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Today we are rereleasing our episode on Persepolis to commemorate the life of Marjane Satrapi, the acclaimed Iranian-French writer, artist, filmmaker, and human rights advocate whose work transformed personal memory into a powerful act of witness. Satrapi died on June 4, 2026, at the age of 56, leaving behind a body of work that helped readers around the world better understand Iran, exile, identity, and the enduring importance of freedom.

Born in Iran in 1969, Satrapi rose to international prominence with Persepolis, her groundbreaking graphic memoir about growing up during the Iranian Revolution and its aftermath. Told through stark black-and-white illustrations and an unforgettable narrative voice, Persepolis brought history to life through the eyes of a child and later a young woman navigating political upheaval, cultural displacement, and the search for self. The book became a global bestseller and was later adapted into an award-winning animated film that Satrapi co-directed.

Throughout her career, Satrapi remained a fearless advocate for artistic expression, women's rights, and democratic values. "The real issue for me is human rights, it's the freedom of expression," Satrapi said in an interview. Satrapi's final book, Woman, Life, Freedom (2024) continued her life's work of amplifying issues and voices others wished to silence. Her family attributed her death to sadness over the loss of her husband a year prior. 

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For a debut novel, Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall sure is a tour de force. Our protagonist, Selina Boyce is caught between her hopeless dreamer father, Deighton, and resilient yet hard-edged mother, Silla, as she navigates adolescence. With the fraught tension between her parents as a backdrop, Selina struggles with feeling unlovable, the complicated feelings of hating and admiring her mother and how best to carve out a space for herself.  

In this episode, we learn that sadly…Hawa did not finish this book BUT she promises to finish it in the indeterminate future. We’ll hold her to it. Heather lets us know her feelings about Deighton (spoiler: he’s worthless). And Heather and Hannah get sucked into the possible local connections to the cult Marshall took inspiration from for the novel. Be on the look out for that deep dive! 

These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via #TheseBooksMadeMe on socials, follow us on Instagram @TheseBooksMadeMe or reach out by email at [email protected]. 

For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.

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We try to do a game or quiz that relates to the book in every episode, but for The Egypt Game, the game was pretty elaborate. Hawa, Heather, Hannah, and Darlene are attempting to play Timothy Kendall's 70's spin on the ancient Egyptian Game Senet. This game challenged us in ways we weren't expecting, from a 60 some-odd page rule book to a missing throwing stick and perhaps most crucially a typeface so small we literally needed a magnifying glass. We made it work though and now you can enjoy all the highs and lows of Passing Through the Netherworld with us. Is the game cursed? Will Hawa and Hannah ever escape the House of Waters? Will Darlene ever stop rolling? Are throwing sticks the latest greatest ASMR props? Find out as we explore the funerary fun of a very curious game.  

These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via #TheseBooksMadeMe on socials, follow us on Instagram @TheseBooksMadeMe or reach out by email at [email protected]. 

For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.

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Were you obsessed with antiquity, myths, and homemade costumes when you were a child? If so, have we got the book for you! This episode we revisit an oldie but a goodie: Zilpha Keatley Snyder's classic children's book, The Egypt Game. We love the nuanced characters, genuinely exciting and surprising plot twists, and relate to Melanie and April's love of imagination games. Hannah relates to being "the keeper of the lashes" even though we all bemoan the health and safety concerns of continuously recycled fake lashes. We enjoyed the hijinks of our core group of five "Egyptians" (plus Security the octopus) and are thrilled by the depiction of a good librarian. We talk about the blending of pretty dark topics (parental abandonment, an actual murder of a child) with the delight of childhood imagination, friendships, and accepting others for who they are and the importance of feeling understood. 

These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via #TheseBooksMadeMe on socials, follow us on Instagram @TheseBooksMadeMe or reach out by email at [email protected]. 

For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.

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In this episode, we take a sip from the spring of eternal life—or at least from Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting—and things get delightfully complicated. We are capping off season 5 with a children's book that is not afraid to take on deep philosophical topics. This is our second episode in a row diving into books centering on immortality, but there are no sparkly vampires with disturbingly ambiguous ethics here, just an immortal toad, an unexpected murder, a disturbing music box (is that Mae Tuck's music?!?), and a little girl who engineers a jail break. Join us as we chat about the Tuck family’s accidental immortality, side-eye the Man in the Yellow Suit’s villainous mustache-twirling, and ponder whether living forever is truly a blessing or just being cursed to a job that you can never retire from. In this episode we learn that Hawa processes human speech that is too fast to be decipherable to anyone else, worry about Jesse's semi-romantic overtures to a ten year old, and discuss the heavy burden of keeping secrets. We’re diving into the magic, the mayhem, and the moral quandaries of a children’s classic that still hits surprisingly hard.

