Best Beanstack Podcasts (2025)

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You Can't Just Move On: Erin Entrada Kelly on Limbo 37:39

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7d ago37:39

37:39

“It’s that old expression that I love, which is ‘wherever you go, there you are.’ So you never really get out of the limbo, because the limbo is you.” — Erin Entrada Kelly There are seasons when life slows down, even as our minds continue to race. When we find ourselves caught somewhere between motion and stillness, haunted by what came before and …

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Tender Heart: Kate DiCamillo on Awe and Grief 31:38

21d ago31:38

31:38

“This is what awe always does: it’s the zoom out. All of a sudden, you can see how tiny and insignificant you are, and you plug into that bigger thing” - Kate DiCamillo When was the last time you were so captivated by the beauty of the world around you that it stopped you in your tracks? Kate DiCamillo intentionally has those moments daily. In a wo…

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I Love You, Man: Jason Reynolds on Masculinity 38:46

1M ago38:46

38:46

"I don’t want to be whatever version of masculinity y’all keep telling me I have to be. Why are all the benchmarks violent and aggressive? I don’t wanna do it. I’m not interested” — Jason Reynolds We all inherit scripts about who we’re supposed to be. For boys, they often center on toughness, aggression, and hiding their emotions. Jason Reynolds ha…

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Under My Thumb: Brian Selznick on Control 43:44

2M ago43:44

43:44

“When you're a kid, you have so little control over things. To be the big entity controlling the smaller entity, whether it's dolls or [toy] soldiers or whatever it is, they do what you tell them to do. They become the story you are making.” — Brian Selznick We all want to feel in control, mold our lives and experiences, and shape the world into so…

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The Unchosen Ones: Victoria Aveyard on Fairness in Fantasy 31:10

2M ago31:10

31:10

”Why are some people treated differently? Why are some people chosen ones for no particular reason? And why do some people get to have that extra shine?” — Victoria Aveyard Unfairness is a pervasive theme in a lot of fantasy fiction. With battles between good and evil dominating title after title, these tales appear to have a tight grasp on fairnes…

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Unintentional Monsters: Tiffany D. Jackson on Real Horrors and Core Memories 34:22

3M ago34:22

34:22

“Whenever I think of people who have gone through something, I'm always like, but they were human before this. Before they were monsters, they were human. Before they were zombies, they were human.” — Tiffany D. Jackson Some of the most unsettling monsters don’t come from nightmares or ghost stories. They walk among us in daylight, smiling widely a…

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Becky, Obviously: Becky Albertalli on Bullies, Bodies and Breaking Through 31:52

3M ago31:52

31:52

“There were kind of always like two simultaneous stories happening with my coming out. One was the realization and breaking through some of that denial and repression, seeing kind of what was right there in front of me, and I gave that story to Imogen.” – Becky Albertalli What if there were two stories running through your life: the one you’re tell…

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ICYMI Cool To Be You: Kwame Alexander On Authenticity 37:42

4M ago37:42

37:42

This week, we revisit our episode with Kwame Alexander while we take a quick summer break! Kwame Alexander recently interviewed the esteemed and now former Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, for the American Library Association’s Annual Conference in Philadelphia. They talked about the power of poetry, the role of libraries in creating access and…

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Our Job is to Live: Jasmine Warga on Belonging and Radical Hope 38:32

4M ago38:32

38:32

"We all need to have radical hope. I have my really hopeless days too, but… it’s such a privilege to get to live and to survive. Our job is to live, and I think that’s a really amazing thing.” - Jasmine Warga We all want to make the most of our time here. Not just survive, but dream big and live fully. For Jasmine Warga, that means carrying forward…

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Slow Reveal: Gayle Forman on Friends, Flaws, and Finding Immortality 36:36

4M ago36:36

36:36

“Those moments of connection when you can have them with people who seem so different from you on the outside, I really do think that it braids a level of connectiveness and empathy, and it is much harder to harden your heart.” — Gayle Forman What does it mean to rise to the occasion, not once, but over and over again? Sometimes it means reckoning …

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Stories Left Untold: Ibi Zoboi on Secrets Lost and Found 41:20

