Courtney and Jennifer review and read "A Map for Falasteen" by Maysa Odeh, a poignant and relevant story about a little girl named "Falasteen" who cannot find her home, Palestine, on a school map. Based on a true story, Falasteen learns about her homeland's heart-wrenching history as her family gives her hope and courage to help keep her country and its people's live on in her even as people try to erase them.  This episode is safe for little ears.  https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-map-for-falasteen-a-palestinian-child-s-search-for-home-maysa-odeh/1909ec138c5882bc?ean=9781250896704&next=t

Courtney sits down with Karen from Defense of Democracy to discuss the up and coming Banned Books Week! 📚 Join the Defense of Democracy October 5–11 for free Readout Sessions where you can dive into discussions about banned books.👉 Register at https://defenseofdemocracy.org/readout ✅ Registration is free 💪 Donations welcome — every dollar helps fight censorship and defend democracy against today’s authoritarian threats.

Courtney sits down with Oklahoma AP Government teacher Aaron Baker to unpack the curious details of Trump’s “God Bless America” Bible. From its leather binding to the inclusion of Lee Greenwood’s lyrics, they explore this troubling addition to public schools. Most notably, they dig into the confusing and controversial decision to include the Three-Fifths Compromise. If you’re not sure what that means, don’t worry—Aaron breaks it down with the clarity of a master teacher, explaining not only what the compromise was, but why its presence in a modern Bible...that is present in a public classroom...is so unsettling. 

Don't miss your chance to join in on a book discussion with Courtney and Jennifer AND author, ASHLEY HOPE PEREZ on October 6th, at 6:00 pm EST. For Banned Books week, and in collaboration with Defense of Democracy, they are inviting YOU to a discussion with Ashley Hope Perez about her award-winning and censored historical fiction: "Out of Darkness". Sign up FOR FREE here: https://givebutter.com/outofdarkness (Donations greatly appreciated and go towards Defense of Democracy, not MILF4books).

Courtney and Jennifer have BIG news! On Oc. 6th at 6 pm EST, they are honored to host their very first Book Club WITH author, ASHLEY HOPE PEREZ! For Banned Books week, and in collaboration with Defense of Democracy, they are inviting YOU to join them in a discussion with Ashley Hope Perez about her award-winning and censored historical fiction: "Out of Darkness". Sign up FOR FREE here: https://givebutter.com/outofdarkness (Donations are optional but greatly appreciated and go towards Defense of Democracy, not MILF4books).

In this episode, Jennifer and Courtney celebrate the power of trans visibility with a discussion of Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (starting around the 58 minute mark). Before lifting up this groundbreaking YA urban fantasy, they confront the devastating and recent gun violence and the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death—naming the hateful rhetoric he and the MAGA movement have fueled for far too long.  Sources: https://bookshop.org/p/books/cemetery-boys-aiden-thomas/6633867edec95832?ean=9781250250469&next=t

In this episode, Jennifer and Courtney celebrate the power of trans visibility with a discussion of Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (starting around the 58 minute mark). Before lifting up this groundbreaking YA urban fantasy, they confront the devastating and recent gun violence and the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death—naming the hateful rhetoric he and the MAGA movement have fueled for far too long.  Sources: https://bookshop.org/p/books/cemetery-boys-aiden-thomas/6633867edec95832?ean=9781250250469&next=t

