December 10, 2025 • 33 mins
“When we are making books, we are making little homes for our readers that they can return to hopefully again and again and again, just as we return to books and find a sense of home, we return to the person we once were, when we were reading that book.” — Sophie Blackall
Home. It’s something we spend our whole lives building and rebuilding. Sometimes it’s made of walls and windows. Others, it’s made of words.
Sophie Blackall builds hers through imagination and community. The two-time Caldecott Medal-winning author and illustrator, known for works such as Hello Lighthouse, If You Come to Earth, and Finding Winnie, has spent her life transforming that search into stories.
In this episode, No Wasted Sunshine: Sophie Blackall on the Meaning of Home, Sophie shares her nomadic childhood, her fixation on the idea of home, and why she never feels settled. She also discusses the books she reaches for to feel safe. We also talk about Milkwood—the magical farm retreat she created for the children’s book community to cook, commune, and collaborate.
Settle in for a wide-ranging conversation that explores the meaning we construct within and around our lives.
***
For her reading challenge, Home, Sophie has curated a collection of books that explore how we build and replace the places that hold us.
Peruse selected titles and Sophie’s complete reading challenge for free at thereadingculturepod.com/sophie-blackall
This week's Beanstack Featured Librarian is Kimberly Thompson, the library media specialist at East Side Middle School in Bullock County, Kentucky. She tells us all about the Kentucky Bluegrass Awards and how they’re getting everyone in her school reading, including the adults!
Show Chapters
Chapter 1: Where Is Home?
Chapter 2: Wasted Sunshine
Chapter 3: A Perfect Picture Book
Chapter 4: Not Just a Farmhouse
Chapter 5: Under Milk Wood
Chapter 6: Paper Houses
Chapter 7: So Now What?
Chapter 8: Reading Challenge
Chapter 9: Beanstack Featured Librarian
Links
- The Reading Culture
- The Reading Culture Newsletter Signup
- Follow The Reading Culture on Instagram (for giveaways and bonus content)
- Sophie Blackall
- Sophie Blackall website
- Milkwood Farm
- How to Not Waste Your Live (The Marginalian)
- Roxaboxen
- Under Milk Wood
- A creative retreat for the children’s book community
- Beanstack resources to build your community’s reading culture
- Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Host and Production Credits
Host: Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Producers: Mel Webb and Lower Street Media
Script Editors: Josia Lamberto-Egan, Mel Webb, Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sophie Blackall (00:04):
When we're making books, we're making
little homes for our readersthat they can return to
hopefully again and again andagain. Just as we return to
books and find a sense of home.We return to the person we once
were when we were reading thatbook.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (00:21):
Home. It's something we spend our whole
lives building and rebuilding.Sometimes it's made of walls and
windows and others it's made ofwords. Sophie Blackall builds
hers through stories, throughcommunity, and through the act
of noticing. A two timeCaldecott Medal winning author
and illustrator, she's known forbooks like Hello Lighthouse, If
(00:45):
You Come to Earth, and Ivy andBean.
In this episode, Sophie tells usabout her nomadic childhood, why
she is fixated on the idea ofhome and yet never feels
settled, and what books shereaches for when she just needs
to feel safe. We also talk aboutMilkwood, the magical farm
(01:07):
retreat that Sophie created justfor the children's book
community to cook, commune, andcollaborate. My name is Jordan
Lloyd Bookie, and this is thereading culture, a show where we
speak with diverse authors aboutways to build a stronger culture
of reading in our communities.We dive deep into their personal
experiences and inspirations.This show is made possible by
(01:31):
Beanstack, the leading solutionfor motivating people to read
more.
Learn more at beanstack.com, andmake sure to check us out on
Instagram at thereadingculturepod and subscribe
to our newsletter for bonuscontent at the
readingculturepod.com forwardslash newsletter. Alright. On to
the show. Hey, listeners. Areyou looking for a fun, easy way
(01:54):
to track your reading and earncool rewards?
Well, meet Beanstack, theultimate reading app used by a
community of over 15,000schools, libraries, and
organizations nationwide. Areyou an avid reader? Check with
your local library to see ifthey offer Beanstack for free. A
parent? Ask your child's teacherif the school library already
(02:17):
uses Beanstack.
And if you are an educatorsearching for a fresh
alternative to acceleratedreader, Beanstack is the perfect
tool to cultivate a thrivingreading culture. Ready to turn
the page? Visit beanstack.com tolearn more. We grew up with your
(02:39):
books, and they're just sobeautiful. They really capture
so much, and I just I'm excitedto speak with you.
Let's start off because one ofthe themes we wanna talk about
is home, and I wanted to justask what home felt like for you
growing up in Australia.
Sophie Blackall (02:54):
I lived with my mother for most of my childhood,
and she was a serial housemover.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (03:03):
Oh.
Sophie Blackall (03:03):
So we lived in so many different houses. She
would buy an old falling downhouse and painstakingly restore
it. And just when it was allnice and comfortable and the
windows and doors opened andshut and the rooms were painted,
we would move. I don't know ifit was restlessness or just a
(03:25):
creative energy that she wantedthe puzzle and the project of
making a new home. But, yeah, askids, we moved and moved and
moved.
And she still moves and movesand moves. Really? And I
realized only recently that therental apartment in New York
where we my husband and I raisedour blended family, we had all
(03:46):
been in it for ten years when weour kids left home for college,
and and we downsized duringCOVID. It was the longest any of
us had ever lived in one place,which was kind of interesting to
be 50 and that that was theplace. But having said that, the
houses my mother made werebeautiful, and they were filled
(04:08):
with old things and books andmaterials to make things and a
garden and animals.
They were not necessarilyexpensive things, but they were
chosen with care, and they wouldmove with us from house to
house. So there was always asense of continuity because of
(04:29):
the things. And so those homes,though there were many of them,
were all wonderful in one way oranother.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (04:37):
So you really learned some of that
craft of mending and that typeof thing from your mom?
Sophie Blackall (04:42):
Definitely. I think my mother could build a
house in a forest with herteeth.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (04:54):
Wow.
Sophie Blackall (04:55):
Yeah. She can make a basket out of grass and
twigs and can sew and weave andall of those things. And I did
learn as much as I could fromher, and those are things that I
still love to do.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (05:10):
Such a gift to be able to do things with
your hands. So your mom justmoved, but for no particular
reason, and you had siblings?
Sophie Blackall (05:18):
I have an older brother. Yeah. So it was the
three of us. Okay. Yeah.
No particular reason other thanwanting, I think, a new
adventure. Maybe she was lookingfor something that she never
found without wanting to go intomaking this into a therapy
session, Jordan.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (05:38):
Bring it on.
