Mixtape: Mychal Threets Lays Out His Life in Books

"I think all of us had the experience after reading the book of looking in maybe our grandparents' wardrobe, our parents' wardrobe, and like knocking on the back of the wardrobe and being like, maybe this is my time. Maybe they're gonna call me in here." — Mychal Threets For this week’s episode, we are testing out a slightly different format, something we have named a “Mixtape” episode. Rather than making the reading challenge the last bit of an author’s show, we have made the reading challenge the show itself.  We could not be more excited to welcome the biggest spot of joy on the web, Mychal Threets, to the podcast.  In this episode, we learn about Mychal’s playlist, the books that shaped him, and when he was a young library kid. As someone who grew up in the stacks and eventually made his calling his career, Mychal walks us through the books that sparked what he calls his "book joy." As it happens, Jordan will be doing a full interview with Mychal during a live recording at the upcoming American Association of School Librarians meeting (AASL) in St. Louis this October. But who wants to wait for the joy that Mychal brings? Nobody!  Content Note: This episode includes discussion of mental health and suicide, which come up in Mychal’s reading passage. If you’d prefer to skip this portion, it runs from [19:50-23:35]. Tune in for an episode that will brighten your day and give you insight into the early life and times of someone who has shined a light on the joy and importance of libraries (and librarians!). We have set up Mychal’s mixtape “playlist” as a reading challenge that can be downloaded for free or activated on your Beanstack site. Learn more and download Mychal’s reading challenge at thereadingculturepod.com/mychal-threets Show Chapters Chapter 1 - Holes by Louis Sachar Chapter 2 - Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary Chapter 3 - Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson Chapter 4 - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis Chapter 5 - Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman Chapter 6 - The Giver by Lois Lowry Chapter 7 - Love Among the Walnuts by Jean Ferris Chapter 8 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Chapter 9 - Letters to You by Jazz Thornton LinksThe Reading CultureThe Reading Culture Newsletter SignupFollow The Reading Culture on Instagram (for giveaways and bonus content)Mychal Threets InstagramMychal Threets TikTok2025 AASL National ConferenceBeanstack resources to build your community’s reading cultureJordan Lloyd Bookey Host and Production Credits Host: Jordan Lloyd Bookey Producers: Mel Webb, and Lower Street Media Script Editors: Josia Lamberto-Egan, Mel Webb, Jordan Lloyd Bookey