5M ago41:20

41:20

“As my own mother is aging, she's telling me … before I take this to my grave, here is something you should know. So the secrets are coming out. And as more and more secrets are revealed, I'm learning more about myself.” - Ibi Zoboi Ibi Zoboi writes to remember—her own story, her family’s legacy, and the long history of migration, myth, and memory …

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Touched for the Very First Time: Soman Chainani on Books That Turn Scrollers into Readers 39:21

5M ago39:21

39:21

“I tell kids that books are not there to torment you. The author has to get you in the first ten pages. If they do not, they fail, because a book is like a lawnmower—you pull it, and either it starts or it doesn't start.” –Soman Chainai Soman Chainani wants reading to feel irresistible. The bestselling author of "The School for Good and Evil," seri…

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Mixtape: Mychal Threets Lays Out His Life in Books 25:49

6M ago25:49

25:49

"I think all of us had the experience after reading the book of looking in maybe our grandparents' wardrobe, our parents' wardrobe, and like knocking on the back of the wardrobe and being like, maybe this is my time. Maybe they're gonna call me in here." — Mychal Threets For this week’s episode, we are testing out a slightly different format, somet…

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Good Luck, They’re Yours: Sharon Draper on Giving Students Room to Read 28:48

6M ago28:48

28:48

“And I think that’s what reading is… It’s a personal interpretation of the story, and it may not be the same as somebody else's. That’s the whole idea of a good teacher. There should be different interpretations, and sometimes a student will come up with something that I never thought of.” —Sharon M. Draper Give a story to twenty kids, and you migh…

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We Contain Multitudes: Debbie Levy on the Dangers of Reductionist Thinking 46:29

8M ago46:29

46:29

"It's very rare for a person to just be one thing. Most issues, most things that matter, are not so black and white." – Debbie Levy We all want to believe in heroes and villains, right and wrong, and clear-cut answers. But history and life are rarely that simple. Debbie Levy has spent her career exploring the gray areas, challenging readers to see …

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Art Against the Machine: Aida Salazar on Writing for the Resistance 39:52

8M ago39:52

39:52

“I lean on my community. I lean on the power of the pen. I lean on remembering who my ancestors are and what they endured, the colonization that they survived in the Americas, I think, ‘we've been here before, and the lineage from which I come is one that is powerful and resistant.’ I would be dishonoring that legacy and that lineage if I didn't st…

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In the Heights: Jerry Craft Subverts Expectations 38:23

9M ago38:23

38:23

“Their white classmates can read Harry Potter and relate to going to Hogwarts and flying on brooms. But a Black kid can't aspire to go to Paris, which can actually happen.” – Jerry Craft Growing up, Jerry Craft did not enjoy reading. He says he simply never encountered a children's book that intrigued him enough or felt right. But Jerry loves defyi…

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Porch Stories: Jewell Parker Rhodes on Ghosts, History, and Staying Open to Love 48:26

9M ago48:26

48:26

“For every child that thinks something is wrong with them, my books are saying, ‘be you, even if others can’t see you. The people who don’t see your beauty, see your glory–they have a problem. Something is wrong with their eyes, their soul.’” – Jewell Parker Rhodes Raised mainly by her grandmother on a steady diet of porch stories (and lots of brea…

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Scratching the Surface: Vashti Harrison on Going Past Skin Deep 38:50

10M ago38:50

38:50

“Every time I read “Big” at a school, obviously I’m there to speak to kids about the story, and I hope they’re all connecting with it, but at every single reading there is always an adult woman that comes to me and says, this is my story, I needed this when I was young. And I just wish we all knew that we were all going through the same thing.” -Va…

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Indomitable: Yamile Saied Méndez on Puberty, Dictatorship, and Brave Women 44:11

10M ago44:11

44:11

“Life is a wheel and humanity has been through countless cycles of ups and downs. The things that seem so dire now won't be this dire forever. Eventually, there is an upswing. I always needed that reminder, and it made me think that my young readers need that reminder as well.” - Yamile Saied Mendez With a storytelling style that radiates warmth an…

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The Reading Culture: Yearbook 2024 35:26

