Episode 10: Libraries and Books Are For Everyone (and so is Mychal Threets!)

Weirdschooling: Season One, Episode 10

Mychal Threets

Originally Released November 1, 2023

Intro: <Original bright piano sea shanty music rising in the background with school bell sound.> 

Sarah: Welcome to Weirdschooling. I’m Sarah. 

Jennie: And I’m Jennie. We’re parents, friends, lifelong learners and self-proclaimed weirdos. 

Sarah: We’ve found that some of the best educational methods have emerged when we let go of conformity and explore the unconventional and unique 

Jennie: Because no one’s brain operates the same way and that’s exciting. And what works today may not work tomorrow, and we can adapt. 

Sarah: We’re all in this weird and wonderful world together.

Jennie: So let’s learn outside the box! 

<Original cheerful, organ and piano sea shanty music fading out in the background.> 

Sarah: Okay, Weirdschoolers, we have a special treat for you today. We are talking with the Mychal Threets yes, the Mychal Threets. I know our community has been so excited to, get to hear his voice on the podcast this week because I know all of you also follow him on socials and just find him to be the delight and joy that we do. But we're going to be talking about books and homeschooling and inclusivity and library programming and all of these fun things today with him, but because I realized when talking to a couple of our community members, I don't know if everybody knows his full bio. So I'm going to introduce him appropriately: Mychal Threets is a supervising librarian for Solano County Library in the Bay Area of California. And he got his first library card at the age of five, got his first library job at that very same library, and his first supervising library job again at that very same library. He loves libraries and considers himself to be a book pusher and a library card pusher. He is Honored to share library stories across social media and to anyone who will listen. He's passionate about mental health and ensuring that the public library is a place where everyone feels they belong. 

And at Weirdschooling, we feel exactly the same thing. And, before we jump in, why don't we just do a very quick icebreaker? I am going to ask everybody, what is the book you have most recently read? And, um, It's not fair to do an icebreaker without somebody having a chance to do it. So I will say mine first. I've been on a push to, choose books more carefully lately, including the dumb books that I like to read, which are, like, pretty cheesy, standard crime junk. and so I've been replacing all of my James Patterson with a much better author, S. A. Cosby. He is incredible and I just read Razorblade Tears, which is fantastic and he does a great job in the southern noir crime world, and, uh, so he's fantastic. So Jennie what is the last book that you've read?

Jennie: The last book that I've read is Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem. My kids love it. It's our October pick and we've been reading it bedtime. Beautiful, print illustrations in this book, really, really cool dynamic book. I am now excited to know what our librarian, Mychal has as his most recent book.

Mychal Threets: Yes, this is, yeah, this is Mychal. I think the last couple of books, because I'm one of those people who can't just mention one book is I read the The Studio Ghibli Cookbook. I'm trying to get more into cooking, so I'm a huge Studio Ghibli fan, so it's very fun to read those recipes, recipes like making Kiki's chocolate cake, other things from My Neighbor Totoro, and I also reread the book, Broken by Jenny Lawson. Jenny Lawson is a comedian, I'm very open about my mental health, and she created a book on her life and is a very funny tale about what she goes through with her mental illness. So she does a great job for people who appreciate the dark humor of mental health. 

Jennie: We talked about how at Weirdschooling, we feel very passionate about making everyone feel like they belong. But I feel like part of that is also defining what weird means to us and what it means to you. And so whenever you think about the idea of being weird or being different or other, what does that mean for you?

Mychal Threets: Yeah, that's a great question. I am a person who calls myself weird all the time. I think I might see myself as a zany, a silly person, a person with various interests. I think that's what's made me a library worker for so many, so many years is having a jeopardy level of interest, being able to connect with everybody’s level of weird, be it sports weird, be it Dungeons and Dragons weird, be it tattoos, weird, be it, um, 30-year-old people who still read picture books, weird.I think being weird is just embracing yourself. I think there is, like, people think of good weird, bad weird. I don't like to talk about bad weird because to me that's not fair to do that to the word weird. I kind of like to take the word weird back. Put that positive spin on it. So I think there's so many different things, but for me, it's just being yourself, being willing to be out there. 

Sarah: I love that. I think that might be my new favorite definition of the word “weird.” This is a new one. So you've given us something brand new today. None of our guests before, have defined it in this exact way. So I love this. One element that I think, can also define us as weird is the aspect of homeschooling. So a lot of our listeners are homeschooling parents and so I'm wondering if you could talk about your experience, as being a homeschooled kid and what was that like for you?

