Category: middle grade

Ep. 211: Author and Bosnian Genocide Survivor, Amra Sabic-El-Rayess on Her Powerful Middle-Grade Memoir

Posted in History, middle grade, Summer Reading, WritingTagged , Leave a comment

This week, Dr. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess is here to discuss Three Summers: A Memoir of Sisterhood, Summer Crushes, and Growing up on the Eve of War, an epic middle-grade memoir in the three years leading up to the Bosnian Genocide.

Amra shares the story behind Three Summers and more about her work at Teachers College, Columbia on hate prevention, storytelling, and building empathy. 

threesummers

“An insightful and solemn yet hopeful memoir that will hook readers…Remarkable.” –School Library Journal, starred review

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

 

About the Author:

Amra Sabic-El-Rayess grew up in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently she is a professor at Columbia University, studying how and why societies fall apart and what role education can play in rebuilding decimated countries. She is also the author of the critically acclaimed young adult memoir The Cat I Never Named. Learn more: sabiclrayess.com

 Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Screen Shot 2024-06-25 at 1.21.29 PM

Links: 

Macmillan Audio

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 164: Katherine Marsh on The Lost Year, a Timely Middle-Grade Novel Set in 1930s Ukraine

Posted in History, middle grade, WritingTagged , Leave a comment

This week, Katherine Marsh is here to discuss The Lost Year an incredibly timely, page-turning middle grade novel that traces a harrowing family secret back to the Holodomor, a terrible famine that devastated Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s.

lostyear

“Katherine Marsh has beautifully woven a gripping tale covering both the Stalin-orchestrated Ukraine famine in 1932 and the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. Marsh shows us how deeply connected we are to our past and that in the middle of a societal crisis where disinformation is rampant, the ultimate truth can be found in the relationships we hold dear. It will break your heart and put it back together again. A must-read especially for these times.” —Veera Hiranandani, Newbery Honor-winning author of The Night Diary

 

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

About the Author:

Katherine Marsh is the Edgar Award-winning author of The Night Tourist, Nowhere Boy, The Twilight Prisoner, Jepp, Who Defied the Stars, The Doors By the Staircase, and The Lost Year. Katherine grew up in New York and now lives in Washington, DC with her husband and two children. Learn more: https://katherinemarsh.com/

 

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Screen Shot 2023-08-16 at 10.24.55 AM

Links:

Macmillan Audio

 

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 146: 2023 Newbery Medal Winner: Amina Luqman-Dawson on Freewater

Posted in Libraries, middle grade, WritingTagged , Leave a comment

It’s an honor to have Amina Luqman-Dawson on this week, the 2023 Newbery Medal and Corretta Scott King award winner for  Freewater, a lyrical, accessible historical middle-grade novel about two enslaved children’s escape from a plantation and the many ways they find freedom.

 

freewater

 

In Freewater, Amina Luqman Dawson shines a bright light on a little-known piece of history. Set against a forbidding landscape, the bright promise of freedom is illuminated in all its myriad shapes and forms. And it couldn’t be more timely. Solidly researched and beautifully written, this is storytelling at its finest. Dawson’s voice and the voices of her cast will linger long after the last page is closed.―Kathi Appelt, National Book Award Finalist and Newbery Honor Winner

 

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

 

About the Author:

Amina Luqman-Dawson is the Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning and bestselling author of Freewater and the pictorial history book Images of America: African Americans of Petersburg. Her op-eds on race and popular culture have appeared in The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, and more. She, her husband, and her son reside in Arlington, VA. Visit her online at aminaluqman-dawson.com.

 

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Screen Shot 2023-04-23 at 12.12.05 PM

 

Links:

Thoughts from a Page Podcast

Macmillan Audio

AudiobookSYNC

 

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is  an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 121: Author, Actor, and Activist Maulik Pancholy on Writing Timely, Moving Middle Grade

Posted in middle grade, Writing, Young AdultTagged , , Leave a comment

This week, I’m excited to share an interview with author, actor, and activist Maulik Pancholy. Pancholy’s debut middle grade novel, The Best At It, was a Stonewall Honor Award winner and is in development for television at HBO Max. His second novel, Nikhil Out Loud is available now and is a Junior Library Guild gold selection.

 

nikhil

 

“Pancholy’s sophomore effort is a layered coming-of-age tale, melding puberty’s woes with familial expectations and grief…. The sweet, peck-on-the-cheek–level romance is delightfully middle school—as is the squeeworthy joy alongside more difficult moments. A timely affirmation that hate has no place in school.”

— ★ Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

 

 

You can also listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

 

About the Author:

Maulik Pancholy is an award-winning actor whose career has spanned hit television shows (Only Murders in the Building and 30 Rock), animated favorites (Phineas and Ferb, Sanjay and Craig, and Mira, Royal Detective), the Broadway stage, and films. He served on President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and he is the cofounder of the antibullying campaign Act To Change. Maulik lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his husband, Ryan, and their dog, Arlo. His debut novel, The Best at It, was a Stonewall Honor Award winner. Learn more: https://www.maulikpancholy.com/

 

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Screen Shot 2022-10-18 at 9.33.02 AM

Screen Shot 2022-10-18 at 10.13.31 AM

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.