WKMS Youth Radio Project

We continue our occasional series previewing good reads for young adults from Katherine Farmer, Coordinator of the Racers Children's Preview Collection at Murray State University. This week's recommended read is The White Bicycle, by Beverly Brenna, a 2013 Printz Honor coming-of-age adventure told from the perspective of Taylor Jane, a young woman with Asperger's Syndrome. Booklist calls this story, for ages 14 to 17, a "finespun gem" that would be "a shame" to miss. 

We continue our occasional series previewing good reads for young adults from Katherine Farmer, Coordinator of the Racers Children's Preview Collection at Murray State University. This week's recommended read is Dodger, by Terry Pratchett, a 2013 Printz Honor recipient for young adults that The New York Times describes as "a masterwork from a treasure and hero of a writer... that will delight you."

Murray State’s Teacher Quality Institute’s Constance Alexander brings poetry to the studio on Sounds Good today. She’s produced Poetry Minutes for WKMS over the past several years. In the conversation, she reads some of the poems written by area school kids for the project, and talks about teaching poetry to kids, how to interpret something like a photo or painting using carefully constructed words.

Click here to listen to this year's Poetry Minutes.

Bonus: Here's last year's Poetry Minutes!

We continue our occasional series previewing good reads for young adults from Katherine Farmer, Coordinator of the Racers Children's Preview Collection at Murray State University. This week's recommended read is The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, a Newberry Winning book for ages 8 and up that School Library Journal describes as a must-have, that the characters will capture readers' hearts and never let go.

Jazmyne Lilly, Senior from Lone Oak High School, competes in the state Poetry Out Loud Championship in Frankfort Tuesday, March 12.  She is one of three seniors from our region among seventeen finalists for the opportunity to represent the Commonwealth in national competition.  She previews her recitation of a Carl Sandburg poem for us.

Lin Oliver is the author of the Who Shrunk Daniel Funk series, and the co-author, with Henry Winkler, of the bestselling Hank Zipzer series. She is a writer and producer of movies, books, and television series for children and families. The co-founder and executive director of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband and sons. On Sounds Good, we learned more about the event in Madisonville with Lin and fellow writer Theo Baker. Visit her at linoliver.com.

We continue our occasional series previewing good reads for young adults from Katherine Farmer, Coordinator of the Racers Children's Preview Collection at Murray State University. This week's recommended read is Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage, a Newberry Honor Winner that School Library Journal describes as a hilarious modern day mystery, that leaves the readers hoping for sequels.

We continue our occasional series previewing good reads for young adults from Katherine Farmer, Coordinator of the Racers Children's Preview Collection at Murray State University. This week's recommended read is Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, a book that The New York Times calls "a fiendishly-plotted mind game of a novel."

Thunderstruck is a 2012 film starring Oklahoma City Thunder player Kevin Durant, and Taylor Gray, Jim Belushi, Brandon T. Jackson, and Doc Shaw. It follows the story of a 16 year-old named Brian who can't play basketball but dreams to play like his hero, Kevin Durant. When Brian attends a game and gets the opportunity to meet Durant, they unknowingly transfer basketball abilities. WKMS Youth Radio Project's youth reporter Patrick Jones brings us this review.