NOVEL IDEAS ~
CHATS WITH LOCAL AUTHORS
Access Framingham TV
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WATCH NOVEL IDEAS EPISODES HERE
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NOVEL IDEAS SHOW TIMES:
Monday through Friday at 1:30pm
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ACCESS Framingham ~ Cable Channels:
RCN - 3; Comcast - 9; Verizon - 43
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Josh Brogadir and Carol Lynn Luck
are co-hosts of this monthly series.
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The debut in June, 2016 discussed serious topics in
Heroines of the Kitchen Table by Carol Lynn Luck.
Chatting with Josh Brogadir about MAGNOLIAS DON'T BLOOM IN SEPTEMBER. Joined by the talented Aemilia Ohop, cover artist.
So much fun, remembering how things in the classroom used to be, how much they've changed, and how much has stayed the same!
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN
kept us guessing in her thrilling novel, Trust Me. We got caught up in a cat and mouse game, never knowing who to trust until the end.
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Christina Blake stole us off to Planet Zero with the talking cat Toby. There we learned of many human attributes through some amazing allegories. This debut novel, Sapphire and Planet Zero, was published before she finished high school!
Kwame Sarfo-Mensah joined us for a great discussion about teaching--the importance of relationships ad creating safe, positive learning environments in our schools . His book, Shaping the Teacher Identity should be required reading for all educators and everyone contemplating a teaching career.
LARRY SPOTTED CROW MANN
enlightened us on the history of the Nipmuc Nation, and his own path to finding his identity.
His books: Drumming and Dreaming, the Mourning Road to Thanksgiving and
Whispering Basket are filled with tales, poems and wonderful truisms, such as,
"We don't have a choice in our ethnic background or the color of our skin, but as human beings we do have a choice in how we interact with one another."
We were so honored to have Larry share his life purpose of fighting for social justice issues for indigenous people. He delighted us with a song on his ancient drum.
APRIL MIDDLETON brought us on the tough journey of Ariel Rose Washington from abuse and brokenness to recovery in her novel I Am Not Crazy. As a licensed mental health counselor, her insights in this book come from shared experiences, and the messages have the potential to help many who feel they are alone.
NATHAN HALBERSTADT, our youngest guest on Novel ideas, shared two books of secrets on SAT strategies and college admissions.
Both of his books were published before he left for Vanderbilt U.
JESS GARRETT delighted us with squishy science, as we not only talked about her book of science experiments, but we also tried out a few!
JOHN DAVID FERRER took us through generations from 19th century Catalonia to Puerto Rico, through political strifes, romances, economic crises and hurricanes. His novel Barcelona Borinquen has roots in his familial homeland, which is still recovering from Hurricane Maria.
Catherine Marenghi's memoir, Glad Farm, is about. her family's survival aglet the demise of their gladiolus farm, when the flowers lost popularity.
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It's a heartwarming story about the strength of a mother's spirit, overcoming poverty and tragedies in life.
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What an inspiration!
Tilia Klebonov Jacobs kept us wondering who we could trust, and if we'd ever get out of the woods in her thriller Wrong Place Wrong Time.
We also enjoyed hearing about Second Hlepings at the Serve You Right Cafe and Casper and Jasper. and the Terrible Tyrant.
Michael M. Greenburg told us about his fourth book, This Noble Woman: Myrtilla Miner and Her Fight to Establish a School for African American Girls in the Slaveholding South. His methodically researched historical non-fiction makes one want to go back to middle school and re-learn history through his characters.
Jess Garrett gave us some fun demonstrations of a few of the 114 experiments in her book,
Oh Ick!
We played with Squishy eggs, and made circuits with dough. Jess and her co-authors, Joy Masoff and Ben LIgon, bring out the scientist in all of us.
Catherine Marenghi's memoir, Glad Farm, is about her family's survival after the demise of their gladiolus farm when the flowers were
no longer popular.
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It'a heartwarming story about the strength of a mother's spirit, overcoming poverty and tradgedies in life. What an inspiration!
