In this week’s episode, Scott and Katie will discuss Katie’s hometown One Book, One Town pick for the year: Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley. One Book, One Town is a local library sponsored program where each year a book is selected for the whole town to read. Events and programs are planned for the town up until the author visit, which usually takes place in March. Listen in as Scott and Katie discuss Warrior Girl Unearthed and all of the amazing lessons they learned from this fantastic novel.

This week, Scott and Katie will celebrate their 1 year anniversary of That’s Novel Reading by going back to their roots. The very first episode of the podcast featured The Heartstopper series: Volumes 1 and 2. This week, Scott and Katie will discuss Volumes 3, 4, and 5. Spoiler Alert: Check out Scott and Katie’s first full book review episode in Season 1 to hear about Volumes 1 and 2 before checking out this episode.

Today’s conversation was sparked by a statistic Scott found about readership in The United States. Listen in as Katie and Scott react to the percentage of folks in the United States who only read one book a year. Looking at the origination of this statistic, and their own personal experience, Scott and Katie make recommendations on what they believe we all can be doing to help each other read more stories.

This week, Scott and Katie discuss Mascot by Charles Waters and Traci Sorrell about one town’s experience with changing their school mascot. Told in verse and from multiple perspectives of middle school students, Mascot delves into the debate about whether or not a community should retain their indigenous mascot. In the episode, Scott discusses her own personal experience with this, having dealt with it in his hometown and both hosts discuss the timely nature of this book’s topic. Tune in this week to hear more about this amazing story that both Scott and Kate deem a must-read.

Back from a short hiatus, this week Katie and Scott will feature books, authors, and resources for Black History Month. Have a pen and paper ready to jot down some of the resources that Scott and Katie share, and more importantly, feel free to share some of your own via social media. Both Scott and Katie acknowledge that the learning is never finished, especially when learning about Black History, which is American history, and they’re always looking for new reads themselves to help them learn! 

This week’s episode features a book that both Scott and Katie agree is the perfect window and mirror for all readers: Garvey in the Dark by Nikki Grimes. Told in verse, and set in the backdrop of the COVID-19 shutdown, the main character Garvey is learning to grapple with his new “normal” leaving school because of the virus. Join Scott and Katie this week as they share their own memories of the COVID-19 lockdown, and discuss Garvey’s experience with this historical event and more!

Join Scott and Katie in this week’s Novel Short as they reveal their top 5 books from both seasons. To add fuel to the fire, Scott and Katie try to predict each other’s choices. Listen in to hear about their favorite books featured on the podcast so far and see how well they did with their guesses!

Coming back from their winter break, Katie and Scott are so excited to share part two of their Choose Your Own Adventure. In an earlier episode in the season, Scott and Katie shared books recommendations for each other with them ultimately choosing a book to read. Listen in as Scott shares his thoughts on The Fountains of Silence by Rita Sepetys and Katie will discuss The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken!

For this week’s Novel Short, Scott and Katie are coloring outside the lines by featuring a book in this week’s episode. Scott and Katie are going to discuss A First Time For Everything by Dan Santat, a graphic novel memoir about Dan’s study abroad experience the summer before he entered high school. Scott and Katie understand why this book recently won a National Book Award, and they couldn’t wait to share a book they both related to and wanted to recommend to their students. Listen in to hear about all of Dan Santat’s firsts in his graphic novel memoir, A First Time for Everything.

In this week’s full episode, Scott and Katie discuss Gabrielle Zevin’s adult novel, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow in Books that Spark Our Passions. With Scott, an avid gamer, and Katie, a nostalgic gamer, this book spoke to Scott and Katie on a different level as the story shows the journey of two characters as they develop a video game. Scott and Katie now understand this book’s popularity and hope their discussion will inspire you to pick up the book as well.