Sophie Blackall (05:39):
Yeah. It is interesting, that desire to
move. And I wonder on some levelwhether I've inherited it. Here
I am. I've been on the road fornearly six weeks.
We split our time between a tinyapartment in Brooklyn, New York,
a rambling farmhouse in UpstateNew York. I go back to Australia
(06:00):
once a year. I do researchtrips. I travel for my books. I
am rarely in one place forlonger than a few weeks.
And I so I don't know I don'tknow what that is. And yet, I
love home. I think about home. Iwrite about home. I make
pictures about home.
(06:20):
I read books that are centeredin some idea of place and home
and what that means, and itoccupies my thoughts all the
time, and yet I'm not verysettled.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (06:33):
I was thinking about the Hello
Lighthouse and just the idea of,like, this very confined space.
You're the inverse of thatstory, really Yes. And living in
the big ocean.
Sophie Blackall (06:42):
And the book that I'm working on currently
having done a book about alighthouse, a book about a
farmhouse, is a book calledHouse on Wheels. Oh. And my
husband, Ed, who is just so gameand generous and willing, goes
on these crazy adventures withme. And I said, I think I wanna
(07:04):
do a book called House on Wheelsabout a trailer, a literal house
on wheels and Like a camper.Yeah.
A camper. And what it's like tolive with two plates and two
cups and two bowls or three orfour, and to move from place to
place, but to have thatjuxtaposition of the ever
changing exterior and theconstant interior, which was
(07:27):
something I was playing with andinterested in with lighthouse as
well. But this is unlikelighthouse that is constant and
steadfast, and what is changingis weather and time and the
passing ships and storms. WithHouse on Wheels, we are the ones
moving. And I said to Ed, Ithink I need to go and get a
House on Wheels, and I think weneed to go on a
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (07:49):
go on And a trip in he was like,
Sophie Blackall (07:52):
can't you Google?
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (07:54):
Can you do some interviews?
Sophie Blackall (07:58):
No. So he also came with me to stay in a
lighthouse and helped me
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (08:05):
I saw you were at sea on Instagram. I saw
Sophie Blackall (08:07):
you We were at sea exactly, because that's
another book I'm working oncalled The Sea, A Love Story,
which is also about home in itsway. And yeah. So he's game. But
I'm also in LA for his play, itgoes both ways.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (08:27):
Sophie is someone who's always noticing,
always finding beauty in thequiet corners of her
surroundings, cataloging momentsand small details and turning
them into something lasting.There's intention in the way
that she looks at the world asif this attention to the details
itself is a kind of care, a wayof making the most of the time
(08:48):
that we have here.
Sophie Blackall (08:52):
I was reading do you ever read The
Marginalian, Maria Poppos? Yeah.She's so incredibly smart, but
she pulls together all of theseother smart thinking people. And
she was writing recently aboutNathaniel Hawthorne, who was
consumed with this idea of howto live a life that he said I
(09:15):
wrote this down. He said, how tolive in order not to look back
with a lament for life's wastedsunshine.
Oh. Oh. Oh. That's beautiful.Wow.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (09:28):
How are you doing that? What I'm thinking
about now is, like, I think alot of people consider, like,
thinking of collecting andkeeping things, things that
maybe other people wouldconsider trash or just consider
something they have to let goof. You know? And I just wonder
how, like you know, when youbring in these, like, stories of
other people, what that does foryou and your sense of place in
(09:53):
in, like, the continuum, Iguess. I think it's part of a
deep desire to connect withother people and try to
understand other people, all thewhile knowing that we can no
more understand the person infront of
Sophie Blackall (10:13):
us than we can understand ourselves. We can
just try our best. However, wedo that by watching and
listening and looking closelyand being attentive. I was
thinking about do you know MyraKaumann, the writer and
illustrator? No.
She is wonderful. She's done alot of children's books, but
(10:35):
also illustrates grown upillustrated books and for The
New Yorker and The New YorkTimes. And she has a book called
The Principles of Uncertainty.And there's a drawing in there.
It's one of my favorite pages,and I talk about it a lot.
It's a drawing of a woman shesees somewhere with magnificent
hair and three bobby pins on theside of her head. She says, but
(11:00):
there might have been sixbecause I couldn't see the other
side. That idea that we only seeone side, we see this one thing
in front of us. We don't knowwhat's happening on the other
side. We don't know what'shappening inside someone's head.
And all we can do is try not toleap to conclusions and try not
(11:22):
to judge and to keep our mindsopen and to be patient and to
listen and to ask questions andto be attentive and hope that
the stories get told and that weget to hear them.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (11:37):
Do you think that's the way that you I
don't know if I remember now howNathaniel Hawthorne said it, but
do you consider that sort ofyour way of not leaving behind a
ray of sunshine? I don't know.
Sophie Blackall (11:47):
Yes. In order to not look back with a lament
for life's wasted sunshine.There it is. Yeah. I think
that's, like, how to be alive,how to how to make the most of
the time we have here.
Which is something, of course,that kids don't have any care
about at all because they are inthe moment and nor should they.
(12:10):
And which is one of the reasonsI love spending time with them.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (12:14):
But some of my favorite
Sophie Blackall (12:16):
books one of my favorite books in the whole
world, which is on my list,Jordan, is Rocks a Boxin'. Do
you know that book? Yeah. Ishare a studio in Brooklyn with
there are six of us children'sbookmakers. And Ruth Chan came
to visit us, and I had Roxaboxenout.
And she had never read it, andwe had an impromptu picture book
(12:38):
story time. And she read italoud, And we all gathered
around, and it was as magical asit is every single time because
that book is for me, it's aperfect picture book. But it is
about children who build a placein the desert with stones and
bits of broken wood, and theybuild their houses, and they it
just grows. They build shops andstreets. Everyone gets a car.
(13:02):
All you need for a car issomething round to hold as a
steering wheel. And then thereare you can get speeding
tickets. Yes. And little Mary,who's the quiet one, is forever
speeding and getting put injail. And it's just so
wonderful, and it's funny, andinventive, and true.
(13:23):
And then time passes, and thechildren all grow up, and they
leave Roxabox, and but theydon't forget it. And you Right.
Touch on a couple of them asgrown ups. There's, I think,
Steven, who is on a beachsomewhere, and he picks up a
pebble that he holds and thattakes him back to Ruxer Box. And
and then little Mary goes backas a woman in her fifties.
(13:44):
And all of this is just saidwith a few words Right. But
packs in this entire emotionallife experience of the passing
of time and the way we spend ourlives and the connections we
make and the creative interiorlives that we lead and how all
of those things come together toresonate when we're thinking
(14:08):
back and not lamenting the whatis it? Not lamenting the wasted
sunshine.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (14:17):
I went back to reread this book that Sophie
mentioned, and I couldn't helpbut notice that Mary Anne, the
character who rallies the otherkids together and rocks the
boxing, is basically a mirror ofSophie herself. In her six
person studio in Brooklyn,Sophie is that person.
