, which is the sign of a great reading year so far! (Perhaps total life chaos leads to me loving books more... I certainly suffered from a reading slump when quarantine first started, and I'm still missing audiobooks and sometimes feel distant from the books I'm reading, but I have generally gotten back into reading after the initial transition... and

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Jul 8, 2020
34 min

133 - Underrated Books and Authors with Mariely Sylvette Martinez of PodQueens Latinas

In this Unabridged Podcast episode, we have so much fun talking with Mariely Sylvette Martinez of PodQueens Latinas about underrated books and series. She joins us for our Bookish Check-in, and then we chat about what it means to be underrated and why some great books and authors don't seem to get as much buzz as others. Finally, we end with our Give Me One segment and recommend some podcasts that we're enjoying right now. Bookish Check In Ashley - Mindy McGinnis's A Madness

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Jun 17, 2020
39 min

130: Great Books for the Classroom by Black Authors

In this Unabridged Podcast discussion, we recommend some books by Black authors that we think would be a great fit in the classroom. We talk about recommendations for Kid Lit, Middle Grade, and YA Lit, and we touch on books by several of our favorite authors, including Jacqueline Woodson, Kwame Alexander, and Ibi Zoboi. Bookish Check-in Ashley - Anna Solomon’s The Book of V Jen - Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America Sa

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Jun 15, 2020
2 min

Middle-Grade Books We Love by Black Authors

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) We at Unabridged stand with the Black Lives Matter movement. There are SO many books that we love by Black authors, and we look forward to lifting up those amazing books. Today we are talking about some of our favorite middle-grade authors and books that we think would be amazing in any classroom. This is definitely not a complete list, but this features some of our favorite authors for middle-grade lit, including Jason Reynolds, Sharon M. D

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Jun 13, 2020
32 min

Bonus: Re-release of Jason Reynolds Highlight with LONG WAY DOWN, GHOST, and WHEN I WAS THE GREATEST

In this bonus episode, we wanted to share a re-release of an episode highlighting three novels by Jason Reynolds, one of our favorite Black authors for young people and for the classroom. We feel his body of work has applications across many age levels and grades. You can check out his body of work here. We tried to go very light on the spoilers in this episode, but a few minor spoilers were hard to avoid as we revealed what we loved about these books. Timeline Introduction a

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May 25, 2020
2 min

Building on the Classics: Middle-Grade Reads to Add to Your Shelves

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) We recently had the chance to chat with Jill Hames, director of the James L. Hamner Public Library and host of the Connections podcast. Our agenda? To think about classics--like Gary Paulsen's Hatchet, Wilson Rawls's Where the Red Fern Grows, Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and Fred Gipson's Old Yeller--and develop a list of books that we could recommend to fans of these tried-and-true options. (For the record, we endorse the

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May 19, 2020
4 min

Pub Day Shout-Outs! May 19, 2019 featuring Collins, Henry, Santos

By Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Suzanne Collins's The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel Description from Publisher: "Ambition will fuel him. Competition will drive him. But power has its price. "It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate

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Apr 29, 2020
42 min

123 - How to Help Young People Keep Reading when School Is Out

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 newsletter where you'll be able to download our guide! Bookish Check In Sara -

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