In this week’s episode, Jen and Courtney review just a few of today’s overwhelming—and unacceptable—world events before turning the discussion towards the Tulsa Race Massacre and Blackbirds in the Sky by award-winning author Brandy Colbert. (The book discussion starts around the 39 minute mark.) World topics range from the Gaza-bound Flotilla, who refuse to be intimidated by Israeli drone strikes as they attempt to deliver food, baby formula, and medicine to besieged and deliberately starved Palestinians, to the “Unconscionably Irreconcilable” SCOTUS decision permitting the racial profiling of Hispanic people. See sources below for more topics discussed.  Please note: This episode was recorded on September 9, 2025—before the death of Charlie Kirk. We will discuss this in our next full episode.  Sources: - https://prismreports.org/2023/11/30/palestinian-authors-wave-of-censorship/ - https://bookshop.org/p/books/black-birds-in-the-sky-the-story-and-legacy-of-the-1921-tulsa-race-massacre-brandy-colbert/42036984799823c3?ean=9780063056671&next=t - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/04/linda-mcmahon-black-history-dei-policy - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/27/why-trumps-attack-on-the-smithsonian-matters - https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cyv64eppj56o - https://freedomflotilla.org/2025/07/15/christian-smalls/ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Warp_Speed - https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-calls-floridas-move-eliminate-vaccine-mandates-tough-stance-you-have-vaccines-work - https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2025-09-08/chipocalypse-now-trump-chicago-war-no-joke - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr9r4qr0ppo  - https://katv.com/news/local/hundreds-of-struggling-arkansas-farmers-ask-federal-government-to-save-them-agriculture-ag-economy-farm-bill-commodity-prices-safety-net-big-beautiful-bill-derek-haigwood-brookland-farming-delta-farm-bankruptcy-closure-sale-trump-boozman-crawford - https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-white-house-decor-oval-office-photos-2025-4 - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/09/08/national-guard-litter-picking-gardening-washington-dc/ - https://www.npr.org/2025/08/19/nx-s1-5503390/baltimore-mayor-brandon-scott-low-crime-rates - https://www.npr.org/2025/09/02/nx-s1-5525647/a-california-judge-rules-that-trumps-deployment-of-the-guard-to-la-was-illegal - https://www.newsweek.com/sotomayor-blasts-supreme-courts-unconscionably-irreconcilable-decision-2126506 - https://www.opb.org/article/2025/09/09/supreme-court-lifts-restrictions-on-la-immigration-stops-set-after-agents-swept-up-us-citizens/ - https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/us-born-citizen-detained-ice-immigration-florida-rcna201800 - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-south-korean-workers-ice-raid-ties-strained-georgia-hyundai-plant/ - https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-vowed-deport-worst-worst-new-data-shows/story?id=123287810 - https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2014704117?utm_source=chatgpt.com - https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/05/politics/nra-transgender-gun-control - https://www.newsweek.com/map-countries-weapons-exports-israel-2110947 - https://www.axios.com/2025/09/03/israel-annex-west-bank-uae-trump-abraham-accords - https://www.investing.com/news/world-news/explainerwas-the-deadly-us-attack-on-the-venezuelan-vessel-legal-4224403?utm_source=chatgpt.com - https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-voice-of-hind-rajab/2060189664/

Join our https://patreon.com/MILF4Booksr, rate, review & subscribe wherever you listen! Jennifer and Courtney look for rainbows in the storm of LGBTQ+ erasure stirred up by the bloated orange Fanta himself. From rainbow-chalk resistance at the Desantis-erased Pulse memorial to lawsuits torching the unconstitutional bans on gender-affirming care—and, because it’s Florida, an alligator and Jello gender reveal—they spotlight resilience, resistance, and joy, topped off with a heartwarming read of https://bookshop.org/p/books/when-aidan-became-a-brother-kyle-lukoff/7175696 Regarding the recent court ruling about Florida’s Book Banning/Don’t Say Gaw Law: - On August 13, 2025, a federal court struck down key parts of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” HB 1060 law, saying books can’t be banned just for including LGBTQ+ content. - That doesn’t automatically put books like When Aidan Became a Brother back on shelves, but it gives parents, students, and teachers stronger legal ground to fight for them. - It’s a big reminder of why intellectual freedom matters and why students should be able to read diverse stories. - Action step: Check with your child’s school media specialist—do they have this book? If not, ask them to get it!

Courtney and Jen sit down with @missannie.schoolcounselor to hear her story about being fired for being an ally. How dare Miss Annie give LGBTQ students a sense of belonging and self worth?! From imposter syndrome to feminist nuns, they dive into the messy intersections of faith, education, and advocacy—proving that creating safe spaces for kids is always worth the fight.

Join our https://www.patreon.com/insights/membership so we can start a monthly Book Club! Get ready for the third and final Hunger Games episode. Courtney and Jennifer have already compared Panem to America, President Snow to Netanyahu/Trump, and now it's time to draw some parallels between President Snow and AOC…Yes, they went there.  Using The Mockingjay (Book 3 of Suzanne Collins’ YA dystopia) as a lens, they explore themes of media manipulation, performative leadership, and the complicated dynamics of rebellion. How do today’s political figures—especially the ones branded as disruptors—mirror the Capitol’s tactics more than they’d like to admit? Sources: https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/why-did-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-vote-against-cutting-us-aid-to-israel-nyc-rep-issues-explanation-article-152310521https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/08/politics/democrats-criticized-kente-cloth-trndhttps://www.timesofisrael.com/2-israeli-startup-entrepreneurs-played-roles-in-rise-of-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/