Sophie Blackall (14:37):
So many people were coming to visit us. They
were they were coming for lunch.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (14:41):
They were coming to bring something they
were working on that they neededanother set of eyes. They were
just seeking that kind ofcommunity that is rare. So many
authors and illustrators work inisolation. They work at home or
in a little studio, and theydon't have that. And so the idea
came about to try and build asmall version of it that people
could dip into.
(15:02):
It grew into something so muchmore ambitious than we ever
imagined. Determined to createmore of those connections that
resonate, Sophie and her husbandEd launched an ongoing series of
creative retreats at MilkwoodFarm, a repurposed dairy farm in
Upstate New York. They inviteother authors and illustrators
(15:23):
and those who are in thechildren's book community, 10 at
a time, to sequester together,to brainstorm and play and
collaborate. So, yeah, Sophiebasically built a Roxaboxen for
adults and it looks amazing. Wedidn't realize that these groups
of 10 would become their ownlittle version of our studio
(15:46):
even if
Sophie Blackall (15:46):
the people are far flung. They've stayed in
touch. They have book critiquegroups, writing groups, reading
groups. They draw togetheronline once a month. They go on
field trips.
They are each other's soundingboards and support networks and
emotional support when lifethings happen. And that has been
(16:11):
like, I I it just it fills myheart to be all sentimental
about it, but it's wonderful.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (16:18):
Has seeing these people come together? What
has that shown you or taught youfor your own life?
Sophie Blackall (16:23):
The first thing that comes to mind is returning
to Myra Kalman's Woman with theThree Bobbypins is 10 strangers
arrive on a Thursday evening andleave on a Sunday afternoon, and
we're all changed. We knowthings about each other that we
couldn't possibly have learnedin a short space of time. We had
(16:47):
conversations that ebbed andflowed and were long and perhaps
full of debate. We maybe changedeach other's minds about things.
We got to places that, again, wejust couldn't get to in a short
time, and people shared thingsabout themselves that they would
not have if they didn't feelsafe and they hadn't grown to
(17:10):
trust the people they were with.
So many people said some versionof this cracked something open
for me, or I feel like the topof my head has come off, or I
was in a rut and now I can seemy way out of it. So it is that
sort of transformativeexperience that just seems to
(17:32):
happen when people who want tobe together and are looking to
be open to that kind of creativeexperience and to learn from
each other and to listen to eachother, that that is possible.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (17:47):
How do you create those circumstances or,
like, what's happening?
Sophie Blackall (17:51):
Oh, this
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (17:52):
is Without giving away too much of
whatever's in the sauce. I don'tknow. I know. Cooking for
people. I don't know.
Sophie Blackall (17:57):
We Ed and Paige, who's our right hand
person, and I and our staff, wetalk about it all the time, and
then we don't want to talk aboutit too much because there is
something that feels it's a wordthat people use a lot, and it
makes me bork or squirm ever soslightly, but it's it's magic
that there is this magic thathappens here. And I think it's a
(18:20):
combination of a lot of things.I think it is growing the food
and making the food with greatlove and care. And I think it's
because we're we're making booksfor children, and we hope that
we will find readers. And thatin itself is a a way of
connecting.
(18:41):
And I had that experience as achild reading a book, and the
book in particular was Winniethe Pooh. And when I read this
book when I was seven years old,it was the first time I had the
feeling that the author wastalking just to me. He had
written this book to me, and itchanged everything to me. It was
(19:02):
not condescending orpatronizing. It was funny and
vivid, The characters feltalive, and I felt like I was
stepping into a world that Icould step back into every time
I open the pages of that book.
That, of course, is is whatwe're doing too when we're
making books. We're makinglittle homes. We're making homes
(19:24):
for our readers that they canreturn to hopefully again and
again and again. Just as wereturn to books and find a sense
of home, we return to the personwe once were when we were
reading that book. We leavelittle bits of ourselves in the
books that we read and canrediscover them if there's been
an absence of time, and and weread something that we read ten
(19:45):
years ago and like, oh, Iremember where I was when I read
that.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (19:49):
Okay. I really love this idea.
Sophie Blackall (19:57):
Come closer now. Only you can hear the
houses sleeping in the streetsin the slow deep salt and silent
black bandaged night. Only youcan see in the blinded bedrooms,
the comb and the petticoats overthe chairs, the jugs and basins,
the glasses of teeth, the thoushalt not on the wall, and the
(20:19):
yellowing Dickie bird watchingpictures of the dead. Only you
can hear and see behind the eyesof the sleepers, the movements
and countries and mazes andcolors and dismays and rainbows
and tunes and wishes and flightand fall and despairs and big
(20:40):
seas of their dreams. From whereyou are, you can hear their
dreams.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (20:47):
Under Milkwood is a 1954 radio drama
by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Setin a fictional seaside village,
it drifts through a single day,slipping in and out of the
dreams and private thoughts ofits residents. Through his
language, Thomas turns theeveryday into something radiant.
(21:08):
The quiet rooms, the sleepinghouses, the secret lives
unfolding just out of sight.Sophie first came across Under
Milkwood in her thirties, and ithas stayed with her ever since.
Sophie Blackall (21:25):
It harks back to that idea of seeing and
noticing and trying to imagineall of the multitudes that are
contained in everyone. And asauthors and illustrators and
people who work with books, Ithink that is what we're all
(21:49):
trying to do as well, to makesense of the world, to notice
the tiny details that make senseof a life and make a person seem
as true as we can make them withthe fragments that we know. I
returned to this passage quite abit. It's just always been
(22:10):
there, and I have this deepdream of one day illustrating
it. Oh.
So that's, you know, in in myheart of hearts, something I
would love to do one day. Yeah.So, yeah, it's one
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (22:22):
I carry around with me. I wonder how
you, like, discern, I guess,between the many things that you
must be. I'm imagining writingdown, like, a notebook here and
there and just noting so manythings and how you're, like,
culling and picking them and,like Yeah. Putting them in your
different books. And I don'tknow.
It just feels like such an artin and of itself. You know?
Sophie Blackall (22:41):
It is so hard. I'm wrestling with this at the
moment with this new book. Andyet that very thing about it
being difficult is what makesall of this so thrilling.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (22:55):
And
Sophie Blackall (22:56):
who whittle it down and to find the one detail
that can stand for so much more.Remember your audience. These
are children. I know. Give themspace to put in their own
details.
That's part of it too. You don'thave to put everything in there.
This is in a way, this is notabout you. Fair. Give them space
(23:19):
to make it about them as well,which is part of what we need to
do with every book.
Leave the reader some space.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (23:26):
Can you read those last two lines one
more time?
