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Required Reading

Erin Bowles

Required Reading revisits the most impactful books from our childhood with a new guest every week.

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20 episodes
fortnightly
Avg 1 hr 1 min
English

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Episodes 20

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S1 · E118
August 12 · 59 min
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with Jess Woodworth
Jess is back for a fourth time with one of the most famous children's books of all time! Listen to Jess' past episodes on The Tale of Desperaux, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and The Host! Follow Jess! Follow Erin! Follow the podcast!
S1 · E117
August 5 · 57 min
Return to Oz with Kevin T Porter
It's a movie episode! Kevin T Porter returns to discuss horrifying 80s classic Return to Oz! Listen to Kevin's episode on Artemis Fowl! Listen to Kevin's episode on Wayside School is Falling Down! Follow Kevin! Listen to Kevin's Good Christian Fun (Erin's been on a few episodes, oooo....) Follow Erin!
S1 · E116
July 20 · 54 min
The Hardy Boys: The House on the Cliff with Kyle Selig
You can hear me smiling in this episode! The magical Kyle Selig (Welcome to Flatch...ever heard of it?) joins me to discuss book two in The Hardy Boys series, The House on the Cliff! Gosh, golly, this is a good one! Follow Kyle! Watch Welcome to Flatch! Follow Erin!
S1 · E115
July 14 · 1 hr 15 min
The Odyssey with Madeline North
Just in time for the new movie - Madeline North returns to discuss The Odyssey! Check out The Iliad with Zannah Schorer or Madeline's past episodes covering The Princess Bride, Eragon, and Jane Eyre! Follow Madeline! Follow Erin!
S1 · E114
July 6 · 46 min
Goosebumps: One Day at Horrorland!
Sam Walt Jones returns to discuss the 16th Goosebumps book ONE DAY AT HORRORLAND by RL Stine from 1994. Listen to Sam's first episode covering The Golden Compass! Listen to more Goosebumps episodes! The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb Stay Out of the Basement Monster Blood Say Cheese and Die The Horror at Camp Jellyjam Welcome to Camp Nightmare Follow Sam! Follow Erin!
S1 · E113
June 29 · 41 min
Bunnicula! with Phillip Iscove
Writer and podcaster Phillip Iscove joins me to discuss the 1979 vampire classic, BUNNICULA by James and Deborah Howe, a rabbit tale of mystery about a dog who can eat chocolate, a well-intentioned well-read cat, and a Snoopy-like bunny that drains vegetables of color. Today vegetables, tomorrow the world! Listen to Phillip's podcast! Follow Phillip! Follow Erin!
S1 · E112
June 6 · 47 min
The Island of Blue Dolphins with Lizzie Logan!
Lizzie Logan returns to discuss Scott O'Dell's Newbery Award winning book THE ISLAND OF BLUE DOLPHINS. Based on a true story, when Karana's entire village leaves their island to escape raiders, she is left to fend for herself for over a decade. Listen to Lizzie's podcast Hoax! Listen to Lizzie's first episode of the podcast about Rachel Cohn's POP PRINCESS! Follow Erin!
S1 · E111
May 23 · 33 min
Goosebumps: The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb
It's RL Stine's world and we're just living it. I'm back on another solo Goosebumps episode covering book 5 of the original series. Check out some of our previous Goosebumps episodes: The Horror of Camp JellyJam Stay Out of the Basement Welcome to the Dead House Monster Blood
S1 · E110
May 16 · 1 hr 10 min
The Iliad with Zannah Schorer
Zannah Schorer returns to discuss one of the oldest stories ever told: THE ILIAD! And yes, there will be an episode about the Odyssey soon. Follow Zannah! Listen to their episodes about The Tail of Emily Windsnap and Fablehaven! Follow Erin!
S1 · E109
April 29 · 56 min
The Mouse and the Motorcycle with Josh Corey
Writer and podcaster Josh Corey (Welcome to Flatch) joins me to discuss literary legend Beverly Cleary and her novel THE MOUSE AND THE MOTORCYCLE. The story? Well, it's really very simple: boy meets mouse, and they both love motorcycle. Check out Josh's new podcast FROM WRITER TO FIGHTER!! Follow Josh on Instagram! Follow Erin!
S1 · E108
April 16 · 56 min
Vampire Academy 2: Frostbite with Liz Wiest
It's winter break at the Vampire Academy and Liz Wiest and I are sinking our TEETH into the sequel Frostbite. From Richelle Mead and the pivotal year of 2008, Frostbite follows the increasingly treacherous world of St Vladimir's Academy and the broader Pacific Northwest as royal vampire families are being eliminated by the bad guy vampires. Listen to our episode on book one! Follow Liz! Follow Erin! I'm not going to include our buymeacoffee link because YouTube seemed to throw a fit this week about the link on our Lord of the Flies episode from almost a year ago? Absolutely no clue why but I don't think anyone reads the episode notes, let me know!
S1 · E107
April 8 · 1 hr 12 min
Carrie with Kate Hagen!
