Episode 334 || Books Kids Actually Want to Read, Vol. 2
This week Annie is talking with store manager Olivia about some favorite titles shared with her by kids in the local community, and we thought it’d be fun for you to hear directly from the kids themselves.
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, visit our new website:
Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Coo by Kaela Noele
El Deafo by CeCe Bell
Okay Witch by Emma Steinkeller
Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
Unsolved Case Files: Escape at 10,000 Feet by Tom Sullivan
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Middle School Bites series by Steven Banks
The Betsy-Tacy Treasury by Maude Hart Lovelace
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
The Unwanted series by Lisa McMann
Camp/Click/Act by Kayla Miller
Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found below.
Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
This week, Annie is reading Let’s Not Do That Again by Grant Ginder.
If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free media mail shipping on all your online book orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.
Libro.FM:
Libro.fm lets you purchase audiobooks directly from your favorite local bookstore (Like The Bookshelf). You can pick from more than 215,000 audiobooks, and you'll get the same audiobooks at the same price as the largest audiobook company out there (you know the name). But you’ll be part of a different story -- one that supports community. All you need is a smart phone and the free Libro.fm app.
Right now, if you sign up for a new membership, you will get 2 audiobooks for the price of one. All you have to do is enter FRONTPORCH at checkout or follow this link:
Flodesk:
Do you receive a weekly or monthly newsletter from one of your favorite brands? Like maybe From the Front Porch (Or The Bookshelf)... Did you ever wonder, ‘how do they make such gorgeous emails?’ Flodesk is an email marketing service provider that's built for creators, by creators, and it’s easy to use. We’ve been using it for a couple of years now, and I personally love it.
And right now you can get 50% off your Flodesk subscription by going to:
Episode Transcript:
210819_FTFP_Ep 334_Kids Lit vol 2
[00:00:00] Annie Jones: Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business and life in the south.
“So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install, A lovely bookshelf on the wall.”
— Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
I'm Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and today I'm joined by some new to you voices to talk about books kids will actually want to read. If you are a longtime listener of From the Front Porch, you might remember that exactly one year ago, I sat down to record an episode about Kid Lit with our shop manager and children's book buyer, Olivia. It's episode 285, if you want to go back and listen.
She talked about some favorite titles shared with her by kids in the local community. And this year we thought it'd be fun for you to hear directly from the kids themselves. So, if you are not familiar on the first Saturday of every month, Olivia meets with middle grade and young adult readers from Thomasville and the surrounding areas, I think Tallahassee, Albany, many different places, kind of near Thomasville to chat about books. Dumbledore's Army is really Olivia's brainchild. And I wanted her to tell you why it's so special.
Olivia Schaffer: [00:01:48] One of my greatest privileges here at the bookshelf is running our youth review committee Dumbledore's Army. I had this idea to start when I went to a children's book conference a couple of years ago, and I got to hear about similar groups at other stores all over the country.
And I thought this would be one such a great place for this. Cause we have so many young readers in this town and to such a great way for me to get involved with the children of the community. And I always love hearing what children are thinking and the thought process behind everything. And this was the ultimate way to do that.
When we meet and start talking, every time I feel like I learned something new and I'm reminded at how smart and thoughtful all of these kids are. Also, it reminds me how strong a single commonality, like the love of reading can be in a group setting. These meetings have always brought me such joy because you get to start to see friendships, blossom and grow and kids grow from reading younger books. They go to the older group then, and it's always fun to see that progression and the changing of their reading lives as well. I learned really early on in these meetings, not to underestimate these kids, they know exactly what they like and they know what they don't like, and they know what makes them uncomfortable and what is good for a certain age group.
We've had so many different conversations, a whole range from 'Why do books feature kids without parents so often?' To 'How do we feel about sad books?' All the way to a humorous conversation about what Hogwarts houses do we think all of the characters from Hamilton belong in. I still have all of my notes from that meeting, but I won't start listing them now because that would be a lot.
Annie Jones: [00:03:40] Our Dumbledore's Army kids are smart and funny and thoughtful. They read advanced reader copies that publisher send us and Olivia then helps them critique and write book reviews and shelf talkers for the bookshelf. Often their favorite titles wind up being a part of our monthly children's shelf subscription service.
You may even hear some familiar titles if you're a shelf subscriber. They are a little bit like booksellers themselves. I was going to say their booksellers in training, but the truth is. Pretty great booksellers and they help our staff know what kids will actually read and enjoy because many of us on staff don't have kids yet ourselves.
And so we need their expertise. I think you can hear in Olivia's voice, how much she enjoys interacting with these kids and hearing their stories and their bookish opinions.
Olivia Schaffer: [00:04:29] Some of the books that I can tell you right off the bat, we have spent multiple meetings talking about because of how much they love them. One, without a doubt, as the Percy Jackson series and Harry Potter, obviously they come up at every single meeting and they're all adored. Some specifically Dumbledore Army books that they have loved is 'Coo' by Kayla Noel. I had two or three kids from our younger group read this book and they both loved it.