Sophie Blackall (23:30):
Only you can hear and see behind the eyes of
the sleepers, the movements andcountries and mazes and colors
and dismays and rainbows andtunes and wishes and flight and
fall and despairs and big seasof their dreams. From where you
are, you can hear their dreams.Oh, that's just, like, really
(23:52):
spectacular.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (23:56):
I absolutely love Sophie's idea of
books as homes. These places wereturn to again and again. Like,
each reread becomes this way ofrediscovering who we are and
also who we were the first timewe open those pages. Just as
Under Milkwood and Winnie thePooh have been homes for Sophie,
I wondered what other storiesshe has returned to. What other
(24:20):
places on the page have held herat different points in her life?
Sophie Blackall (24:24):
Anne of Green Gables was one I returned to
over and over again, and, youknow, that's a book about home
for sure. As I was older, MobyDick, weirdly, is a book that I
go back to again and again.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (24:37):
That were the whales. That's where that
comes from? Yeah.
Sophie Blackall (24:39):
That's where the whales comes from. If I'm
really just needing comfort forwhatever reason and that
recently being on the road somuch, I have all of Jane Austen
on audiobook. It doesn't matterwhich one. They're all so
familiar, but I'll just listento Persuasion or Sense and
(24:59):
Sensibility, I'll feel home,feel safe. I think that's what
books do for us.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (25:07):
Do you feel like your, like, biggest
influences are yourcontemporaries or, like, past
people that you've read? Orwhere are your biggest artistic
influences coming from, wouldyou say? Think about Milkwood
specifically.
Sophie Blackall (25:21):
Yeah. Right. I think it is equal. It is half my
peers. I love seeing whatBeatrice Alemagna is up to.
She's an Italian illustrator Iadmire a lot, And Carson Ellis
and Oge Mora and Sidney Smithand John Klassen. I mean, are so
(25:41):
many incredible book creatorsworking at the moment. And then
I just love pouring over mostlynineteenth century people who
were trying to figure things outand doing it in their own way,
and especially women. BeatrixPotter is one of my heroes, not
(26:04):
only for the books she made forchildren, but for everything
else she did to explore and tryand understand and Mhmm. Make
sense of things and documentthem and care about them and
notice them and save them.
Her environmental work was alsoincredibly important to that
(26:24):
whole swath of country in theLakes District in England.
Without her, it'd probably belost now. And, I mean, so many
writers, you know, VirginiaWoolf and Jane Austen and but
then also unknown people. I loveold scrapbooks that, again,
mostly women collected or youngteenage girls. The things that
(26:48):
are coming back to collectionsand the things that they thought
were important for markingmoments in their lives and
tickets, dubs, and dance cards,and little bits of party hats
and get well notes and stuckthem all in books.
They were not perhaps not deemedimportant enough because there
(27:11):
was just little snippets ofrubbish. And I love them, and I
have so many of them. And it's adangerous pursuit because I
can't keep them all, but I wantto rescue them all because they
seem so incredibly important tome. This is someone's life. And
at the same time as I'mcollecting and finding it
difficult to not pick up an oldscrapbook, I'm reveling in
(27:37):
realizing how little I need andhaving lived out of a suitcase
for the last six weeks.
I don't need all that stuff. Weneed each other and food and
shelter and clean water and airand a library so we can keep
reading lots of books. Go toother places. Yeah. We can move
around and see the world.
(27:59):
Yeah, we don't need a ton ofstuff.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (28:02):
How do you define home?
Sophie Blackall (28:04):
It is My children have rudely left home,
just so selfish, grown up, andliving their own lives.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (28:15):
How awful.
Sophie Blackall (28:17):
How dare they?
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (28:18):
They're like, oh, no. Do you remember
you downsized to that apartment?Bye.
Sophie Blackall (28:25):
They've left home, and I miss them dearly.
And I'm also thrilled thatthey're living their lives. And
so for me now, Ed is home, andwe can make our home just about
anywhere. And we miss perhapssome things, our books that we
want to return to again andagain, and some of the other,
(28:45):
you know, collections andthings, and the smell of home,
and those ephemeral things thatmake a home a home. But at the
same time, we can really livevery simply and feel safe and
grounded.
And a coffee pot, we do travelwith our stovetop Bioletti
(29:06):
espresso pot. That's one thingthat that we can't live without.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (29:16):
It only makes sense that Sophie's
reading challenge would, ofcourse, return to this idea of
home. From lighthouses tofarmhouses in her books and her
life, Sophie has always exploredhow we build and rebuild the
places that hold us, and thislist is no different.
Sophie Blackall (29:34):
So the books that I made in this list are
mostly books that are about homein some way or another. So
there's Roxaboxen that we talkedabout, which is by Alice McLaren
and illustrated by BarbaraCooney. There's The Little
House, which is one of myfavorite books as a child, which
is Virginia Lee Burton. Thenthere's Arrival by Sean Tan.
(29:58):
It's about an immigrant refugee,but it's all about that sense of
home and what we leave behindand how to make a new home.
Here by Richard Maguire, to thelighthouse Virginia Woolf on
there. I had Kindred OctaviaButler on there. And then I have
the tale of two bad mice, whichis Beatrix Potter.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (30:18):
You can find Sophie's reading challenge
and all past reading challengesat the readingculturepod.com.
And this week's Beanstackfeatured librarian is again
Kimberly Thompson, the librarymedia specialist at Eastside
Middle School in Bullitt County,Kentucky. She tells us all about
(30:41):
the Kentucky Bluegrass Awardsand how it's getting everyone in
her school reading, includingthe adults.
Kimberly Thompson (30:49):
The Kentucky Bluegrass Awards are 10 books
chosen, by a committee to be thebest books in the state And,
they have them at differentgrade levels. And I tell the
kids it's a voluntary program.They come to the library. I book
talk all the books, and theyrate how interested they are in
them. And I have at least onecopy for every team in the
(31:10):
school.
So I usually have at least six,maybe 10 copies of every book.
And then the administrationgifts every team their own sets.
So we have a lot of themfloating around, but we talk
about the public library and how
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (31:22):
to get books there and sharing books
with friends and that kind ofthing.
Kimberly Thompson (31:26):
And we just tell them if you read any too,
then
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (31:28):
you come to an ice cream cake party in May.
So we do
Kimberly Thompson (31:30):
it the whole year. And if you read 10, we put
your face on a banner in thelibrary like they do sports
teams in the gym. So I've beendoing it for, like, ten years.
So the kids at the beginninghave graduated college and have
started getting married, andthey think it's pretty cool. And
it's not easy to do.
