The Children's Book Podcast

Today I want to introduce you to a podcast where middle grade readers talk about books. And to a friend of mine named Kitty. She’s a journalist, podcaster, reader, and, of course, a fan of kids, too!   The Book Club for Kids is the place where young readers meet to talk about books. The show includes a celebrity reader and an interview with the author. The host is award winning public radio journalist Kitty Felde. Book Club won the California Library Association Technology Award and the DC Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Humanities. And get this… this podcast was named one of the top 10 podcasts for kids by THE TIMES of London.   The episode we’re sharing today is with author and Prinz Honor winner Lisa Fipps. She wrote an exceptional novel in verse called Starfish. If you’ve been listening to the pod this week, you heard her read a poem from Starfish called “Lucky Dog.”   Well… if you’re new to the Book Club for Kids, you are in for a treat!    Let’s not waste another minute! Enjoy! And don’t forget to follow or subscribe to the Book Club for Kids wherever you get your podcasts!  

Lisa Fipps, author of Starfish, shares a poem for Poetry Month.  ADDITIONAL LINKS: Lisa Fipps website - authorlisafipps.com/about Purchase the book - Starfish CREDITS:   This podcast episode of The Children’s Book Podcast was written, edited, and produced by Matthew Winner. For a full transcript of this episode, visit matthewcwinner.com.    Write to me or send me a message at matthewmakespods@gmail.com.    Our podcast logo was created by Duke Stebbins (https://stebs.design/).    Our music is by Podington Bear.    Podcast hosting by Libsyn.    You can support the show and buy me a coffee at www.matthewcwinner.com.   We are a proud member of Kids Listen, the best place to discover the best in kids podcasts. Learn more at kidslisten.org.   Fellow teachers and librarians, want a way to explore building a stronger culture of reading in our communities? In The Reading Culture podcast, Beanstack co-founder Jordan Bookey hosts conversations that dive into beloved authors' personal journeys and insights into motivating young people to read. And I am a big fan! Check out the Reading Culture Podcast with Jordan Bookey, from Beanstack. Available wherever podcasts are found. DISCLAIMER: Bookshop.org affiliate links provided for any book titles mentioned in the episode. Bookshop.org support independent bookstores and also shares a small percentage of any sales made through this podcast back to me, which helps to fund production of this show.

Robert Schechter, author of The Red Ear Blows Its Nose: Poems for Children and Others, shares a poem for Poetry Month.  ADDITIONAL LINKS: Robert Schechter website - https://www.bobschechter.com/ Purchase the book - The Red Ear Blows Its Nose: Poems for Children and Others CREDITS:   This podcast episode of The Children’s Book Podcast was written, edited, and produced by Matthew Winner. For a full transcript of this episode, visit matthewcwinner.com.    Write to me or send me a message at matthewmakespods@gmail.com.    Our podcast logo was created by Duke Stebbins (https://stebs.design/).    Our music is by Podington Bear.    Podcast hosting by Libsyn.    You can support the show and buy me a coffee at www.matthewcwinner.com.   We are a proud member of Kids Listen, the best place to discover the best in kids podcasts. Learn more at kidslisten.org.   Fellow teachers and librarians, want a way to explore building a stronger culture of reading in our communities? In The Reading Culture podcast, Beanstack co-founder Jordan Bookey hosts conversations that dive into beloved authors' personal journeys and insights into motivating young people to read. And I am a big fan! Check out the Reading Culture Podcast with Jordan Bookey, from Beanstack. Available wherever podcasts are found. DISCLAIMER: Bookshop.org affiliate links provided for any book titles mentioned in the episode. Bookshop.org support independent bookstores and also shares a small percentage of any sales made through this podcast back to me, which helps to fund production of this show.  

