Multnomah County Library Podcasts

Nothing by Janne Teller 

When thirteen-year-old Pierre Anthon leaves school to sit in a plum tree and train for becoming part of nothing, his seventh grade classmates set out on a desperate quest for the meaning of life. If you had to sacrifice something meaningful to you to prove life had meaning, what would you give up? Your pet? Your little finger? What might your friends make you sacrifice?

Like The Lord of the Flies or The Lottery, this book questions what happens when control goes out of control.  

Target Audience: Teen

Bad News for Outlaws: the Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshall by Vanda Micheaux Nelson

This biography profiles the life of Bass Reeves, a former slave who was recruited as a deputy United States Marshal in the area that was to become Oklahoma.

Target audience: Children

Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis by Barbara O'Connor

In Fayette, South Carolina, the highlight of Popeye's summer is learning vocabulary words with his grandmother until a motor home gets stuck nearby and Elvis, the oldest boy living inside, joins Popeye in finding the source of strange boats floating down the creek.

Target Audience: Children

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

In the summer of 1968, after travelling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

Target Audience: Children