Episode 92: “Untangling the Thread of Racism” December 7, 2023

The American Academy of Pediatrics has long recognized that the world outside the walls of hospitals and clinics has a major impact on the health of children. A new book from the Academy, “Untangling the Thread of Racism”, aims to be a thoughtful, practical, and hands-on resource that addresses many aspects of this important but challenging topic. Dr. Jacqueline Dougé, a general pediatrician, public health practitioner, and one of the editors of the book, joins us to talk about how health professionals can address racism and race-related issues in their practices.

• Dr. Jacqueline Dougé

  Dr. Jacqueline Dougé is a general pediatrician and public health practitioner, an Assistant Professor of Public Health at Hood College’s Department of Nursing, and has held numerous roles in the health sector. She has served on the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Community Pediatrics Prevention and Public Health Special Interest Group as co-chair, as a member of the Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion, a member of the AAP News Editorial Board, and as a co-author of the transformative policy statement, “The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health.”  Dr. Dougé is an editor of the AAP’s recently published book “Untangling the Thread of Racism”.  (AAP)

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Episode 94: “Stories of Gratitude” November 22, 2023

We’re thankful to every person who reads aloud to a child. To mark this holiday devoted to giving thanks, we’re bringing back an episode we recorded during the pandemic. We asked three children’s authors — Traci Sorell, Ann Clare LeZotte, and Dr Sayantani DasGupta — to read aloud their own stories of gratitude, and we’re grateful to share those stories with you again. Click here for complete show transcripts.

• Traci Sorell

  Cherokee Nation citizen and award-winning Traci Sorell writes fiction and nonfiction books, short stories and poems for young people. A former federal Indian law attorney and advocate, she lives with her family within her tribe’s reservation in northeastern Oklahoma. You can find out more about her work online at www.tracisorell.com and @tracisorell via Twitter and Instagram.

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• Ann Clare LeZotte

  Ann Clare LeZotte is the author of Show Me a Sign (a 2020 School Library Journal Book of the Year, four starred reviews) and a forthcoming companion novel. A long-time youth services librarian who focused on underserved populations and inclusion, Ann is Deaf, bi-lingual, and bi-cultural. “I never had a romance about being ‘special’ or ‘different,’” she says. “I wished long and hard to be normal, a waste of time and a heartbreak I don’t want other young people to experience.” In her free time, Ann enjoys swimming and walking her dog, Perkins. She lives with her family in Gainesville, Florida.

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• Sayantani DasGupta

  Sayantani DasGupta is the New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed, Bengali folktale and string theory-inspired Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond books, the first of which—The Serpent’s Secret—was a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, a Booklist Best Middle Grade Novel of the 21st Century, and an EB White Read Aloud Honor Book. Sayantani is a pediatrician by training, but now teaches at Columbia University. When she’s not writing or reading, Sayantani spends time watching cooking shows with her trilingual children and protecting her black Labrador retriever Khushi from the many things that scare him, including plastic bags. She is a team member of We Need Diverse Books, and can be found online at sayantanidasgupta.com and on Twitter at @sayantani16.

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Episode 91: “Talk Baby Talk!” November 9, 2023

Reach Out and Read has commissioned and published its first children’s book, Talk Baby Talk! In an effort to increase access to books that are representative of families from all races, cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds, this book is reflective of Reach Out and Read’s mission, which focuses on the parent/caregiver-child relationship through daily reading. We discuss with Alex Chu, Executive Director for Reach Out and Read Northeast, author Tricia Elam Walker, and illustrator Cbabi Bayoc, about where the idea for the book came from, how the book was crafted, and how it can help families in ways that other books may not.

• Tricia Elam Walker

  Tricia Elam Walker is an award-winning author, attorney, and educator.  Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Essence and many other publications, and she is the author of the award winning books “Nana Akua Goes to School” and “Dream Street”. Her latest book is Talk Baby Talk.

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• Cbabi Bayoc

  Cbabi Bayoc is an internationally known artist whose work has appeared in New York Times bestsellers, magazines, on a record album, and in the pages of Ibram X. Kendi’s children’s book Goodnight Racism.  His recent book is Talk Baby Talk.

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• Alex Chu

  Alex Chu is the Executive Director for Reach Out and Read Northeast.

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Episode 90: “The Science Sessions: Research through Learning Networks” November 2, 2023

Reach Out and Read, in partnership with Columbia University, the Center for the Study of Social Policy, and the Institute for Child Success, is proudly embarking on the first national longitudinal study of early relational health. Tyson Barker, Chief Science & Innovation Officer at ICS joins us to talk about how the study will incorporate end-user design to learn best how to promote nurturing early relationships between young children and their caregivers.

• Tyson Barker

  Tyson Barker directs ICS’s science and innovation strategy by developing innovative tools and strategic initiatives that scale the impact of early childhood programs and policies. He also consults with government, nonprofits, and foundations around measurement and evaluation. Tyson received his PhD in Human Development from the University of Maryland, MA in Special Education and Risk Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and BA in Psychology from the University of California, Davis. (source: ICS)

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Episode 89: “Reading Sad Books Is Good for Your Kids” October 26, 2023

Children’s books should not only offer “windows and mirrors” into other cultures, races, and religions, but into a range of feelings and emotions. Craig Fehrman, author of a recent essay in The New York Times titled “Reading Sad Books Is Good for Your Kids”, joins us to talk about the importance of creating, sharing, and discussing children’s books that mix the “tragedy and joy that define great art and also real life.

