What books do you think about when you hear the term Banned Books; do you envision classics like Huck Finn or The Catcher in the Rye? Or books that you wanted to sneak to read when you were a kid because it had swearing, magic, or sexual content? In fact a book series that has been arguably one of the most beloved in modern history, the Harry Potter series, is still high on the list of Banned Books so many years after it was first published.

When it comes to Native American heritage, most Americans have woefully inadequate knowledge. They may have heard of Squanto or Sacajawea, but that is the extent of their understanding. A 2018 research project conducted by The First Nations Development Institute and Echo Hawk Consulting found that most Americans think there aren’t many Native Americans left in the country, which just isn’t true. There are close to 600 federally recognized tribes in the United States.

We’re closing Season 4 with Ben Self, who is a teacher and contributor to Mockingbird, an organization that describes itself as being “devoted to connecting the Christian faith with the realities of everyday life.” It’s a progressive group and Ben runs their new online book club which focuses more on spiritual themes than religious doctrine. It straddles the secular and spirit in fun and culturally relevant ways.

It goes without saying that you can be a book lover whether you read 1 book a year or 200. But those book lovers who consume books like the potato chips no one can resist, reading over 100 books a year, are a little unique. We couldn't be happier to welcome Jacqui Daves Isser to the show. Jacqui is a middle school librarian who lives outside Austin TX but she is also a "super reader". She read 168 books last year and is on track to read more in 2021. If middle grade literature needed a spokesperson to tell adults why they should add it to their reading rotation, Jacqui is their girl.

This week we are focusing on butterflies and biking in book form. Sara Dykman is an adventurer and wildlife biologist whose focus is primarily amphibians. Several years ago, however, she felt a calling to bring awareness to the plight of the Monarch butterfly. So she took her adventurer spirit and migrated on her bike along with the Monarch from Mexico to Canada and back again. Her 10,000 mile journey is the focus of her memoir/ environment/ adventure/nature book titled Bicycling with Butterflies.

We are all about summer reading this week and Carmichael's Books bookseller extrordinaire Sam Miller gives us all kinds of ideas to make this a great reading season.

Today we have Maram Taibah; a fantasy author and screenwriter. We were anxious to talk to her about two things really. She is a bookover who grew up in Saudi Arabia. She now resides in Ontario Canada. She has published two books, the most recent being Weathernose, a steampunk fantasy about the complicated relationship between a middle-aged weatherman and a brilliant 10 year old girl on a fantastical tropical island, that will appeal to both young readers and adults alike. We talk to her about her reading life growing up in the Middle East and about her writing life now.

Our guest this week is Joziah Jason, a 5th grader from Ypsilanti Michigan who has his own bookish podcast, R.E.A.D. Books with Joziah. Each episode he picks a book and discusses it with guests.

May is Mental Health Awareness month so we decided to interview 2 authors whose new memoirs deal with their mental health issues and the addictions that resulted from those issues.

There is hardly a family who hasn’t been touched in some way by mental illness. For so many years, mental illness in all its forms--anxiety, depression, suicide or bipolar disorder--were kept under wraps which made the sufferers and their loved ones feel even more isolated.

This week we are getting in the “spirit” of the first Saturday of May; a date that is sacrosanct for many Kentuckians because of the running of the Kentucky Derby. A love of horses and bourbon whiskey are high on the list of things that Kentuckians are proud of and want to export to the rest of the world. Bourbon is big business in our region and has had a surge in popularity over the last decade; around 90 percent of all bourbon is produced here in the Bluegrass State. At no other time of the year is bourbon more popular in Louisville KY than during Derby season.