Book Club for Kids

Readers from Atwater Elementary School in Los Angeles discuss #immigration raids in Ernesto Cisneros' middle grade novel "Efrin Divided." The kids have lots of questions for the author and hear a short reading from the book by actor Jonathan Medina. Kitty Felde hosts.
Favorite Books from Atwater Elementary:
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - Kate DiCamillo
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling
The Wild Robot - Peter Brown
DnDoggos: Get the Party Started  - Scout Underhill
Five Worlds - Mark and Alexis Siegel
Ernesto Cisneros' Favorite Book
Maniac Magee - Jerry Spinelli
Jonathan Medina's Favorite Book
The Phantom Tollbooth - Jules Pfeiffer
COME SEE ME at NCSS, the National Council for the Social Studies. Friday, December 4, 2026. Hyatt Regency Chicago.

Katherine Marsh says her son helped a lot with the creation of "The Door by the Staircase." She also offers some writing tips.

Writer Nidhi Chanani always wanted to be a writer. Kitty Felde talks to Nidhi and finds out how did she end up writing her graphic novel "Pashmina."

Is a podcast about a graphic novel like dancing about architecture? Give a listen to our latest episode "Pashmina" by Nidhi Chanani. It's a tale about a magical pashina and secrets and mothers and daughters. Our readers are students at Kelly Miller Middle School in Washington, DC. Rasika Mathur is our celebrity reader. Kitty Felde is host.

Williamsburg has changed enormously since Betty Smith published "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" in 1943. But a trio of DC readers tell host Kitty Felde that they find contemporary themes - the chasm between rich and poor, the rise of the #MeToo movement - in the novel. Nancy Smith Pfeiffer, the 95 year old daughter of Betty Smith, tells us about rushing home from school to read the latest pages of the novel, hot off her mother's typewriter. Actress Sonia Manzano (Maria from "Sesame Street") is celebrity reader since the book is her favorite.