December 23, 2024 • 35 mins
It’s official. Two years in a row makes it a tradition.
The Reading Culture Yearbook is here.
It’s the year-end celebratory episode where we look back and highlight some of our favorite moments in the form of awarding superlatives. Or, as we dubbed them last year and seemingly forgot, “The Readies.”
This year’s edition features awards such as “Best [Not] Meet Cute,” the “Owning It Award,” the “Merriam-Webster Award” (alternatively titled “Most Likely to Know More Words than Merriam-Webster”), and “The Teen Whisperer Award."
And just like last year, we promise to make you laugh and potentially cry depending on how quickly you reach for the tissues.
***
Connect with Jordan and The Reading Culture @thereadingculturepod and subscribe to our newsletter at thereadingculturepod.com/newsletter.
Show Chapters
Chapter 1 - Best Alter Ego
Chapter 2 - The Teen Whisperer Award
Chapter 3 - Full Circle Moment
Chapter 4 - Best [Not] Meet Cute
Chapter 5 - Citizen of the World Award
Chapter 6 - Odd Couple Award
Chapter 7 - The All-In Award
Chapter 8 - Most Moving Dream
Chapter 9 - Best Life Lesson From Literature
Chapter 10 - Owning It Award
Chapter 11 - Most Likely to Rewrite the Stars
Chapter 12 - Merriam-Webster Award
Chapter 13 - Best Dinner Party Game
Links
- The Reading Culture
- The Reading Culture Newsletter Signup
- Follow The Reading Culture on Instagram (for giveaways and bonus content)
- Beanstack resources to build your community’s reading culture
- Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Host: Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Producer: Jackie Lamport and Lower Street Media
Script Editors: Josia Lamberto-Egan, Jackie Lamport, Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Well, it's that time of year again. The hallways are
empty. The auto out of officeemail response is on. You,
hopefully, have a lot of sparetime to get through that to be
read pile that's been growingfuriously on your nightstand
throughout the year, which canonly mean one thing. The 2024
(00:30):
reading culture yearbook episodeis upon us.
And, yes, I'm aware that it'snot technically yearbook time
for the schools, at least in thenorthern hemisphere. But
nonetheless, it's time to recapsome of the best moments from
the past year of episodes in theform of superlatives. And
because it is now the 2nd yearin a row, we can now officially
(00:55):
call it a tradition. My name isJordan Lloyd Bookey, and this is
The Reading Culture, a showwhere we speak with diverse
authors about ways to build astronger culture of reading in
our communities. We dive deepinto their personal experiences
and inspirations.
Our show is made possible byBeanstack, the leading solution
for motivating students to readmore. Learn more at
(01:17):
beanstack.com and make sure tocheck us out on Instagram at the
reading culture pod andsubscribe to our newsletter for
bonus content at the readingculture
pod.comforward/newsletter. Now,let's get to those awards. Hey,
listeners. Are you an avidreader?
(01:54):
Check with your local library tosee if they offer Beanstack for
free. A parent? Ask your child'steacher if the school library
already uses Beanstack, and ifyou are an educator searching
for a fresh alternative toaccelerated reader, Beanstack is
the perfect tool to cultivate athriving reading culture. Ready
(02:15):
to turn the page? Visitbeanstack.com to learn more.
We all know that there areauthors that go by pen names or
the ever popular initial initiallast name or the less popular
and, let's face it, kind ofexcessive, initial initial
(02:37):
initial last name. I'm lookingat you, W. E. B. Du Bois and JR
R.
Tolkien. But in the case of thisaward winner, the other name is
a tad bit more creative thanthat. So best alter ego goes to
Elizabeth Acevedo.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
By the
Speaker 3 (02:58):
time I got to high school, I had a
Speaker 4 (03:00):
teacher who we were doing, like, the organization
fair, and she was the poetryclub teacher. Like she started
the poetry club, life poetsociety, and she's like, you
know, are you interested? I'mlike, well, I'm not really a
poet. I'm a rapper.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Did you have a rap name?
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Did you have a name?
Speaker 6 (03:13):
Oh, weird.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Did you
Speaker 1 (03:14):
go by, did you go by anything?
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Of course. Well, no, we're not going
Speaker 3 (03:17):
to talk about that. Come
Speaker 7 (03:22):
on.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Oh my gosh. Oh, I was such a nerd, Jordan. So there
was a game, Final Fantasy, thatmy brothers loved playing, and
there was a character named EunaLeska. And so my
Speaker 5 (03:32):
name was Lady Leska cause she was the summoner of
souls.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Okay. That's what I do with my reps. I will summon
people's soul with your raps.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Listen, at 13, you really think that is a great
name. You feel very confident.
Speaker 6 (03:50):
Lady Leska. Lady Leska.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Honorable mention to a s king, whose name, in case
you hadn't noticed, spelled outasking. The reason we can't give
her the award, other than thefact that Lady Leska is
incredible, is because thatisn't exactly an alter ego. Her
name, Amy Sarah King, justhappens to legitimately spell
(04:14):
out asking, but we candefinitely give her this award.
She is most deserving of theteen whisperer.
Speaker 8 (04:26):
I see my job as validating teenagers, which is
the opposite of what we talkedabout in the beginning, which is
bullying. I always say to themwhen I go in, I'm like, how many
of you own a cell phone? Andthen they all raise their hands
in high school. Actually, theyalmost all of them in a middle
school and a lot of them inupper elementary school also
raise their hands. And then Isay, how many of you have TikTok
or social media?
(04:47):
And then they also raise theirhands. And I said, I don't know
what Instagram was concernedabout for you today, but it is
incredibly concerned with myneck wrinkles. And they laugh.
Right? And then we get into aconversation of but hold on.
It's not funny. What were theyconcerned about? And then they
tell me what Instagram makesthem feel like crap about. And
it's easy with teenagersbecause, a, they don't have full
(05:08):
armor on yet. If they do, it'stheir early armor.
It's almost like baby teeth.Right? Baby armor.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 8 (05:13):
Okay. So think of it this way. In this day and age
now, we have teenagers who can'ttalk about their trauma because
their own adults won't be ableto handle it. Let's think about
this for a second. Right?
We've got adults trying to banbooks about real experience,
real life experience thatteenagers are going through
right now saying, oh, teensshouldn't read about this, but
the teens have already gonethrough it. Right. I've worked
(05:35):
with survivors of a great manythings. I'm a volunteer. I'm a
lifelong volunteer.
I've worked with survivors ofevery kind of pretty much nasty
thing you can think of.Everything. And most of it
happened to them before theywere 18 years old. And so the
idea that we're taking booksaway because we don't want kids
reading about things that arenasty. It doesn't make any
(05:55):
sense.
They've already they'reexperiencing things. In fact,
they're experiencing things thatadults won't even recognize.
It's not about what race, whatgender, what what sexuality. It
doesn't matter none of that. Idon't care how old you are.
I don't care how short yourpants are. I don't care how rich
or poor your parents are. Idon't care where you live. Every
single kid is experiencing this.So I want them to go, oh, shit.
(06:16):
There's an invisible helicopterin it. Somebody can only see it
on a Tuesday. Somehow, I relateto this. Somehow, I relate to
Chyna who turns herself insideout or this or this desperation
because adults aren't listening.And they don't seem to care, and
their votes are presently soblack and white that we can't
(06:38):
seem to solve a single problem.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (06:41):
And while this is happening and the children are
actually suffering, we aretaking away books, which is akin
to removing all the fireextinguishers before you blow
the place up. But for me, I'm onthat deeper level, which is,
hey, kids. I know that, yourlife is completely messed up and
(07:03):
all these adults are arguingover ridiculous crap that has
nothing to do with you. Readthis book.
Speaker 7 (07:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (07:11):
See if it can make you feel validated.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
There's a reason a s King has a hold on her teen
readers, but her audiencedefinitely doesn't end there.
