The Reading Bug Podcast - Original Adventures, Bedtime Stories and Music for Kids

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs

Part 1 of 2. When the other garden bugs tease the Reading Bug for being different, she does what she always does — reads more books! And this time, they inspire the most fantastical adventure yet. Join Lauren, the Reading Bug and the Spelling Bee on a journey over the rainbow to the Land of the Unicorns!

Only, things may not be all rainbows and unicorns. On the other side of the rainbow is a grey kingdom ruled by a cold and powerful queen who hates everything unique.

With the help of Yeti, a shy young unicorn in hiding, we must find the courage to stand up to the queen, rescue our friend, and remind every unicorn in the land that what makes them different makes them magical.

Explore the Magic! Check out the books featured in this adventure at: www.thereadingbug.com/adventures/unicorn

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs

Grab your helmet and knee pads—it's time to shred! Lauren, the Reading Bug, and the Fact Fly are heading to the most famous skatepark in the world: Venice Beach! But before they can drop in, they meet Livvy on the sand—a girl who has been bravely learning to skate with her older brother's help, only to have her confidence knocked right out from under her by a lost lucky necklace and a bully named Aden.

From the history of "sidewalk surfing" in 1950s California to the difference between longboards, shortboards, and cruisers, there's a ton to discover on the way to the park. But the biggest lesson of the day? That when you fall, you haven't failed—and that sometimes the hardest part is simply showing up. Lace up your skate shoes and roll with us into Part 1 of this wheely exciting adventure!

Explore the Magic:

Check out the books featured in this adventure at: ⁠www.thereadingbug.com/adventures/skateboard

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories | Original Music

In this laugh-filled prehistoric bedtime adventure, meet Tiko, a brave, dog-sized Psittacosaurus who finds himself face-to-face with Thunderfeet, the grumpiest (and biggest!) T-Rex in the valley. Everyone believes Thunderfeet is a terrifying menace… until Tiko discovers the truth: the giant dinosaur isn’t mean — he’s just exhausted.

To save himself (and maybe the whole herd!), Tiko must use his quick thinking — and a very special dinosaur lullaby — to calm the sleepy giant before he becomes a midnight snack. Full of gentle suspense, silly surprises, and dino-sized heart, this bedtime story teaches bravery, empathy, and how even the biggest, loudest creatures sometimes just need a good night’s sleep.

Perfect for kids who love:

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs

Part 2 of 2. Grab your helmet and knee pads—it's time to shred! Lauren, the Reading Bug, and the Fact Fly are heading to the most famous skatepark in the world: Venice Beach! But before they can drop in, they meet Livvy on the sand—a girl who has been bravely learning to skate with her older brother's help, only to have her confidence knocked right out from under her by a lost lucky necklace and a bully named Aden.

From the history of "sidewalk surfing" in 1950s California to the difference between longboards, shortboards, and cruisers, there's a ton to discover on the way to the park. But the biggest lesson of the day? That when you fall, you haven't failed—and that sometimes the hardest part is simply showing up. Lace up your skate shoes and roll with us into Part 1 of this wheely exciting adventure!

Explore the Magic:

Check out the books featured in this adventure at: ⁠www.thereadingbug.com/adventures/skateboard

The Fact Fly's One Big Question

Why does spicy food actually burn — and why does black pepper make you sneeze when you haven't even touched it? Join Lauren and the Fact Fly as they investigate the fiery science behind everyone's favorite fake emergency! From the TRPV1 receptor — your mouth's built-in biological fire alarm — to the committed molecular prank that capsaicin has been pulling on mammals for millions of years, this episode reveals that spicy food isn't burning you at all. It's just very convincingly lying to your brain.

You'll climb the Scoville Scale from diplomatic bell pepper to the terrifying Carolina Reaper, find out exactly why water makes spicy food worse (and milk makes it better), and discover the remarkably clever reason peppers evolved to be spicy in the first place — a millions-of-years-old plot twist involving birds, squirrels, and some very strategic seed distribution. Plus: why do some people actually enjoy the heat? The answer involves endorphins, context, and what the Fact Fly is now calling "collecting the prize for surviving a fake emergency."

