Stuart Gibbs interviews Christina Soontornvat on the Fully Booked Takeover.

On this week’s Fully Booked Takeover, special guest host Stuart Gibbs chats with friend and fellow young readers’ powerhouse Christina Soontornvat.

The Fully Booked Takeover welcomes a beloved bestselling author as our guest host for one episode. They invite another author whose work they admire for an in-depth conversation—writer to writer. The topics they pursue are all up to them.

Gibbs is the creator of Spy School, as well as four more beloved middle-grade series: FunJungle, Charlie Thorne, Moon Base Alpha, and The Last Musketeer. Before he became a New York Times bestselling author, he was a screenwriter for TV and film, a newspaper columnist, and a scientific researcher who specialized in capybaras (the world’s largest rodents). He lives with his family in Los Angeles.

Soontornvat is the award-winning author of more than a dozen books for young readers, including 2020 Kirkus Prize winner All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team. Before turning to writing full time, she was a mechanical engineer, science educator, and middle-school cheerleader—an experience recounted in her funny, triumphant, and poignant graphic memoir, The Tryout(2022). She lives with her family in Austin, Texas.

After the interview, editors Laura Simeon, Mahnaz Dar, Eric Liebetrau, and Laurie Muchnick share their top picks in books for the week.

EDITORS’ PICKS:

Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang, illus. by LeUyen Pham (First Second)

Shark Teeth by Sherri Winston (Bloomsbury)

A Hitch in Time: Reflections Ready for Reconsideration by Christopher Hitchens (Twelve)

You Only Call When You’re in Trouble by Stephen McCauley (Henry Holt)

ALSO MENTIONED ON THIS EPISODE:

Coyote Queen by Jessica Vitalis

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

Reef Road by Deborah Goodrich Royce

The Secret of the Kelimutu Volcano: The Rise of Golden Garuda by Hamsa Buvaraghan with Riya Sanjay and Eesha Sanjay, illus. by JV Graphic Designing

Intergalactica by F.P. Trotta, trans. by Fernanda Poltroneiri, illus. by Raiane De Almeida and Bruno Polonia

Shallcross: The Underwater Panthers by Charles Porter

Fully Booked is produced by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.