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

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

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories

Deep in Fernhollow forest, a tiny shy dragon named Pip has always believed her fire isn't real fire at all — just small, soft sparks that float gently on the air and quietly go out. When the big dragons all fly off to their annual Night Gathering and a lost fox kit is left crying alone in the fog, Pip and her fearless salamander companion Nessa venture out into the dark to help. What follows is a gentle, funny journey across slippery stones and past a family of very opinionated glow-beetles — and a quiet discovery that sometimes the smallest, steadiest light is exactly the right kind.

Every Lauren's Little Bedtime Story includes:

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs

Part 2 of 2. 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

The Fact Fly's One Big Question

Why does your body force you to shut down for eight hours every single night — and what happens inside your brain while you do? Join Lauren and the Fact Fly (fresh off an accidental cold brew catastrophe) as they investigate the surprising science of sleep! From the "Reading Bug Bookstore" analogy that explains memory consolidation, to the brain's nighttime power-wash system called the Glymphatic System, this episode reveals that sleep is far more than just rest. You'll discover exactly how caffeine tricks your brain with a chemical con, why your brain cells actually shrink while you sleep, and what REM's "Movie Remix Mode" is really doing while you dream of cheese-drum solos. Whether you're following along with the Power-Down Protocol to become a Sleep Hero or marveling at the brain-gunk-flushing Cerebrospinal Fluid, this adventure makes the science of snoozing genuinely fascinating.

Perfect for night owls, curious dreamers, and anyone who's ever wondered why the "bean juice" always wears off at the worst possible moment!

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories

On a warm summer evening at a little league field, a nine-year-old girl named Rosie steps up to bat in the bottom of the last inning — down by one, two outs, championship on the line — and everything she's worked for comes down to a single pitch. She loves baseball with her whole heart, but she hasn't gotten a hit all season. Her grandfather Granpa Lou, a former minor leaguer, gives her the one piece of advice she's been missing: the best pitch you ever see is the one you wait for. With her sunflower-seed-eating teammate Benny cheering from the dugout and Granpa Lou still and steady in the bleachers, Rosie finally learns the difference between trying hard and being patient — and discovers that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is let a pitch go by.

Every Lauren's Little Bedtime Story includes:

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs

Part 1 of 2. 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

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories

In the sun-warmed corner of a weathered garden shed, an elder Thistle-Mouse named Silas tends to a very special collection — not seeds or treasures, but lost buttons, rusted keys, faded ribbons, and forgotten things the world left behind. When a curious young mouse named Toby wanders in and wonders why anyone would bother keeping a pile of old junk, Silas places a small sky-blue button in his paw and asks him to look with his heart instead of his eyes. What follows is a quiet afternoon of stories, including a tiny silver bell that once told the flowers spring was coming, and a brand-new brass safety pin bent into the shape of a heart — proof that the library is never quite finished.

Every Lauren's Little Bedtime Story includes:

Calming Relaxation: Gentle breathing exercises to help your body relax.

Original Bedtime Lullaby: Wind-down time as Lauren sings you to sleep.

A Full Original Bedtime Story: A whimsical story read aloud by Lauren.

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs

Full Story. Follow the White Rabbit down the hole as Lauren and the Reading Bug tumble into the magic book bag for a journey to the curious, nonsensical world of Wonderland! In this tea-riffic adventure, you'll discover what happens when a grinning Cheshire Cat points the way down two mysterious paths - and a Mad Hatter's tea party turns into a quest to help a new friend in need.

From pocket-watch-carrying rabbits to hedgehog croquet balls and flamingo mallets, Wonderland is every bit as wacky as you'd imagine. But when the Queen of Hearts threatens to unleash her "Off with their heads!" fury on poor Alice, our adventurers have to decide: turn back home, or stand bravely beside a new friend? Grab your teacup and join us for a topsy-turvy trip full of music, riddles, and wonderfully mad surprises.

Explore the Magic: