Get your freak on theater kids, we're doing Shakespeare. Kylie Brakeman joins me to discuss William Shakespeare's immortal classic: Macbeth.

Listen to Kylie's podcast Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists!

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Kevin T Porter joins me to discuss the second book in Louis Sachar's Wayside series: Wayside School is Falling Down!

Our original Wayside episode with Jenny Cavallero!

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Natalie Ortega (Wicked!!!) joins me to discuss Scott Westerfeld's 2005 library staple: UGLIES. Also, a movie of this 19 year old book is coming to Netflix in a few weeks. That's called serendipity, baby.

Uglies is a 2005 science fiction novel by Scott Westerfeld. It is set in a future post scarcity dystopian world in which everyone is considered an "ugly," but then turned "Pretty" by extreme cosmetic surgery when they reach the age of 16. (Wikipedia)

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Grace Bahler joins me to discuss the first book in Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You from 2006!

The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is a fairly typical all-girls school—that is, if every school teaches advanced martial arts in PE, chemistry always consists of learning about the latest in chemical warfare, and everyone breaks CIA codes for extra credit in computer class. So in truth, while the Gallagher Academy might say it’s a school for geniuses what they really mean is spies. But what happens when a Gallagher Girl falls for a boy who doesn’t have a code name?

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Jess Woodworth joins me to discuss Newbery Medal winner The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (one of only 6 authors to win 2 Newberys!)

The main plot follows the adventures of a mouse named Despereaux Tilling, as he sets out on his quest to rescue a beautiful human princess from the rats. (Wikipedia)

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Chelsea Pope joins me to discuss Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey! Trigger warnings for discussions of mental health, institutionalization, suicide, and more.

The book is narrated by Chief Bromden, a gigantic half-Native American patient at a psychiatric hospital, who presents himself as deaf, mute, and docile. Bromden's tale focuses mainly on the antics of the rebellious Randle Patrick McMurphy, who faked insanity to serve his sentence for battery and gambling in the hospital rather than at a prison work farm. The head administrative nurse, Nurse Ratched, rules the ward with absolute authority and little medical oversight. She is assisted by her three day-shift orderlies and her assistant doctors and nurses. (Wikipedia)

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It's another dealer's choice episode! Returning guests Hua Chen and Ashley Westover join me to discuss a book I hated in high school (I was wrong! I know!) Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE!

Book summary: While the arrival of wealthy gentlemen sends her marriage-minded mother into a frenzy, willful and opinionated Elizabeth Bennet matches wits with haughty Mr. Darcy. (IMDB)

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Check out more Dealer's Choice episodes!

• Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
• Johnny Tremain

Check out Hua's previous episode on The Grapes of Wrath!

Check out Ashley's previous episode on Dragonology!

I didn't mean to have the American Revolution episode come out on July 3rd, but! I'll take any serendipity I can get.

Another Dealer's Choice episode - professor Carly O'Brien returns to discuss Esther Forbes' 1943 Newberry winning novel Johnny Tremain.

Book summary: Johnny, a young apprentice silversmith, is caught up with Otis, Hancock, and John and Samuel Adams in the exciting and dramatic operations and subterfuges leading up to the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Lexington. As Johnny is forced into the role of a full-grown man in the face of his new country's independence, he finds that his relations with those he loves change for the better as well. (from Storygraph)

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Don't look now, it's the Gruffalo!

Book summary: Walk further into the deep dark wood, and discover what happens when a quick-witted mouse comes face to face with an owl, a snake . . . and a hungry Gruffalo! (Storygraph)

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I'm launching a series called DEALER'S CHOICE where I pick the book!! So I picked my middle school backpack staple, my entry into adulthood, the book that made me say "teenhood? i'm here!" it's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn!

The novel is told from the alternating perspectives of Nick, the only straight member of a queercore rock band, and Norah, the daughter of a well-known music producer. After a concert, Nick sees his ex-girlfriend in the bar and asks Norah to pretend to be his girlfriend for five minutes

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Check out Jenny's previous episode Sideways Stories from Wayside School!