11M ago35:26

35:26

It’s official. Two years in a row makes it a tradition. The Reading Culture Yearbook is here. It’s the year-end celebratory episode where we look back and highlight some of our favorite moments in the form of awarding superlatives. Or, as we dubbed them last year and seemingly forgot, “The Readies.” This year’s edition features awards such as “Best…

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We Are Always Rising: Andrea Davis Pinkney Spreads Stories and Hope 42:22

11M ago42:22

42:22

“I am saying: reader, we're going on a journey. You are going to come with me and then I'm pulling them gently into the narrative. And then again, if I'm doing my job, I'm holding them like a hug.” - Andrea Davis Pinkney Andrea Davis Pinkney stands tall at just 4’11”, but she is still somehow larger than life. In her writing, she has what she refer…

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Revisit - Hero of the Anti-Heroes: Gregory Maguire on the Value of Second Chances 44:17

11M ago44:17

44:17

We revisit our episode with Gregory Maguire. ****** "That's really all we are obliged to do for those we call our enemies. We are obliged to see them as humans, and then we behave the way we will. We are obliged not to consider them as less than human because that way, all hell breaks loose. - Gregory Maguire Gregory Maguire expresses himself with …

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Tiny Spaces: Mac Barnett on Why Kids Are Better Than Adults at Reading Picture Books 44:03

12M ago44:03

44:03

“I think kids are actually generally a better audience for literary fiction, for art, for ambitious storytelling that asks the reader to do work. And a lot of that is just based on how their brains work and their place in the world.” - Mac Barnett Growing up, Mac Barnett’s mom never took their picture books off their shelves. They remained a part o…

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Keep Me Out of It: Eliot Schrefer on the Costs and Benefits of Self-Erasure 38:00

1y ago38:00

38:00

“I think it caused me to get over some of the sort of narcissistic impulses in my writing and not make it about me and impressing, but instead about having the best reading experience I could imagine.” - Eliot Schrefer At a young age, Eliot Schrefer acknowledged that he was hiding himself. Growing up queer when he did meant concealing a key part of…

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A Quiet House: Katherine Marsh on Why We Need to Turn Down the Noise 42:09

1y ago42:09

42:09

“The two most important things you can do as a writer are to make people wonder what will happen next and to understand why it matters. - Katherine Marsh Every moment of every day, our attention is the subject of a battle. As adults, we struggle to focus on the 'right' things—so how can we expect our kids to? With this in mind, capturing and holdin…

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Rebel With Claws: Zoraida Córdova on the Pleasures of Nonconformity 39:10

1y ago39:10

39:10

“Why am I fighting this? Like, why am I fighting the thing that I want to write? For who? For like a teacher that I haven't seen in five years or ten years? For a critic who I don't know?” - Zoraida Córdova Zoraida Córdova doesn’t care about what a book should be. When she writes, she’s interested in.. well… what she’s interested in. That means Zor…

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Always in the Room: Elizabeth Acevedo on Ancestors, Neighbors, and Secret Mentors 39:50

1y ago39:50

39:50

“I cannot do an interview without talking about who I come from as it pertains to the writers who have influenced my work because their fingerprints are all over [it].” - Elizabeth Acevedo In an interview, we may hear Elizabeth Acevedo's singular voice, but she assures us she is not alone. Elizabeth reminds us that she is part of a lineage and an a…

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Worthy of Protecting: Ari Tison Faces Down Monsters With Words 42:41

1y ago42:41

42:41

“I talked about how I didn't process things in my journals. Well, in poetry, I did. All of a sudden, it was cracking that door open.” - Ari Tison When we’re kids, the world still feels so big. Everything is a discovery, from why flowers bloom to why we go to school and what it feels like to make friends… everything is new. But for some kids, life c…

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Surreal Talk: A.S. King on Validating Teen Trauma 41:40

1y ago41:40

41:40

“I see my job as trying to soothe the trauma that teenagers don't know they have yet because everybody's so busy telling them that they don't.” - A.S. King The older we get, the more we understand that life is impossible to actually understand. Things are not often straightforward, and the more we do discover, the more we realize there is to discov…

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Natural Resources: Katherine Applegate on the Wisdom and Solace of Animals 38:33