It's a that's a lot of reading.You know? And then for the
(31:52):
adults, we tell them if theyread the KBA books, they get PD
credit. So a lot of the adultsin the building do an adolescent
book study with us, and thenthey talk with the kids about
the books. And everybody justit's just kinda in the air, and
everybody knows, and it buildsthe culture.
But it's all voluntary.Nothing's forced, and I like
that about it.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (32:18):
This has been the reading culture, and
you've been listening to myconversation with Sophie
Blackall. Again, I'm your host,Jordan Lloyd Bookie, and
currently, I'm reading romanticcomedy by Curtis Sittenfeld and
the teacher of nomad Land byDaniel Nayeri. Big
congratulations to Daniel onwinning the National Book Award
for this book. That's awesome.And please go listen to his past
(32:40):
podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,please show some love and give
us a five star or writtenreview. It just takes a few
seconds or maybe a couple ofminutes if you're doing your
written one and it really helpsensure that our show gets shared
with other people. So thank youthank you for doing that and to
learn more about how you canhelp grow your community's
reading culture please check outall of our resources at
(33:00):
beanstack.com and, of course,remember to sign up for our
newsletter at thereadingculturepod.com forward
slash newsletter. This episodewas produced by Mel Webb and
Lower Street Media and scriptedited by Josiah Lamberto Eakin.
Thanks for listening, and keepreading.
When we're making books, we're making
little homes for our readersthat they can return to
hopefully again and again andagain. Just as we return to
books and find a sense of home.We return to the person we once
were when we were reading thatbook.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (00:21):
Home. It's something we spend our whole
lives building and rebuilding.Sometimes it's made of walls and
windows and others it's made ofwords. Sophie Blackall builds
hers through stories, throughcommunity, and through the act
of noticing. A two timeCaldecott Medal winning author
and illustrator, she's known forbooks like Hello Lighthouse, If
(00:45):
You Come to Earth, and Ivy andBean.
In this episode, Sophie tells usabout her nomadic childhood, why
she is fixated on the idea ofhome and yet never feels
settled, and what books shereaches for when she just needs
to feel safe. We also talk aboutMilkwood, the magical farm
(01:07):
retreat that Sophie created justfor the children's book
community to cook, commune, andcollaborate. My name is Jordan
Lloyd Bookie, and this is thereading culture, a show where we
speak with diverse authors aboutways to build a stronger culture
of reading in our communities.We dive deep into their personal
experiences and inspirations.This show is made possible by
(01:31):
Beanstack, the leading solutionfor motivating people to read
more.
Learn more at beanstack.com, andmake sure to check us out on
Instagram at thereadingculturepod and subscribe
to our newsletter for bonuscontent at the
readingculturepod.com forwardslash newsletter. Alright. On to
the show. Hey, listeners. Areyou looking for a fun, easy way
(01:54):
to track your reading and earncool rewards?
Well, meet Beanstack, theultimate reading app used by a
community of over 15,000schools, libraries, and
organizations nationwide. Areyou an avid reader? Check with
your local library to see ifthey offer Beanstack for free. A
parent? Ask your child's teacherif the school library already
(02:17):
uses Beanstack.
And if you are an educatorsearching for a fresh
alternative to acceleratedreader, Beanstack is the perfect
tool to cultivate a thrivingreading culture. Ready to turn
the page? Visit beanstack.com tolearn more. We grew up with your
(02:39):
books, and they're just sobeautiful. They really capture
so much, and I just I'm excitedto speak with you.
Let's start off because one ofthe themes we wanna talk about
is home, and I wanted to justask what home felt like for you
growing up in Australia.
Sophie Blackall (02:54):
I lived with my mother for most of my childhood,
and she was a serial housemover.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (03:03):
Oh.
Sophie Blackall (03:03):
So we lived in so many different houses. She
would buy an old falling downhouse and painstakingly restore
it. And just when it was allnice and comfortable and the
windows and doors opened andshut and the rooms were painted,
we would move. I don't know ifit was restlessness or just a
(03:25):
creative energy that she wantedthe puzzle and the project of
making a new home. But, yeah, askids, we moved and moved and
moved.
And she still moves and movesand moves. Really? And I
realized only recently that therental apartment in New York
where we my husband and I raisedour blended family, we had all
(03:46):
been in it for ten years when weour kids left home for college,
and and we downsized duringCOVID. It was the longest any of
us had ever lived in one place,which was kind of interesting to
be 50 and that that was theplace. But having said that, the
houses my mother made werebeautiful, and they were filled
(04:08):
with old things and books andmaterials to make things and a
garden and animals.
They were not necessarilyexpensive things, but they were
chosen with care, and they wouldmove with us from house to
house. So there was always asense of continuity because of
(04:29):
the things. And so those homes,though there were many of them,
were all wonderful in one way oranother.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (04:37):
So you really learned some of that
craft of mending and that typeof thing from your mom?
Sophie Blackall (04:42):
Definitely. I think my mother could build a
house in a forest with herteeth.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (04:54):
Wow.
Sophie Blackall (04:55):
Yeah. She can make a basket out of grass and
twigs and can sew and weave andall of those things. And I did
learn as much as I could fromher, and those are things that I
still love to do.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (05:10):
Such a gift to be able to do things with
your hands. So your mom justmoved, but for no particular
reason, and you had siblings?
Sophie Blackall (05:18):
I have an older brother. Yeah. So it was the
three of us. Okay. Yeah.
No particular reason other thanwanting, I think, a new
adventure. Maybe she was lookingfor something that she never
found without wanting to go intomaking this into a therapy
session, Jordan.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (05:38):
Bring it on.
Sophie Blackall (05:39):
Yeah. It is interesting, that desire to
move. And I wonder on some levelwhether I've inherited it. Here
I am. I've been on the road fornearly six weeks.
We split our time between a tinyapartment in Brooklyn, New York,
a rambling farmhouse in UpstateNew York. I go back to Australia
(06:00):
once a year. I do researchtrips. I travel for my books. I
am rarely in one place forlonger than a few weeks.
And I so I don't know I don'tknow what that is. And yet, I
love home. I think about home. Iwrite about home. I make
pictures about home.
(06:20):
I read books that are centeredin some idea of place and home
and what that means, and itoccupies my thoughts all the
time, and yet I'm not verysettled.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (06:33):
I was thinking about the Hello
Lighthouse and just the idea of,like, this very confined space.
You're the inverse of thatstory, really Yes. And living in
the big ocean.
Sophie Blackall (06:42):
And the book that I'm working on currently
having done a book about alighthouse, a book about a
farmhouse, is a book calledHouse on Wheels. Oh. And my
husband, Ed, who is just so gameand generous and willing, goes
on these crazy adventures withme. And I said, I think I wanna
(07:04):
do a book called House on Wheelsabout a trailer, a literal house
on wheels and Like a camper.Yeah.
