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 2021 reading challenge, join our buddy reads on Instagram, or become an Unabridged Ambassador!

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Book Review of Deb Caletti's ONE GREAT LIE - A Stunning Book about Gender and Power

May 28
3 min

Book Review of Deb Caletti's ONE GREAT LIE - A Stunning Book about Gender and Power

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to Partners NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the digital ARC of Deb Caletti’s One Great Lie (Amazon | Bookshop.org) in exchange for an honest review. The book will be released on Tuesday, June 1. Deb Caletti’s One Great Lie is a stunning YA novel about gender dynamics and issues of power, perfect for consideration in the aftermath of the #metoo movement. Told in spare, gorgeous prose, the novel focuses on a girl who’s given her drea

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Jennifer Weiner's THAT SUMMER - Compelling Characters Build Suspense

May 7
2 min

Jennifer Weiner's THAT SUMMER - Compelling Characters Build Suspense

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to Partner NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC of Jennifer Weiner’s That Summer (Amazon | Bookshop.org) in exchange for an honest review. The book will be published on Tuesday, May 11. Somehow, That Summer is only my third book by Jennifer Weiner, but I definitely need to dive into her backlist because I devoured this novel. I could NOT put it down. It’s (1) a great summer read (and it’s finally feeling like summer!); (2) a bo

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Pub Day Shout-Outs for February 9, 2021, featuring Leitich Smith, Johnson, and Shusterman

Feb 9
4 min

Pub Day Shout-Outs for February 9, 2021, featuring Leitich Smith, Johnson, and Shusterman

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Two are from Unabridged favorites, and one book is by a new-to-me author. Editor Cynthia Leitich Smith's Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids Description from Publisher: "Edited by award-winning and bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of intersecting stories by both new and veteran Native writers bursts with hope, joy, resilience, the strength of c

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11 Books that Support Advocacy and Education on Human Trafficking

Nov 30, 2020
2 min

11 Books that Support Advocacy and Education on Human Trafficking

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) It is the eve of the first of December, which means for me, the eve of Dressember, an organization I have been advocating for for several years. My friend RuthAnn is the person who inspired my involvement. I am a part of her Dressember team. We were lucky enough to have her as a guest on the podcast last November. (Listen to the episode here.) In it, RuthAnn discusses Dressember, advocacy, and some of the books on this list. In addition, thi

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Books to Encourage Activism

Nov 16, 2020
3 min

Books to Encourage Activism

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) As teachers, we often look to our students for inspiration: sometimes, their energy and enthusiasm for the world pushes us to be activists. But sometimes, we know, they need some inspiration, too. And that's where books can come in. Here are 9+ books we think are inspiring for young people. Mark Oshiro's Anger Is a Gift - In my post about this book, I said, "Mark Oshiro's Anger Is a Gift confronts activism and anger through the lens of Moss. M

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Claudia Rankine's JUST US: AN AMERICAN CONVERSATION - A Book I'll Re-Read

Oct 30, 2020
3 min

Claudia Rankine's JUST US: AN AMERICAN CONVERSATION - A Book I'll Re-Read

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to Partner NetGalley for the digital ARC of Claudia Rankine’s Just Us: An American Conversation in exchange for an honest review. The book is available for purchase. I will need to read Claudia Rankine’s Just Us again. I think it is brilliant and important and thoughtful, but I know that there’s more to absorb, more to contemplate. I read it too quickly this time, wrestled with the format of the e-book (I’m definitely going to buy it i

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Nic Stone's DEAR JUSTYCE - A Worthy Companion to the Brilliant DEAR MARTIN

Oct 9, 2020
2 min

Nic Stone's DEAR JUSTYCE - A Worthy Companion to the Brilliant DEAR MARTIN

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) I've shared my love for Nic Stone's Dear Martin all over the internet—I think it is such a powerful foundation for conversations with teenagers about police violence, racism, and justice. I'm sure it will be no surprise, then, that I was INCREDIBLY excited to see Nic Stone's announcement of a sequel, Dear Justyce. (No worries! This will be a spoiler-free review of book two.) Dear Martin's protagonist is Justyce McCallister, a Black teenager w

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Abi Daré's THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE - An Uplifting Story of Bravery and Determination

Jun 19, 2020
3 min

Abi Daré's THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE - An Uplifting Story of Bravery and Determination

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) Abi Daré's debut novel, The Girl with the Louding Voice, captures your heart with the focus on Adunni, a young Nigerian teenager who loses her ability to go to school and becomes a child bride after her mother's untimely death. Despite her father's promise to her mother that Adunni will get to continue her education and will not become trapped in a life of hard work and misery, her father agrees to her marriage for a bride pr

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

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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129: Re-release of Angie Thomas's THE HATE U GIVE Book Club Discussion