Mychal Threets: Of course. I was homeschooled, um, until basically until senior year of high school.Um, I did a version of independent study, freshman through junior years. Very basic version, essentially, so I could run cross country and run track for a, um, a local high school. Um, I basically took one class and then that was it. They just allowed, they were just kind enough to allow me to run and practice with the team. But senior year was my first, like, Bam, here's public schooling experience. Um, but I, I, I liked being homeschooled by my mom. That's like where my earliest, like whenever people talk about like, how long have you loved the library? How long have you loved reading?

A lot of it is because of my mom. She went to the local public library to get resources in order to teach me and my siblings, for homeschooling. We were in the library every single week. We were those homeschool kids. Sometimes she would drop us off and we'd run inside and pick up the holds, run back outside. Sometimes we'd come inside, do our homework on the table. So I love being homeschooled. I mean, again, I've suffered from anxiety and various things since I was very little. So I think even though I didn't know what it was at that time, , I think being homeschooled was perfect for me. And I'm a child of the nineties. So we still had socialization. There were a lot of kids in the neighborhood, a lot of hanging out, a lot of running around, a lot of, bloody elbows bumped heads from riding bikes. 

I see homeschoolers come into my library all the time now, and I always mention, I'm like, oh, I'm just asking because I see them there at home. I'm like, “Oh, are you homeschooled? Is it just, is this a break that I don't know about?” But then I make the connection with them that I was homeschooled. And I think they appreciate that for their kids to see that person who is, again, who's weird, who looks a little bit different, but appears to be happy. That they're like, “See. This is good what we're doing.” 

Jennie: We're in the thick of homeschooling right now, too, and so I was wondering what is your experience like after being homeschooled? 

Mychal Threets: Yeah, so it was a little bit different for me. I mean, I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I struggled in junior college and school right afterwards. Going from homeschool to public school is a totally different because other teachers have 30 plus students in their class, whereas homeschool grownups only have however many kids are in their family or in their cohort of groups. That was biggest shock for me was that the teacher didn't have enough time to help me out. 

But then getting past that it was literally just growing up, becoming your own version of yourself. I mean, I think, I think that's the beauty of homeschooling is that your grownups get to help you out. They get to gear you towards what you wanted to do. So I had to go through my own growing up phase and it wasn't until I pursued the libraries when like my, when my life started kind of like going in a positive direction, like that's when I really started graduating from college, that's when I started, like, being passionate about life, was finding a passion for myself. So I think for me, that's what I hope homeschool kids and homeschool grown-ups pursue, is like, helping your kids find that passion. Which I think is the whole point of homeschooling, is that is you want it to be more focused, you want it to be more positive. You want your kid to be the focal point as they deserve. Not knocking grown-ups who put their kids in public school, because a lot of people, can't honestly afford to homeschool. I'm glad that I was privileged to be homeschooled, that I was in an opportunity where my mom was able to educate me and prepare me for this world.

That's what I think that's what I would say to after being homeschooled is just let them become who they're going to be, with your guidance, the guidance of friends, and then also close other professors and whatever career. They get into that there's so many realms, there's so many levels, there's so many different places that they can go courtesy of their homeschool education and homeschool journey.

Jennie: I also think what I'm hearing you say, too, is that the library ended up being a safe place for you even after you were a kid, and that whether someone's in public school, private school, homeschooling that that journey isn't over just because those first, you know, years of education are over because we also focus on adult learners and the fact that our journey isn't done learning and it sounds like you kind of took that by the reins and really made the library that place for you. 

Mychal Threets: Exactly. I think “a safe place” is key. Like you just said, we're never done learning. I learn every single day. I'm a supervisor who says, “I don't know,” on a daily, weekly basis. I'm like, “I don't know. I will find the answer, let's learn what the answer is.” But I think the safe place that you mentioned is so powerful. Find that place where you're comfortable. And the library was my safe place. Thanks to homeschooling, is where I felt comfortable. Um, I always send in any conversation I have about books, about libraries, books, the library were my first real friends. It's who and what I trusted it in. 

But it's why when I was really struggling, I went back to one of our other local libraries and I asked the person at the desk how you how you work for the library. It was never something I thought I saw myself I was literally sitting there for weeks after some failed opportunities, reading books, just sitting in the local library. And then something in my brain said, ask this person, um, How you work for this place may be this place where you're safe, where you're comfortable. It is a place for you. And she was like, “I knew you're going to ask that.” And she already had a job site pulled up, and helped me apply. And then that's when the whole journey started 

Sarah: I'm curious, if not, working in libraries and in this wonderful world, where do you see yourself? Where would you have been, do you think?