1+ y ago38:33

38:33

“I think it has to do with powerlessness, and with the kind of hierarchy that kids endure every day, where these grown ups are not making sense, and the world doesn't make sense, and animals are basically suffering the same fate.” - Katherine Applegate Why do kids see themselves in animals? Children’s media is full of stories from and about the per…

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Revisit - Mixed Feelings: Matt de la Peña on Balancing Being Stoic and Sensitive 40:26

1+ y ago40:26

40:26

We revisit our episode with Matt de la Peña. **** "Kids are growing up in an interesting time and they're led to believe that if we don't feel happy, we're doing something wrong. I think what I respond to is a deeper truth, which is, happiness is incredible and we should strive for it, but we should also acknowledge that half of our life is challen…

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Revisit - Ignorance Isn’t Bliss: Sabaa Tahir on the Need to Bear Witness 43:44

1+ y ago43:44

43:44

We revisit our episode with Sabaa Tahir. ****** "This is happening in our world and at the very least you can bear witness to it. That's literally the absolute least you can do. - Sabaa Tahir Sabaa Tahir’s (“All My Rage,” “An Ember in the Ashes” quartet) upbringing in the Mojave desert, isolated nearly 100 miles from the nearest city, exposed her t…

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You Are Flawed, You Are Messy, You Are Loved: Shannon Hale on Hope and Heroines 44:21

1+ y ago44:21

44:21

"I feel like it was this little miracle that in some areas of my life, I'm shutting myself up and shutting myself down. But with my writing, I was always really connecting with that inner voice.” - Shannon Hale Flaws. We do everything to hide them away and pretend they don’t exist. But what if these flaws that we try so desperately to mask are exac…

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Unstoppable Force, Movable Object: Dhonielle Clayton on Levering Children's Books Into the 21st Century 38:49

1+ y ago38:49

38:49

"I'm not a person that's like, let's throw out the classics. It's, let's move forward. Let's disrupt the canon. Some of these universal themes, some of these ingredients that we love, how do I remix them into a new stew?” - Dhonielle Clayton What is life without a little magic? Fantasy gives us the space to break free from the confines that reality…

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Summon the Tiger: Minh Lê Blurs the Boundaries 42:05

1+ y ago42:05

42:05

"That barrier between what is “real” and what is not, when that's more fluid, I think it's that's where the fun of fiction comes in. Especially when you're writing for kids.” - Minh Lê Life is full of barriers. Barriers between reality and the imagination, the spiritual and physical world, and perhaps most crucially, the ones we create for ourselve…

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Twilight Zone: Julie Murphy on Self-Doubt and Self-Love 42:26

1+ y ago42:26

42:26

"I've found that the books that have resonated with me the most are books where your body is incidental, but it's still something that you can never leave behind.” - Julie Murphy Julie Murphy has an unexpected story, one that involves a winding road to her writing career. With equal parts quick wit and matter-of-factness, Julie shares that part of …

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Filling in the Blanks: Cece Bell on the Comedy of the Absurd 43:09

1+ y ago43:09

43:09

"...the reader's mind is filling in the blanks in between those panels and as a lip reader, that's what I do. I fill in the blanks. I'm trying to piece together what that person says. So, comics really make sense to me.” - Cece Bell I first came to know Cece Bell through her groundbreaking semi-autobiographical graphic memoir novel, “El Deafo.” It …

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Hero of the Anti-Heroes: Gregory Maguire on the Value of Second Chances 42:40

1+ y ago42:40

42:40

"That's really all we are obliged to do for those we call our enemies. We are obliged to see them as humans, and then we behave the way we will. We are obliged not to consider them as less than human because that way, all hell breaks loose. - Gregory Maguire Gregory Maguire expresses himself with extreme precision. While many of us may grasp for wo…

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Simple Thing, Felt: Nina LaCour on Unwrapping a Moment 37:57

1+ y ago37:57

37:57

"I spend a lot of time trying to hope that I'll remember little things and how a certain simple thing felt. … Writing is one way of trying to capture that feeling, even if I'm fictionalizing it still.” - Nina LaCour If Nina LaCour were a drink, she would be a cozy cup of tea. You’re not rushing to finish a conversation with Nina. Rather, you are sp…