A camper. And what it's like tolive with two plates and two
cups and two bowls or three orfour, and to move from place to
place, but to have thatjuxtaposition of the ever
changing exterior and theconstant interior, which was
(07:27):
something I was playing with andinterested in with lighthouse as
well. But this is unlikelighthouse that is constant and
steadfast, and what is changingis weather and time and the
passing ships and storms. WithHouse on Wheels, we are the ones
moving. And I said to Ed, Ithink I need to go and get a
House on Wheels, and I think weneed to go on a
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (07:49):
go on And a trip in he was like,
Sophie Blackall (07:52):
can't you Google?
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (07:54):
Can you do some interviews?
Sophie Blackall (07:58):
No. So he also came with me to stay in a
lighthouse and helped me
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (08:05):
I saw you were at sea on Instagram. I saw
Sophie Blackall (08:07):
you We were at sea exactly, because that's
another book I'm working oncalled The Sea, A Love Story,
which is also about home in itsway. And yeah. So he's game. But
I'm also in LA for his play, itgoes both ways.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (08:27):
Sophie is someone who's always noticing,
always finding beauty in thequiet corners of her
surroundings, cataloging momentsand small details and turning
them into something lasting.There's intention in the way
that she looks at the world asif this attention to the details
itself is a kind of care, a wayof making the most of the time
(08:48):
that we have here.
Sophie Blackall (08:52):
I was reading do you ever read The
Marginalian, Maria Poppos? Yeah.She's so incredibly smart, but
she pulls together all of theseother smart thinking people. And
she was writing recently aboutNathaniel Hawthorne, who was
consumed with this idea of howto live a life that he said I
(09:15):
wrote this down. He said, how tolive in order not to look back
with a lament for life's wastedsunshine.
Oh. Oh. Oh. That's beautiful.Wow.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (09:28):
How are you doing that? What I'm thinking
about now is, like, I think alot of people consider, like,
thinking of collecting andkeeping things, things that
maybe other people wouldconsider trash or just consider
something they have to let goof. You know? And I just wonder
how, like you know, when youbring in these, like, stories of
other people, what that does foryou and your sense of place in
(09:53):
in, like, the continuum, Iguess. I think it's part of a
deep desire to connect withother people and try to
understand other people, all thewhile knowing that we can no
more understand the person infront of
Sophie Blackall (10:13):
us than we can understand ourselves. We can
just try our best. However, wedo that by watching and
listening and looking closelyand being attentive. I was
thinking about do you know MyraKaumann, the writer and
illustrator? No.
She is wonderful. She's done alot of children's books, but
(10:35):
also illustrates grown upillustrated books and for The
New Yorker and The New YorkTimes. And she has a book called
The Principles of Uncertainty.And there's a drawing in there.
It's one of my favorite pages,and I talk about it a lot.
It's a drawing of a woman shesees somewhere with magnificent
hair and three bobby pins on theside of her head. She says, but
(11:00):
there might have been sixbecause I couldn't see the other
side. That idea that we only seeone side, we see this one thing
in front of us. We don't knowwhat's happening on the other
side. We don't know what'shappening inside someone's head.
And all we can do is try not toleap to conclusions and try not
(11:22):
to judge and to keep our mindsopen and to be patient and to
listen and to ask questions andto be attentive and hope that
the stories get told and that weget to hear them.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (11:37):
Do you think that's the way that you I
don't know if I remember now howNathaniel Hawthorne said it, but
do you consider that sort ofyour way of not leaving behind a
ray of sunshine? I don't know.
Sophie Blackall (11:47):
Yes. In order to not look back with a lament
for life's wasted sunshine.There it is. Yeah. I think
that's, like, how to be alive,how to how to make the most of
the time we have here.
Which is something, of course,that kids don't have any care
about at all because they are inthe moment and nor should they.
(12:10):
And which is one of the reasonsI love spending time with them.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (12:14):
But some of my favorite
Sophie Blackall (12:16):
books one of my favorite books in the whole
world, which is on my list,Jordan, is Rocks a Boxin'. Do
you know that book? Yeah. Ishare a studio in Brooklyn with
there are six of us children'sbookmakers. And Ruth Chan came
to visit us, and I had Roxaboxenout.
And she had never read it, andwe had an impromptu picture book
(12:38):
story time. And she read italoud, And we all gathered
around, and it was as magical asit is every single time because
that book is for me, it's aperfect picture book. But it is
about children who build a placein the desert with stones and
bits of broken wood, and theybuild their houses, and they it
just grows. They build shops andstreets. Everyone gets a car.
(13:02):
All you need for a car issomething round to hold as a
steering wheel. And then thereare you can get speeding
tickets. Yes. And little Mary,who's the quiet one, is forever
speeding and getting put injail. And it's just so
wonderful, and it's funny, andinventive, and true.
(13:23):
And then time passes, and thechildren all grow up, and they
leave Roxabox, and but theydon't forget it. And you Right.
Touch on a couple of them asgrown ups. There's, I think,
Steven, who is on a beachsomewhere, and he picks up a
pebble that he holds and thattakes him back to Ruxer Box. And
and then little Mary goes backas a woman in her fifties.
(13:44):
And all of this is just saidwith a few words Right. But
packs in this entire emotionallife experience of the passing
of time and the way we spend ourlives and the connections we
make and the creative interiorlives that we lead and how all
of those things come together toresonate when we're thinking
(14:08):
back and not lamenting the whatis it? Not lamenting the wasted
sunshine.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (14:17):
I went back to reread this book that Sophie
mentioned, and I couldn't helpbut notice that Mary Anne, the
character who rallies the otherkids together and rocks the
boxing, is basically a mirror ofSophie herself. In her six
person studio in Brooklyn,Sophie is that person.
Sophie Blackall (14:37):
So many people were coming to visit us. They
were they were coming for lunch.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (14:41):
They were coming to bring something they
were working on that they neededanother set of eyes. They were
just seeking that kind ofcommunity that is rare. So many
authors and illustrators work inisolation. They work at home or
in a little studio, and theydon't have that. And so the idea
came about to try and build asmall version of it that people
could dip into.
(15:02):
It grew into something so muchmore ambitious than we ever
imagined. Determined to createmore of those connections that
resonate, Sophie and her husbandEd launched an ongoing series of
creative retreats at MilkwoodFarm, a repurposed dairy farm in
Upstate New York. They inviteother authors and illustrators
(15:23):
and those who are in thechildren's book community, 10 at
a time, to sequester together,to brainstorm and play and
collaborate. So, yeah, Sophiebasically built a Roxaboxen for
adults and it looks amazing. Wedidn't realize that these groups
of 10 would become their ownlittle version of our studio
(15:46):
even if
Sophie Blackall (15:46):
the people are far flung. They've stayed in
touch. They have book critiquegroups, writing groups, reading
groups. They draw togetheronline once a month. They go on
field trips.