Mychal Threets: I was a daredevil homeschool weird kid. I was always, getting hurt. I've had several broken bones in my life. I've always been interested in medicine. At one point I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon, the person who fixes bones, who fixes my injuries and then I just was like, oh, yeah. That is a lot of schooling. That's a lot. I've done enough school. But I've always admired what nurses do. I love their caring, their passion for their work. The fact that every single day is different in the world of nursing. So I feel if I wasn't a librarian, I would probably be a registered nurse of some sort. 

Sarah: Let's pivot a little bit and, talk a little bit about libraries specifically and the work that  librarians do to choose materials for the collections. Is there a specific intention that's given to reflect needs of the particular library community that that library is in?

Mychal Threets: So I can only speak from my library system. We are very intentional in what we order. Solano County is one of the most diverse counties in the United States of America. We're often in the top five, like, of diversity. And our collection has not always been quite diverse. I'm the chair currently of the Equity Diversity Inclusion Committee for Solano County Library. And we recently did a diversity audit of our collection. So we saw that our picture books, for instance, were full of books about like cars and dragons. And then white characters. So we've actively been trying to order more and more books to represent our community. Books by people of color, books featuring people of color, illustrators of color. So we're very conscious, we're very actively trying to make sure that we have books that represent the community. We've even recently started pursuing, a Filipino heritage collection, because there's a large Filipino community in Vallejo, California. 

I and other library workers are also trying to spearhead more books in different languages, libraries often, will have to analyze and evaluate the collection, and if items haven't checked out in a certain time, we have to remove them from the collection, it's kind of controversial, and I have to kind of say, for the Spanish collection, it's very hard, For Spanish speaking people to want to come into the library because there's, unfortunately, there's not enough, library staff members who speak Spanish. I, myself, am one. I'm trying to learn Spanish, but my grandfather is Mexican, but he grew up in a time where he didn't teach his kids, Spanish because of the way that it looked in the world. So, as a result of that, I didn't grow up with Spanish. I mentioned that in saying that, I'm trying to encourage our library system to just keep the books in Spanish on the shelf as long as possible so we can keep on encouraging that community that they do belong in the library, that we do have materials for them.

So that's a long way of answering your question to say that yes, library workers are very conscious in how we try to choose materials that we want. We want people to be represented. We want people to see not only that they belong in libraries because libraries have much more than books, but we are, of course, the center of books and we want those books to show people that they belong while they're reading the pages.

Sarah: I love that. I'm wondering if you could, dive a little deeper into the idea of the value of representation, in books and in libraries. We recently, talked to the writer-director of, an upcoming documentary called Black Barbie, [Lagueria Davis] and she was talking a lot about representation in toys, um, that that documentary was about the first ever Black Barbie that was designed at Mattel, and sort of how that changed the landscape of toys.

And it was really clear to me after talking to her that It's popular to say that representation matters. It's something that, that's everywhere, but what do you think are some of the more meaningful things that libraries can do and also individuals who use the library can do to ensure that they're making real and impactful changes in this way. 

Mychal Threets: I talk on and on about belonging, about why libraries do what we do for all the kids, all the people, all the grownups who come to the library doors, but before I even talk directly about libraries, I think representation just does matter in the world. Something like Halle Bailey being Ariel in The Little Mermaid. Things like that are so important. I loved all those videos of little Black girls, little Black boys, in tears, like, so happy, beyond thrilled, they were shocked that they saw Halle Bailey as a little mermaid, and it didn't separate anything from, the other person being Ariel. That person was super proud of Halle Bailey, she was like, “yes, I love you as Ariel, I can't wait to see this!” And I think that, is what we're going for. We're going for that joy, that pride, that fact of, “yes, it's you.” And even as a library worker, I've told so many different stories of like why representation matters to me as a library worker. When I was a children's librarian in Vallejo, I used to take a suitcase full of books, all sorts of books, graphic novels, and intentionally I would include books, with kids of color on the front.

