Alix Earle says she has never read a book, so Jenna Bush Hager is here to help.
The creator of the Read with Jenna book club broke out a reading list for the social media star on TODAY Oct. 1 after Earle, 25, told Interview magazine that sheโs โnever read a book,โ except for โmaybe Dr. Seuss.โ The revelation sparked backlash and shocked Jenna.
โAlix, youโve been on the show,โ Jenna said on TODAY. โWe know that youโre smart, so you know what we want to do, we want to give you a little syllabus.โ
Earle reacted to her comment going viral on her Instagram story by reposting a tweet about it, adding the caption, โThis is sending me,โ per EW.
Before Jenna broke out her reading recommendations for Earle, she and Sheinelle talked about the benefits of curling up wth a book.
โWith social media, you have to use your mind quickly,โ Jenna said. โWhen you sit in a book and youโre there for a while it uses a different part of our brain, which is a part that we used a lot back in the day and has been sort of combated with the rise of short videos.
โReading fiction brings about โ and we know this โ the rise of empathy,โ she continued. โBecause youโre sitting in the shoes of somebody else.โ
With that said, she offered the following books for Earle.
โCome here, sit on our show, and we can teach you how to be a great reader,โ Jenna said.
โThe Baby-Sitterโs Clubโ
Jenna first recommended the classic childrenโs book series by Ann M. Martin.
โWe know youโre an entrepreneur,โ Jenna said. โShe started her own brand. This talks about females getting together, starting a club, empowering each other. Letโs start here, Alix.โ
โAre You There God? Itโs Me, Margaretโ
Judy Blumeโs iconic 1970 novel about sixth-grader Margaret Simon has been a rite-of-passage read for generations of kids.
โAlix, if you havenโt learned about sex, this might hit the ticket,โ Jenna joked.
โOf Mice and Menโ
The 1937 novella by John Steinbeck about the Depression-era experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small is a staple of scholastic reading lists.
โIf you didnโt get assigned this in eighth grade, I want to talk to your English teacher,โ Jenna said.
โPachinkoโ
A more contemporary classic, the 2017 novel by Min Jin Lee follows the saga of multiple generations of a Korean family who move to Japan.
โI love this author so much,โ Jenna said before showing off the weighty tome. โThis is a bigger one, so thatโs why you start with these (other books).โ
Jenna wasnโt done, and she included a syllabus with seven more books:
- โBel Cantoโ by Ann Patchett
- โThe Hunger Gamesโ by Suzanne Collins
- โThe House on Mango Streetโ by Sandra Cisneros
- โThe Fault in Our Starsโ by John Green
- โSummer Sistersโ by Judy Blume
- โBeezus and Ramonaโ by Beverly Cleary
- โThe Bluest Eyeโ by Toni Morrison
