Episode #281:CHOP SUEY: Making reading fun, remember why we write, and favorite holiday books with Alison Morris
Grace and Alvina are joined by special guest Alison Morris to talk about various topics, including the industry's efforts to help encourage children to read, especially in the middle grade space. They discuss end of the year "best of" lists and how authors should try to remember the reason they write. And, they talk about some of their favorite holiday books.
How have you been?
Alison Morris’s mom passed away unexpectedly and she walks us through some of her grieving process. Grace ran the Hot Chocolate Run with her sister and Kate Milford. Alvina is getting ready to go to California and she’s been going to several holiday parties. Alvina also went to the The Center for Fiction Benefit for the Wild Robot.
How to Make Reading Fun Again
Publisher’s Weekly: How to Make Reading Fun Again
The book friends talk about this especially for middle schoolers.
Best of Lists
Books that didn’t get much fanfare but Grace still gets acolades on: A Big Bed for Little Snow and Grace Lin’s board books: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Silent Night!
Grace’s favorite Christmas books: Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry! Hazel alos really loves Olive, The Other Reindeer by J.Otto Seibold. Alison recommends A Small Miracle by Peter Collington and Santa’s First Christmas by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Sydney Smith.
Alvina loves A Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.
Gratefuls
Alvina is grateful for doing the morning pages and for Julia Cameron and her book The Artist’s Way.
Alison is grateful for her mom, her love for books, and the notebook that she kept of all the audiobooks she listened to. Grace is grateful to High Five books!
THANK YOU!
Thank you to Hachette Audio, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, and Alex at Pacyworks Studio for producing and editing this podcast. Be sure to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and tell a friend about us. (Use the hashtag #bookfriendsforever.)
You can find Alvina @Planetalvina on Twitter and TikTok and @Alvinaling on Instagram and Threads, @alvinaling on BlueSky
You can find Grace @Pacylin on Instagram and Threads, @authorgracelin on Facebook, @gracelinauthor on TikTok.
You can find Alison Morris @kidlitgirl on Instagram
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