Vanessa Brantley Newton, author and illustrator of Just Like Me, shares a poem for Poetry Month.  ADDITIONAL LINKS: Vanessa Brantley Newton website - https://www.vanessabrantleynewton.com/ Purchase the book - Just Like Me CREDITS:   This podcast episode of The Children’s Book Podcast was written, edited, and produced by Matthew Winner. For a full transcript of this episode, visit matthewcwinner.com.    Write to me or send me a message at matthewmakespods@gmail.com.    Our podcast logo was created by Duke Stebbins (https://stebs.design/).    Our music is by Podington Bear.    Podcast hosting by Libsyn.    You can support the show and buy me a coffee at www.matthewcwinner.com.   We are a proud member of Kids Listen, the best place to discover the best in kids podcasts. Learn more at kidslisten.org.   Fellow teachers and librarians, want a way to explore building a stronger culture of reading in our communities? In The Reading Culture podcast, Beanstack co-founder Jordan Bookey hosts conversations that dive into beloved authors' personal journeys and insights into motivating young people to read. And I am a big fan! Check out the Reading Culture Podcast with Jordan Bookey, from Beanstack. Available wherever podcasts are found. DISCLAIMER: Bookshop.org affiliate links provided for any book titles mentioned in the episode. Bookshop.org support independent bookstores and also shares a small percentage of any sales made through this podcast back to me, which helps to fund production of this show.

Lindsay Metcalf, co-editor of No World Too Big: Young People Fighting Global Climate Change, shares a poem for Poetry Month.  ADDITIONAL LINKS: Lindsay Metcalf website - https://lindsayhmetcalf.com/ Purchase the book - No World Too Big: Young People Fighting Global Climate Change CREDITS:   This podcast episode of The Children’s Book Podcast was written, edited, and produced by Matthew Winner. For a full transcript of this episode, visit matthewcwinner.com.    Write to me or send me a message at matthewmakespods@gmail.com.    Our podcast logo was created by Duke Stebbins (https://stebs.design/).    Our music is by Podington Bear.    Podcast hosting by Libsyn.    You can support the show and buy me a coffee at www.matthewcwinner.com.   We are a proud member of Kids Listen, the best place to discover the best in kids podcasts. Learn more at kidslisten.org.   Fellow teachers and librarians, want a way to explore building a stronger culture of reading in our communities? In The Reading Culture podcast, Beanstack co-founder Jordan Bookey hosts conversations that dive into beloved authors' personal journeys and insights into motivating young people to read. And I am a big fan! Check out the Reading Culture Podcast with Jordan Bookey, from Beanstack. Available wherever podcasts are found. DISCLAIMER: Bookshop.org affiliate links provided for any book titles mentioned in the episode. Bookshop.org support independent bookstores and also shares a small percentage of any sales made through this podcast back to me, which helps to fund production of this show.  

Keila Dawson, co-editor of No World Too Big: Young People Fighting Global Climate Change, shares a poem for Poetry Month.    ADDITIONAL LINKS: Keila Dawson website - https://www.keiladawson.com/ Purchase the book - No World Too Big: Young People Fighting Global Climate Change   CREDITS: This podcast episode of The Children’s Book Podcast was written, edited, and produced by Matthew Winner. For a full transcript of this episode, visit matthewcwinner.com.  Write to me or send me a message at matthewmakespods@gmail.com.  Our podcast logo was created by Duke Stebbins (https://stebs.design/).  Our music is by Podington Bear.  Podcast hosting by Libsyn.  You can support the show and buy me a coffee at www.matthewcwinner.com. We are a proud member of Kids Listen, the best place to discover the best in kids podcasts. Learn more at kidslisten.org. Fellow teachers and librarians, want a way to explore building a stronger culture of reading in our communities? In The Reading Culture podcast, Beanstack co-founder Jordan Bookey hosts conversations that dive into beloved authors' personal journeys and insights into motivating young people to read. And I am a big fan! Check out the Reading Culture Podcast with Jordan Bookey, from Beanstack. Available wherever podcasts are found.   DISCLAIMER: Bookshop.org affiliate links provided for any book titles mentioned in the episode. Bookshop.org support independent bookstores and also shares a small percentage of any sales made through this podcast back to me, which helps to fund production of this show.

