Youngna discusses what she’s reading to her “almost” three year old, how and when children start to read, rhyming and musicality, cadence and sounds, silliness, and darkness, illustrations, the lasting power of children’s books about broad subjects, perhaps especially the moon, and more generally about the children’s book genre.
Peyton discusses The Blazing World and Now My Heart is Full, and also her own experiences as an art student, and the meaningfully ways she has responded to anger and rage.
Marty and Dominick are interesting, but it is Victoria and Emily who offer thought provoking interest in dystopian tales, leading to reflections on the ability of George Orwell, in 1949, to predict the future, and it is Adrianna who introduced me to The Things They Carried, which led to sobering reflections on the Vietnam War, the Korean War and as far back as WWI.
Maya’s enthusiasm and reverence (love) for Stephen King jumps off the page (or out of the podcast): horror, romance, character development, magical experiences, clowns, music and 11/22/63 time travel
Emma’s enthusiasm and love for reading is infectious. Emma reads almost entirely for words, rather than story, Emma loves to hold her books in her hands, highlights compulsively, is usually reading several books at a time, rereads her comfort books, and comfort passages from those books, and, according to her terrific interview with the online journal Girls at Library, loathes lending books to others, even to her Mom. This is a woman who truly loves literature and her books.
Jim provides an impressive tour of novels, short stories, histories, detective and spy tales, magical realism, library books and the travail of audio books, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, “By the Book” from The New York Times Book Review, and Symphony Space on the upper west side of Manhattan. Hard as it may be to believe, there is a bit of a connection between and among the 30+ books and other materials we discuss.
Hardin comes from many generations of teachers, social workers and Episcopal ministers (one of whom operated the Underground Railroad in St. Louis, helping slaves flee their captivity). Hardin’s depth, commitment and passion, likely borne out of his rich heritage, comes through in his remarks.
Dr. Frank Burbrink, molecular evolutionary biologist and curator of reptiles and amphibians at the American Museum of Natural History... and a student of the history of comic books, which were, for many of us, the very first books we read.