These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe, on Instagram @TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at [email protected]. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.

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We're back with a continuation of our discussion around Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. In this episode, we explore the toxicity of Bella and Edward's relationship, the problematic depictions of Indigenous peoples and the influence of the Twilight movies. We also take a Buzzfeed quiz to find out which Twilight character we are (spoiler: none of us were quite happy with our results). 

These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe, on Instagram @TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at [email protected]. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.

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This episode feels like what we've worked toward for the past few seasons. How can we have a library podcast and not do the pop culture juggernaut that was Twilight? Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (yep she spells Stephanie that way) follows Isabella "Bella" Swan on her move from sunny and warm Phoenix, AZ to the cold, rainy and wet Forks, WA. She stands out as the new girl. But it's not just corny 17-year-olds boys paying Bella special attention. She's also caught the eye of possibly the oldest high schooler, the moody and broody Edward Cullen. If Bella isn't "like the other girls" then the Cullens are not like the other quasi adopted families out there. The siblings date each other ("they're like together, together"), they don't talk to anyone, and well..they're undead. What follows is a romance for the ages, perfectly situated in 2005 when we couldn't quite pick up on the massive red flags behind our side-swept bangs. 

In hindsight, someone should've stopped those of us who read it as teens. But, what doesn't kill you makes you... a vampire? We've grown up and learned a few lessons. Now we can deliver this conversation from a more healed place. In this episode we question Bella's survival instincts, Edward's stalker tendencies and the family dynamics at play in this book. And while people argue whether Breaking Dawn should've been 2 movies (it shouldn't have been...), we hope listeners understand why this episode had to be a two-parter. We just had so much to say!

These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe, on Instagram @TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at [email protected]. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.

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The Poet X was Elizabeth Acevedo's breakout novel, winning the Printz and Pura Belpre awards and becoming the target of many challenges and even a lawsuit attempting to keep it off of school shelves. We are standing firmly behind this book, even if it reduced Heather and Darlene to tears and maybe hasn't aged as well as it could have when it comes to Drake. We adore Xiomara's strength and resilience as she confronts family troubles, experiences a crisis of faith, weathers harassment at school, and navigates first love. We're discussing the ubiquity of harassment as a teen girl, the impacts of our parents' baggage, and whether Twin's going to have the kind of happy ending we are optimistic about for Xiomara. We're also taking a pretty strange quiz to find out what kind of poets we'd be, but really, we'd all probably just prefer to be really fab slam poets like Xiomara. 

These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe, on Instagram @TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at [email protected]. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.

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Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson follows Melinda Sordino as she navigates the aftermath of her sexual assault at a high school party. Unable to speak about what happened to her, Melinda also has to deal with losing her friends, being ostracized by her peers, and having parents who can't seem to parent. Some small beacons of light in her life are her newfound friend, David, who stands up for his beliefs and encourages Melinda to do the same and her art teacher Mr. Freeman, who definitely knows something is up with Melinda and encourages her to speak through her art. In this episode, we discuss the concept of problem novels ("misery porn"), the portrayal of teachers in YA novels and Maria drops some Fairmount High School lore. 

These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe, on Instagram @TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at [email protected]. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.

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We are back with special-expert-guest-on-all-things-BSC Kelsey for Part 2. We're still talking about how arson isn't the answer; because really, arson isn't the answer and perhaps that wasn't addressed strongly enough in the books. In this continuation of our exploration of all things Mary Anne, we're figuring out foreshadowing that doesn't pay off, the prevalence of babysitting 101 classes, single-parent stigma, and why Mary Anne cares so much about her shoe falling off. Fashion is a really big deal in these books and we identified the primary fashion types: New York, quirky, Steve Jobs as a 12 year old with a visor. In part 2 we're trying to figure out where our fashion choices land us as BSC girls with a helpful Buzzfeed quiz. 

These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at [email protected]. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.