School Library Musings: Tom, the Book Flood Guy

What do Matt de la Peña, Margarita Engle, Jerry Craft, Nikki Grimes, and Amanda Jones all have in common?

All of them were interviewed during the past year by retired teacher-librarian Tom Nixon on his intriguing podcast, Book Flood, now entering its second year. A weekly podcast directed to a wide audience of librarians, teachers, writers, readers, parents—and basically anyone interested in personal stories—the interviews are divided pretty evenly between librarians and current children’s and young adult writers. Book Flood topics range from how writers write, to school library advocacy, to how books fit into today’s cultural and political landscape.

What propels one to start up a podcast? For Tom, it was retirement.

After launching his teaching career in elementary school and then middle school English with the Fresno, CA, Unified School District, Tom made the move to school libraries while earning his teacher-librarian credential. During this time, he started an online program for FUSD, ultimately serving as manager for Library Services and Online Learning for the district’s 100+ schools. He retired in 2023 and started his podcast just one year later.

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“Book Flood was my personal response to what is happening in the library world, which I didn’t have time to do while working full-time,” he told us in a recent conversation. His podcasts help Tom maintain his connection with the school library community even in retirement, while promoting the amazing activities and programs school librarians provide and the thousands of students they reach.

When not tracking down and interviewing writers and librarians, Tom also volunteers for Read Across America and occasionally fills in at Fresno Unified at the administrative level for its Curriculum and Instruction program. “The best part of being retired is getting to pick and choose what you do,” he says.

How does he choose his podcast guests? “Whoever will step up!” he says. “I reach out, maybe stalk people a bit — and publishers often are willing to share connections to get publicity for their clients, especially if their authors are on a book tour.” Tom claims he was “very lucky” to get poet Nikki Grimes on his show, but in fact, he is unabashed about asking, and as a result, “I get more yesses than nos for interviews.” Librarian and anti-censorship activist Amanda Jones, harassed on social media for speaking out against book banning, was his first podcast guest. “Soon after our interview, she just blew up and was everywhere. It looked like I was being very prescient, but I was just lucky!”

His luck began while he was working at Fresno Unified. He called it “fortunate” that children’s poet and author Margarita Engle did her first-ever school visit at Fresno Unified — but Tom was on the scene and took advantage of that connection. Another early podcast featured Matt de la Peña. He saw that de la Peña was going to be at local children’s bookstore Petunia’s Place, so he attended the event and made the podcast offer. In truth, what he calls luck is really being aware of what’s happening in the fast-paced world of literature for young people—and acting on it.

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Tom bookended this year’s season with a second interview with Jones, for whom he has high praise. “If one of our teacher-librarians in Fresno did what Amanda Jones has done, I would be impressed—but Amanda lives in Louisiana!” He actively promotes diverse literature in his podcasts, and, among others, has interviewed Jerry Craft (New Kid), Varsha Bajaj (A Garland of Henna), and Darcie Little Badger (Elatsoe). His ideal guest would be Carla Hayden, the first female and African American librarian of Congress, summarily dismissed earlier this year by the current administration for “putting inappropriate books in the hands of children.”

Clearly, Tom doesn’t shy away from discussing controversial topics or highlighting the people who make things happen. His interviews with Patrick Sweeney and John Chrastka (both of EveryLibrary) encourage listeners to advocate for libraries—school and public alike. Another podcast with California State Librarian Greg Lucas explores the many ways state libraries work to provide robust community services across wide, diverse populations.

Despite the current climate, Tom remains optimistic about the future of libraries and librarians. “The challenges are bigger than one person or one administration. There is much work to be done, and everyone, from classified to administrators, needs to step up. Don’t assume the sky is falling, but be prepared for it to happen.”

The role of librarian has been a “wonderful career” for Tom personally, and an invaluable one in our society. As he points out, “You are a steward of literature, a steward of history—how is that not powerful?”

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Every elementary school in Fresno Unified has a full-time library media technician (LMT), while middle and high schools have both an LMT and a teacher-librarian. (The only exceptions are small specialty schools that share staffing.) This is a rare and wondrous situation—sadly nonexistent in many other California school districts.

“I’ve had truly amazing library techs doing truly amazing things way beyond the call of duty,” says Tom. “They provide support and encouragement to their fellow library techs in so many valuable ways.”

No matter what the staffing at their local school library, Tom advises parents to “trust and support your librarians, fight for them through your PTA, your school site council, your school board meetings. Schools listen to parents in ways they don’t always listen to employees. We have seen how this can be used for evil, but also for good.”

By recognizing compelling speakers, then boldly making the ask and addressing important questions, Tom Nixon has built a valuable collection of interviews that cover a lot of territory. You don’t have to be a librarian, a writer, a parent, or even a reader to appreciate these conversations with creative, engaged people talking about current issues, promoting thoughtful discourse, and building connections in their communities and beyond. His podcasts with writers and librarians are dedicated to topics that affect us all.

You can find Book Flood podcasts on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, iHeart, and elsewhere.

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