Nope. Julie Murphy actually readfrom AS King as her selection
for a book that deeply impactedher. That happens often on this
show, which leads me to our nextaward, the full circle. And this
one goes to Mark Oshiro, who inhis passage read from another
(07:38):
guest of the show, Nina
Speaker 9 (07:42):
Lacour. This is a scene in which their dynamic of
their conversations switches tosomething so intimate so
quickly, and it is awkward. Andyou as the reader can feel it's
awkward. But yet it's it's sobeautiful to me, and I think it
also demonstrates this way NinaLaCour has of writing about
emotions. Where I often describepeople, We Are Okay is a book
(08:02):
where every word is in his exactright place.
And it's it is. That's a briefsection of that book, and it
just is a a punch in the gut andalso a hug. Because I see the
act of writing through thosethings as a hug as well, because
it is it is an attempt to putsomething out in the world, and
(08:23):
someone else is gonna read it,and they're not alone suddenly.
And that's how I felt readingthis book, dealing with the
lasting grief of the death of myfather I had had. Another friend
died about 6 months before thisbook came out.
So those thoughts were, like,very, very fresh on my mind. I'd
like to think that the work thatI put out is also very much in
(08:44):
conversation with the thingsthat I have read and devoured,
and I think this one is too.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And on the topic of people admiring one another,
well, this next award is notthat. This story took a lot of
courage to tell even if ithappened a long time ago. The
best not meet cute award goes tothe wonderful, joyful, Nicola
(09:10):
Yoon.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
My love life was tragic. Really? Tragic. Are we
talking
Speaker 6 (09:17):
middle school, high school? Where are we?
Speaker 5 (09:19):
No one loved me. Not in middle school, not in high
school. School. I wasextraordinarily shy. My mom was
also really shy, but I was superduper shy.
I talked to no one. I basicallyread and did my homework. I
didn't have my first boyfrienduntil, I wanna say, it was
junior year of college, and thensenior year of college, I, like,
(09:40):
fell into love with this otherboy who did not love me back,
and that was a disaster for anumber of years.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
But you have a million ideas of
Speaker 6 (09:47):
the ways that people can and do fall in love,
Speaker 1 (09:50):
And so we're thinking about it,
Speaker 6 (09:51):
like, all the time. Right?
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Right. I think that was part of the problem as I
read all of these books and Iwas like, well, this is how love
should be and all this stuff.Okay. Here's a terrible story.
There was this boy, a basketballplayer in high school.
His name was Fred. I will notsay his last name even though I
remember it still. I had such acrush on him for no reason, and
he was really cute and tall.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
That's a reason in high school. That's sufficient.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
Somehow, I got his phone number, and I called him,
and told him I had a crush onhim, and blah blah. And we had
maybe 2 or 3 phone calls, andthen he wanted to meet, and I
said, okay, and I said, Idescribed myself and what I
would be wearing. This ends sopoorly. Then I did, like, go in
(10:43):
my outfit, and he was with,like, a group of his friends,
and he saw me and I was doughty,unattractive, and whatever, and
he was a jerk. And he saw mewith his group of friends, and
he pointed and laughed, and thenthey just walked on by.
It's like Oh my god. It's like ahigh school movie.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
That is so traumatic. It
Speaker 7 (11:06):
was terrible.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
I know.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
It was terrible. Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Were you just like I mean, obviously, you were
devastated,
Speaker 7 (11:12):
and that was
Speaker 5 (11:13):
just I was crushed, crushed. Even like talking about
it now, and I've talked about ita couple times, it still just
makes me go, you know, like thatfeeling of you know how nothing
is as evocative as, like, thesort of shame you felt at
something? It's so True.
Speaker 6 (11:30):
I know. Especially around that, around, like,
relationships and
Speaker 7 (11:34):
Right.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
You put yourself out there. You call them.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
Yeah. I mean and I was really shy. Right? So this
was so unusual for me. But yeah.
Fred. I've
Speaker 6 (11:42):
find yourself Fred. I'm don't you can't put that one
on there, but that
Speaker 7 (11:48):
you know?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Don't worry, y'all. She's happily married today to
her hubby and business partner,David Yoon, and not to Fred. My
conversation with this nextauthor illustrator was so
special, and it was herperspective on the world's
relationship to art thatinspired us to bestow the
citizen of the world award onLeigh Wen Pham.
Speaker 10 (12:14):
I just always felt like I was better understood
visually on the page than evenstanding in front of someone.
I've always found that the worldis much, much kinder to art. I
spent a lot of my twentiestraveling around the world, and
while I used to hate the way myface looked in that Vietnamese
(12:34):
people couldn't tell that I wasVietnamese right away because my
my grandfather is French, and soI've I've sort of got the bigger
eyes, and I've got a biggernose, and I don't quite look the
way other Vietnamese peoplelook. So Vietnamese never quite
let me into their circle in thesame way. They, you know, they
would think I was from anotherculture.
They would think I was Hispanic,Filipino, or whatever. I used to
not like that as a kid, but inmy twenties, I loved it. I loved
(12:57):
that I could go to Morocco, tanwithin a week, and then be
considered Moroccan. I lovedthat I could travel to Germany,
and my skin would get very, verylight, and people would think I
was Turkish, or Italian, orFrench, and it's just everywhere
I went, I could sort of adapt toa different identity, and people
would receive me, notnecessarily as an American if
(13:18):
they didn't hear me speak, theythey wouldn't know where I was
coming from, and all it wouldtake to get kindness would be to
pull out my sketchbook and tostart drawing, and everywhere I
went, it just dropped theboundaries right away. I would
go to Asia, and in Asia, youhave these little kids who would
wait until the the people getoff the bus, and they try to
(13:38):
sell them water, and they try tosell them souvenirs, and they
know those three words inEnglish.
Right? Water, water, buy, buyhere. And I would come off, and
all these tourists would besurrounded with their little
cameras, and I would go with mysketchbook and sit down, and
those kids would suddenly stopbeing salesmen and become kids,
and they would come and sit downnext to me, and I wouldn't be
(13:59):
able to speak to them, theywouldn't be able to speak to me,
but sketching, drawing is itsown language, and they would
just sit next to me, I wouldtear out a piece of paper, I
would hand them a pen, theywould do a drawing for me, I
would do a drawing of them, wewould swap drawings. I have all
these sketchbooks from when Itraveled around the world where
I've got pictures of kids, andkids have done drawings for me,
(14:20):
and it's just a way ofcommunicating without words.
It's communicating through art,and that is a gift I had not
anticipated from drawing.
It really, really does breakdown boundaries in a way that
nothing else in this world cando, just communicating through
pictures. It's amazing. It'samazing. That's what I do for a
(14:42):
living.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
But, you know, when it comes to connecting with
people, sometimes what seemslike a world of differences on
the surface is just that, thesurface. If you look a little
deeper, you often find that youhave much more in common than
you might think. Our next awardcelebrates just that, and it
goes to Henna Khan who, despitebeing from a different
(15:05):
background, religion, and, well,century than a famous literary
character, found a deeplymeaningful connection that in
part inspired her own writingjourney. And for that, we're
giving her the odd couple award.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Martin Luther King Library invited me to do to
speak at an award ceremony forletters and literature, which is
a I think it's a nationalcontest where students write to
authors living or dead who hadan impact on them. And so I was
reading the finalists for thecompetition, and they were
really moving letters, and I waslike, okay, what am I gonna talk
about during my my comments? Andso I thought about who I would
(15:45):
have written to if I was in highschool and what I would say, and
I I thought of Little Women, Ithought of Louisa May Alcott,
and why this book resonated sodeeply, and I realized that this
is where I saw myself probablymore than anywhere else in the
books I was reading because eventhough it was written a 150
years ago, a lot of what was inhere felt very familiar and
(16:07):
comforting to me. Things likethe strict gender norms were
recognizable to me, the respectfor parents. Like, that was
something that always threw meas a teen, especially as a
little kid but even more as ateen, was watching teen shows
and seeing the way kids couldsass their parents and, you
know, talk back and, like, Ihate you.