Join our https://www.patreon.com/insights/membership so we can start a monthly Book Club! Courtney and Jennifer have a lot to catch up on — from Trump’s cankles and Netflix’s “woke” reboot of The Babysitter’s Club to the chaos of K-Pop Demon Hunters and the great Coldplay scandal of 2025 (don’t worry, they have opinions). But things get serious when they dive into the heart of this episode: a raw, unapologetic comparison between President Snow, the fictional fascist of The Hunger Games, mass-murder, Benjamin Netanyahu and our very own fascist-in-chief, Donald Trump. Using Catching Fire (Book 2 of Suzanne Collins’ YA dystopia) as a lens, they explore themes of propaganda, collective punishment, media control, and the weaponization of fear — and what happens when truth becomes a casualty of power.If you're ready for dystopian fiction meets disturbing reality (with a side of pop culture chaos), this episode is for you. Donate to AT LEAST one of these https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nvvfSukq-Oc190d3vG-9mDZCPXK6vdM8a87hjCclvzc/edit?usp=sharing Show Notes: https://observer.com/2020/07/netflix-the-baby-sitters-club-books-tv-show-adaptation/ https://www.democracynow.org/2025/7/10/headlines/advocates_warn_arizona_woman_could_die_of_cancer_if_shes_not_released_from_ice_jail https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-republican-allies-split-jeffrey-epstein-files-marjorie-taylor-greene-lauren-boebert-2100074https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-hunger-games-new-why-fans-compare-gaza https://people.com/trump-administration-burn-500-tons-emergency-food-11773479 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/trump/2025/07/18/trump-vein-condition-leg-swelling-hand-bruising-diagnosis/85275604007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p https://people.com/trump-doodles-resurface-after-denying-graphic-epstein-letter-11774987 https://www.newsweek.com/maga-church-leader-charged-sexually-abusing-children-1972988 https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/lgbtq-book-ban-advocate-faces-felony-child-molestation-charge-missouri-rcna14763https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article310785240.html

Join our https://www.patreon.com/c/milf4books/membership page so we can do monthly book clubs! In this episode, Courtney and Jennifer talk about Ruby Bridges (and how the Secretary of Education/Human Garbage Pail did not know who she is), tacky coffee mugs, gun control, Trump's $6B Ed funding freeze, Norman Rockwell, the KKK, and Lexus-driving white moms drinking coffee (its all connected, we swear). Subscribe to the @MILF4Books YouTube page to see the terrible mug Courtney is drinking her coffee from.  - https://apnews.com/article/white-woman-racist-slur-video-black-child-1e8d75eef22c1243eaa65823f6cb0074 - https://apnews.com/article/white-woman-racist-slur-video-black-child-1e8d75eef22c1243eaa65823f6cb0074https://newsone.com/6208887/linda-mcmahon-tulsa-race-massacre-ruby-bridges/ - https://www.yahoo.com/news/parents-criticize-ruby-bridges-book-212700985.html - Frazzled about Education: https://mrsfrazzled.substack.com/p/what-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-means - https://www.newsweek.com/school-funding-map-trump-freeze-2095479 5 Star Story! https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-vetoes-transgender-rights-diversity-0011f5625ca032937c662c55600c51fe

What if dystopia isn’t just fiction? While “dystopia” means an imagined world, the themes in The Hunger Games—oppression, inequality, and state control—feel eerily familiar in our real world. From Venezuela distributing food only to government loyalists, to North Korea’s blackout zones outside Kim Jong Un’s elite capital, to the U.S. tax code favoring the ultra-wealthy under legislation like Trump’s “Big Egregious Bill”—real-life echoes of Panem are everywhere. In this episode, Jen and Courtney explore how The Hunger Games mirrors reality—and why that might be the reason it’s one of the most frequently challenged books of this century. Tune in and decide for yourself. https://docs.google.com/document/d/136opV9gFXhR_zF7j8NmubBL73g_pHbGxvbd67fPJoJk/edit?tab=t.0

