Voice Training: Zetta Elliott on Reckoni...

Three years strong, y’all! We’re back with our favorite tradition: The Reading Culture Yearbook. As we close out 2025, we’ve gathered superlatives and stories that celebrate some of the memorable authors who joined us on the show this year. This year’s edition features awards suc ... Show More

“When we are making books, we are making little homes for our readers that they can return to hopefully again and again and again, just as we return to books and find a sense of home, we return to the person we once were, when we were reading that book.” — Sophie BlackallHome. It ... Show More

“The library is where I felt, <em>I'm safe here</em>. I have friends in Encyclopedia Brown, Junie B. Jones, Amelia Bedelia, Stanley Yelnats, and all these various characters. I think that's the beauty. That's the sanctuary, the sacredness of that physical space.” – Mychal Threets ... Show More

The books we read in childhood have the power to transform us lifelong. So what do we do with the classics that are so good yet have those problematic bits because they’re products of their era? Do we avoid giving our kids these great works because they don’t reflect everything w ... Show More

Emma had a few life realizations this week that can hopefully help everyone else out. Why reading is really good for you, learning to find the positives where you live, and when is gossiping OK? Plus, questions on staying focused, how to feel independent, and what we should look ... Show More

If we had to describe the theme of this podcast in one word, it would "gratitude." Valeria Elliott starts our episode by sharing with us the inspiration she finds through the Bible and the PBS show Finding Your Roots. The idea of understanding the journey that others before her h ... Show More

Giuseppe Castellano talks to Antonia Markiet, retired Editorial Director for HarperCollins Children’s Books, about her early days as an editor at Harper & Row; what illustrators should do if they want to be great; why Maurice Sendak’s newest book, Ten Little Rabbits, was publishe ... Show More

<p>In this episode, we chat with Kate, a passionate educator and author who writes decodable readers. We dive into the importance of reading as a life skill and explore how it acts as a &apos;ticket&apos; to broader opportunities. Kate shares her non-negotiables when teaching lit ... Show More

This is one for the books. In episode 104 of Overthink, Ellie and David consider what makes reading so rewarding, and, for many people today, so challenging! How did society shift toward inward silent reading and away from reading aloud in the Middle Ages? How have changes in tea ... Show More

<p>In 2013, the front page of The New York Times devoted five straight days to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/invisible-child/index.html#/?chapt=1" target="_blank">story of Dasani</a>, an 11-year-old Black girl who lived in a homeless shelter in Brooklyn. Now, ... Show More

The nameless narrator in author Claire-Louise Bennett's new novel, Checkout 19, absolutely loves books. Their mere presence puts her at ease. But her lifelong love of reading is, in part, because she feels let down by the people around her. Bennett told NPR's Scott Simon that lov ... Show More

Samara gets real real with the National SEED Project trainer, who facilitates the types of difficult conversations many of us have been in since the Black Lives Matter protests erupted, if not before—with allies, with potential allies, with ourselves. For non-Black listeners, she ... Show More