Elizabeth Partridge and Lauren Tamaki share Seen and Unseen, an important work of nonfiction featuring powerful images of the Japanese American incarceration captured by three photographers--Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams--along with firsthand accounts of this grave moment in history.   BOOK DESCRIPTION: Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams's Photographs Reveal about the Japanese American Incarceration by Elizabeth Partridge and Lauren Tamaki Page Length: 132 pages Ages 10 to 14, Grades 5 to 9 This important work of nonfiction features powerful images of the Japanese American incarceration captured by three photographers--Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams--along with firsthand accounts of this grave moment in history. Three months after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the incarceration of all Japanese and Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States. Families, teachers, farm workers--all were ordered to leave behind their homes, their businesses, and everything they owned. Japanese and Japanese Americans were forced to live under hostile conditions in incarceration camps, their futures uncertain. Three photographers set out to document life at Manzanar, an incarceration camp in the California desert: Dorothea Lange was a photographer from San Francisco best known for her haunting Depression-era images. Dorothea was hired by the US government to record the conditions of the camps. Deeply critical of the policy, she wanted her photos to shed light on the harsh reality of incarceration. Toyo Miyatake was a Japanese-born, Los Angeles-based photographer who lent his artistic eye to portraying dancers, athletes, and events in the Japanese community. Imprisoned at Manzanar, he devised a way to smuggle in photographic equipment, determined to show what was really going on inside the barbed-wire confines of the camp. Ansel Adams was an acclaimed landscape photographer and environmentalist. Hired by the director of Manzanar, Ansel hoped his carefully curated pictures would demonstrate to the rest of the United States the resilience of those in the camps. In Seen and Unseen, Elizabeth Partridge and Lauren Tamaki weave together these photographers' images, firsthand accounts, and stunning original art to examine the history, heartbreak, and injustice of the Japanese American incarceration. NOTABLE QUOTES: (7:50) “There was a kid in my class named Paul Yanamora who said in front of the whole class that his family had not been allowed to buy a house in our neighborhood after the war because they were Japanese American. And I was absolutely shocked. That's when it totally hit me that something really bad had happened in our country that I did not understand.” (8:44) I didn't know my grandparents' involvement until working on this book, how their families were involved. And it, it was just something that… “Oh, we left. We got over it. We left it behind. Look how successful we are. We don't have to talk about it.” (12:30) “The two of us got to work together in a collaboration that's almost never allowed in doing a book together, which is usually the writer writes their bit and then they pull out and then the illustrator gets to work. But there was too many overlaps. I mean, I had the photos and then Lauren had these ideas and then she was like, “Well, if you could do this photo, I could do this illustration.” I'm like, “Huh! That's a fantastic idea. Let's swap photos.” So we just really shifted things around and it ended up letting both of us go so much deeper than we would've individually.” (19:55) “Because you can talk in these grand kind of monolithic ways about an experience and about a people, but when you personalize it, that's when you can touch people.”  (25:33) “There was so much of myself in this book.” (25:42) “It's never too late to discover parts of yourself, like, these big parts of yourself.” (26:47) “Today, everybody has a cell phone and there's a camera in the cell phone. So we have a very powerful tool for social justice in our back pocket. And I just wanna encourage people when you see something that just doesn't feel right, you can bear witness to that by taking a photograph.”  (27:45) “You can't let fear make the decisions for you.” ADDITIONAL LINKS: Elizabeth Partridge website - elizabethpartridge.com.  Lauren Tamaki website - laurentamaki.com Purchase the Book - Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams's Photographs Reveal about the Japanese American Incarceration TALK ABOUT THE EPISODE: What is an event that took place in history that you learned about recently? What was it like for you to learn this information? If able to make the connection, how do these historic events connect with our world today? Look up photos by one of the three photographers mentioned in this podcast episode: Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, or Ansel Adams. How would you describe the moment captured in the photograph? What does it make you feel? What do you think the photographer was communicating through this photograph? Talk with a grownup about the Japanese American incarceration. What (if anything) do they remember about this event? When did they learn about the incarceration? If able to recall, what did they feel when they first learned about the incarceration? And how do they feel about the incarceration now? Share your own reflections with the grownup. CREDITS: This podcast episode of The Children’s Book Podcast was written, edited, and produced by Matthew Winner. For a full transcript of this episode, visit matthewcwinner.com.  Write to me or send me a message at matthewmakespods@gmail.com.  Our podcast logo was created by Duke Stebbins (https://stebs.design/).  Our music is by Podington Bear.  Podcast hosting by Libsyn.  You can support the show and buy me a coffee at www.matthewcwinner.com. We are a proud member of Kids Listen, the best place to discover the best in kids podcasts. Learn more at kidslisten.org. Fellow teachers and librarians, want a way to explore building a stronger culture of reading in our communities? In The Reading Culture podcast, Beanstack co-founder Jordan Bookey hosts conversations that dive into beloved authors' personal journeys and insights into motivating young people to read. And I am a big fan! Check out the Reading Culture Podcast with Jordan Bookey, from Beanstack. Available wherever podcasts are found. DISCLAIMER: Bookshop.org affiliate links provided for any book titles mentioned in the episode. Bookshop.org support independent bookstores and also shares a small percentage of any sales made through this podcast back to me, which helps to fund production of this show.