Like, that was unheard of, youknow, like, I couldn't even talk
(16:31):
back. Yeah. You know, let alonesay a bad word or, you know, you
know, express dislike for myparents. Like, the respect for
parents was so profound in thisbook and and then even some of,
like, my parents had an arrangedmarriage and the marriage
proposals and the expectationsaround dating and all of that
was very familiar. And so it hitme later, I said, you know, for
(16:53):
someone probably hungry forrepresentation, this was as
close as I got for a while.
Speaker 6 (16:57):
And then, well, I'm guessing you I don't know. For
you, like, did you identify withJoe with, Joe?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Totally. I didn't realize that the book was not
Jo's book. I mean, I knew itthat there were chapters told
from the other sisters'perspectives, but I just kinda
got through those to get back toJo's story. It felt like similar
stories to me. So I was like,doesn't everyone identify with
Joe?
Like, are there really peoplewho identify with Amy?
Speaker 6 (17:20):
Right. No. Right. Okay. No.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
But there must be. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Yeah. Of course. But interesting. Yeah. So there's,
like, the both, like, therecognition of the norms, but
also, like, identify him as ayoung person, like, questioning
them.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Absolutely. Yeah. And I love the fact that she pushed
back and didn't feel you know,felt like she was more and and
the fact that she was a writer.I was a little writer too, and
and I actually wrote a familynewspaper.
Speaker 6 (17:46):
Oh, like Joe. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
And I didn't realize it until much later that, oh, I
that must be where I got theidea from. I don't remember
getting the idea. I justremember doing it.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
If we called up Derek Barnes and asked him to give an
acceptance speech for his award,at the top of his thank you list
would definitely be his son,Solomon, or Solo. In fact, it
would only be fair if we awardedthis to both Derek and Solomon
for the best advice given andtaken. Not just taken, but
(18:16):
you'll hear that Derek went allin on Solomon's words of wisdom,
and that's why he wins the allin award.
Speaker 11 (18:27):
When I was struggling, and I always tell
this story about how I end upwriting Crown. Here, right in
this this is my office backhere. You know, I got furniture
and the awards and everything isup. But this room used to be
completely bare and nothing. AndI used to sit in here and work
on one of those 30 books that Iwrote during my downtime.
And this was maybe 2016 and solosolo was, like, 11 during this
(18:51):
time. Yeah. I just came in fromoutside, and I was on the floor
right there working on anotherbook. He was eating an apple,
and he looked down at me. He waslike, daddy, you know what you
should do?
You should write the blackestbook ever. They already not
buying your books, so you mightas well. And at that time, I was
trying to write black versionsof books, like so during the
whole Twilight era, I I wrote,like, a black Dracula book. It
(19:13):
was called Dracula Jones. I wastrying to tap in with those
Right.
Gatekeepers. And what Soloreminded me of was I have an
audience that needs these books,that needs the stories of their
lives. And I'm so grateful thathe reminded me of that because
like I said, 2 weeks later, Iwrote Crown and over to the
fresh cut. And so now I I justreally tried to like what he
(19:38):
said, write the blackest, mostauthentic stories that I could
write. And hopefully, write itin such a way that everyone can
still see themselves throughthese characters, through the
characters' experiences.
We have so much in common, and II think, historically, for a
good purpose and good reason,America has done its best to
(20:01):
separate us and divide us. A lotof it for economic reasons, but
we have so much in common. Itravel all across this country,
and I meet people in all walksof life, different
socioeconomic, levels. Andeverybody wants to be respected
and loved, and they want theirchildren to have great
education. People want healthcare.
(20:22):
People wanna be understood.Hopefully, I tap into that.
That's what I tap into by beingmy authentic self. I'm so
grateful that Solomon said thatto me that day.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
The next awardee is not only an imaginative writer,
but he's also an avid luciddreamer. And if that's
interesting to you, he told usall about it in his episode. And
so to Minh Le, I present themost moving dream award, or an
alternative title might be mostlikely to inspire Christopher
Nolan to make an inceptionsequel award. Minh shared with
(20:57):
us how he was with hisgrandmother when she passed, and
at that time, he didn't speakVietnamese really at all. But
years later, after learning moreVietnamese, he had a dream that
altered that reality.
Speaker 7 (21:13):
It was such a powerful moment for me because
when my other grandmother passedaway, I remember going to see
her in the hospital, and I spentthe night with her, I was like
holding her hand, and she wastalking to me. I was like, I
can't understand. I don't knowwhat she's trying to tell me
something, and I don't have thelanguage to understand it. The I
(21:36):
don't wanna say failure, but themy inability to process that
moment the way I wanted to andto be able to accept her message
was something that was lingeringfor forever. You're never going
to get that back, but to be ableto have that more than my other
grandmother was really powerful.
This ties back into You're
Speaker 1 (21:55):
just making me cry. Like, I just, like I mean, I do
cry, but I'm straight up
Speaker 6 (21:59):
masking case right now. Okay.
Speaker 7 (22:02):
This ties back into a dream or a conversation about
dreams. Something that I dosometimes to practice my
Vietnamese is if I have troublesleeping, which is often, I'll,
like, try to narrate my day inVietnamese so that I'll, like,
get into the habit of doing thatand then kind of, like, drift
off while I do that. So I wasdoing that a couple months ago,
and then I was dreaming, and Iwas, like, walking down the
(22:25):
street, and my grandmother walksup, the one who passed away
years ago, and she walks up, andwe go for a walk. And we're
talking in Vietnamese, justhaving a conversation for, like,
a couple blocks. And then at theend she, like, touched me on the
shoulder, and she says, this isso nice.
We weren't able to do this whenI was alive.
Speaker 12 (22:43):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (22:43):
It's so nice to be able to finally be able to do
this. Then I woke up, and itwas, like, as close to closure
as you could get. Right?
Speaker 1 (22:51):
If you're close to tears now, like I am, please
keep that tissue box close.Everyone on the show reads a
passage from a book thatimpacted them deeply, but
Shannon Hales took it to a newlevel. And that's why she has
earned the award for best lifelesson from literature.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
So I'm a redhead, and I avoided reading Anne of Green
Gables because everybody wasalways comparing me to her. And
then when I was a freshman inhigh school, I was actually in a
production of Anne of GreenGables. I was not in. And I
decided to read it then, and Igassed inhaled it. I was like,
(23:33):
okay.
Fine. You're right.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Here, you can imagine Shannon reading her excerpt from
Anne of Green Gables. And nowthe reaction to Anne.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
For me, coming to this moment after everything
that came before, it's this puremoment where someone is loved
for just being who they are, notfor what they can do, not for
how productive they are orhelpful they are. And, in fact,
(24:04):
they're quite annoying often,and yet they still have value.
The hope of that really movesme.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
Yeah. That she's so precious still to them. Okay.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I cry when someone cries, and I'm going to cry.
It's
Speaker 3 (24:21):
why I resist crying because it's like a virus, and I
don't want to make anyone elsecry, but I can't help it. I
loved that as a kid. It felthopeful to me as a kid. As a
parent, it brings me to tears.
Speaker 10 (24:34):
Oh my god. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
Just thinking.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
As a parent to be like, I I love my kids for being
who they are, and the relief ofthat because I think when I was
younger, a younger mom even, Ifelt like I had to tell them how
to be in order to be safe, inorder to be good. All of those
(24:56):
things, I had to tell them howto be. And the beauty of letting
go of that and realizing, no.I'm just supporting them in
becoming who they actually areand whatever they are is
beautiful. And the metaphor Iuse with my kids that they
understand is we have thiswonderful, very fat asthmatic
rescue cat who does nothing.
(25:20):
He just sits there andoccasionally moves to get some
treats and otherwise just sits,and we love him so much. That is
how I feel I feel about them,and I hope that they feel about
themselves and each other thatwe don't have to earn our
(25:41):
worthiness and love. We just areif we can love this cat, why
can't we just love ourselves andeach other?
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Yeah. That's very beautiful. What's your cat's
name?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
His name is Michael Hat. Last name, Hat. So his
nickname is Mike Hat.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Now as much as the show is about fun stories and
emotional moments, we also dowanna make sure you're getting
some valuable takeaways and notalways about creating culture
for readers to grow, althoughthat's very important. But
sometimes, we just like to giveout some good old fashioned life
advice, and there was nothingquite as good as CeCe Bell's
(26:22):
contribution, which is why we'regiving her the Owning It award.
Speaker 13 (26:29):
Before El DeFo came out, I could not tell people or
ask people to repeat themselvesor to just come right out and
say, oh, I didn't understandyou. I'm deaf, or I'm a lip
reader. I couldn't I was notable to say any of that. I would
just fake it 100%, and thatcould lead to some real problems
(26:54):
and a lot of extra anxiety thatwas not necessary. So I've
become much better at advocatingfor myself.
For a great example is theyounger version of me would have
gotten into a cab, and the cabdriver would start talking. And
(27:14):
I would have an awareness thathe or she was talking, But I
wouldn't be able to know whatthey were saying because they
were facing away from me. Andso, I would just be filled with
anxiety of like, What are theysaying? What do I do? And I
couldn't even say, I'm sorry.
Could you repeat that? Or I'mdeaf or anything. I would just
(27:37):
shut down.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Wow.
Speaker 13 (27:38):
But now, new me, older me, is able to before I
even get into the cab,practically, I say to the
driver, I'm deaf. I'm a lipreader. Don't talk to me. And
the trip is beautiful.
Speaker 10 (27:54):
Right.
Speaker 13 (27:54):
It took me a long, long, long, long time to get to
that point. And that has made mylife far easier to navigate. But
there probably are fewer mishapsbecause I preempt them. I'm
ahead of them.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
You know what's still finding its way under countless
trees this holiday season? Thesame books that have been
holiday staples since thenineties, Harry Potter. Despite
being over 30 years old, itremains a global phenomenon,
introducing new readers to itsworld every year. But let's face
it. There are some undeniableissues with the series.
(28:34):
From its lack of diversity tosome frankly problematic
choices, it's far from perfect.Dhonielle Clayton, however,
envisions a world where all kidscan enjoy these classic story
elements we love, magicaladventures, friendships, and
wonder, while also seeingthemselves reflected in the
pages. And that's why we'rethrilled to present her with
(28:55):
most likely to rewrite the starsfor disrupting the canon and
telling new timeless tales withinclusion at heart.
Speaker 14 (29:05):
They're titans, and, unfortunately, because our
community and culture globallyloves nostalgia. They don't want
to move forward. But the youngpeople like 1 foot in the old
and 1 foot in the new, one footin the thing that they loved.
And it's like, Oh, it's likethat, but we've got these new
things. And so I intimately usemy librarian training when I'm
(29:27):
sitting down to create ideas,thinking about what are the
ingredients of this big Titanproperty like Percy Jackson?
Okay. It's the reluctant herokid that's kind of down on his
luck, finding out that he's gotthis huge inheritance. I took
those ingredients and I thought,what do these ingredients look
like when filtered through thelens of culture and community?
(29:48):
These things look different whenfiltered through a black
American context and worldview,and then I built Tristan out of
that. And so I embrace what hascome before.
So I'm not a person that's like,let's throw out the classics.
It's, let's move forward. Let'sdisrupt the canon, which I love
the disrupt text movement. Theyare wonderful, wonderful
(30:09):
teachers and educators. And justborrowing that and thinking
about, well, how do I move someof these universal themes, some
of these ingredients that welove, how do I remix them into a
new stew that young people couldget really excited about?
Because frankly, these youngkids, sometimes they don't wanna
read those books. They don'twanna read some of the older
(30:32):
classics that I love or that Igrew up on or that I was
obsessed with. They're ready forsomething that speaks to their
lived experience now.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
This next awardee is a name I'm sure you've been
seeing everywhere recently,thanks to an, ahem, Oz some
movie musical that just cameout. Yes. We're talking about
Gregory Maguire. But long beforehe was a celebrated author,
there was a little boy havingfun doing what all kids love to
do, read the dictionary, whichis why he's being awarded the
(31:06):
Merriam Webster award.
Speaker 12 (31:11):
We grew up in a house where the dictionary lived
on the same shelf in the kitchenas the cookbooks because we were
referring to it at least once ameal. Something would come up,
and my mother would say, is
Speaker 5 (31:24):
that from the Latin
Speaker 12 (31:25):
or the Greek? And my father who had not studied Latin
or Greek, nonetheless, lovedetymology, and passionately,
they would go scraping throughthe pages to find the answer to
a question of the root of acertain English word and share
it with us. And all of mybrothers and sisters and I are
etymologists and fetishists fordifferent dictionaries. We get
(31:47):
together at Thanksgiving and,you know, some families get
together and talk about the gameor they argue about politics. We
get together and we talk aboutthe proper use of the portatory
subjunctive.
Speaker 6 (32:00):
A hoot.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Okay, y'all. We're aware that most families do not
get together over the holidaysto read dictionaries at the
table, but some fun non screenrelated table games may be of
use to you over the next week orso. So for our last award, I
leave you with the best dinnerparty game, which goes to one of
my favorite storytellers, DanielNayeri.
Speaker 15 (32:25):
So to remystify the world in some ways, I think, you
know, we live in the informationage. We live in an age where
very few people want to live inmystery. Like, if you're in a
restaurant with somebody and youask
Speaker 6 (32:36):
Everything feels knowable.
Speaker 15 (32:37):
It's so knowable. It's and it's so it's Yeah. And,
unfortunately, it's so boring.Like, sometimes, you know, one
of my favorite games at, like, arestaurant is to ask a question
that's kind of slightly slightlystupid. Right?
Something like, why do cherriescome in twos? Like, what what's
up with that? So that
Speaker 7 (32:52):
and who can who's
Speaker 6 (32:53):
gonna pick up their phone and Yeah.
Speaker 15 (32:54):
But and everyone does. Everyone is like, well, we
don't but their immediate moveis to, well, let me get this
supercomputer out of my pocket,and I'll find out for you. And
I'm like, no. No. No.
No. No. You tell me what youthink. Like, you tell and and
that's when it's really funbecause you're like, oh, all
this time, you've offloaded theworld and the mystery and and
curiosity into this little box.
Speaker 6 (33:13):
Is that Sherry's coming in 2 one? One that you
actually
Speaker 15 (33:16):
I don't know. I just came up with it.
Speaker 6 (33:17):
Now I'm thinking about it, but okay. Alright. Go
ahead.
Speaker 15 (33:19):
It's such it's a good one. Right? I don't
actually know. So it's there'sprobably some some, you know,
reason with the with the goldenratio or something. Who knows?
But I think about these kinds ofthings in these moments as what
if we let ourselves live inmystery just a little bit? I
don't need the Wikipedia onplant growth patterns. I really
just wanna think about the factthat maybe those cherries are in
(33:41):
love. I don't know. I don't
Speaker 6 (33:44):
who knows?
Speaker 15 (33:45):
Just leave me to my ungoogled mystery, please. The
the metaphor you'd have to useis, like, signal to noise ratio.
Right? I think the I guess whatI'm trying to say isn't that I'm
anti information. I just thinkthere's a lot of noise in that
kind of space, and I enjoy aquieter, sometimes more
mystified space.
Obviously, at the end of thedinner, I'm if there's a real
(34:07):
question, it's glorious that wecan all pull out a computer and
ask our, you know, answer theactual scientific answer.