And then I would unpack that suitcase and all the kids would come in there to check out books with the library cards from me. I love almost every single time I would always see like a kid going up to kids that they reportedly didn't know and be like, “look, this book looks like you, you should read it.” And the kids just be like, “okay, I'll get this one too. Thank you. It does look kind of like me.” that's the power of representation. I think those stories just seeing those kids be like, “ah, that looks like my friend on the cover of that book. I've got to read it. I want to find out what their life is all about.” Even though of course it's totally a separate kid, but they don't know that they just are seeing the joy of like, “Ah, that looks like my friend. I cannot believe it. I have to read this. “

And that's to me why diversity, why representation is so important is because we want them to read books because for so long, that's why we have so many reluctant readers is because there weren't books for them. But now we live in a wonderful, beautiful world full of, authors like Jason Reynolds, like Jacqueline Woodson, like Jerry Craft, my friend Kelly Yang, who are writing all these books. I mean, Kelly Yang literally has a book called Finally Seen where the character is finally seen. That's the whole point. And to me, that's a representation is that's what libraries are. It's a place where you belong. It's where it's place where you feel seen. And how can we even say that? How can we keep on talking about that? If we aren't actively pursuing a place and environment where you can feel seen as you are, tell that you are who you are coming to the door every single day, every single time. 

Jennie: Well, that actually leads me to one question I had really easily, which was, since you've become more popular and your voice has gotten louder and you've had more exposure and more visibility, not only are you actually being that representation for a lot of people as all the different ways you described being wonderfully weird, your voice is louder. And so how has that popularity and visibility impacted you? 

Mychal Threets: So it's first impacted me and that it is very shocking to me. I was on social media in MySpace in the days when, grown-ups thought that it was still like a, a dangerous, evil chat room. Like, “Be careful, what are you doing on there?” While I'm just doing my basic HTML code, putting the song in the back of my MySpace profile. So that's how long I've been, like, dedicated to social media. I don't even think people fully realize that it's been like a, it's been a boom of the last, like, I'd say, six or seven months that my videos have been going, viral for back, for lack of a better word. So it's all very new to me, but it's impacting me and like, I try to use, what little popularity I may have for good, trying to increase representation, trying to amplify the voices of the authors and illustrators who I mentioned, an illustrator like, Kaylani Juanita, who's from the city that I'm in, she's a Coretta Scott King, illustrator honor award winner, so it's just trying to amplify her beautiful illustrations. 

But most importantly just trying to put those messages out about caring, about passion.  I make so many mental health videos just because oftentimes it's people who message me saying that they're having a hard day but most of the time, like whenever I share the stories, the library stories, it's either because it was very wholesome, it made my day and made one of my anxious days better, or I thought that it might help somebody going through their anxious day. So every time I share one of those stories, it's because I think, me or someone might desperately need it. So I think, that's been the impact for me is just being able to talk openly about mental health, talk about the power of belonging, talk about the joy of libraries, the joy of books, what we talked about, but the safe space that libraries can be for people, the fact that libraries are for everybody, that there's something in the library for every single person. I think that's been the biggest joy that I've taken from social media. 

I don't often know about the actual impact I have on social media. I never even know about, the amount of followers I have. I know this morning only because someone told me yesterday. But I don't actively look to see, I think it's cooler. It’s more of an impact when people like Raina Telgemeier respond to me. I think the fact that not only that Jennifer Garner responded, but then I think I saw that on Jennifer Garner's Instagram story that she was visiting libraries, so that's the cool thing for me is that people are going to the library as a maybe resort result of seeing me on social media, I get messages from people saying, look, I got my library card or pictures of video kids of their library kids in the library, checking out books, getting their very first library cards. Or even people just talking to me openly about their mental health even their kids’ mental health. So that's the biggest outcome. That's the coolest thing to me about my social media. 

Sometimes people will come to my library and they're like, “it's you,” or they'll come and they'll take selfies, selfies with me. One older grown up was like, “it's you, I follow you.” Um, but she didn't know how to use her camera. So I had to basically take a selfie of the two of us, um, for her. And then one person moved from another state to California, to Solano County, right by my library. And they looked and they were like, “Hey, that library guy is right down the street from us.” The grown up and the kid came to the library, the grown up shook my hand, kid waved, and the grown up's like, “Can we take a picture with you? It'd really make my wife jealous.” Um, so we took, we took that selfie together. So those are like the fun things that come as a real result of my library bookish social media. 

Sarah: Jennie and I actually run another podcast too, that's based in movies cause we're big movie dorks. But one thing that, has been a big focus over a couple of our seasons is to remember that celebrities and you in our mind are a celebrity, as celebrity as it gets for us, you are like the top of the top for us, but that your people too, and you have human experiences and a lot of also what we've been focusing on is kind of the weight even of the pressure, not to bring this down to a negative side, but that there is a pressure I'm sure of being so visible and I wonder If you ever feel that, that sort of weight of, you know, people are looking to you to be cheerful and to be positive and to have, sort of that, sunshine vibe all the time. Is that something that's tricky sometimes to navigate as a human person? 

