Harold and the Purple Crayon: Exploration and Play are Just a Stroke Away (ft. Chris Van Allsburg & Brian Pinkney) - Do you remember reading Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon? To his friends and family Crockett was Dave Leisk. You might know him best for the bold purple line that gives shape to the spare illustrations of Harold and Purple Crayon, published in 1955. In this episode, Chris Van Allsburg and Brian Pinkney reflect on the influence Harold and the Purple Crayon had on them, their work, and the value they believe it offers young readers. To learn more about Chris Van ..read more

Do you remember reading The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg? As its 40th anniversary approaches, the book is nothing short of a Christmas classic. Before winning the Caldecott Medal in 1986, before the animated movie, and the Polar Express train rides Chris Van Allsburg had already garnered quite a reputation. He’s the author and illustrator behind The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, Jumanji, Zathura, and many others. In this episode, Chris Van Allsburg and Leo Landry discuss the moody illustrations and profound coming-of-age story that has fascinated holiday readers year after year since 1985. To ..read more

Fictional dystopias don’t create fear as much as they validate it. And isn’t that what we want as young people and even later as adults? To be validated, whether in our fears, our pain, or our happiness? Young Adult books let us explore, without the threat of rejection, what we most wish to understand or even accept, ourselves. In this episode, we explore a new era of female protagonists and the dystopian world in which they exist. Authors Veronica Roth and Mindy McGinnis create stories that challenge the conventional role of young female characters in YA literature and set forth to expose how ..read more

You may be familiar with Maurice Sendak’s books like Where the Wild Things Are or Outside Over There, but do you remember reading In the Night Kitchen? Just over 10 years after the prolific author's passing, we are returning to his 1970s dreamscape of a picture book. In the Night Kitchen offers a dazzling portrait of creativity and the expansive imaginations of children contending with an adult world. In this episode, besides stirring about in the needless controversy that often surrounds Maurice Sendak’s classic, In the Night Kitchen, we talk with two picture book authors influenced by the ma ..read more

Picture books, while they may be sparse in language, can pack in big and complex lessons about friendship, or difficult feelings. Their lessons often follow us into our adulthood. And, as for lessons, here is one for teachers — maybe hold off on telling students they can't draw. They may just grow up and turn you into an iconic mean character. If you’re really lucky though and kind and honest you just might become a superhero wrestler in training or a green light or a hippo with an incredible knack for friendship. In this episode, we pay homage to illustrator and author, James Marshall. His Ge ..read more

There is much to be learned from stories, whether they feature ghosts, witches, or monsters, even when they scare us. It is the lessons learned in the face of darkness that make supernatural stories important for young readers. And, it is telling, that stories of ghosts and graveyards stay with us. They might cause us a bit of grief, but when we face them, we face ourselves, our fears, and our histories, and in confronting them we learn collaboration, problem-solving, empathy, and companionship. In this episode, we dredge up some Halloween spirit and examine our favorite graveyards and the gho ..read more

Middle grade is a time when readers can be especially moved by the books they pick up. Books can center kids marginalized by conflict, can inspire other readers to decenter themselves, to listen better, and to be more intentional with welcome signs. In one sense, borders are fiction, lines made up by winners of wars. In another sense, borders have a potent impact on the lives of the people who cross them, often as a result of those wars. but the truth of crossing borders is in the smallest details of people’s lives and in the white space between those details. In this episode, three authors re ..read more

Children’s literature offers a rehearsal for the real world. A safe place for young readers to practice seeing beyond the easy narratives that are handed to them by their communities or that they might see in the media or even that they are taught in schools. It is the foundation for critical thinking. Children come to books already having a deep and wide emotional landscape they will use to navigate the world. Books can pull back the curtain on how things work and give kids a head start on making their corner of the world a little brighter. In this episode, Karina Yan Glaser and Anne Ursu ref ..read more

Magic and fantastical elements can get kids reading. Young adult fantasy novels construct portals readers can get sucked into, and when they emerge, they often have more nuanced and keen insights for making or remaking the world around them. The parallels to contemporary society can even give kids another way to see themselves. In this episode, Megan Whalen Turner, author of the Queen’s Thief series, Roseanne A. Brown, author of A Song of Wraith and Ruin, and Garth Nix, author of the Old Kingdom series, describe how the real world can be an inspiration for fantasy worlds, how a civilization’s ..read more

Books help young people wrap their minds around who they are, how they fit into the world and give them the language to demand the world make space for them. Queer Young Adult books can guide young readers through the myriad of experiences of coming out in different contexts and cultures. And, love stories can help young gay kids imagine themselves into meaningful adult lives and into fulfilling relationships that validate, nourish, and sustain them. In this episode, three authors of queer YA books share their personal coming-out experiences, which they later translated into their character’s ..read more