Jun 10, 2020
46 min

129: Re-release of Angie Thomas's THE HATE U GIVE Book Club Discussion

In light of the unjust loss of Black lives in America and of the Black Lives Matter movement, we wanted to share an episode from 2018 where, for our book club, we discussed one of our favorite YA literature books for the classroom, Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give. In the episode, we discuss the novel and share pairings including Gabrielle Union's We're Going to Need More Wine, Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil's The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes Aft

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128: A Message about Today's Episode

Jun 3, 2020
2 min

128: A Message about Today's Episode

Today, we are sharing a message about our decision to postpone the regularly scheduled book club episode. Resources Mentioned Episode 41, about Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give Episode 45, about the film adaptation of The Hate U Give Note: We will be editing these two episodes and re-releasing them next week. #shownotes #yalit #socialissues #socialjustice (A note to our readers: click on the hashtags above to see our other blog posts with the same hashtag.) Interested in what e

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Pub Day Shout-Outs! June 2, 2020 featuring Bennett, Brown, and Johnson

Jun 2, 2020
4 min

Pub Day Shout-Outs! June 2, 2020 featuring Bennett, Brown, and Johnson

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) As we struggle to learn more in response to the injustices we're seeing across the United States, we are highlighting three works by Black authors that are being published today. Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half Description from Publisher: "The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is di

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Brit Bennett's THE VANISHING HALF - A Multi-Generational Story of Searching for Identity

May 29, 2020
3 min

Brit Bennett's THE VANISHING HALF - A Multi-Generational Story of Searching for Identity

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Thanks to partners NetGalley and Edelweiss for egalley copies of Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half in exchange for an honest review. The book releases Tuesday, June 2. Brit Bennett’s debut novel The Mothers was one of my favorite reads of 2017, so I was thrilled when I saw that she had written a new novel . . . but also nervous. Could The Vanishing Half possibly live up to Bennett’s amazing first novel? I’m happy to share that it absolutely do

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

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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Pub Day Shout-Outs! April 14, 2020 - Moore, Jimenez, Jamieson

Apr 14, 2020
4 min

Pub Day Shout-Outs! April 14, 2020 - Moore, Jimenez, Jamieson

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Wes Moore's Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City Description from Publisher: "When Freddie Gray was arrested for possessing an 'illegal knife' in April 2015, he was, by eyewitness accounts that video evidence later confirmed, treated 'roughly' as police loaded him into a vehicle. By the end of his trip in the police van, Gray was in a coma from which he would never r

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Tournament of Books - Days 7 and 8 - Jen's Take

Mar 13, 2020
7 min

Tournament of Books - Days 7 and 8 - Jen's Take

Today, we have reached the final round of the Sweet Sixteen of The Morning News Tournament of Books. (If you'd like to read a little more background on what I (Jen) am up to here, check out this post.) This is not, I have to admit, my favorite section of the bracket (*hides face in shame*), but I'm making a valiant effort to share my opinions here. Day 7 (March 17) - Trust Exercise v. Overthrow Susan Choi's Trust Exercise - I recently listened to a podcast in which the guest

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Tournament of Books - Days 5 and 6 - Jen's Take

Mar 6, 2020
6 min

Tournament of Books - Days 5 and 6 - Jen's Take

Today, I (Jen) am discussing the third section of the Sweet Sixteen of The Morning News Tournament of Books. (If you'd like to read a little more background on what I'm up to here, check out this post.) I have some tough choices here, with THREE books that I really loved. And check out the end of the post, where I provide an update from the very first match-up of the competition Day 5 (March 13) - The Water Dancer v. Optic Nerve Ta-Nehisi Coates's The Water Dancer - ". . . me

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Tournament of Books - Days 3 and 4 - Jen's Take

Feb 28, 2020
6 min

Tournament of Books - Days 3 and 4 - Jen's Take

All right, I (Jen) am back with the next two match-ups in the The Morning News Tournament of Books. (If you'd like to read a little more background on what I'm up to here, check out this post.) Today, I have, for me, the first TRULY difficult decision of the Tournament. Day 3 (March 11) - Lost Children Archive v. Mary Toft; or, the Rabbit Queen Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archive - Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archive in some ways defies description. On one level, i

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113: Why Teach YA? - There's Nothing I Want More than for Kids to Love What We're Doing

Feb 19, 2020
2 min

113: Why Teach YA? - There's Nothing I Want More than for Kids to Love What We're Doing

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 Outsiders to A.S. King's Everybody Sees the Ants, we talk about using YA lit in our clas

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Best Reads of 2019--Sara's Picks

Feb 10, 2020
4 min

Best Reads of 2019--Sara's Picks

You are going to notice right away that my "Best of 2019" list isn't nearly as long as my counterparts. Honestly, 2019 was just not a great year of reading for me. I read a lot of books, but there just weren't a ton that really stood out to me. However, the ones that I did read, made a huge impact. I will say that I have read way more non-fiction this year than I have in other years AND OVER HALF (!) of the books on my list are non-fiction! My fingers are crossed for a more s

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