Mychal Threets: No, I appreciate that. I definitely don't see myself on the celebrity, fame status that you, or other people have mentioned to me, but, I do appreciate it, but I also do acknowledge that I do have some level of notoriety. But it is a little bit difficult. I'm not on the level of like a Robin Williams, or a Chester Bennington, or a Twitch. I think that I think what resonates about what I do is I try to be authentic and genuine. I truly love observing the stories. Being a part of the library stories that I encounter, it's what gets me through each day. I think people don't realize, like, how hard it is to be a library worker, that there's so much more that goes into it. We don't just read books all day. We would love that. That would be the best thing in the world.

There's so much that goes into making a library run and I say that, and I mentioned the other three just because, of course, those are three people who unfortunately took their own lives from the weight of the world, from the pressure, and those are three people who were on all the time, making people's days so much better, and I think people appreciate, the fact that I, I do, I think, come across as a happy go lucky, friendly, cheerful person, which I am often.

I often have very, very dark days, very dark nights, and the things I share, help me out. So I think what helps people is that, I'm again, I'm not that level of person, but it's like, it's me talking about what they're talking about before it's too late. So it's me kind of like trying to get help, encouraging others to get help. I do read them with the majority of Instagram messages and try to respond to as many as possible. It's getting very difficult, but I still try to, I appreciate that people take the time out of their day, to reach out, and say such kind things that they say. 

I don't feel too much pressure. I think I have enough pressure from my own brain battling me each day while people are willing to listen. I'm just trying to spread some library and book joy video and video by video, reel by reel and post by post. 

Jennie: I really appreciate your vulnerability right now sharing that with us and also in a lot of your reels. I can say personally, there's been several reels you've had about anxiety and depression that I've watched. One recently where you're like, “I'm happy you're here if you're laying in bed reading this.” And I was like, “I am laying in bed reading this. How did you know, Mychal?” Or even the funnier things like the, “3-6-9, it's okay not to be fine.” All of those resources that you create that really help people are really doing the work that you're trying to do. And I also wanted to ask, what do you do for yourself? Are there any resources or books that you use to kind of power yourself up whenever you do get in those low places? 

Mychal Threets: The main thing I do to help me is to share these stories. I don't think people realize, like how much the sharing the stories and posting them helps me. The only reason I started doing it was because it's what made me happy is what got me through those, through the days is to share those stories. I've been sharing these stories since I first became a children's librarian years, years ago. I just switched to videos this year. And that's when they kind of took off. So that's the biggest thing. Um, but then even like in the last few months, I've started just like being truthful, which is what I encourage any listener of this to do is to, is to find some friends who you can be open with about when you're not okay, it's like, it is okay. And it is okay to not be fine. It's okay to not be okay. And I didn't have the courage to do that for a very long time, for a very long time. I would only open up to my therapist about when I was having dark times. But in the last few months, 

I've started actually being honest and letting them know. When I'm not fully okay, when I'm having a hard time, and that's the first time I've been able to be vulnerable with my friends just because with them, it is a bit tougher where you're like, Oh, and you know, you don't want to make your friends. You don't want to make your family worry. You can make a therapist worry. That's their job. That's why you talk to them. I

 think the book I mentioned, Broken by Jenny Lawson is one that I've reread so many times just because I really liked her take on anxiety. I listened to, Henry Huggins, an audio book over and over when I'm going through some hard times. Um, it just helpful. It's helpful to hear the stories of Henry Huggins, Ramona and Beezus, Ralph S. Mouse. Basically those nostalgic stories. I listened to holes over and over. I listen to Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Oh, Sideways Stories, the classics. It's Junie B. Jones, and then movies and shows. I like animated shows. I watch Bob's Burgers. I think I've seen King of the Hill 15, 15 times by now. Even during October, if I'm watching horror movies afterwards, I'll turn on Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Uh, just watching Will Smith and Uncle Phil. Uh, those are the main ones, just feel good shows and movies, talking to friends, relying on people. That's kind of like how I get through my dark times and just the library stories. Though library can be stressful, being at the library does help me just where I've always like felt like myself.

Sarah: I certainly wouldn't have been able to predict the things that we're experiencing now a decade ago. I'm just wondering, where do you think that libraries will be in 10 years in terms of just the whole experience for library visitors?

Mychal Threets: So I honestly think 10 years from now, I think libraries are going to be a whole different place because I've always thought libraries were cool. But I think libraries are actually, actually becoming cool. Not my, my version of cool, like, cool, cool for, for today's kids. Um, I think the people who are into books are going to have such a huge impact on libraries in the book world.