And I loved getting to see them both enjoy this because they both read such different genres. So for them to come and find a commonality love in this book called 'Coo' was just so beautiful to watch. We also have a ton of graphic, novel readers in these groups. And I love that because I also love graphic novels.
So it's always interesting to see what ones they gravitate to. We ended up having a very long conversation about how great the book 'El Deafo' was by Cece Bell. And it is excellent. So much so that one of the girls, this was while we were meeting virtually, she ran to go get her book because she just wanted to hold it while we were talking about it.
Another series in graphic novels that they have absolutely love is 'The Okay Witch' by Emma Steinkellner, the publisher of this book sent us arcs of the second in the series and the kids loved it so much. It's like five or six kids who got these books. They loved them so much that they all ended up purchasing the first one in the series, which was also really fun to watch.
Our older group we got two, um, advanced reader, copies of 'Amari and the Night Brothers' by B.B. Allston. And those arcs got passed around throughout the entire group and they loved it as much as I did. I also really enjoyed that book. And then the last one that we actually spent a whole meeting on and I think could be a really fun book to read with your children and talk about is the graphic novel 'Escape at 10,000 Feet' by Tom Sullivan. It is a series that Harper Collins is putting out in graphic novel forms, all about unsolved mysteries. And this one was about the D.B. Cooper mystery. And so my younger group and I...
Herbert Collins was so gracious to send us a bunch of arcs, enough for the whole group and everybody read it. And we came one meeting, all prepared with our theories as to what happened to D.B. Cooper.
Annie Jones: [00:06:52] Okay, those are some of Olivia's favorites. She's gotten to hear about thanks to our Dumbledore's Army meetings, but we both really wanted you to hear from the kids themselves. They graciously worked with Olivia and with their parents to send us voicemails that we're going to include in this episode. First up is Sophie with her review of 'Bud not Buddy'.
Sophie: [00:07:14] I think, 'Bud not Buddy' is a great book because it's like good for kids who love history. I love history myself. So this was a really fun book for me. And I think the age appropriate would be like eight and up. And the author is Christopher Paul Curtis. And it's like about this kid named Bud and everybody calls him Buddy. And he, it's just a really good book and I would totally recommend it.
Annie Jones: [00:07:49] We have a lot of sibling sets in Dumbledore's Army. I love that The Bookshelf is nothing is not a family affair. It's obviously a family affair on my end, but it's also a family affair in terms of people who shop at the store. We get whole families of readers who participate in bookshelf events who come to buy books. And so here is Sophie's brother J.P. who's also in Dumbledore's Army.
J.P.: [00:08:16] A book I read was called 'Middle School Bites', it was written by Steven Banks. I recommend this book to Eight to Twelve year olds. The main character is Tom, who is a Vampire-Wolf-Zombie. And he faces a lot of challenges throughout the book, but he always gets past them. This was a very good book and it was hard to put down. There was also a sequel that I recommend you should read.
Annie Jones: [00:08:39] The 'Middle School Bites' series has become a middle grade bestseller at the bookshelf. And that is entirely because of J.P. aNd the Dumbledore's Army kids. These are not books I have read to my knowledge. They're not books olivia is read and Olivia reads a lot of Kid Lit, but I don't know that she really devoured this one, pun intended, because she really trusted the Dumbledore's Army kids to read it and tell her what they think. Now here's Lucia with her recommendation of a classic book I loved as a kid.
Lucia: [00:09:09] Hi, my name is Lucia, my favorite book is 'The Besty-Tacy Treasury'. I love this book because it's different series and one whole book and you have more to read instead of you have to buy the other book. You just get to read the same thing. Well, different books and one book, and this would be for people ages seven and up.
Annie Jones: [00:09:40] The Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace have been rereleased in recent years and packaged as Lucy as so eloquently put it as multiple books within a book. The first reissue, for example, includes the first four books in the series and each title in the newly reissued series has a new forward by other recognizable authors you probably love. Judy Bloom Anna Quindlen, et cetera. I adore these books. So does my mom and Lucia may have just, single-handedly convinced me to reread them.
I think they're great for fans of 'Anne of Green Gables' or a 'Little Women' also, should I name my future child Maud? I'm leaning that way. Anyway, here's Celia with her recommendation of a more modern classic.
Celia: [00:10:23] My name is Celia. I'm 14 years old. And one of my favorite book series that I've read is 'The Mysterious Benedict Society' by Trenton Lee Stewart.
It's one of my top 10 favorite. I love all of the characters. They each have very unique personalities that are impossible not to love and recommend it to ten-year-olds and up because it has some deeper themes that older kids can understand better. I appreciated how the evil character had more of a reason for being able to just wanting power and being crazy.
There are things that happened in his life that shaped him into being the monster that he was the book wasn't too predictable, and the riddles were nearly impossible to figure out which made it a lot more intriguing and exciting.
Annie Jones: [00:11:01] Deeply concerned. I now want to be Celia when I grew up here, she is again with another favorite.