Rene Cournoyer delighted us with tales of the elf Sticky and Robin and their friend Dumbley, the Dwarf in his series of adventures, "The Search for Faylin." His three life-size characters joined us in the studio.
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Picture book author, Josh Funk peppered his accounts of writing with humor and good advice. His wonderful creations span the "Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast" stories, precocious "Albie Newton", "Pirasaurs", "Not Jack and the Beanstalk" (a hilarious fractured fairy tale), and his newest additions: "How to Code a Sandcastle" and "Lost in the Library".
The talented Emmy award winning producer/director Paul Serafini and author Mark Duffield joined us to talk about Mark's holiday classic, "The Last Shepard and Tales of the Tenth Ornament". Paul intends to turn this whimsical and meaningful Christmas story into a feature film, which takes place on Beacon Hill. We also talked about Paul's family-friendly movie, "Annabelle Hooper and the Ghosts of Nantucket".
From Juarez Mexico to ElPaso Texas, we feared for the lives of Sara and Emiliano. These captivating characters in Francisco Stork's book, "Disappeared" kept us engaged in a very lively discussion.
Anna Stanizewski delighted us with her picture books, "Power Down Little Robot" and "Dogosaurus". We especially enjoyed delving into the embarrassing middle grades with her "Dirt Diary". This is only one of her twelve fantastic novels for this age level.
David Driscoll, our former Commissioner of the MA Department of Education shared insights and humor with us. His book, "Commitment and Common Sense" tells the story of education reform from a very human perspective.
Charles Beck shared his wonderful photographs of children from around the world. The prose and poetry to accompany the pictures reflected the universal themes of life in many countries.
We dashed around Boston with Ray Daniel as Tucker in the mystery of the "Child Not Found." Ray left us anxiously awaiting his latest Tucker novel, "Hacked."
Deborah Sosin took us to Charlotte's Quiet Place, and we stopped for some laughter yoga along the way. Charlotte was chosen by Spellbound to launch a new app for making picture books interactive.
Carrie H. Johnson's thriller "Hot Flash" was a blast to get into. What a fun episode!
Judy Cadorette tells the beautiful story of her daughter's life in her memoir "Live with Courage Lead with Hope"
Warren Ross delighted us with his whimsical picture books. This show was "A Whole Nuther Thing".
We tumbled down the river with Erica Ferencik and learned of friendships and fear in the wilderness of Maine.
Sandra Elaine Scott,
recipient of three International Latino Book Awards, gave us a magical evening as we discussed her uplifting stories and were charmed by little Donovan.
Guest, Laura A. Woollett
received the International Literacy Association Award for Big Top Burning,
a true story of an arsonist, a missing girl and the greatest show on earth.
Authors from our Framingham History Center
Pat Lavin and Laura Stagliola told the story of "The Dennison Manufacturing Company" and how employees benefited from great management for over 150 years.
Frederic Wallace,
Framingham Town Historian, shared his stories of General Gordon and the story of Cushing Hospital
New York Times Best-Selling Author
Christopher Golden discusses one of his many books, Dead Ringers, a real chiller! Chris inspired us with his explanation of what it means to "write for a better world".
Erin Dionne talks about Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking, a great Middle-Grade novel about the Isabella Stewart Gardner art heist. One of her many books that take place in Boston.
Guest John David Ferrer discusses his first novel SJU/JFK, a family saga based on Puerto Rican migrants in search of a better life in the U.S.
Norwood Public Access (NPA) TV Interview with the Author
News Reporter, Josh Brogadir introduces Heroines of the Kitchen Table with news of today that is similar to the events of the 1930s and 1940s in Europe. He then talks with the author, and she gives a flavor of the novel.
The discussion includes coincidences, courage and the origin of evil.
The show was aired on NPA the first week in October. Special thanks to Mike, Bernard and Aidan at the studio.
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This YouTube video is an excerpt of the hour-long show.
