Uptop Books Water for Elephants Podcast #1

Posted by Naima DeBrest in College English · Giknis · C Band on Monday, January 7, 2019 at 9:23 pm

College English Water for Elephants Book Club Logo

The name of your podcast

Uptop Books

The names of the group members

Naima DeBrest, Kyianna Thomas, Lauren Matthews

The title of the episode

Episode 1: Literal and Figurative

The podcast logo

Above the video

A brief blurb (a paragraph) about your episode
(make sure this includes the title/author of the book)

The book that we are reading is Water for Elephant by Sara Gruen. It as written in 2006 but it takes place in 1932. It chronicles the life of a young man named Jacob who leaves veterinary school and joins the circus. As the story goes on a love triangle arises and tensions in the foundation of the circusare revealed. For this podcast we will be talking about pages 1-104.

A list of the evidence used (with page numbers) for listeners to locate as desired

“I used to carry water for the elephants,” says McGuinty. I drop my fork and look up. He is positively dripping with self-satisfaction, just waiting for the girls to fawn over him. “You did not,” I say. There is a beat of silence."

“Here,” he says, pointing at a pair of buckets. “Use these.” “But what about Walter?” I ask, reading the name from the side of one of them. “Oh, I know Walter. He’ll understand. Got a razor?”

. “Auggie says you’re a vet.” At the sound of his name, August spins around. “No,” I say. “Imean, not exactly.” “He’s being modest,” says August.

A streamable link to your podcast recording that is publicly accessible (10ish minutes)
(YouTube might be the easiest option here)

Comments (11)

Sydney Rogers

You guys did a really good job of being descriptive in your podcast. You sounded professional but entertaining at the same time. It was easy to stay on track while listening.

Lauryn Lewis

I really like how you still got the video to succeed despite one of the group members being absent!

Jacobo Pastor

I agree with everyone else, the fact that you gave the audience so much background information made it very clear and easy to follow through, and there was even time to jump into the episode's topic discussion. Great job.

William Huang

I really appreciated how you guys introduced the book with a short summary and also included some history of the book as well as the author's background. It was interesting to learn about why you guys chose to read the book. The ending was really abrupt.

Kiah Johnson

I loved the detail in the description of the book and the author. The fact that you were able to detect the connections with the book you are currently reading and her other books is really good, gives us and yourselves a sense of what to expect and generally know what her passions are. The whole thing was very smooth, connecting with other books you've read in the past was great too. It helps that a lot of people read Gatsby, so people would be able to relate to the book without reading it because we know the characters in Gatsby.

Avraham Cantor

I really liked this podcast! You guys have a lot of energy and clearly did your research on the book. You guys made a lot of great points that were really interesting and the flow of the conversation was really natural. Great job!

James Adams

I like how the podcast is more like a discussion. It doesn't seem like your reading off a script or anything and the podcast flows well throughout. I also like how you ask other members questions, it really ties the podcast together

Harlem Satterfield

I like how you started by talking about the history and stats behind the book. It does sound a little scripted though.

Paxton Wentzell

You did a good job making sure Kyianna was incorporated in the podcast after you guys were already done recording. This was something that my group struggles with as well.

Zaire Williams

Y’all did good with comparing the characters to different novals like “The Great Gatsby”. It gave me a better understanding of who they are.

Lily Rivera

Something that I really enjoyed was the background you gave at the beginning of the podcast. Since I have not read the book or seen the movie, it was a nice touch so I could still follow along and understand what you were talking about. You also talked a lot about the author and what might have inspired her to write the story, and I found that really interesting. I also love the connections you draw to other books that you've read in the past! Something else that really works in this is the way you transition between points. Lauren was speaking and brought up a point that Naima had thought of earlier, and let her speak on that, which I felt was really smooth. Great discussion, guys!