Multnomah County Library Podcasts (Booktalks - Kids and Teens)

Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke

Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa, amazing Africa! Read how Anna uses secret cell phone conversations to save the day for her visiting auntie, plus two more tales of adventure.

Audience: kids and teens

Me and Rolly Maloo by Janet S. Wong

An unpopular girl cheats on a math test when the most popular girl in school asks her to give her answers.

Audience: Kids and Teens

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

Follows Hansel and Gretel as they walk out of their own story and into eight more tales, encountering such wicked creatures as witches, along with kindly strangers and other helpful folk. Based in part on the Grimms' fairy tales Faithful Johannes, Hansel and Gretel, The seven ravens, Brother and sister, The robber bridegroom, and The devil and his three golden hairs.

Audience: Kids and Teens

Poop Happens  by Sarah Albee

Throughout the ages, the most successful civilizations were the ones who realized that everyone poops and they'd better figure out how to get rid of it! From the very first flushing toilet (invented way earlier than you would think) to the efficient Roman aqueducts (possibly inspired by the goddess of sewers!) to castles in the Middle Ages whose moats used more than just water to repel enemies, Poop happened! traces human civilization through this revolting yet fascinating subject.

Audience: Kids and Teens

No Passengers Beyond this Point by Gennifer Choldenko

With their house in foreclosure, sisters India and Mouse and brother Finn are sent to stay with an uncle in Colorado until their mother can join them, but when the plane lands, the children are welcomed by cheering crowds to a strange place where each of them has a perfect house and a clock that is ticking down the time.

Audience: kids and Teens

Grand Plan to Fix Everything by Uma Krishnaswami

Eleven-year-old Dini loves movies, and so when she learns that her family is moving to India for two years, her devastation over leaving her best friend in Maryland is tempered by the possibility of meeting her favorite actress, Dolly Singh.

Audience: Kids and Teens

Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Ramsey

When Ruth and her parents take a motor trip from Chicago to Alabama to visit her grandma, they rely on a pamphlet called "The Negro Motorist Green Book" to find places that will serve them. Includes facts about "The Green Book.

Audience: Kids and Teens

Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing by Ann Angel

Spreading her wings -- Out of Port Arthur -- Looking for love -- Call on me -- Monterey Pop's poster child -- Cheap thrills, drugs, and self-destruction -- Kozmic Blues -- To love somebody -- Pearl -- Love, Janis.

Audience: Kids and Teens

Tell Us We're Home by Marina Tamar Budhos

Three immigrant girls from different parts of the world meet and become close friends in a small New Jersey town where their mothers have found domestic work, but their relationships are tested when one girl's mother is accused of stealing a precious heirloom.

Audience: Kids and Teens

Energy Island by Allan Drummond

It's windy on the Danish island of Samsø. Meet the environmentally friendly folks who, in a few short years, worked together for energy independence, and who now proudly call their home Energy Island.

Audience: Kids and Teens