I think like Steph Curry having a book club, Malala having a book club. I think those kinds of people, I think like celebrities, Like having books, loving books is such a big deal. And I think that shows people like, Oh, my heroes love books. Like, that's fine. Like, nice. I can finally like, like books. It's not something I have to hide. And I think just the fact that libraries are becoming more than just books. I mean, I love books, libraries again, all about books. I'm a book, I'm a book pusher. People are always like, I don't, I'm not a big book person. I'm like, Oh, you have so much more. Doesn't mean I'm not going to give up on finding a book for those people. Um, but we have more. I mean, the fact that libraries have makerspaces like with 3d printers, graphic novels, manga. 

There's seeds in the libraries people can come in pick up seeds for their gardens. My library is getting ready to launch a gardening tooling library. You can borrow tools a bakeware collection borrowing pans to bake. Wow We have a musical instrument collection. People can borrow violins, ukuleles, keyboards with their library card. We have a video game collection: PS5, Xbox, Switch, we have a board game collection. There's just so many cool things I think the libraries are doing, like literally cool things, like something for everybody, there are computers, so many people spend their time at the library just surfing their own social media, working on their projects.

I think we're moving toward like the new age libraries, a library where like, it's okay to be a little bit noisy in the library, like respectfully, like you can't curse up a storm in the library, but like I've never like really I've never really shushed people in the library. There's so many instances where I've had Grown ups and caregivers comes come in with kids on the spectrum kids who have ADHD , get parents and grownups who are like, I don't know if my kid's gonna be accepted.

They're not gonna use their library voice. And I'm like, that's fine. Like, if they have to get people have a problem with that come into my library. To me, I always say that's why I'm lucky to have a library system with nine different branches. Maybe, maybe another library is the library. For you. Like I obviously want everyone coming into my library, but my library is going to make it so that those kids on the spectrum with ADHD, whichever the kid is. I mean, sometimes people just react differently, different triggers. Um, it's fine. I mean, to me, I honestly think it's like, it's a badge of honor to hear a noisy, happy kid in the library.

I'm like, that means that they're having, that they're having fun in the library. They're discovering books. I mean, that's the reason that we have toys and things in the library. I don't think like my dream library of like a social worker, person who speaks every single language, coffee shops, slides, and different things in the library is going to happen 10 years from now. But I do see the library as like the true community hub, the people where people, the place where people flock towards. 10 years from now, that's where I think the library will be. 

Jennie: I also wanted to touch on something that has been popular that you've discussed, which is the adult book fair, and if you could speak a little bit about how that would work into this future of amazing libraries.

Mychal Threets: Scholastic as under fire right now because they reportedly have a no diverse books option for school book fairs. What they've essentially done, um, is in response to so many states making it essentially illegal to have diverse books, making it possible for teachers, librarians and volunteers to be prosecuted, sued or fired is they created another collection called, I believe, “Celebrate Every Voice, Share Every Story,” that those schools can select. So essentially what they're trying to do, they're trying to protect teachers, librarians, and volunteers from repercussions. Of including diverse books, which is appreciated, but of course Scholastic is the powerhouse, so I think people are rightfully upset because like, why are you doing this? You have the ability to use your voice as Scholastic, as the book fair, as the book pushers. I'm a book pusher, they're THE book pusher to basically do support, support the freedom to read, although they have said that they've left their middle, middle school book fairs unchanged.

This option is for elementary. So I say all that to preface that, I'm now kind of like going back and forth. Um, I've been trying to pursue the adult scholastic book fair for years now. I love the idea. It's not honestly my idea. I've kind of like seen it from various tweets I've just I guess I’ve become one of the figureheads behind it because I think I think what's unique for what I’m trying to do is I’m trying to one: Take it nationwide with the goal that the funds raised from the adult's classic book fair, having it in breweries and wineries. I always say with non-alcoholic options I have people in my family who are sober so I totally understand that but just I think that having breweries and wineries is the best way to raise as much money as possible for these schools because my goal is that the funds will be dedicated back to the schools.

Because another problem this classic has had for years is that it is expensive. So kids who, families who don't have much money can't let their kids experience this classic book fair for how it deserves to be experienced. Oftentimes they can't go at all because they literally just can't. They can't even buy a trinket. They can't buy a giant eraser that can't buy a poster, let alone a book. So that's something that I was trying to do with the adults, classic book fair, just make it possible so that. Every kid leaves a Scholastic Book Fair with a good book, which I love whenever I post about that. People are always like, “I set aside money every single year for kids who may not have something.”

