To start off, what are your top two most anticipated books of 2025?

Well, my most anticipated book is next week’s Onyx Storm. And then the next one that’s coming up is the latest one in the Inheritance Games series, which is just going and going and going. So I’m really looking forward to that. And an adult book is The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus.

What is your reading goal for this year? 

I always try and challenge myself to read nonfiction because that’s just not my go-to, but I’ve been getting better at it. Sometimes it’s easy to read nonfiction and sometimes it’s a struggle, but I am trying to continue to make that a goal to read nonfiction.

My normal goal is, usually in the summertime, I say 50 books and my entire goal is 100 books during the school year to read. Starting in the fall, I think I’m only at like 42 right now, so I really got a long way to go before the end of the school year.

I have books in three different places, like I have a book on my bedside table, I have a couch book, and then I have my treadmill book, so that’s how I can do that.

A lot of people’s New Year’s resolutions might involve reading more. What would you say to them to encourage them, especially people who don’t typically read a lot?

We have a lot of kids who come in here and they’re like, I just don’t like reading. I always say, find a subject that you’re interested in. I mean, it could be like serial killers, or it could be you want to become a nurse. Maybe you can find a subject and that’s a good place to get started reading.

For me, you know, I’m such a fiction reader, so then it’s hard for me to go into that nonfiction. But I think for some people, reading is not something that’s natural for them. They can find a nonfiction book and then maybe they can transition from nonfiction into fiction.

Fill in the blank, books give me hope because___.

Books give me hope because I think they are an escape. They are an escape. When I see others that are reading, I feel hope for the future. Books can give us that escape into something that will open up possibilities for the next generation is a generation of new possibilities. That’s my positive way of thinking of it.