Kate Hagen (SVP, The Black List) joins me to discuss Stephen King's classic novel of teen girl rage: CARRIE! High school outcast Carrie gets her period for the first time, and also telekineses. It ends poorly. Follow Kate! Listen to Kate talk BABY BOOM on Ticklish Business! Check out our previous Stephen King episode: Misery with Enor Bishop! Follow Erin! Support the show!
S1 · E106
March 26 · 1 hr
Malice with Lev Francesca
It's Slenderman...before Slenderman...This week writer Lev Francesca AKA Lisco2000 joins me to discuss a book no one has ever heard of (probably) Malice by Chris Wooding - a novel combining graphic novel and prose and miscellaneous documents to tell the story of a graphic novel that's really pulling kids in. Follow Lev! Follow Erin! Support the show!
S1 · E105
March 18 · 1 hr 17 min
The Count of Monte Cristo with Tocarra Elise!
This week comedian Tocarra Elise joins me to discuss her favorite revenge classic: THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Alexandre Dumas! After 14 years of wrongful imprisonment, sailor Edmond Dantes transforms himself into the Count of Monte Cristo in order to exact revenge on those who imprisoned him. Follow Tocarra's Library and check out her work on the Getty kid's podcast If Objects Could Talk! Support the podcast! Follow Erin!
S1 · E104
March 4 · 1 hr 8 min
The Witch of Blackbird Pond with Courtney Young!
What is a witch if not a woman by a pond? This week Courtney Young joins me to revisit everyone's favorite book from 4th grade: THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND! In colonial America, Kit Tyler leaves Barbados to come to her aunt's family in Connecticut but finds herself quickly under suspicion by the Puritanical community. A girl who's a little bit different? Must be a WITCH!! Check out Courtney's work! Follow Erin! Support the podcast!
S1 · E103
February 25 · 1 hr 1 min
The Martian Chronicles with Mel Thomas!
Can you believe it took this long to get to Ray Bradbury? Better late than never as this week incredible video essayist and writer Mel Thomas joins me to discuss THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES - a science fiction novel-in-short-stories about human colonization of Mars. Follow Mel! Follow Erin! Support the podcast!
S1 · E102
February 19 · 1 hr 24 min
Jane Eyre with Madeline North!
We're back! Erin got laid off and then went on vacation, but now we're back! We as in the royal we. Madeline North also returns to discuss Charlotte Bronte's 1847 classic: JANE EYRE. And we also talk a lot about Wuthering Heights. It can't be helped! Jane Eyre follows orphan Jane from ages 10-20 as she escapes a cruel home to go to an even crueler boarding school, then becomes a governess, falls in love, almost gets married, finds out her employer/fiance's been keeping a secret wife in the attic, gets the heck outta there, joins a family, finds out they're her real family, gets a lot of money, goes back to the employer and makes him a husband. And that's what you missed on Glee! In this episode we discuss my video essay about the book (ooooooo) and this video essay about some common Charlotte Bronte misconceptions! Follow Madeline! Listen to her previous episodes on Eragon and The Princess Bride! Follow Erin! Support the pod!
S1 · E101
January 8 · 58 min
Vampire Academy with Liz Wiest
Welcome to 2026 and welcome to the VAMPIRE ACADEMY where we are horny, confused, and Catholic. Writer Liz Wiest joins me to discuss Richelle Mead's 2007 novel. The plot is complex but it's girls at an academy for vampires. You get the gist. Follow Liz! Follow Erin! Support the show!
S1 · E100
Dec 17, 2025 · 1 hr 31 min
EPISODE 100: MEASURE FOR MEASURE WITH CARLY O'BRIEN!
Folks, it's episode 100. Professor Carly O'Brien returns for her fourth episode (first time a guest has made it to four episodes, a historic one indeed) to cover a play that fundamentally shaped who I am as an artist and as a lil freak. Measure for Measure is known as one of Shakespeare's three problem plays. It follows a Duke, a nun, and, well,.,, just listen. This is the last episode of 2025! See you next year! Cover art is James McMullen's poster for Lincoln Center. Check out Carly's previous episodes about A Christmas Carol and Johnny Tremain and Where the Red Fern Grows! Follow Carly! Follow Erin! Support the show!
S1 · E99
Dec 10, 2025 · 59 min
Frozen in Time with Justina Engel
Favorite person alert: Justina Engel returns to discuss Ali Sparkes' 2009 sci-fi novel FROZEN IN TIME. During summer vacation siblings Ben and Rachel dig up a bomb shelter in their backyard. Inside the bomb shelter are their great aunt and uncle, cryogenically frozen (and there's a puppy there too). Family mysteries, government conspiracies, and international intrigue come to light - and fingernails fall off! Check out Justina's previous episode! It's the American Girl Doll episode! Follow Justina! Follow Erin! Support the podcast!

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