Books! Books! Books!
Many of our kidcast creators are also authors. Find a new read from a favorite show on our list!
Not only do we have around 100 great shows in our ranks to provide more hours of great listening than you’d need for any non-screentime entertainment, but a lot of them have also published some great reads!
📚 The Past & The Curious
The Meatshower Written by Mick Sullivan and Illustrated by Shae Goodlett The Meatshower is a children’s book about the day meat fell from the sky in Bath County, Kentucky on March 3, 1876. Truly, really. This was a thing! And Mick not only explored it for a great episode of The Past & The Curious, but he produced this surprisingly beautiful book about the less-than-beautiful event!
📚 Story Seeds
Recently included as a “Best Gift for 10-year-olds” by The New York Times Wirecutter, The Story Seeds Podcast activity book IMAGINATION LAB: EXPERIMENTS IN CREATIVITY is a perfect listening companion. With QR codes to jumpstart listening, it includes tips from all the diverse authors on Season 1, as well as over 80 pages of episode-inspired writing prompts, STEAM projects, indoor activities, outdoor activities, and more! You can also purchase individual activity kits. The book is also available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, bookshop.org.
📚 Noodle Loaf
Music education podcast Noodle Loaf creator Dan Saks has also graced our world, and many libraries’ summer reading lists, with his excellent books for young readers about families. He’s also made some wonderful albums!
📚 Journey With Story
Kathleen Pelley started writing before producing her podcast, and she has a whole list of books to enjoy! https://kathleenpelley.com/books/
📚 All Things Madison
From All Things Madison co-creator, Deronte’ L. Smith, we have The Sleepy Steve Series.
The Fantastical Adventures of Sleepy Steve is about 6th grader, Steve Jackson, who relocates with his mom after many attempts to get himself together in school. The move serves as a last-ditch effort by Steve’s mom to coerce him to take responsibility. He constantly dozes off in his classes, plays silly pranks, and just doesn’t take much seriously. With his father away in the war, his ailing grandfather, aka Gramps, comes to live with him and his mom but Steve soon discovers there’s more to Gramps than meets the eye. After a diagnosis of narcolepsy, Steve learns why he’s so often sleepy and dozing off. But then there are the dreams, which are at first funny and quirky, they soon become pretty intense. Gramps helps Steve understand his disorder isn’t what it seems; he is actually a chosen protector of another dimension called the Dreamscape — it’s where our spirits go when we sleep. And like Gramps and his father, the narcolepsy gives them each the ability to access it. As the story advances, Steve must balance his secret mission of the Dreamscape with his school life where he meets his new pals — Chuck, Sammy, Ieka, and Ms. Elle, who bring both excitement and adventure into his life in what is sure to be an epic disaster in the making. With Gramps dementia and the wildly bizarre situations he finds himself in, and Steve’s sleep episodes brought on by heightened panic in dealing with a neighborhood bully, and growing into his own skin, readers are in for a fast-paced adventure of a lifetime!
📚 The Fina Mendoza Mysteries
The Fina Mendoza Mysteries are a podcast and book series well worth your listening and reading. Welcome to Washington Fina Mendoza is book one in The Fina Mendoza Mysteries book series. Book two, State of the Union, comes out August 13th but is available for pre-order now. Written by Kitty Felde and published by Chesapeake Press. Book 1 was adapted to season one of THE FINA MENDOZA MYSTERIES podcast.
Bonus! Check out author Kitty Felde’s TEDx Talk “BOOKS ARE MY SUPER POWER…and they can be yours, too.”
Welcome to Washington Fina Mendoza: Legend has it: anyone who sees the Demon Cat of Capitol Hill will be cursed with bad luck. 10-year-old Fina Mendoza just saw it. And the last thing her family needs right now is more bad luck. Fina just moved to Washington, D.C. to live full-time with Papa, a congressman from California. She encounters a mysterious cat and disaster follows. The only way for Fina to save her family from future “cat”astrophe is to solve the mystery of the Demon Cat of Capitol Hill.
Fina was inspired by a young woman Kitty mentored for many years. But are the politicos based on real people? “No comment,” Kitty says. “I was always more interested in the human side of politics, something that didn’t always fit into a news story. Telling the story of Fina allowed me to describe the real Capitol Hill.”
State of the Union: A mysterious bird poops on the head of the president during the State of the Union address. Can Fina Mendoza, the 10-year-old daughter of a congressman outsmart the Secret Service, the Capitol Police, and most of Capitol Hill and find that bird?
📚Timestorm
This adventurous audio fiction podcast for middle grades is about twins who travel in time to preserve their culture’s true history. It’s mystery, sci-fi, history, and cultural discovery in an ongoing, engaging series. And, author Dania Ramos has two excellent books for middle grades that are just as immersive and thrilling as the show!
📚Musings and Other Nonsense podcast hosted by Peter G. Reynolds
Peter G. Reynolds has published a lovely picture book called Lost Hallway. And, his latest chapter book, Stitches in Time Travel, is also available as an audiobook for those auditory learners in our lives.
📚 The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian
Fans of Finn Caspian rejoiced over the past year as its creator was able to put out books featuring fresh storylines based on the podcast’s lively adventures.
📚Brains On!
Brains On! is a fantastic science podcast for kids of all ages and their families. They have a fantastic comic called Brains On! Presents…It’s Alive: From Neurons and Narwhals to the Fungus Among Us that was recently recommended as an excellent way to get young readers engaged with nonfiction.
Also, did you know that auditory learning can be an important part of your child’s literacy journey? We love this article for School Library Journal by Linda Rodgers about how librarians and educators are using podcasts to support kids in their learning and engagement. We also love the great list of podcasts suggested at the end!
What will you be listening to and reading with your kids?
