Book Flood Podcast

Amanda Jones is the author of "That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America (2025)." Here Amanda discusses the changes in the revised version and reminds us of the importance of the fight against book banning.

You can purchase the book here on Amazon (and we receive a tiny bit of funds for you doing so): https://amzn.to/4rGvAUK

You can find Amanda Jones on the internet here: https://thatlibrarian.com

Ryan Estrada is a Freeman Award-winning, Eisner-nominated artist, author, and adventurer. His books include Banned Book Club, No Rules Tonight, Good Old Fashioned Korean Spirit, Occulted, and the Student Ambassador series. He has made comics for Star Trek, Popeye, Flash Gordon, and Garfield.

He was a gator wrangler in America, an ambassador to Australia, an undocumented animator in Canada, a ghostbuster in South Korea, a Bollywood voice actor in India, wandered Kim Jong Il's secret tunnels to North Korea, slept on a bench during a Japanese typhoon, dug toilets in Thailand, did an accidental illegal border crossing into Burma, was kidnapped in Cambodia, kicked out of karaoke in Singapore, lost in Laos, was violently ill in Vietnam, went white water rafting in The Philippines, delivered toys to orphans in Colombia, documented blue-footed boobies in Ecuador, swam with sea turtles in Malaysia, ran with the bulls in Mexico, barely escaped being eaten by lions in Kenya, fainted atop Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, went skinny dipping with piranhas in Peru, lived in a Costa Rican rainforest and a Panamanian volcano.

If you would like to know more about the Book Flood Podcast:

http://BookFloodPodcast.com

If you would like to know more about Ryan Estrada: http://RyanEstrada.com

Joan Schoettler grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, a place she often returns to for inspiration and research in museums and gardens.Time with her grandchildren, hikes in the Sierra, shared dinners with friends, as well as reading, gardening, and travel fill her days, weaving ideas and creativity for her writing.

After teaching in elementary schools, Schoettler earned a Masters in Arts in Reading and Language at Fresno Pacific University. At the Education Department at the University of California, Fresno, she taught children’s literature, storytelling, and reading and writing. 

An award-winning author, Schoettler has written four picture books: Good Fortune in a Wrapping Cloth, Ruth Asawa: A Sculpting Life, A Home for George, Books Travel theWorld. Her debut middle grade verse novel, The Honey Jar: An Armenian’s Escape to Freedom, received the Commonwealth California Book of the Year, Gold Medal Award for Juvenile Books, 2024. 

Schoettler’s upcoming picture book is Doctor of the Heart: The Groundbreaking Story of Scientist, and Educator, Vivien Thomas (May 12, 2026).  Joan’s focus of interest is inspired by true people, intriguing actual events, and lived experiences of people from diverse backgrounds. Creativity and art are illuminated in her stories about nature, artists, and imaginative picture books. Her writing demonstrates a global view as her stories traverse the world. Joan believes stories come to life when we paying attention to what we love, to those who touch our lives, and to cherished moments and experiences.

Edward Andrès Dennis is a Mexican-American visual storyteller. Edward hasbeen featured in the Hispanic Rising Stars (Volume 3) for his contributions to Latino excellence. Edward’s debut children’s book was “The Boy from Mexico". Edward’s second children’s book which was released in September 2024 was “The Boy from Mexico becomes a Farmworker”. Dennis' third book in the series is "The Boy from Mexico Becomes a U.S. Citizen."As an AmeriCorp alumni and former Special Education teacher, Edward’s main goal in life is to create stories that he wished existed when he was a child. He has been featured on Univision, TV Azteca, Telemundo and CNN en español for his children’s books.

http://bookfloodpodcast.com

Loyal listeners will remember that Amanda Jones was our very first guest on the podcast. It’s only right that she is the last guest for Season 1.

Amanda is the author of “That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America.” (https://amzn.to/3TvaSqJ)

She has won a number of awards including the 2023 Intellectual Freedom Award from the American Association of School Librarians.

