Jenna Bush Hager Recommends Books for Alix Earle After the Influencer’s Polarizing Comments on Reading

Rachel McRadyThu, October 1, 2026 at 5:48 PM UTC

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Jenna Bush Hager recommends books for Alix Earle to read after her controversial comments.Credit: Jenna & Sheinelle -

Alix Earle recently said she has never read a book beyond possibly Dr. Seuss

Jenna Bush Hager suggested titles including The Baby-Sitters Club, Pachinko and The Hunger Games

Earle responded to the controversy by sharing a video reading Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

Jenna Bush Hager isn’t loving the example that Alix Earle is setting.

After the 25-year-old influencer recently told Interview Magazine during a Q&A, “I’ve never read a book,” saying that her last book was, “Like, maybe Dr. Seuss?”

This didn’t sit well with Bush Hager, 44, the founder of the Read with Jenna book club and the Thousand Voices publishing imprint. On Thursday, Oct. 1, the talk show host and her co-host Sheinelle Jones discussed Earle’s controversial comments on Today with Jenna & Sheinelle.

Jenna Bush Hager recommends Alix Earle read ‘The Baby-Sitters Club.’Credit: Jenna & Sheinelle

“I thought maybe she was just trying to be funny, or maybe you can’t think of anything so you just kind of make a joke out of it,” Jones suggested. “There’s a responsibility with the platform and there’s so many young girls — and boys — who look up to her.”

Making it clear that there was “no girl-on-girl crime,” Bush Hager added, “Alix, you’ve been on the show. We know that you’re smart … You know what we want to do, we want to give you a little syllabus, Alix Earle.”

True to form, the daughter of former President George W. Bush crafted a list of titles for the TikToker, starting off with some lighter reads.

“Since the last book she read was Dr. Seuss, let’s start with mid-grade and let’s read The Baby-Sitters Club,” she said, holding up one of the popular chapter books with a grin. “We know you’re an entrepreneur. She started her own brand. This talks about females getting together, starting a club, empowering each other, let’s start there.”

Bush Hager then suggested Judy Blume’s bestseller Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

“Now, Alix, if you haven’t learned about sex, this might hit the ticket,” Bush Hager quipped.

Jenna Bush Hager recommends Judy Blume’s ‘Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret’ to Alix Earle.Credit: Jenna & Sheinelle

The former English teacher then scolded Earle’s teachers saying, “If you haven’t read this in 8th or 9th grade, shame on your teachers! Have you not read Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck?”

Jones laughed at her co-host’s commentary, noting, “I feel like of all topics, this is the one that would set Jenna off.”

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“I know. Well, I was a 6th grade English teacher so therefore I know that she’s read a book,” the mother of three said. “I just know that she’s read a book. I also have an 8th grader that’s reading Night by Elie Wiesel, she’s reading a ton.”

Jenna Bush Hager shared a reading syllabus for Alix Earle after her controversial comments.Credit: Jenna & Sheinelle

Bush Hager then shared her entire reading list for Earle, which includes Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto, Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series, Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, Judy Blume’s Summer Sisters, Beverly Cleary’s Beezus and Ramona and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.

“We’ve got anything for you, Alix,” Bush Hager said. “Come here, sit on our show and we can teach you how to be a great reader. Come, and let me teach you how to read.”

Bush Hager added, “Also, we know Alix. She’s been on our show multiple times. She’s super smart, so that’s the disconnect. And it’s cool to be smart and funny and all the things, and pretty!”

Coincidentally, during a recent visit to the Today show, Earle discussed her biological connection to meteorologist Dylan Dreyer.

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“We joke that we’re family. I mean, we’re legit family. We’re second cousins,” Dreyer said.

Dreyer’s father and Earle’s father, Thomas “TJ” Earle are first cousins, making the weather woman and the content creator first cousins once removed.

Earle seems to have having fun with the controversy. On Oct. 1, she took to TikTok posting a video of her nighttime routine, which included her reading a copy of Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

“The best 🤍💋📖” she captioned the clip.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”