The Cider House Rules takes a complicated subject (abortion) where there is no black and white answer and discusses it through an entertaining story with intelligence, grace, humor, and humility. Get The Cider House Rules by John Irving (affiliate link): https://bookshop.org/a/54551/9780345417947 Subscribe to the podcast for more books! https://bookwormpod.com/subscribe

It’s fast-moving. It’s easy to read. And it’s packed with so much…. feeling. That’s the only way I can describe it. You just empathize so much with little Ender Wiggins, the child that is the story’s main character. Get Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (affiliate link): https://bookshop.org/a/54551/9781250773012 Listen to the excellent audiobook: https://tinyurl.com/ya5kvrrp Subscribe to the podcast for more books! https://bookwormpod.com/subscribe

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré is the unforgettable, inspiring story of a teenage girl growing up in a rural Nigerian village who longs to get an education so that she can find her “louding voice” and speak up for herself. It is a simultaneously heartbreaking and triumphant tale about the power of fighting for your dreams. Support the show (https://bookwormpod.com/support-show)

Long Way Down by New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds is an electrifying novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds – the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother. Support the show (https://bookwormpod.com/support-show)

Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver is a fairy tale about an orphaned girl named Liesl and a ghost named Po on a mission to help Liesl’s father’s soul find rest. Along the way they are joined by Will, a runaway alchemist’s apprentice who accidentally lost “The Greatest Magic in the World.” Together, they navigate a cold, sunless world while being chased by powerful people who mean them harm. But hope, love and friendship sustain them, and it’s because of their perilous journey that sunlight comes...

Jurassic Park is the OG dinosaur story that inspired the billion-dollar blockbuster movie franchise. In this story, a company discovers how to resurrect dinosaurs, and they build a resort to exploit their innovation. But when they bring in a few guests for a test weekend, everything that can go wrong does. On its surface, Jurassic Park explores the question of what happens when humans and dinosaurs, two super-predators separated by 65 million years, are suddenly thrust into the same world....

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land is a memoir where Land describes the traumatic experience of going from a confident college-bound dreamer to a depressed single mother, struggling to navigate poverty as she toils as a maid to polish other people's seemingly perfect lives. You can buy Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive through our bookshop affiliate store by clicking here: https://bookshop.org/a/54551/9780316505093 You can find...

The Round House by Louise Erdrich is a National Book Award-winning book by one of the most prolific and celebrated Native American writers of our time. It tells the story of a boy on the cusp of manhood who wrestles with grief, rage, and helplessness when his mother is brutally attacked. He becomes disillusioned with the power of the law to get justice for his mother when he realizes that injustice and inequity are foundational to the structures of the very institutions we look to for...

The Girl With All the Gifts is a best-selling, post-apocalyptic dystopian novel about a 10-year-old girl named Melanie searching for her place in the world — a world populated by insatiable, flesh-eating zombies and a desperate remnant of humanity who believe the key to their survival lies somewhere in Melanie’s brain. This story is gripping, fast-moving, original, and touching. The zombies are just icing on the cake. You can buy The Girl With All the Gifts through our bookshop affiliate...

, The Good Earth is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about a Chinese family’s rags to riches journey. The quest starts when Wang Lung, a hardworking peasant farmer who prizes “the land” above all else, gets lucky in marriage. He marries O-Lan, a survivor of slavery. She devotes her considerable ambition, resilience, and ingenuity to Wang Lung’s passion for the land. Together they prosper, though their fortunes rise and fall as famine, war, and betrayal threaten their partnership. This is a...

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond is a Pulitzer Prize winning book that examines the consequences of current U.S. housing policies and demonstrates how these laws created an eviction epidemic that traps low income people in poverty. The research is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin over the course of a year between 2007 and 2008. Although it’s non-fiction, it reads like a novel because Desmond paints an intimate portrait of both the Landlord and the Tenant...

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys is an engrossing metamorphosis story about a man named Charlie who undergoes an experimental operation to increase his intelligence. He starts out intellectually disabled with an IQ in the 60s and ends up smarter than the researchers who designed the experiment. But Charlie learns that super-intelligence is not the key to getting what he wants most — family, friends, and companionship. For that, he’s dependent on the rest of us to accept him no matter what...

All of the characters in Tooth and Claw are dragons. Yes - big, scaly, fire breathing Dragons who hoard treasure. But don’t let that scare you away! You’ll relate to these endearing dragons as they navigate strict societal rules in search of career success, family stability, and true love. This odd little book is a delight. Dig deeper at bookwormpod.com

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a Newberry Medal award-winning book and a classic young adult novel. It tells the story of the trials and victories of 9-year-old Cassie Logan and her family as they work hard to thrive in 1930s Mississippi. Taylor's sweet and powerful story will deepen your understanding of where we come from, how far we've come, and what we're all hoping to achieve.

Do you want to spend more time reading but aren’t sure what book to start with? Or are you a voracious reader looking for your next page-turner?  Whether you’re a bonafide bookworm or a bookworm in the making, the WE SHOULD ALL BE BOOKWORMS podcast is your bi-weekly source of information on magnetic books that have universal appeal — books that will resonate with you and connect with you in a deep way — no matter who you are or where you’re from.  In each episode, host Mykella Palmer,...