They are each other's soundingboards and support networks and
emotional support when lifethings happen. And that has been
(16:11):
like, I I it just it fills myheart to be all sentimental
about it, but it's wonderful.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (16:18):
Has seeing these people come together? What
has that shown you or taught youfor your own life?
Sophie Blackall (16:23):
The first thing that comes to mind is returning
to Myra Kalman's Woman with theThree Bobbypins is 10 strangers
arrive on a Thursday evening andleave on a Sunday afternoon, and
we're all changed. We knowthings about each other that we
couldn't possibly have learnedin a short space of time. We had
(16:47):
conversations that ebbed andflowed and were long and perhaps
full of debate. We maybe changedeach other's minds about things.
We got to places that, again, wejust couldn't get to in a short
time, and people shared thingsabout themselves that they would
not have if they didn't feelsafe and they hadn't grown to
(17:10):
trust the people they were with.
So many people said some versionof this cracked something open
for me, or I feel like the topof my head has come off, or I
was in a rut and now I can seemy way out of it. So it is that
sort of transformativeexperience that just seems to
(17:32):
happen when people who want tobe together and are looking to
be open to that kind of creativeexperience and to learn from
each other and to listen to eachother, that that is possible.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (17:47):
How do you create those circumstances or,
like, what's happening?
Sophie Blackall (17:51):
Oh, this
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (17:52):
is Without giving away too much of
whatever's in the sauce. I don'tknow. I know. Cooking for
people. I don't know.
Sophie Blackall (17:57):
We Ed and Paige, who's our right hand
person, and I and our staff, wetalk about it all the time, and
then we don't want to talk aboutit too much because there is
something that feels it's a wordthat people use a lot, and it
makes me bork or squirm ever soslightly, but it's it's magic
that there is this magic thathappens here. And I think it's a
(18:20):
combination of a lot of things.I think it is growing the food
and making the food with greatlove and care. And I think it's
because we're we're making booksfor children, and we hope that
we will find readers. And thatin itself is a a way of
connecting.
(18:41):
And I had that experience as achild reading a book, and the
book in particular was Winniethe Pooh. And when I read this
book when I was seven years old,it was the first time I had the
feeling that the author wastalking just to me. He had
written this book to me, and itchanged everything to me. It was
(19:02):
not condescending orpatronizing. It was funny and
vivid, The characters feltalive, and I felt like I was
stepping into a world that Icould step back into every time
I open the pages of that book.
That, of course, is is whatwe're doing too when we're
making books. We're makinglittle homes. We're making homes
(19:24):
for our readers that they canreturn to hopefully again and
again and again. Just as wereturn to books and find a sense
of home, we return to the personwe once were when we were
reading that book. We leavelittle bits of ourselves in the
books that we read and canrediscover them if there's been
an absence of time, and and weread something that we read ten
(19:45):
years ago and like, oh, Iremember where I was when I read
that.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (19:49):
Okay. I really love this idea.
Sophie Blackall (19:57):
Come closer now. Only you can hear the
houses sleeping in the streetsin the slow deep salt and silent
black bandaged night. Only youcan see in the blinded bedrooms,
the comb and the petticoats overthe chairs, the jugs and basins,
the glasses of teeth, the thoushalt not on the wall, and the
(20:19):
yellowing Dickie bird watchingpictures of the dead. Only you
can hear and see behind the eyesof the sleepers, the movements
and countries and mazes andcolors and dismays and rainbows
and tunes and wishes and flightand fall and despairs and big
(20:40):
seas of their dreams. From whereyou are, you can hear their
dreams.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (20:47):
Under Milkwood is a 1954 radio drama
by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Setin a fictional seaside village,
it drifts through a single day,slipping in and out of the
dreams and private thoughts ofits residents. Through his
language, Thomas turns theeveryday into something radiant.
(21:08):
The quiet rooms, the sleepinghouses, the secret lives
unfolding just out of sight.Sophie first came across Under
Milkwood in her thirties, and ithas stayed with her ever since.
Sophie Blackall (21:25):
It harks back to that idea of seeing and
noticing and trying to imagineall of the multitudes that are
contained in everyone. And asauthors and illustrators and
people who work with books, Ithink that is what we're all
(21:49):
trying to do as well, to makesense of the world, to notice
the tiny details that make senseof a life and make a person seem
as true as we can make them withthe fragments that we know. I
returned to this passage quite abit. It's just always been
(22:10):
there, and I have this deepdream of one day illustrating
it. Oh.
So that's, you know, in in myheart of hearts, something I
would love to do one day. Yeah.So, yeah, it's one
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (22:22):
I carry around with me. I wonder how
you, like, discern, I guess,between the many things that you
must be. I'm imagining writingdown, like, a notebook here and
there and just noting so manythings and how you're, like,
culling and picking them and,like Yeah. Putting them in your
different books. And I don'tknow.
It just feels like such an artin and of itself. You know?
Sophie Blackall (22:41):
It is so hard. I'm wrestling with this at the
moment with this new book. Andyet that very thing about it
being difficult is what makesall of this so thrilling.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (22:55):
And
Sophie Blackall (22:56):
who whittle it down and to find the one detail
that can stand for so much more.Remember your audience. These
are children. I know. Give themspace to put in their own
details.
That's part of it too. You don'thave to put everything in there.
This is in a way, this is notabout you. Fair. Give them space
(23:19):
to make it about them as well,which is part of what we need to
do with every book.
Leave the reader some space.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (23:26):
Can you read those last two lines one
more time?
Sophie Blackall (23:30):
Only you can hear and see behind the eyes of
the sleepers, the movements andcountries and mazes and colors
and dismays and rainbows andtunes and wishes and flight and
fall and despairs and big seasof their dreams. From where you
are, you can hear their dreams.Oh, that's just, like, really
(23:52):
spectacular.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (23:56):
I absolutely love Sophie's idea of
books as homes. These places wereturn to again and again. Like,
each reread becomes this way ofrediscovering who we are and
also who we were the first timewe open those pages. Just as
Under Milkwood and Winnie thePooh have been homes for Sophie,
I wondered what other storiesshe has returned to. What other
(24:20):
places on the page have held herat different points in her life?
Sophie Blackall (24:24):
Anne of Green Gables was one I returned to
over and over again, and, youknow, that's a book about home
for sure. As I was older, MobyDick, weirdly, is a book that I
go back to again and again.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (24:37):
That were the whales. That's where that
comes from? Yeah.