In her work, she has been given shout-outs from such diverse folks as Oprah Winfrey and Judy Blume.

Patrick "PC" Sweeney is a 2007 San Jose School of Library and Information Sciences graduate and former Administrative Librarian and School Librarian and was Executive Director of EveryLibrary California, a statewide initiative to support library propositions. He was awarded Library Journal’s “Movers and Shakers” award in 2015 for his library advocacy work. Patrick is co-author of “Winning Elections and Influencing Politicians for Library Funding” as well as “Before the Ballot; Building Support for Library Funding.” He was recently recognized with a “40 Under 40” award by the American Association of Political Consultants for his work fighting for libraries at EveryLibrary. He is a lecturer at the San Jose Information School where he teaches courses on politics and libraries. He is active across social media as PC Sweeney.

Becky Calzada is the 2024-2025 AASL President, a District Library Coordinator in Leander, Texas, and a co-founding member of Texas #FReadom Fighters. She was selected for the 4th ALA Policy Corp Cohort, works as a member of the ALA Policy Corp Proactive Advocacy on Book Banning cadre and is a past member of the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee. She is actively involved in the Texas Library Association and serves on the legislative committee and was a Past-Chair for the Texas Association of School Librarians division in 2016-2017.

Becky is the recipient of several intellectual freedom awards and was honored by People Magazine in their 2023 Women Changing the World portfolio. Becky is the co-author of Prepared Libraries, Empowered Teams: A Workbook for Navigating Intellectual Freedom Challenges Together which was published by ALA Editions in June 2024.

http://BookFloodPodcast.com

Tom Bober (http://TomBober.com) is a school librarian at Captain Elementary in the suburbs of St. Louis, MO, a 2018 Library Journal Mover and Shaker, former Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress, and author of the books Literature and Primary Sources, Building News Literacy, as well as his first title, Elementary Educator's Guide to Primary Sources. 

He is a member of teacher advisory boards for the National Portrait Gallery and the American Archive of Public Broadcasting. Tom has written the Picture Books and Primary Sources posts for AASL’s Knowledge Quest blog and hosted The Primary Source Podcast. He has written articles about students learning through the use of primary sources for several publications including School Library Journal and School Library Connection. He also presents at conferences, runs workshops, and gives webinars to promote the use of primary sources in student learning. His foundation is built on over twenty years in public education as an elementary classroom teacher, educational technologist, and over ten years as a school librarian.

http://TomBober.com

Erin Dealey's original career goal was Olympic Gold Medal tetherball player. When that didn't pan out, she became a teacher, theater director, actor, mom, blogger, award-winning playwright and author of over a dozen children’s books (so far). 

Her books include DEAR EARTH…From Your Friends in Room 5 (NYSRA Charlotte Award/CT Nutmeg Award nominee); SNOW GLOBE WISHES (Anna Dewdney Read Together Honor Book), PETER EASTER FROG (a two-time JLG Emergent Readers Plus selection), and JUST FLOWERS, all of which celebrate kindness and community. 

http://ErinDealey.com

http://BookFloodPodcast.com

Diana Farid is an award-winning author and poet. Her picture book, WHEN YOU BREATHE, was a 2021 National Council of Teachers of English Notable Poetry Book and a 2022 EUREKA! Gold Award winner for nonfiction.

Her novel in verse, WAVE, was a 2022 School Library Journal Best Middle Grade Book, the Cybils Award Winner for Novel in Verse, a Middle East Book Award Honoree, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, a Golden Poppy Award Finalist, and a Northern California Book Award Nominee.

Her latest picture book, THE LIGHT OF HOME (Scholastic) has been called “incredibly powerful” and “beautifully told.” Her debut board book, ALREADY ALL THE LOVE (Little Bee), an Amazon Editors’ Pick and #1 New Release, is praised as "An excellent choice for early readers" — Foreword Reviews.

Diana is also a physician and Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. Learn more at dianafarid.com