The Librarian Is In

Okay, what's the deal with librarians and musical theater? This week's guest, newly minted children's librarian Kevin Kelley, traces his origin story back to the stage. He also discusses kids' books about the queer experience and offers up a brand-new first for the guessing game.

Book Recommendations:

New Kid by Jerry Craft

The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg

Non-Book Recommendations:

"The Prom," a musical now playing on Broadway (LOTS of dancing!)

Have a laugh with the podcast "Throwing Shade"

And look back at episodes of "Gilmore Girls... still so enjoyable.

Also mentioned:

Go the Way Your Blood Beats: On Truth, Bisexuality and Desire by Michael Amherst

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

Hurricaine Child by Kheryn Callender

Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love

Five, Six, Seven, Nate! by Tim Federle

Feminasty: The Complicated Woman's Guide to Surviving the Patriarchy Without Drinkng Herself to Death by Erin Gibson

Over 200 years ago, a teenage girl started a literary legacy that continues to haunt us today. Why do we still keep telling this story and how does it reflect our darkest fears? The New York Public Library's curators join monster theory scholars and best-selling authors to trace the history of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley's classic. This special podcast episode unpacks the genius of Shelley's novel, its origins and evolution—from the British Romantics to Black Lives Matter—to uncover how it's helped us better understand ourselves, our humanity, and our future.

Audre Lorde and Pat Parker were close friends who fought fiercely for social justice. In this episode, Frank and Gwen discuss a powerful book of letters between the two Black feminist poets.

Book Recommendation

Sister Love: The Letters of Audre Lorde and Pat Parker 1974-1989, ed. by Julie Ensure

More by Audre Lorde and Pat Parker:

The Complete Works of Pat Parker, ed. by Julie Enszer

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde

The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde includes the poem "Power" mentioned in the epsiode.

I Am Your Sister: Collected and Unpublished Writings of Audre Lorde includes the essay "There is No Heriarchy of Oppression"

Get rowdy with Roxanne Coady, indie bookstore owner and host of the Just the Right Book podcast. Roxanne finds common ground with Frank and Gwen, talking about places where people seek connection and community with books at their heart.

Roxanne's Book Recommendation

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Also mentioned:

A Drinking Life by Pete Hamill

Lucky by Alice Sebold

Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison

The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Guilded Age by Tim Wu

The Common Good by Robert Reich

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Embers by Sándor Márai

You can visit Roxanne's bookstore, RJ Julia, in Madison, Conneticuit and check out one of their events. And definitely have a listen to her podcast Just the Right Book for more book recommendations and interviews with a wide-range of authors and guests. (Including Frank and Gwen!)

Gwen's quest to learn more about Carol Channing took both her and Frank to a place where divas and dames truly reign- Broadway! Plus: Frank's book taps into the cultural obsession with visiting the past (repeatedly) to figure out the future, leading us into the arms of "Russian Doll" creator Natasha Lyonne.

Book Recommendations

Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater by Eddie Shapiro

The Heavens by Sandra Newman

Non-Book Recommendations

Check out the new Netflix series "Russian Doll," and you'll obsess over it too!

And watch "Happy Death Day" for more time loops, laughs and life on other planes.

Books have lives too! Frank and Gwen take a break from talking about the words on the page and get into the stories of items in NYPL's archives. In this specially curated tour, meet the Mary Poppins doll that made peace between author and illustrator, hear about a woman spymaster during the Civil War, and find out what limp vellum is. Plus: Nancy Drew has a secret.

Guest: Meredith Mann, Librarian for Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books at NYPL

You can learn more about the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division here. Also check out Meredith's blog posts to discover more about NYPL's living artifacts. There is even one on marcas del fuego (marks of fire) and the Mexico City imprint that is discusssed in this episode.

Meredith's Book Recommendation

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

... or the joy of evolution? Frank's book traces the whole history of humankind and Gwen's is a short narrative about big changes. Plus: You can't talk about joy without talking about Christine Baranski. It's the law.

Book Recommendations

Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala

Sapiens: A brief history of humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Non-Book Recommendation

The pure and consuming joy of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

Book synergy abounds! Frank rediscovers Anne Frank's diary in a newly released graphic novel, Gwen becomes obsessed with a group of time-traveling historians, and everyone absorbs the small details of day-to-day lives during World War II.

Book Recommendations

Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation, adapted by Ari Folman and illustrated by David Polonsky

Blackout by Connie Willis (All Clear is the second book in the series, plus much more of her work in the catalog)​

Non-Book Recommendations

Sandhya Menon's Twitter post that helped Gwen understand how people feel when you mispronounce their names.

Frank and Gwen celebrate the life and work of Mary Oliver by reading a handful of her poems and doing something she might approve of—letting it all go and singing about dogs.

Have you ever truly grieved over the loss of someone in a book? Together with Eric Molinsky, host of the Imaginary Worlds podcast, Frank and Gwen dive into the psychology of readers' responses to character deaths. Don't worry, it's not as depressing as it sounds! Maybe!

Eric's podcast, Imaginary Worlds, the "Imaginary Deaths" episode, the fanfiction episode, and the Madeline Miller episode

Some books with deaths we've mourned:

• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
• The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• The Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin (the Red Wedding is in the third book, A Storm of Swords)

• "Dr. Who" -- the David Tennant season
• The Song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller
• Sabrina the Teenage Witch (available in many formats at the Library) and Riverdale (always)