Speaker 6 (34:14):
Yeah. You can check our show notes for why cherries
grow into pairs. So
Speaker 15 (34:19):
because they love each other. You already answered
it.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
On that loving note, it's time for me to grab my neon
purple puffy pen and sign off onthe back page of this yearbook
edition. Have a great break,heart emoji, book emoji.
Speaker 6 (34:41):
Love,
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Jordan. For real, I hope that you enjoyed that
sampling of highlights from ourpast season. And, hey, there are
a ton of superlative authorsthat we've interviewed that we
didn't get to today. NinaLacour, Elliot Schraefer,
Katherine Applegate, John Hsu,and there are so many more. So
(35:04):
please take a listen if you'vegot some time over the break.
I would love for you to checkout our recent and not so recent
episodes. And from all of us atThe Reading Culture, we wish you
a safe and happy holiday seasonand new year. We will be back
again in 2025. But for now, keepreading.
Well, it's that time of year again. The hallways are
empty. The auto out of officeemail response is on. You,
hopefully, have a lot of sparetime to get through that to be
read pile that's been growingfuriously on your nightstand
throughout the year, which canonly mean one thing. The 2024
(00:30):
reading culture yearbook episodeis upon us.
And, yes, I'm aware that it'snot technically yearbook time
for the schools, at least in thenorthern hemisphere. But
nonetheless, it's time to recapsome of the best moments from
the past year of episodes in theform of superlatives. And
because it is now the 2nd yearin a row, we can now officially
(00:55):
call it a tradition. My name isJordan Lloyd Bookey, and this is
The Reading Culture, a showwhere we speak with diverse
authors about ways to build astronger culture of reading in
our communities. We dive deepinto their personal experiences
and inspirations.
Our show is made possible byBeanstack, the leading solution
for motivating students to readmore. Learn more at
(01:17):
beanstack.com and make sure tocheck us out on Instagram at the
reading culture pod andsubscribe to our newsletter for
bonus content at the readingculture
pod.comforward/newsletter. Now,let's get to those awards. Hey,
listeners. Are you an avidreader?
(01:54):
Check with your local library tosee if they offer Beanstack for
free. A parent? Ask your child'steacher if the school library
already uses Beanstack, and ifyou are an educator searching
for a fresh alternative toaccelerated reader, Beanstack is
the perfect tool to cultivate athriving reading culture. Ready
(02:15):
to turn the page? Visitbeanstack.com to learn more.
We all know that there areauthors that go by pen names or
the ever popular initial initiallast name or the less popular
and, let's face it, kind ofexcessive, initial initial
(02:37):
initial last name. I'm lookingat you, W. E. B. Du Bois and JR
R.
Tolkien. But in the case of thisaward winner, the other name is
a tad bit more creative thanthat. So best alter ego goes to
Elizabeth Acevedo.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
By the
Speaker 3 (02:58):
time I got to high school, I had a
Speaker 4 (03:00):
teacher who we were doing, like, the organization
fair, and she was the poetryclub teacher. Like she started
the poetry club, life poetsociety, and she's like, you
know, are you interested? I'mlike, well, I'm not really a
poet. I'm a rapper.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Did you have a rap name?
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Did you have a name?
Speaker 6 (03:13):
Oh, weird.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Did you
Speaker 1 (03:14):
go by, did you go by anything?
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Of course. Well, no, we're not going
Speaker 3 (03:17):
to talk about that. Come
Speaker 7 (03:22):
on.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Oh my gosh. Oh, I was such a nerd, Jordan. So there
was a game, Final Fantasy, thatmy brothers loved playing, and
there was a character named EunaLeska. And so my
Speaker 5 (03:32):
name was Lady Leska cause she was the summoner of
souls.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Okay. That's what I do with my reps. I will summon
people's soul with your raps.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Listen, at 13, you really think that is a great
name. You feel very confident.
Speaker 6 (03:50):
Lady Leska. Lady Leska.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Honorable mention to a s king, whose name, in case
you hadn't noticed, spelled outasking. The reason we can't give
her the award, other than thefact that Lady Leska is
incredible, is because thatisn't exactly an alter ego. Her
name, Amy Sarah King, justhappens to legitimately spell
(04:14):
out asking, but we candefinitely give her this award.
She is most deserving of theteen whisperer.
Speaker 8 (04:26):
I see my job as validating teenagers, which is
the opposite of what we talkedabout in the beginning, which is
bullying. I always say to themwhen I go in, I'm like, how many
of you own a cell phone? Andthen they all raise their hands
in high school. Actually, theyalmost all of them in a middle
school and a lot of them inupper elementary school also
raise their hands. And then Isay, how many of you have TikTok
or social media?
(04:47):
And then they also raise theirhands. And I said, I don't know
what Instagram was concernedabout for you today, but it is
incredibly concerned with myneck wrinkles. And they laugh.
Right? And then we get into aconversation of but hold on.
It's not funny. What were theyconcerned about? And then they
tell me what Instagram makesthem feel like crap about. And
it's easy with teenagersbecause, a, they don't have full
(05:08):
armor on yet. If they do, it'stheir early armor.
It's almost like baby teeth.Right? Baby armor.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 8 (05:13):
Okay. So think of it this way. In this day and age
now, we have teenagers who can'ttalk about their trauma because
their own adults won't be ableto handle it. Let's think about
this for a second. Right?
We've got adults trying to banbooks about real experience,
real life experience thatteenagers are going through
right now saying, oh, teensshouldn't read about this, but
the teens have already gonethrough it. Right. I've worked
(05:35):
with survivors of a great manythings. I'm a volunteer. I'm a
lifelong volunteer.
I've worked with survivors ofevery kind of pretty much nasty
thing you can think of.Everything. And most of it
happened to them before theywere 18 years old. And so the
idea that we're taking booksaway because we don't want kids
reading about things that arenasty. It doesn't make any
(05:55):
sense.
They've already they'reexperiencing things. In fact,
they're experiencing things thatadults won't even recognize.
It's not about what race, whatgender, what what sexuality. It
doesn't matter none of that. Idon't care how old you are.
I don't care how short yourpants are. I don't care how rich
or poor your parents are. Idon't care where you live. Every
single kid is experiencing this.So I want them to go, oh, shit.
(06:16):
There's an invisible helicopterin it. Somebody can only see it
on a Tuesday. Somehow, I relateto this. Somehow, I relate to
Chyna who turns herself insideout or this or this desperation
because adults aren't listening.And they don't seem to care, and
their votes are presently soblack and white that we can't
(06:38):
seem to solve a single problem.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (06:41):
And while this is happening and the children are
actually suffering, we aretaking away books, which is akin
to removing all the fireextinguishers before you blow
the place up. But for me, I'm onthat deeper level, which is,
hey, kids. I know that, yourlife is completely messed up and
(07:03):
all these adults are arguingover ridiculous crap that has
nothing to do with you. Readthis book.
Speaker 7 (07:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (07:11):
See if it can make you feel validated.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
There's a reason a s King has a hold on her teen
readers, but her audiencedefinitely doesn't end there.
Nope. Julie Murphy actually readfrom AS King as her selection
for a book that deeply impactedher. That happens often on this
show, which leads me to our nextaward, the full circle. And this
one goes to Mark Oshiro, who inhis passage read from another
(07:38):
guest of the show, Nina
Speaker 9 (07:42):
Lacour. This is a scene in which their dynamic of
their conversations switches tosomething so intimate so
quickly, and it is awkward. Andyou as the reader can feel it's
awkward. But yet it's it's sobeautiful to me, and I think it
also demonstrates this way NinaLaCour has of writing about
emotions. Where I often describepeople, We Are Okay is a book
(08:02):
where every word is in his exactright place.
And it's it is. That's a briefsection of that book, and it
just is a a punch in the gut andalso a hug. Because I see the
act of writing through thosethings as a hug as well, because
it is it is an attempt to putsomething out in the world, and
(08:23):
someone else is gonna read it,and they're not alone suddenly.