Celia: [00:11:07] I absolutely love 'The Unwanted Series' by Lisa McMann. It's a dystopian fiction series and basically it's about the desolate land of Quill. And every year in Quill, all the creative 13 year olds get purged and get sent to the death farm, or they think they're going to die, obviously. But actually it turns out that they got sent to a magical school called Artime, which is basically, it's a very Hogwarts like place where they learn the creative arts and how to basically turn those into magic. And so they can fight the ultimate battle at the edge. Find out what the ultimate battle is by reading this book.
Annie Jones: [00:11:51] Celia is one of our older Dumbledore's Army kids. One of the privileges of running a bookstore is getting to watch kids grow up right before our eyes. Olivia has seen some of these students go from early middle grade readers into the young adult section of our store.
And it's been really fun to watch. As Olivia mentioned earlier, a lot of our young readers, including Sophie love graphic novels.
Sophie: [00:12:13] I'm a huge fan of graphic novels. And one of my favorite graphic novels is a series by Kayla Miller. The books are called 'Camp', 'Click' and 'Act'. They have certain subjects, they change throughout the books like drama, action, daydreaming, fiction, and it's just really good series. And I would recommend it to kids like seven and up. They're really good books.
Annie Jones: [00:12:47] Maybe you've noticed another theme in these readers recommendations. They love and appreciate a good well-thought-out series. And we do too in adulthood. And in my adult reading, I don't gravitate towards series as much, but as a kid, I definitely did.
I loved being able to finish one book and go right into the next one. Book series, keep even the most reluctant of readers reading. Although, none of the Dumbledore's Army kids would I really classify as reluctant? We love book series because they keep the momentum going and kids appreciate that too. They don't want their reading or the messed up either. So series are a great solution for that. And J.P. Has got a good recommendation for one.
J.P.: [00:13:24] Also a book series I love to read is called 'Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library'. It's about Kyle, a kid in middle school who writes an essay. And gets into Mr. Lemoncellos, the world's famous game maker, into the new library has to escape. There will be a winner, but you'll have to read the books to find out who the winner will be. Mr. Lemoncello book series is recommended for eight to twelve year olds.
Annie Jones: [00:13:55] That's a wrap on our Dumbledore's Army kids recommendations. If you are a local parent with an avid adventurous reader in your house, we'd love if they joined us for our monthly meetings, you can come in store to apply in person at The Bookshelf. Or you can email Olivia at manager@bookshelfthomasville.com. For more information again, that's manager@bookshelfthomasville.com.
You can also find a link in our show notes to find out more information. Right now, Dumbledore's Army meets in two groups, one for younger readers and one for older readers. Here's the thing, Olivia and the rest of The Bookshelf staff are great book buyers. They pay attention to what our community is reading and they're avid readers themselves.
I think you probably get that sense by now. And yes, I absolutely stand by the books. I loved as a kid: the Betsy-Tacys and the Sharon Creech and Joan Bauer and E.L. Konigsburg and the The 'Baby-Sitters Club'. I think those books stand the test of time and we stock them on our shelves because I still think they're worth reading and selling.
I hand sell them all the time. But I also want The Bookshelf to stock what kids today are reading and loving. I want to know what books keep them up at night, what books they sneak under the covers and read well past lights out. I know Olivia wants to do that too. And so Dumbledore's Army is our way to know what kids in our community like and what they don't like.
I love Dumbledore's Army because yes, it utilizes Olivia's natural gifts and abilities as a teacher and facilitator of bookish conversations. I think you could tell in her voice, and I know I can see it in her face that this is one of the most favorite parts of her job. It's also helping raise thoughtful opinionated readers who can graciously but firmly articulate what they like and don't like in their literature.
Sometimes that's hard for grownups to do so the fact that we have kids who very eloquently can state exactly why they love or don't love a book is really special. You've heard today about the books that these kids love, but Olivia also pays attention to what books they hate.
Our middle grade reader section in the store is a specially curated using the criteria given to us by the Dumbledore's Army readers, they read a wide range of genres too. Like these aren't kids who just read fantasy or who just read realistic fiction or who just read sports books, like they'd literally read everything.
And I think you can tell that. And based on the reviews, they sent over. We use that information to help stock our shelves. And as a result, our children's section, particularly our middle grade reader section has really grown and become one of our best-selling sections in the store. That's because of Olivia and the Dumbledore's Army kids, and it is a privilege to get to watch them do what they do.
And it's also a privilege to get to bring that to you today. So even though this episode might be maybe a little shorter or a little different in format than what you're used to. I hope you got as much joy as I did out of these kids and their book reviews and their ability to articulate why they love a book
Annie Jones: From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website:
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at:
Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
This week I'm reading Let’s Not Do That Again by Grant Ginder. I am so sorry. This book does not come out until April 20, 22, but I picked it up this week and I really, really love it. So maybe you can, pre-order it. If you're super excited
If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us for $5 a month on Patreon, where you can follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic and participate in live video Q&As in our monthly lunch break sessions. Just go to:
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.