Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat about our June reading challenge, books with movie adaptations. We discuss the power of nostalgia, the many valid ways art can be interpreted, and why Tippi Hedren keeps falling down.

Books we discuss include:

• “The NeverEnding Story” by Michael Ende
• “Mary Poppins” by P.L. Travers
• “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll
• “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Matilda” by Roald Dahl
• “Memento Mori” by Johnathan Nolan
• “The Birds” by Daphne du Maurier
• “Story of You” by Ted Chiang
• “Jaws” by Peter Benchley
• “Here” by Richard McGuire
• “Big Fish” by Daniel Wallace
• “The Last of the Mohicans” by James Fenimore Cooper
• “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” by Stephen King
• “Thrawn” by Timothy Zahn
• “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahniuk
• “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott
• “Nothing Lasts Forever” by Roderick Thorp

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest Grace Mamon, Danville reporter for Cardinal News. We discuss the joys of reading children’s literature, how reading enhances your writing, and Grace surprises us with an interview question of her own.

Books we discuss include:

• “Gregor the Overlander” by Suzanne Collins
• “Harry Potter” series by Joanne Rowling
• “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” Series by Rick Riordan
• “Anne of Green Gables” series by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• “A Series of Unfortunate Events” by Lemony Snicket
• “The Women” by Kristin Hannah
• “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë
• “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” by Anne Brontë
• “Beowulf” by Unknown
• “Chain of Gold” by Cassandra Clare

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat about our May reading challenge, Short Story Collections. We discuss life, the universe, and of course baseball. Let us know how many letters a woodchuck could write if a woodchuck could write letters.

Books we discuss include:

• “Haunted Maine” by Charles Stanfield
• “Something Rich and Strange” by Ron Rash (“Three AM and the Stars Were Out”)
• “The Illustrated Man” by Ray Bradbury (“The Veldt”)
• “The Amazing Mr. Morality” by Jacob M. Appel (“Burrowing in Exile”)
• “One More Thing” by B.J. Novak (“The Rematch”)
• “Classic American Short Stories” by Various (“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain)
• “The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories” by Penelope Lively
• “Life Ceremony” by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori (“The Hatchling”)
• “Uncommon Type” by Tom Hanks
• “Normal Rules Don’t Apply” by Kate Atkinson (“The Void”)
• “When a Stranger Comes To Town” Anthology by Mystery Writers of America (“A Six Letter Word for Neighbor” by Lisa Unger)
• “Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks” by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Alexander Nabaum
• “The Brooklyn Nine” by Alan Gratz

On this special edition of Russell Reads with the Rach(a)els, Russell and Rachel get the opportunity to sit down with National Bestselling Author Alencia Johnson to discuss "Flip the Tables; The Everyday Disruptor's Guide to Finding Courage and Making Change," now available for purchase or at your Danville Public Library.

For more information, visit www.alenciajohnson.com.

Click the link to view the library's copy of Flip the Tables

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest Susanne Bell, Senior Program Officer at Danville Regional Foundation, about setting realistic reading goals, recommending the right book, and a horrifying movie adaptation of one of our favorite childhood classics.
Susanne created a wonderful reference for the books she shared with us.

Childhood reads:

• “Make Way for Ducklings” by author and illustrator Robert McCloskey
• “Three Little Kittens” by Eliza Lee Cabot Follen
• “Anne of Green Gables” or anything by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• “Ozma of Oz” by L. Frank Baum

Novels:

• “Excellent Women” by Barbara Pym
• “A Spool of Blue Thread” by Anne Tyler
• “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi
• “Should We Stay or Should We Go” by Lionel Shriver

Short Story Collections:

• “Light Action in the Caribbean” by Barry Lopez (especially “Construction of the Rachel”)
• “The Thing Around Your Neck” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• “Fidelity” by Wendell Berry (especially “Pray Without Ceasing”)

Other titles we discuss:

• “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones
• "Commonwealth” by Anne Tyler
• “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce
• “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” by Sherman Alexie

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael discuss our April challenge, childhood favorites, with one of our favorite childhood experts here in the library, Jess McAllister. We discuss how children's literature shaped us, opened our worlds, and continues to delight us to this day!

Books we discuss include:

• “The Borrowers” by Mary Norton
• “The BFG” by Roald Dahl
• “Dear Mr. Henshaw” and “Strider” by Beverly Cleary
• “Freckle Juice” by Judy Blume
• “The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise” by Dan Gemeinhart
• “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton
• “Amos Fortune: Free Man” by Elizabeth Yates
• “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• “Grandpa’s Mountain” by Carolyn Reeder
• Wayside School” series by Louis Sachar
• “My Teacher Is an Alien” by Bruce Coville
• “Dog Man” series by Dav Pilkey
• “My Weird School” series by Dan Gutman
• “Frog and Toad Are Doing Their Best” by Jennie Egerdie
• “The World of Beatrix Potter” series by Beatrix Potter
• “The Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Grahame
• “Artemis Fowl” by Eoin Colfer
• Everything by Alan Gratz
• “The Complete Brambly Hedge” by Jill Barklem
• “The Mysterious Benedict Society” by Trenton Lee Stuart

Russell and solo Rachel chat with our guest, Scott Longerbeam, city GIS coordinator, about almost every Stephen King book, filming locations, and the love of a good librarian.

Books we discuss include:

• “Foucault's Pendulum” by Umberto Eco
• “Pet Sematary” by Stephen King
• “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros
• “The Demon of Unrest” by Erik Larson
• “The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett
• “The Empusium” by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
• “The Bear and the Nightingale” by Katherine Arden
• “A Libertarian Walks into a Bear” by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
• “Extinction” by Douglas Preston
• “Pirate Latitudes” by Michael Crichton
• “The Indian Lake Trilogy” by Stephen Graham Jones
• “Cycle of the Werewolf” by Stephen King
• “Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season” by Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King
• “Horns” by Joe Hill
• “Locke & Key” by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez
• “Full Throttle” short stories by Joe Hill, including “By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain”
• “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” by Alvin Schwartz, illustrated by Stephen Gammell
• “Scary Stories for Young Foxes” by Christian McKay Heidicker, illustrated by Junyi Wu
• “Wolfsong” by T.J. Klune
• “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Doulgas Adams

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael discuss our March challenge, first book in a series, with surprise guest Colton. Consequently there are a lot of dad jokes in this one. Listener beware.

Books we discuss include:

• “The Dark Is Rising” series by Susan Cooper
• “Dragon Masters” series by Tracey West
• “Goosebumps” graphic novel series by R.L. Stine
• “Ghost on Haunted Street” by Colton Carter
• “Done and Dusted” by Lyla Sage
• “The Mysterious Benedict Society” by Trenton Lee Stewart
• “Leave No Trace” by A.J. Landau
• “Joe Pickett” series by C.J. Box
• “Finlay Donovan Is Killing It” by Elle Cosimano
• “Impossible Creatures” by Katherine Rundell
• “Mummies in the Morning” by Mary Pope Osborne
• “The Emerald Atlas” by John Stephens
• “Wildwood” by Colin Meloy
• “Every Heart a Doorway” by Seanan McGuire
• “Middle Earth” series by J.R.R. Tolkien
• “Spy School” series by Stuart Gibbs
• “The Cricket in Times Square” by George Selden
• “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” by Beverly Cleary
• “Redwall” by Brian Jacques
• “The Green Ember” by S.D. Smith
• “The Great Library” series by Rachel Caine
• “A Death in Door County” by Annelise Ryan