And that's how I felt readingthis book, dealing with the
lasting grief of the death of myfather I had had. Another friend
died about 6 months before thisbook came out.
So those thoughts were, like,very, very fresh on my mind. I'd
like to think that the work thatI put out is also very much in
(08:44):
conversation with the thingsthat I have read and devoured,
and I think this one is too.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And on the topic of people admiring one another,
well, this next award is notthat. This story took a lot of
courage to tell even if ithappened a long time ago. The
best not meet cute award goes tothe wonderful, joyful, Nicola
(09:10):
Yoon.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
My love life was tragic. Really? Tragic. Are we
talking
Speaker 6 (09:17):
middle school, high school? Where are we?
Speaker 5 (09:19):
No one loved me. Not in middle school, not in high
school. School. I wasextraordinarily shy. My mom was
also really shy, but I was superduper shy.
I talked to no one. I basicallyread and did my homework. I
didn't have my first boyfrienduntil, I wanna say, it was
junior year of college, and thensenior year of college, I, like,
(09:40):
fell into love with this otherboy who did not love me back,
and that was a disaster for anumber of years.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
But you have a million ideas of
Speaker 6 (09:47):
the ways that people can and do fall in love,
Speaker 1 (09:50):
And so we're thinking about it,
Speaker 6 (09:51):
like, all the time. Right?
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Right. I think that was part of the problem as I
read all of these books and Iwas like, well, this is how love
should be and all this stuff.Okay. Here's a terrible story.
There was this boy, a basketballplayer in high school.
His name was Fred. I will notsay his last name even though I
remember it still. I had such acrush on him for no reason, and
he was really cute and tall.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
That's a reason in high school. That's sufficient.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
Somehow, I got his phone number, and I called him,
and told him I had a crush onhim, and blah blah. And we had
maybe 2 or 3 phone calls, andthen he wanted to meet, and I
said, okay, and I said, Idescribed myself and what I
would be wearing. This ends sopoorly. Then I did, like, go in
(10:43):
my outfit, and he was with,like, a group of his friends,
and he saw me and I was doughty,unattractive, and whatever, and
he was a jerk. And he saw mewith his group of friends, and
he pointed and laughed, and thenthey just walked on by.
It's like Oh my god. It's like ahigh school movie.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
That is so traumatic. It
Speaker 7 (11:06):
was terrible.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
I know.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
It was terrible. Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Were you just like I mean, obviously, you were
devastated,
Speaker 7 (11:12):
and that was
Speaker 5 (11:13):
just I was crushed, crushed. Even like talking about
it now, and I've talked about ita couple times, it still just
makes me go, you know, like thatfeeling of you know how nothing
is as evocative as, like, thesort of shame you felt at
something? It's so True.
Speaker 6 (11:30):
I know. Especially around that, around, like,
relationships and
Speaker 7 (11:34):
Right.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
You put yourself out there. You call them.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
Yeah. I mean and I was really shy. Right? So this
was so unusual for me. But yeah.
Fred. I've
Speaker 6 (11:42):
find yourself Fred. I'm don't you can't put that one
on there, but that
Speaker 7 (11:48):
you know?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Don't worry, y'all. She's happily married today to
her hubby and business partner,David Yoon, and not to Fred. My
conversation with this nextauthor illustrator was so
special, and it was herperspective on the world's
relationship to art thatinspired us to bestow the
citizen of the world award onLeigh Wen Pham.
Speaker 10 (12:14):
I just always felt like I was better understood
visually on the page than evenstanding in front of someone.
I've always found that the worldis much, much kinder to art. I
spent a lot of my twentiestraveling around the world, and
while I used to hate the way myface looked in that Vietnamese
(12:34):
people couldn't tell that I wasVietnamese right away because my
my grandfather is French, and soI've I've sort of got the bigger
eyes, and I've got a biggernose, and I don't quite look the
way other Vietnamese peoplelook. So Vietnamese never quite
let me into their circle in thesame way. They, you know, they
would think I was from anotherculture.
They would think I was Hispanic,Filipino, or whatever. I used to
not like that as a kid, but inmy twenties, I loved it. I loved
(12:57):
that I could go to Morocco, tanwithin a week, and then be
considered Moroccan. I lovedthat I could travel to Germany,
and my skin would get very, verylight, and people would think I
was Turkish, or Italian, orFrench, and it's just everywhere
I went, I could sort of adapt toa different identity, and people
would receive me, notnecessarily as an American if
(13:18):
they didn't hear me speak, theythey wouldn't know where I was
coming from, and all it wouldtake to get kindness would be to
pull out my sketchbook and tostart drawing, and everywhere I
went, it just dropped theboundaries right away. I would
go to Asia, and in Asia, youhave these little kids who would
wait until the the people getoff the bus, and they try to
(13:38):
sell them water, and they try tosell them souvenirs, and they
know those three words inEnglish.
Right? Water, water, buy, buyhere. And I would come off, and
all these tourists would besurrounded with their little
cameras, and I would go with mysketchbook and sit down, and
those kids would suddenly stopbeing salesmen and become kids,
and they would come and sit downnext to me, and I wouldn't be
(13:59):
able to speak to them, theywouldn't be able to speak to me,
but sketching, drawing is itsown language, and they would
just sit next to me, I wouldtear out a piece of paper, I
would hand them a pen, theywould do a drawing for me, I
would do a drawing of them, wewould swap drawings. I have all
these sketchbooks from when Itraveled around the world where
I've got pictures of kids, andkids have done drawings for me,
(14:20):
and it's just a way ofcommunicating without words.
It's communicating through art,and that is a gift I had not
anticipated from drawing.
It really, really does breakdown boundaries in a way that
nothing else in this world cando, just communicating through
pictures. It's amazing. It'samazing. That's what I do for a
(14:42):
living.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
But, you know, when it comes to connecting with
people, sometimes what seemslike a world of differences on
the surface is just that, thesurface. If you look a little
deeper, you often find that youhave much more in common than
you might think. Our next awardcelebrates just that, and it
goes to Henna Khan who, despitebeing from a different
(15:05):
background, religion, and, well,century than a famous literary
character, found a deeplymeaningful connection that in
part inspired her own writingjourney. And for that, we're
giving her the odd couple award.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Martin Luther King Library invited me to do to
speak at an award ceremony forletters and literature, which is
a I think it's a nationalcontest where students write to
authors living or dead who hadan impact on them. And so I was
reading the finalists for thecompetition, and they were
really moving letters, and I waslike, okay, what am I gonna talk
about during my my comments? Andso I thought about who I would
(15:45):
have written to if I was in highschool and what I would say, and
I I thought of Little Women, Ithought of Louisa May Alcott,
and why this book resonated sodeeply, and I realized that this
is where I saw myself probablymore than anywhere else in the
books I was reading because eventhough it was written a 150
years ago, a lot of what was inhere felt very familiar and
(16:07):
comforting to me. Things likethe strict gender norms were
recognizable to me, the respectfor parents. Like, that was
something that always threw meas a teen, especially as a
little kid but even more as ateen, was watching teen shows
and seeing the way kids couldsass their parents and, you
know, talk back and, like, Ihate you.
Like, that was unheard of, youknow, like, I couldn't even talk
(16:31):
back. Yeah. You know, let alonesay a bad word or, you know, you
know, express dislike for myparents. Like, the respect for
parents was so profound in thisbook and and then even some of,
like, my parents had an arrangedmarriage and the marriage
proposals and the expectationsaround dating and all of that
was very familiar. And so it hitme later, I said, you know, for
(16:53):
someone probably hungry forrepresentation, this was as
close as I got for a while.
Speaker 6 (16:57):
And then, well, I'm guessing you I don't know. For
you, like, did you identify withJoe with, Joe?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Totally. I didn't realize that the book was not
Jo's book. I mean, I knew itthat there were chapters told
from the other sisters'perspectives, but I just kinda
got through those to get back toJo's story. It felt like similar
stories to me. So I was like,doesn't everyone identify with
Joe?