Perfect for spice lovers, cautious eaters, and anyone who has ever reached for a glass of water and made everything significantly worse!

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories

In the Meadow of Starfall, every unicorn's horn does something magical — sparks, light, warmth, blooming flowers. Every unicorn's except Opal's, whose horn plays music when she touches things. Just a few soft notes. Just a song. When the whole herd gathers for the Grand Gleaming, the annual celebration of horn magic, Opal's melody gets polite smiles and moves on. Her enthusiastic hedgehog friend Thorn keeps rolling into things and insisting she's wrong about herself. Then a baby bird falls from its nest and every dazzling horn in the meadow only frightens it further — and Opal discovers, in the quietest possible way, that making something feel safe is the most powerful magic there is.

Every Lauren's Little Bedtime Story includes:

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs

Part 1 of 2. Grab your helmet and knee pads—it's time to shred! Lauren, the Reading Bug, and the Fact Fly are heading to the most famous skatepark in the world: Venice Beach! But before they can drop in, they meet Livvy on the sand—a girl who has been bravely learning to skate with her older brother's help, only to have her confidence knocked right out from under her by a lost lucky necklace and a bully named Aden.

From the history of "sidewalk surfing" in 1950s California to the difference between longboards, shortboards, and cruisers, there's a ton to discover on the way to the park. But the biggest lesson of the day? That when you fall, you haven't failed—and that sometimes the hardest part is simply showing up. Lace up your skate shoes and roll with us into Part 1 of this wheely exciting adventure!

Explore the Magic:

Check out the books featured in this adventure at: www.thereadingbug.com/adventures/skateboard

Book Worm's Story Snacks | The Bear Who Learned the Ice

Can a Book Worm who's never left the warmth of a bookstore survive at the very top of the world?

Join the Book Worm on this Arctic Story Snack and step onto the frozen ocean at the top of our planet — where the sun never sets in summer, the ice groans beneath your feet, and the most extraordinary animals alive have decided that brutal cold is, actually, completely fine.

Meet Nanuk, a two-year-old polar bear who left his mother four months ago and is still working out the map she gave him. Discover why the Arctic ice is Earth's own air conditioner, learn how polar bears can smell a seal through three feet of solid frozen ocean, and travel alongside Siku — an Arctic tern who has crossed the entire planet twenty-seven times and still notices exactly where the seals are. Then, when the ice begins to crack beneath your feet, you and Nanuk will need to run.

Together, you'll discover that the top of the world isn't empty at all — it's full of creatures learning the same ice, in completely different ways.

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories

Mabel is a duck on Puddle Pond with one small problem: she cannot quack. No matter how hard she tries, what comes out is a tremendous, fully committed HONK — the kind that sends the lily pads wobbling and makes the frogs blink very slowly. Her patient frog friend Gerald thinks it's perfectly fine. The opinionated goose Constance has notes. When an autumn fog rolls across the pond and six ducklings go missing, every duck quacks as loud as they can — but quacking is everywhere, and the ducklings don't know which way to go. It turns out there is exactly one sound on all of Puddle Pond that cuts right through the fog, impossible to miss or ignore or confuse with anything else.

Every Lauren's Little Bedtime Story includes:

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs

Step right up! The Reading Bug has run off and joined PT Barnum's circus - and she's got a terrible case of stage fright. Join Lauren to follow her under the Big Top, and discover that the Reading Bug isn't the only ones with butterflies: Jumbo, the most magnificent elephant in the show, is refusing to budge from his crate, and without him, the whole parade comes to a halt.

With a cast of rhyming, Dr. Seuss-inspired performers - a fire horse rider, a human cannonball, and a daring trapeze artist - we must find a way to help a giant elephant and a tiny bug find the courage to step into the spotlight. Because sometimes the greatest show on earth needs a little help from its friends.

Explore the Magic: Check out the books featured in this adventure at: ⁠⁠www.thereadingbug.com/adventures/circus