• Craig Fehrman

  Craig Fehrman is a writer and historian who, in addition to his new book Authors in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote, has written several pieces for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. His essay, “Reading Sad Books Is Good for Your Kids”, was recently published in The New York Times.

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Episode 88, – “Gibberish”, October 12, 2023

Moving to a new country is a challenge for everyone, but especially so for children. New immigrants often face pressure to assimilate quickly — to ‘dress like us’ and talk ‘like us’ — and stop speaking the languages that ‘don’t make sense’ to our ears. Young Vo, author of the new children’s picture book “Gibberish” joins us to discuss these common tropes and says it’s not the newcomer that’s speaking “gibberish”; it’s us.

• Young Vo

  Young Vo is an artist who learned to draw before he could write. He drew a lot of characters, then began to write stories for them. There were not many job choices that he could make, so he decided to be an animator and an award-winning author and illustrator. Now he writes and draws his stories before the sun rises, then during the day, he animates.  His most recent book, “Gibberish”, is a widely acclaimed children’s picture book about a young immigrant struggling to connect in a new language. (Source: youngvoart.com)

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Episode 87, – “Thinking Sideways to Solve Problems”, September 28, 2023

“Think sideways” isn’t just a catch phrase – applied thoughtfully, small changes in mindset and approach can have a big impact. Anthony Barrows, Managing Partner and Founder at the Center for Behavioral Design and Social Justice at Project Evident, joins us to share his research—informed often by his own life story—into how applied behavioral science can help us successfully solve big problems.

• Anthony Barrows

  Anthony Barrows, Managing Partner and Founder, Center for Behavioral Design and Social Justice, is a jack of all trades and a master of some, with a background in behavioral design, child welfare, public policy, and fine arts. As someone with personal experience of foster care, public housing, juvenile justice, and safety net programs, Anthony brings lived expertise to his systems change work in the nonprofit and public sectors. He spent almost 9 years at the applied behavioral science firm ideas42, where he led the economic-justice portfolio, and over 10 years in child welfare, spanning positions from direct service to system improvement. Anthony is a 2018 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow, and holds an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School, where he was a Gleitsman Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership, an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and a BA from UMass Boston. (source: Project Evident)

   

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Episode 86, – “Translating Children’s Books”, September 14, 2023

How hard could it be to translate a children’s book — they are mostly pictures and so few words, after all? It’s not so simple, it turns out. Daniel Hahn, a writer, editor, and literary translator who has translated hundreds of adult and children’s books alike joins us to break down the artistry and nuance that goes into successfully translating children’s picture books.

• Daniel Hahn

  Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor, literary translator, and the author of “Catching Fire: A Translation Diary.”

   

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Episode 85, – “The Science Sessions: Reach Out and Read Impact Study”, September 7, 2023

The Science Sessions, a new feature from the Reach Out and Read Podcast, examines and explains important research on early relational health, early literacy, and more. In this inaugural episode, Dr. Marny Dunlap and Callee Boulware join us to discuss how a new study shows exposure to Reach Out and Read increases caregiver reading frequency and improves behaviors.

• Dr. Marny Dunlap

  Dr. Marny Dunlap is a Professor of Pediatrics and section chief for the Section of General and Community Pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, and the medical director for Reach Out and Read Oklahoma. (source: Dr. Dunlap)

   

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• Callee Boulware

  Callee Boulware has been the Regional Director of Reach Out and Read in NC, SC, VA, and DC since 2001. Over the past 22 years, the Reach Out and Read regional team has expanded its reach to more than 750 clinical locations across NC, SC, VA, and DC serving more than 500,000 children birth-5 years old each year. Callee leads a staff of 20 committed Reach Out and Read regional team members, and works with their Reach Out and Read Advisory Board and local, state, regional, and national partners. (source: C. Boulware)

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Episode 84, – “Once Upon a Time …”, August 31, 2023

“The literary tradition of the fairy tale has long endured as the vehicle by which we interrogate the laws of reality.” Sabrina Orah Mark, author of the new book “Happily” and an award-winning writer and columnist for The Paris Review, joins the podcast to talk about how fairy tales shape — and reflect — our world, in childhood and beyond.

• Sabrina Orah Mark

  Sabrina Orah Mark is an award-winning fiction writer and poet who has written the column “Happily” for The Paris Review since 2018. She is the author of Wild Milk, a collection of fiction, as well as two collections of poetry, The Babies and Tsim Tsim. (source: “Happily” book jacket)

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Episode 83, – “Pictured Worlds”, August 17, 2023

Illustrated children’s books capture the imagination of children and adults alike like no other art form. Leonard Marcus, one of the world’s preeminent authorities on children’s books and their creators, joins us to talk about “the special nature of the illustrated children’s book as a cultural enterprise that is at once rewarding art form, a bridge across cultures, and a ladder between generations.

• Leonard Marcus

  Leonard Marcus’s pathfinding writings and exhibitions have earned him acclaim as one of the world’s preeminent authorities on children’s books and the people who create them. He is the author of more than 25 award-winning biographies, histories, interview collections, and inside looks at the making of children’s literature’s enduring classics. His reviews and commentary have been featured in the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, The Horn Book, and on numerous radio and television programs including Good Morning America, All Things Considered, PBS NewsHour, BBC Radio 4, CBC As It Happens, Beijing Television, and Radio New Zealand, among others. His latest book is Pictured Worlds: Masterpieces of Children’s Book Art by 101 Essential Illustrators from Around the World. (source: L. Marcus website)

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