The Reading Culture Slow Reveal: Gayle Forman on Friends, Flaws, and Finding Immortality
What does it mean to rise to the occasion, not once, but over and over again? Sometimes it means reckoning with grief. Other times it means stumbling forward, messing up, and trying again. And sometimes it means simply showing up, imperfect, but still trying to be better.
Gayle Forman is the bestselling author of If I Stay, Frankie & Bug, Not Nothing, Afterlife and more. Whether it’s Mia in If I Stay, Alex in Not Nothing, or Amber in Afterlife, her characters often walk a jagged path toward healing, falling short, trying again, and inching closer to the people they hope to become.
In this episode, Gayle talks about growing up as a self-described “odd duck,” the Ramona books that shaped her childhood and parenting, and the formative years she spent traveling solo. She opens up about why she is so drawn to flawed characters and how fiction became a way to survive grief and stay connected to the people she has lost.
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For her reading challenge, Flawed, Gayle is going to bat for the prickly, messy, not-here-to-be-liked protagonists. She points out that kids are used to reading about heroes, but it can be just as powerful, maybe even more so, to read about characters who fall short and grow anyway.
Peruse selected titles and Gayle’s full reading challenge for free at thereadingculturepod.com/gayle-forman.
This week’s Beanstack Featured Librarian is Lori Shallio, media specialist at Heritage Intermediate School in Middlebury, Indiana. She shares how a Hot Ones-style challenge involving her principal and spicy nuggets helped students smash their community reading goal.
Show Chapters
Chapter 1: What We Carry
Chapter 2: Odd Ducks
Chapter 3: Top School, Bottom Marks
Chapter 4: Beezus and Ramona
Chapter 5: University of Life
Chapter 6: What We Share
Chapter 7: Mind the Gap
Chapter 8: Embrace It
Chapter 9: Rise to the Occasion
Chapter 10: Reading Challenge
Chapter 11: Beanstack Featured Librarian
Links
- The Reading Culture
- The Reading Culture Newsletter Signup
- Follow The Reading Culture on Instagram (for giveaways and bonus content)
- Gayle Forman
- Gayle Forman Instagram
- Beezus and Ramona
- Countesthorpe Academy
- If I Stay (film)
- Sassy Magazine
- Yom Kippur
- Beanstack resources to build your community’s reading culture
- Jordan 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