Like, are there really peoplewho identify with Amy?
Speaker 6 (17:20):
Right. No. Right. Okay. No.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
But there must be. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Yeah. Of course. But interesting. Yeah. So there's,
like, the both, like, therecognition of the norms, but
also, like, identify him as ayoung person, like, questioning
them.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Absolutely. Yeah. And I love the fact that she pushed
back and didn't feel you know,felt like she was more and and
the fact that she was a writer.I was a little writer too, and
and I actually wrote a familynewspaper.
Speaker 6 (17:46):
Oh, like Joe. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
And I didn't realize it until much later that, oh, I
that must be where I got theidea from. I don't remember
getting the idea. I justremember doing it.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
If we called up Derek Barnes and asked him to give an
acceptance speech for his award,at the top of his thank you list
would definitely be his son,Solomon, or Solo. In fact, it
would only be fair if we awardedthis to both Derek and Solomon
for the best advice given andtaken. Not just taken, but
(18:16):
you'll hear that Derek went allin on Solomon's words of wisdom,
and that's why he wins the allin award.
Speaker 11 (18:27):
When I was struggling, and I always tell
this story about how I end upwriting Crown. Here, right in
this this is my office backhere. You know, I got furniture
and the awards and everything isup. But this room used to be
completely bare and nothing. AndI used to sit in here and work
on one of those 30 books that Iwrote during my downtime.
And this was maybe 2016 and solosolo was, like, 11 during this
(18:51):
time. Yeah. I just came in fromoutside, and I was on the floor
right there working on anotherbook. He was eating an apple,
and he looked down at me. He waslike, daddy, you know what you
should do?
You should write the blackestbook ever. They already not
buying your books, so you mightas well. And at that time, I was
trying to write black versionsof books, like so during the
whole Twilight era, I I wrote,like, a black Dracula book. It
(19:13):
was called Dracula Jones. I wastrying to tap in with those
Right.
Gatekeepers. And what Soloreminded me of was I have an
audience that needs these books,that needs the stories of their
lives. And I'm so grateful thathe reminded me of that because
like I said, 2 weeks later, Iwrote Crown and over to the
fresh cut. And so now I I justreally tried to like what he
(19:38):
said, write the blackest, mostauthentic stories that I could
write. And hopefully, write itin such a way that everyone can
still see themselves throughthese characters, through the
characters' experiences.
We have so much in common, and II think, historically, for a
good purpose and good reason,America has done its best to
(20:01):
separate us and divide us. A lotof it for economic reasons, but
we have so much in common. Itravel all across this country,
and I meet people in all walksof life, different
socioeconomic, levels. Andeverybody wants to be respected
and loved, and they want theirchildren to have great
education. People want healthcare.
(20:22):
People wanna be understood.Hopefully, I tap into that.
That's what I tap into by beingmy authentic self. I'm so
grateful that Solomon said thatto me that day.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
The next awardee is not only an imaginative writer,
but he's also an avid luciddreamer. And if that's
interesting to you, he told usall about it in his episode. And
so to Minh Le, I present themost moving dream award, or an
alternative title might be mostlikely to inspire Christopher
Nolan to make an inceptionsequel award. Minh shared with
(20:57):
us how he was with hisgrandmother when she passed, and
at that time, he didn't speakVietnamese really at all. But
years later, after learning moreVietnamese, he had a dream that
altered that reality.
Speaker 7 (21:13):
It was such a powerful moment for me because
when my other grandmother passedaway, I remember going to see
her in the hospital, and I spentthe night with her, I was like
holding her hand, and she wastalking to me. I was like, I
can't understand. I don't knowwhat she's trying to tell me
something, and I don't have thelanguage to understand it. The I
(21:36):
don't wanna say failure, but themy inability to process that
moment the way I wanted to andto be able to accept her message
was something that was lingeringfor forever. You're never going
to get that back, but to be ableto have that more than my other
grandmother was really powerful.
This ties back into You're
Speaker 1 (21:55):
just making me cry. Like, I just, like I mean, I do
cry, but I'm straight up
Speaker 6 (21:59):
masking case right now. Okay.
Speaker 7 (22:02):
This ties back into a dream or a conversation about
dreams. Something that I dosometimes to practice my
Vietnamese is if I have troublesleeping, which is often, I'll,
like, try to narrate my day inVietnamese so that I'll, like,
get into the habit of doing thatand then kind of, like, drift
off while I do that. So I wasdoing that a couple months ago,
and then I was dreaming, and Iwas, like, walking down the
(22:25):
street, and my grandmother walksup, the one who passed away
years ago, and she walks up, andwe go for a walk. And we're
talking in Vietnamese, justhaving a conversation for, like,
a couple blocks. And then at theend she, like, touched me on the
shoulder, and she says, this isso nice.
We weren't able to do this whenI was alive.
Speaker 12 (22:43):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (22:43):
It's so nice to be able to finally be able to do
this. Then I woke up, and itwas, like, as close to closure
as you could get. Right?
Speaker 1 (22:51):
If you're close to tears now, like I am, please
keep that tissue box close.Everyone on the show reads a
passage from a book thatimpacted them deeply, but
Shannon Hales took it to a newlevel. And that's why she has
earned the award for best lifelesson from literature.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
So I'm a redhead, and I avoided reading Anne of Green
Gables because everybody wasalways comparing me to her. And
then when I was a freshman inhigh school, I was actually in a
production of Anne of GreenGables. I was not in. And I
decided to read it then, and Igassed inhaled it. I was like,
(23:33):
okay.
Fine. You're right.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Here, you can imagine Shannon reading her excerpt from
Anne of Green Gables. And nowthe reaction to Anne.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
For me, coming to this moment after everything
that came before, it's this puremoment where someone is loved
for just being who they are, notfor what they can do, not for
how productive they are orhelpful they are. And, in fact,
(24:04):
they're quite annoying often,and yet they still have value.
The hope of that really movesme.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
Yeah. That she's so precious still to them. Okay.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I cry when someone cries, and I'm going to cry.
It's
Speaker 3 (24:21):
why I resist crying because it's like a virus, and I
don't want to make anyone elsecry, but I can't help it. I
loved that as a kid. It felthopeful to me as a kid. As a
parent, it brings me to tears.
Speaker 10 (24:34):
Oh my god. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
Just thinking.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
As a parent to be like, I I love my kids for being
who they are, and the relief ofthat because I think when I was
younger, a younger mom even, Ifelt like I had to tell them how
to be in order to be safe, inorder to be good. All of those
(24:56):
things, I had to tell them howto be. And the beauty of letting
go of that and realizing, no.I'm just supporting them in
becoming who they actually areand whatever they are is
beautiful. And the metaphor Iuse with my kids that they
understand is we have thiswonderful, very fat asthmatic
rescue cat who does nothing.
(25:20):
He just sits there andoccasionally moves to get some
treats and otherwise just sits,and we love him so much. That is
how I feel I feel about them,and I hope that they feel about
themselves and each other thatwe don't have to earn our
(25:41):
worthiness and love. We just areif we can love this cat, why
can't we just love ourselves andeach other?
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Yeah. That's very beautiful. What's your cat's
name?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
His name is Michael Hat. Last name, Hat. So his
nickname is Mike Hat.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Now as much as the show is about fun stories and
emotional moments, we also dowanna make sure you're getting
some valuable takeaways and notalways about creating culture
for readers to grow, althoughthat's very important. But
sometimes, we just like to giveout some good old fashioned life
advice, and there was nothingquite as good as CeCe Bell's
(26:22):
contribution, which is why we'regiving her the Owning It award.