So I'm like, that's perfect. That's exactly what we're trying to do with this thing. And my library has always been supportive of the Adult Scholastic Book Fair. They were like, “Yeah, we'll do it. We'll make it possible. We can sponsor it.” So really, it's just been us waiting on Scholastic, which is if any publishers hear about this, that's what we've been waiting for, is that Scholastic also likes the idea.It's just that the publishers already bring the price of materials down. So that, according to what they told me, has been the hurdle. for the longest time. But now with what I said about the controversy surrounding Scholastic, I'm not fully abandoning it. I just think it would be such a cool thing.

My video on TikTok this morning and Instagram this morning is going to be essentially a respectful call out of Scholastic to be better, to focus on diversity always, to put the power back in the arms and hands of teachers, libraries, and volunteers for them and their school board to make the decision about what they're willing to do, for the freedom to read because there are so many of us who are fighting for the books of Jason Reynolds of Jacqueline Woodson of Kelly Yang to be put in the arms of those kids. I mean, Kelly Yang has visited my library system several times and there's a kid who was like, “Mama, Kelly Yang wrote those books for us.” And this kid is like a mini is a mini me of Kelly Yang, and that's what they saw from Kelly Yang's books, and that's what I'm trying to stir up with the Adult Scholastic Book Fair is to get that nostalgia back, but who knows if Scholastic isn't, doesn't come down, if the controversy continues to stir.

Maybe I'll try to stir up some attention to get some other trinkets, find some things from other places. I'm sure there's giant cat posters and Lamborghini posters elsewhere. And then just use places like Barnes Noble or local bookshops to come together to do. what I'm trying to do for the local schools and students. But I hope Scholastic does. I mean, I think that message indicates that they're listening to what people are saying. They're being honest. It just doesn't look good. Given what's going on in the world with book bans and book challenges, that when you have such a powerful voice that Scholastic has, you should be putting the pressure on those states that are trying to make it hard for kids to read, to feel seen, and to feel belong, and to belong in books.

Jennie: We've arrived at Weird of the Week. Weird of the Week is our time to talk about anything weird or otherwise, just kind of a standout moment from your week. It could be a funny fact you learned, something just gross you learned. We've had several of those. And it could also just be a win, an educational win. So, a yay, a weird. What is our Weird of the Week? And if you want, you can go first or we can take it first and then you can go after. Weird 

Mychal Threets: Um, I can go first. Yeah, you guys went first before. Um, I think, I think the weird, the weird for me is a weird library kid. Um, just, it's just something that really just, just makes, it made my day. So maybe it'll make your day. There's two kids, and their, their grandma, their, their abuela who come to the library every single week. And I think the other day, I think the abuela and the little, little kid were over by one of our display cases, just looking at things. The other little kid was just on the little kid's computer, just having a grand old time. At a certain point, I'm on the children's desk.

And the kid who's on the computer realized that the abuela and the other kid were away. And you just hear this kid just start yelling out, “ABUELA! ABUELA! ABUELA!” And then the abuela still didn't hear the kid screaming. Just being an abuela, my own abuela, that's the same thing. You can yell as loud as you want. Just the power to tune out loud. Um, so, so I walk over to the abuela and the other little kid, I'm like, “Oh, I think,” I say the kid's name, “I think that they're looking for you.” And the abuela just laughed and was like, “Oh. Okay. I enjoyed, I enjoyed my, I enjoyed my moment,” and then he just steps back and by this time the other kid has left the computer and it's just like stomped over. And he's like, “Abuela, didn't you hear me yelling for you? You left me all alone.” Um, and he feels like he thought you were alone. Oh no. Um, and I think that's just the weirdness of that. Because I think weirdness is a good thing. Just the weirdness of that library kid. Just like, ah. Where do you, what are you doing?

Leaving me all alone. You don't know, you don't know what could have happened to me. Yes, this is the library, but you just left me here. Um, which is great because there's often times where that kid is like, “I'll see you later, Abuela. I'll stay at the library.” So just the weirdness, the joy of library kids, and then just the overall, uh, win of of abuelas who bring their grandchildren to their local library.