Happy Pride Month! How does the Stonewall Uprising connect to Musk and Trump’s public break-up, unlawful ICE raids, cults, and the NY election fraud lawsuit? Tune in to find out! Sources:  - https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKZmwDhuer7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== - https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/outrage-and-solidarity-after-ice-raid-shakes-south-park-restaurant/ - https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/map - https://www.foxla.com/news/andry-hernandez-romero-gay-makeup-artist-deported-el-salvador-lgbtq-community-demands-justice - https://www.reddit.com/r/EyesOnIce/comments/1jlko6t/car_windows_smashed_in_violent_ice_arrests/ - https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/06/elon-musk-gop-donald-trump-midterms-00391246  - https://www.thejc.com/news/world/nearly-three-quarters-of-orthodox-voters-supported-trump-e0p10475 - https://thepreamble.com/

This episode probably should have been a two-parter but what's done is done. Join Courtney and Jennifer as they spend almost 2 hours diving into the three major "Caste" systems in the world: Karmic reincarnation in India, Aryan Supremacy in the Third Reich, and enslavement in United States (and its present-day effects). Courtney tells Jennifer about the EIGHT pillars of Caste, that Isabel Wilkerson so beautifully and extensively researched as commonalities for Caste systems around the world. In short, read this book for a detailed look into how and why people suck, and what we can do together to not suck so much! 

Courtney and Jennifer cover thehttps://bookshop.org/p/books/anne-frank-s-diary-the-graphic-adaptation-anne-frank/8570670?ean=9781101871799&next=t, which is https://apnews.com/article/censorship-books-school-libraries-holocaust-anne-frank-bb65349704ab2dae1ac90a0f9856d7b9 in multiple states, with one case resulted in the https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/20/texas-teacher-fired-anne-frank-book-ban of an 8th grade teacher thanks to the hate group, Moms for Liberty. Why? Anne describes a vulva with extensive biological accuracy...You'd think we would be supporting this kind of education considering https://www.news-medical.net/news/20170831/5025-of-men-struggle-to-identify-a-womans-vagina-correctly-on-a-diagram-Survey.aspx cannot accurately identify a vulva on a diagram. But that's not what this episode is about. It's about the importance of bearing witness through literature—especially when the story belongs to a child whose life was stolen by genocide. It's about connecting the past to the present. Because today, children are still dying in genocides—in the Middle East and Africa. Most notably, in Gaza, where over https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/unrwa-commissioner-general-gaza-harrowing-least-100-children-are-reported-killed as the U.S. continues to support Israel's devastating use of force and blockade tactics that amount to starvation and occupation.The death of a child is the death of infinite possibility. We must read these stories. We must teach them. And we must refuse to look away.

Courtney and Jen sit down with local friend and Genz for Change Activist, Jack Petocz, who had his beginnings as a high school student known for organizing the group: "Recall FCSB" (Flagler County School Board) after school board member Janet McDonald censored him for calling out her racist, anti-semtic, and homophobic rhetoric. Later, Jack organized a https://pen.org/press-release/pen-america-to-honor-florida-high-school-activist-jack-petocz-for-organizing-book-ban-and-dont-say-gay-protests-statewide/ against another school board member, Jill Woolbright, for filing a https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/17/us/florida-flagler-county-schools-all-boys-arent-blue-book/index.html against a media specialist who had the book https://bookshop.org/p/books/all-boys-aren-t-blue-a-memoir-manifesto-george-m-johnson/9902795?ean=9781250895561&next=t in their library. This award-winning Black queer memoir was feautured in Courtney and Jen's https://www.spreaker.com/episode/all-boys-aren-t-blue-by-george-m-johnson--65972687 of the MILF4Books podcast. Since then, Jack has continued fighting injustices as a member of https://www.genzforchange.org, a non-profit advocacy organization,  that uses the digital sphere to promote civil discource and civil action for issues including but not limited to genocide in Gaza, the attack on reproductive rights, the lack of LGBTQ, racial and immigration justice, and more. This episode, Jack features their most recent inititiaive, https://gz4c.org/fight/ which YOU can be apart of! Tune in to learn more. 

Courtney and Jen talk about previous books they have covered on this podcast such as The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed, and how they related to sexual assault for Sexual Assault Awareness month (even though that was in April and it is already May). They are *winning* at the podcasting game. In this episode, instead of talking about a new banned book, they discuss the bigots that should be banned and why it is so important NOT to stay quiet in these unprecedented times. Join the https://www.patreon.com/c/MILF4Books/membership today! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WjDYfBb8R8VX0AwY-1SJ-YmkzUAHiynPLNJslRVe-pk/edit?tab=t.0