Sophie Blackall (24:39):
That's where the whales comes from. If I'm
really just needing comfort forwhatever reason and that
recently being on the road somuch, I have all of Jane Austen
on audiobook. It doesn't matterwhich one. They're all so
familiar, but I'll just listento Persuasion or Sense and
(24:59):
Sensibility, I'll feel home,feel safe. I think that's what
books do for us.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (25:07):
Do you feel like your, like, biggest
influences are yourcontemporaries or, like, past
people that you've read? Orwhere are your biggest artistic
influences coming from, wouldyou say? Think about Milkwood
specifically.
Sophie Blackall (25:21):
Yeah. Right. I think it is equal. It is half my
peers. I love seeing whatBeatrice Alemagna is up to.
She's an Italian illustrator Iadmire a lot, And Carson Ellis
and Oge Mora and Sidney Smithand John Klassen. I mean, are so
(25:41):
many incredible book creatorsworking at the moment. And then
I just love pouring over mostlynineteenth century people who
were trying to figure things outand doing it in their own way,
and especially women. BeatrixPotter is one of my heroes, not
(26:04):
only for the books she made forchildren, but for everything
else she did to explore and tryand understand and Mhmm. Make
sense of things and documentthem and care about them and
notice them and save them.
Her environmental work was alsoincredibly important to that
(26:24):
whole swath of country in theLakes District in England.
Without her, it'd probably belost now. And, I mean, so many
writers, you know, VirginiaWoolf and Jane Austen and but
then also unknown people. I loveold scrapbooks that, again,
mostly women collected or youngteenage girls. The things that
(26:48):
are coming back to collectionsand the things that they thought
were important for markingmoments in their lives and
tickets, dubs, and dance cards,and little bits of party hats
and get well notes and stuckthem all in books.
They were not perhaps not deemedimportant enough because there
(27:11):
was just little snippets ofrubbish. And I love them, and I
have so many of them. And it's adangerous pursuit because I
can't keep them all, but I wantto rescue them all because they
seem so incredibly important tome. This is someone's life. And
at the same time as I'mcollecting and finding it
difficult to not pick up an oldscrapbook, I'm reveling in
(27:37):
realizing how little I need andhaving lived out of a suitcase
for the last six weeks.
I don't need all that stuff. Weneed each other and food and
shelter and clean water and airand a library so we can keep
reading lots of books. Go toother places. Yeah. We can move
around and see the world.
(27:59):
Yeah, we don't need a ton ofstuff.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (28:02):
How do you define home?
Sophie Blackall (28:04):
It is My children have rudely left home,
just so selfish, grown up, andliving their own lives.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (28:15):
How awful.
Sophie Blackall (28:17):
How dare they?
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (28:18):
They're like, oh, no. Do you remember
you downsized to that apartment?Bye.
Sophie Blackall (28:25):
They've left home, and I miss them dearly.
And I'm also thrilled thatthey're living their lives. And
so for me now, Ed is home, andwe can make our home just about
anywhere. And we miss perhapssome things, our books that we
want to return to again andagain, and some of the other,
(28:45):
you know, collections andthings, and the smell of home,
and those ephemeral things thatmake a home a home. But at the
same time, we can really livevery simply and feel safe and
grounded.
And a coffee pot, we do travelwith our stovetop Bioletti
(29:06):
espresso pot. That's one thingthat that we can't live without.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (29:16):
It only makes sense that Sophie's
reading challenge would, ofcourse, return to this idea of
home. From lighthouses tofarmhouses in her books and her
life, Sophie has always exploredhow we build and rebuild the
places that hold us, and thislist is no different.
Sophie Blackall (29:34):
So the books that I made in this list are
mostly books that are about homein some way or another. So
there's Roxaboxen that we talkedabout, which is by Alice McLaren
and illustrated by BarbaraCooney. There's The Little
House, which is one of myfavorite books as a child, which
is Virginia Lee Burton. Thenthere's Arrival by Sean Tan.
(29:58):
It's about an immigrant refugee,but it's all about that sense of
home and what we leave behindand how to make a new home.
Here by Richard Maguire, to thelighthouse Virginia Woolf on
there. I had Kindred OctaviaButler on there. And then I have
the tale of two bad mice, whichis Beatrix Potter.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (30:18):
You can find Sophie's reading challenge
and all past reading challengesat the readingculturepod.com.
And this week's Beanstackfeatured librarian is again
Kimberly Thompson, the librarymedia specialist at Eastside
Middle School in Bullitt County,Kentucky. She tells us all about
(30:41):
the Kentucky Bluegrass Awardsand how it's getting everyone in
her school reading, includingthe adults.
Kimberly Thompson (30:49):
The Kentucky Bluegrass Awards are 10 books
chosen, by a committee to be thebest books in the state And,
they have them at differentgrade levels. And I tell the
kids it's a voluntary program.They come to the library. I book
talk all the books, and theyrate how interested they are in
them. And I have at least onecopy for every team in the
(31:10):
school.
So I usually have at least six,maybe 10 copies of every book.
And then the administrationgifts every team their own sets.
So we have a lot of themfloating around, but we talk
about the public library and how
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (31:22):
to get books there and sharing books
with friends and that kind ofthing.
Kimberly Thompson (31:26):
And we just tell them if you read any too,
then
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (31:28):
you come to an ice cream cake party in May.
So we do
Kimberly Thompson (31:30):
it the whole year. And if you read 10, we put
your face on a banner in thelibrary like they do sports
teams in the gym. So I've beendoing it for, like, ten years.
So the kids at the beginninghave graduated college and have
started getting married, andthey think it's pretty cool. And
it's not easy to do.
It's a that's a lot of reading.You know? And then for the
(31:52):
adults, we tell them if theyread the KBA books, they get PD
credit. So a lot of the adultsin the building do an adolescent
book study with us, and thenthey talk with the kids about
the books. And everybody justit's just kinda in the air, and
everybody knows, and it buildsthe culture.
But it's all voluntary.Nothing's forced, and I like
that about it.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (32:18):
This has been the reading culture, and
you've been listening to myconversation with Sophie
Blackall. Again, I'm your host,Jordan Lloyd Bookie, and
currently, I'm reading romanticcomedy by Curtis Sittenfeld and
the teacher of nomad Land byDaniel Nayeri. Big
congratulations to Daniel onwinning the National Book Award
for this book. That's awesome.And please go listen to his past
(32:40):
podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,please show some love and give
us a five star or writtenreview. It just takes a few
seconds or maybe a couple ofminutes if you're doing your
written one and it really helpsensure that our show gets shared
with other people. So thank youthank you for doing that and to
learn more about how you canhelp grow your community's
reading culture please check outall of our resources at
(33:00):
beanstack.com and, of course,remember to sign up for our
newsletter at thereadingculturepod.com forward
slash newsletter. This episodewas produced by Mel Webb and
Lower Street Media and scriptedited by Josiah Lamberto Eakin.
Thanks for listening, and keepreading.
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