Sarah: Oh, I love that so much. I love that so much. Um, can I go next? Oh, go Sarah. Okay. Yeah. Because it's book related. I feel like this would go well with my goals a little bit. So I find myself in weird conversations all the time, especially with children. So we were at a, at a homeschool thing and this kid came up to me and said, “Miss Sarah. Miss. Sarah, did you know how the books are dying?” And I was kind of... I was trying to think about what in the world is this kid talking about, and I was thinking, they always are telling me things about technology. So I was thinking, oh, maybe they're talking about, you know, using Kindles or I don't know, something like that.

I was like, “oh, what do you mean the books are dying?” And he was like, “well, you know how you told me so many weeks ago,” I do not remember this conversation by the way, “that you love that old book smell. “I was like, “I think I do. I said, I feel like that's something I could have said. Sure.” And he was like, “well, I looked it up. I knew you would want to know this. I understand the science now.” And I was like, “Okay, great. Tell me about it.” He's like, “well, that book smell, that old book smells called Bibliosmia? Bibliosmia? It's caused by lignan, which is apparently some kind of compound in wood based paper. And that smell that you smell, that old book smell, is actually the book dying.” So, I was like, “wow, you've, that's incredible ,”and the kid was so proud and so excited to tell like a weird fact and tell a story and, and then I saw, I saw them go run off and tell a whole bunch of people that, “books are dying and you can smell them” and so there you go, that, that word, that smell has a name and it has a cost. I thought it was dust.

Mychal Threets: That's a good fact. That's amazing. Yeah. 

Sarah: Yeah. Yeah. 

Jennie: I just can't compete with that. I just, I can't even, that is like the best, I love that fact on so many levels. That story is just the best. What was the word again?

Sarah: So they said it's called bibliosmia is the smell and then the compound is lignan.

Sarah: Um, and he spelled it out for me. He wrote it on a piece of paper because he said, “I know you're going to look this up to see if I was right.” And I was like, “I would never do that. I trust what you're saying.” But it's um, L I G N A N is the compound. According to this very intelligent, wildly wacky kid that is just a bucket of laughs.

Jennie: Kids are the best. They really are. Oh my gosh. Man, okay, so I guess the connection of my Weird of the Week to this is science and death. Okay. Which, uh, so, it's not book related, but we do watch a lot of movies, in our house and every Friday night is movie night. And last movie night was My son's pick and he was fancy and he decided to use the resources we had to go to the movie theater to see A Haunting in Venice. And there's a rather brutal scene in that in which someone falls to their death and we get in the car and it's late because it was an evening screening and my two kids are in the backseat talking about if that death was realistic based on based on their understanding of terminal velocity. And Newtons and pounds of force and they were going through this exchange like it was just no big deal. And I, my husband looked at me like, “what have you done? Like, what, what is this?” And I was like, “well, they're learning about, you know, physics at school right now and they're learning about velocity and, you know, and you're welcome.” So that was the Weird of the Week. It was the conversation about death and science after the movies with my kids.

Sarah: Well, I can't think of a better way to end a podcast than to talk about death. But I think what would be the more appropriate way to end this is just to say, thank you, Mychal for sharing your time with us today and for just being the person that you are in the world. Even if you don't know us and we don't know you personally, I just want you to know that you are valued. Your contributions are, are so important. I'm, I sure that everybody who gets to go to your library feels this in sort of a real live way. But, I just want you to know that, your virtual community is real and we see you and appreciate you and, um, are just so grateful for you. 

Mychal Threets: Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. I think I always talk about, we talked a lot about mental health and I always tell people like how, how proud I am of them. If no one tells them that I am proud that they're here, that I'm happy they're here, I really am happy. You're here that they're here that everyone is here. I get so many I always get at least one comment message back from that's from someone saying If you knew me, you wouldn't think that And I think that that is categorically false. I think that I would love to get to know whoever you whoever those people are and I’m very proud and happy to have been on this podcast and I thank you so much for inviting me, and I don't know you but I do know you now and I’m happy to be your friends now and have been on this podcast ao, thank you so much.

Sarah: Weirdschooling is a My Kind of Weird Productions podcast and is co-created by hosts Sarah Woolverton-Mohler and Jennie Ziverk Carr with music by Brooks Milgate. 

Jennie: You, your ideas and feedback MATTER, so like, subscribe and leave a review! Share your weirdschooling experiences or challenges on our social media channels at instagram, facebook, or our website at www.weirdschooling.com. 

Sarah: We’re here for you– so feel free to join our engaging Weirdschooling Community Facebook group for inclusive, open-hearted idea sharing and camaraderie. 

Jennie: You’re dismissed to go be the weirdest brick in the wall of this wonderful world!

<Original bright, organ and piano sea shanty music fading in the background with school bell sound.>