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The World As It Should Be: LeUyen Pham Illustrates an Ideal 40:53

1+ y ago40:53

40:53

"There's something very lovely about feeling like, well, it's not my name, and it's not me, it's just the books.” - LeUyen Pham To listen to LeUyen Pham is to feel inspired. She is full of hope and ideas and sees potential everywhere and in everyone. In LeUyen’s ideal world, diverse representation is a natural outgrowth of art that truly reflects o…

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If Your Heart Breaks, It’s Working: Nicola Yoon on Love and Other Risky Behaviors 40:58

1+ y ago40:58

40:58

"Love is risky. Love always ends. Should you do it anyway?” - Nicola Yoon Love is a feeling that never exists solely on its own, and those likely companions to love (anxiety, grief) often bring questions such as, is this worth it? It’s this question and others like it that Nicola Yoon explores in each of her novels. Nicola is a hopeless romantic. T…

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The Blackest Book Ever: Derrick Barnes on Writing Unapologetically 39:50

1+ y ago39:50

39:50

"I'm putting every single ounce of who I am into every single book that I write, so y'all know to expect the blackest books you have ever read from yours truly.” - Derrick Barnes Derrick Barnes’ introduction to vulnerable storytelling was through the jazz and R&B records he found in his family’s collection. For young Derrick, reading the liner note…

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Rabbit Holes: Brandy Colbert on Deep Research and Deep Characters 39:48

1+ y ago39:48

39:48

"I'm a bad liar. So I'm just like, I'm really good at telling the truth.” - Brandy Colbert Going down internet rabbit holes and discovering everything there is to know about random subjects is a relaxing way to spend an evening, according to Brandy Colbert. This passion for research is part of the secret sauce that helps her build such deep and bel…

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The One and Only John: Mr. Schu Turns His Heart Inside Out 38:22

2y ago38:22

38:22

"Books can be the perfect prescriptions to let us know that we're going to be okay.” - John Schu John Schu’s entire life has been shaped by books. As a kid, he fell in love with Shel Silverstein; Emily Dickinson comforted him as he was battling an eating disorder, and “The One and Only Ivan,” well, that book changed his life. In fact, it nearly put…

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A Gut Punch and a Hug: Mark Oshiro on Practicing Vulnerability 41:03

2y ago41:03

41:03

On Today's Show "It's practice. Vulnerability is practice. It is learning that you can do things and say things that seem scary, but ultimately know that you're safe.” - Mark Oshiro Mark Oshiro was taught to fear the world. To be someone they were not and to repress someone they were. But books were an escape. Books taught them that freedom was pos…

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The Reading Culture: Yearbook 2023 29:33

2y ago29:33

29:33

With the 2023 year coming to a close (our first full year in production!), we wanted to celebrate. And what better way to do that than high school yearbook superlative style? Welcome to a special edition of The Reading Culture podcast – "The Reading Culture: Yearbook." In this episode, we're rolling out the red carpet to unveil "The Readies," an aw…

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The Things We Know: Oge Mora on Finding the Magic in the Everyday 36:31

2y ago36:31

36:31

"It's not like I haven't experienced pain or tragedy or grief in my life, and it's not like I want to deny that. I don't think that that's the entirety of my song. When I want to look back on my life, I want to look at all the amazing things and experiences I had because that's what makes the time we have in this world so incredibly special, is tha…

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Visibility Cloak: Hena Khan on Commonality Over Conformity 40:50

2y ago40:50

40:50

"There's these universal truths [...] specific details, but universal feelings and universal experiences that people hopefully can relate to. And that's what I go for in all of my books. Common humanity.” - Hena Khan Hena Khan didn’t believe her perspective mattered. As a Pakistani-American Muslim, she grew up not seeing her or her family reflected…

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A Good Guest: Daniel Nayeri on the Obligations of a Storyteller 37:17

2y ago37:17

37:17

"Don't follow your dreams if that's the only thing you're doing. Ask yourself, what will make you most useful? What will make you most, in terms of a purpose, help you do meaningful work?” - Daniel Nayeri You want Daniel Nayeri at your dinner party. Always with a story or an insightful question, it turns out he is also the person you want on your p…