Today's second-timer is our last-timer of 2025! Matt Forrest Esenwine graces us once again with his delightful, radio-ready voice for a soothing exit to the year. 

In addition to Matt's twelve other books (some of which you can hear about in our first conversation from 2021), this year Matt released his anthology A Universe of Rainbows: Multicolored Poems for a Multicolored World.

We don't get to talk a ton about anthologies, so this was a delight! 

_________

This episode’s book reviews: 

JOVITA WORE PANTS by Aida Salazar, illustrated by Molly Mendoza

THIS BOOK IS PERFECT by Ron Keres, illustrated by Arthur Lin

MY DAD IS THE BEST by Fran Pintadera, illustrated by Joan Turu

The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 

Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  

Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 

Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!