A class of Tarrant County second-graders are discussing books over microphones, broadcasting their reviews of popular children’s series like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Magic Tree House through “a modern-style book report.”
Students and educators at Heritage Elementary School in the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District have launched a podcast, “Only Readers in the Building – Turning Pages Together,” as a fun and interactive way to get the school community involved in conversations about books. Twice a week, teacher Christi Cooper interviews her second-grade students for about three to six minutes each on books of their choice. She also invites other teachers on the podcast, first introducing them as “mystery guests” to see if students can guess who’s speaking.
Teachers, students and parents at Heritage Elementary can listen in on the discussions by scanning a QR code to the podcast that’s displayed on posters throughout the school. For Cooper, one of the inspirations behind the semester-long initiative was to help her students grow their love for reading.
A poster advertising the podcast, “Only Readers in the Building – Turning Pages Together,” is seen in the hallway of Heritage Elementary School in Grapevine-Colleyville ISD on Thursday, March 12, 2026. Second-grade students discuss books they’re reading on the podcast twice a week. Lina Ruiz lruiz@star-telegram.com
“I came up with this idea because I felt like it would be more fun to do than a regular book report, so just a modern-style book report,” Cooper said. “I thought the idea of a podcast would be fun. I’ve never done anything like that, and I thought the kids would really enjoy doing that part of technology.”
In Cooper’s classroom on Thursday afternoon, student Kylo Weisberg was the latest bookworm to star on the podcast’s 15th episode. He gave “26-Storey Treehouse” by Andy Griffiths a rating of five out of five stars and described it as energetic, crazy and funny. His live audience of classmates listened to his review and analysis of why he found the book entertaining.
“Terry feeds their pet sharks his underpants,” Weisberg said, causing Cooper to chuckle mid-interview.
Weisberg clarified there were three sharks total. Cooper asked why Terry did that.
“He was trying to clean it with the water, and the sharks jumped up and ate it,” Weisberg added.
After the recording was finished, Weisberg’s classmates shared what they liked about being both participants and listeners of the podcast.
“I think it’s helping us enjoy books more,” said Amy, who noted it only takes a few minutes out of the day to listen to an episode.
Second-graders listen as their classmate Kylo Weisberg discusses “26-Storey Treehouse” by Andy Griffiths with teacher Christi Cooper while recording an episode of the podcast, “Only Readers in the Building – Turning Pages Together,” on Thursday, March 12, 2026. Cooper’s students discuss books they’re reading on the podcast twice a week, which is available to the Heritage Elementary School community in Grapevine-Colleyville ISD. Lina Ruiz lruiz@star-telegram.com
Shreenesh, another second-grader, said it’s helped progress his reading skills.
“My favorite podcast has to be Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Partypooper,” he declared.
The podcast’s title was inspired by the “Only Murders in the Building” show streaming on Hulu and Disney Plus, starring Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short. Although students probably haven’t seen the show since it’s meant for older audiences, Cooper thought parents would get a laugh out of the play on words.
“I do love that show, but I just thought it was a fun twist,” she said.
Moving forward, Cooper hopes she can continue the project beyond this semester. She highlighted the growth in reading her students have shown since the podcast started.
“We’re trying to teach our kids to read, then we teach our kids to love reading, and then we teach our kids to learn from reading. So we’re kind of in that transition from learning to read to love to read,” Cooper said. “By the time we’re adults, we naturally want to share books that we love, and so I wanted them to start sharing the books that they love, too.”
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Lina Ruiz covers early childhood education in Tarrant County and North Texas for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. A University of Florida graduate, she previously wrote about local government in South Florida for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers.