Starting Small: An Inclusive Book Chat

Know My Name by Chanel Miller is probably not on your radar of memoirs to read - it sure wasn't on ours! But this is the story of the victim of the UCLA swimmer who was the center of a trial that captured the nation just a few years ago.

Join us as we discuss Know My Name.

This episode does include non-graphic discussions of sexual assualt.

As we continue to read and discuss commonly challenged books, we tackle George Matthew Johnson's 2020 young adult memoir All Boys Aren't Blue.

We discuss Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, a surprisingly often challenged author.

As we shift to be a bit more inclusive of books, we turn to banned and challenged books. We tackle a commonly challenged author in Laurie Halse Anderson in this episode and her very relatable Speak.

Carrie and Daphne discuss Charmaine Wilkerson's Black Cake. A multi-generational, multi-national story about family. This one's a bit of a departure from our usually heavier topics, but it highlights families that are quite different from our own, but maybe not all that different. 

Also, we really want to try black cake...

Carrie and Daphne discuss the 2003 book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

TW: The book (and this discussion breifly) touches on sexual assault of a minor.

Have you read The Kite Runner? What were your thoughts on the book? 

Carrie and Daphne discuss the books most commonly challenged in recent years, including a locally challenged and banned book, When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka.

In response to the Supreme Court's recent decision to essentially overturn Roe v. Wade (a precedent both Carrie and Daphne have lived with all their lives), the ladies opted to read a book that tells the story of women in pre-Roe America to perhaps glimpse what now post-Roe America may be. 

Join them for a conversation of The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler.

Daphne and Carrie take a look at a book that came under fire within their local school system recently. They jump into the 3rd book in the Internet Girls series by Lauren Myracle, L8r G8r (not to be confused with Later, Gator). 

Edited: This text WAS removed from the school libraries in question. *sigh*

Carrie and Daphne discuss the 2014 nonfiction book Just Mercy, which you may recognize as a 2019 film title starring Jamie Foxx and Michael B. Jordan. This discussion comes just days after the Uvalde, TX school shooting, so emotions run a little high and the topic does come up.