Speaker 13 (26:29):
Before El DeFo came out, I could not tell people or
ask people to repeat themselvesor to just come right out and
say, oh, I didn't understandyou. I'm deaf, or I'm a lip
reader. I couldn't I was notable to say any of that. I would
just fake it 100%, and thatcould lead to some real problems
(26:54):
and a lot of extra anxiety thatwas not necessary. So I've
become much better at advocatingfor myself.
For a great example is theyounger version of me would have
gotten into a cab, and the cabdriver would start talking. And
(27:14):
I would have an awareness thathe or she was talking, But I
wouldn't be able to know whatthey were saying because they
were facing away from me. Andso, I would just be filled with
anxiety of like, What are theysaying? What do I do? And I
couldn't even say, I'm sorry.
Could you repeat that? Or I'mdeaf or anything. I would just
(27:37):
shut down.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Wow.
Speaker 13 (27:38):
But now, new me, older me, is able to before I
even get into the cab,practically, I say to the
driver, I'm deaf. I'm a lipreader. Don't talk to me. And
the trip is beautiful.
Speaker 10 (27:54):
Right.
Speaker 13 (27:54):
It took me a long, long, long, long time to get to
that point. And that has made mylife far easier to navigate. But
there probably are fewer mishapsbecause I preempt them. I'm
ahead of them.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
You know what's still finding its way under countless
trees this holiday season? Thesame books that have been
holiday staples since thenineties, Harry Potter. Despite
being over 30 years old, itremains a global phenomenon,
introducing new readers to itsworld every year. But let's face
it. There are some undeniableissues with the series.
(28:34):
From its lack of diversity tosome frankly problematic
choices, it's far from perfect.Dhonielle Clayton, however,
envisions a world where all kidscan enjoy these classic story
elements we love, magicaladventures, friendships, and
wonder, while also seeingthemselves reflected in the
pages. And that's why we'rethrilled to present her with
(28:55):
most likely to rewrite the starsfor disrupting the canon and
telling new timeless tales withinclusion at heart.
Speaker 14 (29:05):
They're titans, and, unfortunately, because our
community and culture globallyloves nostalgia. They don't want
to move forward. But the youngpeople like 1 foot in the old
and 1 foot in the new, one footin the thing that they loved.
And it's like, Oh, it's likethat, but we've got these new
things. And so I intimately usemy librarian training when I'm
(29:27):
sitting down to create ideas,thinking about what are the
ingredients of this big Titanproperty like Percy Jackson?
Okay. It's the reluctant herokid that's kind of down on his
luck, finding out that he's gotthis huge inheritance. I took
those ingredients and I thought,what do these ingredients look
like when filtered through thelens of culture and community?
(29:48):
These things look different whenfiltered through a black
American context and worldview,and then I built Tristan out of
that. And so I embrace what hascome before.
So I'm not a person that's like,let's throw out the classics.
It's, let's move forward. Let'sdisrupt the canon, which I love
the disrupt text movement. Theyare wonderful, wonderful
(30:09):
teachers and educators. And justborrowing that and thinking
about, well, how do I move someof these universal themes, some
of these ingredients that welove, how do I remix them into a
new stew that young people couldget really excited about?
Because frankly, these youngkids, sometimes they don't wanna
read those books. They don'twanna read some of the older
(30:32):
classics that I love or that Igrew up on or that I was
obsessed with. They're ready forsomething that speaks to their
lived experience now.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
This next awardee is a name I'm sure you've been
seeing everywhere recently,thanks to an, ahem, Oz some
movie musical that just cameout. Yes. We're talking about
Gregory Maguire. But long beforehe was a celebrated author,
there was a little boy havingfun doing what all kids love to
do, read the dictionary, whichis why he's being awarded the
(31:06):
Merriam Webster award.
Speaker 12 (31:11):
We grew up in a house where the dictionary lived
on the same shelf in the kitchenas the cookbooks because we were
referring to it at least once ameal. Something would come up,
and my mother would say, is
Speaker 5 (31:24):
that from the Latin
Speaker 12 (31:25):
or the Greek? And my father who had not studied Latin
or Greek, nonetheless, lovedetymology, and passionately,
they would go scraping throughthe pages to find the answer to
a question of the root of acertain English word and share
it with us. And all of mybrothers and sisters and I are
etymologists and fetishists fordifferent dictionaries. We get
(31:47):
together at Thanksgiving and,you know, some families get
together and talk about the gameor they argue about politics. We
get together and we talk aboutthe proper use of the portatory
subjunctive.
Speaker 6 (32:00):
A hoot.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Okay, y'all. We're aware that most families do not
get together over the holidaysto read dictionaries at the
table, but some fun non screenrelated table games may be of
use to you over the next week orso. So for our last award, I
leave you with the best dinnerparty game, which goes to one of
my favorite storytellers, DanielNayeri.
Speaker 15 (32:25):
So to remystify the world in some ways, I think, you
know, we live in the informationage. We live in an age where
very few people want to live inmystery. Like, if you're in a
restaurant with somebody and youask
Speaker 6 (32:36):
Everything feels knowable.
Speaker 15 (32:37):
It's so knowable. It's and it's so it's Yeah. And,
unfortunately, it's so boring.Like, sometimes, you know, one
of my favorite games at, like, arestaurant is to ask a question
that's kind of slightly slightlystupid. Right?
Something like, why do cherriescome in twos? Like, what what's
up with that? So that
Speaker 7 (32:52):
and who can who's
Speaker 6 (32:53):
gonna pick up their phone and Yeah.
Speaker 15 (32:54):
But and everyone does. Everyone is like, well, we
don't but their immediate moveis to, well, let me get this
supercomputer out of my pocket,and I'll find out for you. And
I'm like, no. No. No.
No. No. You tell me what youthink. Like, you tell and and
that's when it's really funbecause you're like, oh, all
this time, you've offloaded theworld and the mystery and and
curiosity into this little box.
Speaker 6 (33:13):
Is that Sherry's coming in 2 one? One that you
actually
Speaker 15 (33:16):
I don't know. I just came up with it.
Speaker 6 (33:17):
Now I'm thinking about it, but okay. Alright. Go
ahead.
Speaker 15 (33:19):
It's such it's a good one. Right? I don't
actually know. So it's there'sprobably some some, you know,
reason with the with the goldenratio or something. Who knows?
But I think about these kinds ofthings in these moments as what
if we let ourselves live inmystery just a little bit? I
don't need the Wikipedia onplant growth patterns. I really
just wanna think about the factthat maybe those cherries are in
(33:41):
love. I don't know. I don't
Speaker 6 (33:44):
who knows?
Speaker 15 (33:45):
Just leave me to my ungoogled mystery, please. The
the metaphor you'd have to useis, like, signal to noise ratio.
Right? I think the I guess whatI'm trying to say isn't that I'm
anti information. I just thinkthere's a lot of noise in that
kind of space, and I enjoy aquieter, sometimes more
mystified space.
Obviously, at the end of thedinner, I'm if there's a real
(34:07):
question, it's glorious that wecan all pull out a computer and
ask our, you know, answer theactual scientific answer.
Speaker 6 (34:14):
Yeah. You can check our show notes for why cherries
grow into pairs. So
Speaker 15 (34:19):
because they love each other. You already answered
it.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
On that loving note, it's time for me to grab my neon
purple puffy pen and sign off onthe back page of this yearbook
edition. Have a great break,heart emoji, book emoji.
Speaker 6 (34:41):
Love,
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Jordan. For real, I hope that you enjoyed that
sampling of highlights from ourpast season. And, hey, there are
a ton of superlative authorsthat we've interviewed that we
didn't get to today. NinaLacour, Elliot Schraefer,
Katherine Applegate, John Hsu,and there are so many more. So
(35:04):
please take a listen if you'vegot some time over the break.
I would love for you to checkout our recent and not so recent
episodes. And from all of us atThe Reading Culture, we wish you
a safe and happy holiday seasonand new year. We will be back
again in 2025. But for now, keepreading.
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