Students, teachers, and librarians, you’re invited to participate in the Authors Take Action #ClimatePoemProject! I’m joining other children’s poets and authors to share poetry prompts on the theme of “climate” for National Poetry Month and Earth Day, April 2023. Authors Take Action website - #ClimatePoemProject

Divinity Roxx and NaShantá Fletcher share Me + You and Happy & Healthy, two stories celebrating diverse families and moving and grooving to your own beautiful beat.    BOOK DESCRIPTION: Me + You by Divinity Roxx; illustrated by NaShantá Fletcher Page Length: 32 pages Ages 3 to 8 Diverse families and children celebrate one another in this catchy, hip-hop look at what family really means.   Happy & Healthy by Divinity Roxx; illustrated by NaShantá Fletcher Page Length: 32 pages Ages 3 to 8 Joyful children move and groove to their own beautiful beat in this vibrant hip-hop celebration of life and health. Every book purchase includes exclusive access to the catchy song...to sing along!   NOTABLE QUOTES: (9:35) “Growing up, my mom made sure that we always had nutritious dinners and lunches, and so I am still very much… I still very much do that for myself.” (10:44) “I recently started (very recently started) working from home, and I didn't realize how much being at a workplace and being surrounded by people makes me happy until I started working by myself and in this home.” (13:16) “Generally, when I think about writing for kids, I think about what I wanted to hear when I was a kid and what I may not have heard, what was missing.” (15:44) “I come up with song ideas based off of the children around me and my experience as a child. I still feel like that child inside of me. I really connect to her in so many ways.”  (18:56) “I wanted to make it, like, this authentic world, like the world I see around me, cuz I grew up in urban neighborhoods. I'm from Chicago. I live just outside the city now, but I wanted to illustrate the people that I see every day, like the people I see at the grocery store, at the park, or at the laundromat, because there are so many different types of people around us.”  (25:48) “Whatever you can imagine for yourself in your life, you can make it happen. Your imagination is so powerful that something that exists in your mind only can be output into the world as a very real and tangible thing. So go and dream big.” (26:17) “Don't feel like you have to be like everyone else. It's okay to be different. And we have to be kind to each other and respect what makes us all unique.”   ADDITIONAL LINKS: Divinity Roxx Website - www.diviroxxkids.com NaShantá Fletcher Website - nashanta.com Purchase the Book - Me + You Purchase the Book - Happy & Healthy Me + You Video (password required) Happy & Healthy Video (password required) TALK ABOUT THE EPISODE: Who is in your family? Who do you live with that is in your family? Who lives somewhere else, but is in your family? What makes someone (or something) family to you? Share your answers with a grownup. How are they similar? How are they different? What are ways you and your family stay healthy? What ways do you take care of your body? Your heart? Your mind? What is a new healthy habit that you would like to try? How does it feel to be noticed or celebrated by somebody? Have you read a book with a character that looks or acts or celebrates or believes similar to you? How does that feel to find a character similar to you and your family? How does it feel to read about characters different from you and your family?  We heard parts of three songs from Divinity Roxx today: “Me Plus You”, “Happy and Healthy”, and “Feeling Good”. Which song caught your attention? What was it about this song that made you sit up and notice? How did the song make you feel?   CREDITS: This podcast episode of The Children’s Book Podcast was written, edited, and produced by Matthew Winner. For a full transcript of this episode, visit matthewcwinner.com.  Write to me or send me a message at matthewmakespods@gmail.com.  Our podcast logo was created by Duke Stebbins (https://stebs.design/).  Our music is by Podington Bear.  Podcast hosting by Libsyn.  You can support the show and buy me a coffee at www.matthewcwinner.com. We are a proud member of Kids Listen, the best place to discover the best in kids podcasts. Learn more at kidslisten.org. Fellow teachers and librarians, want a way to explore building a stronger culture of reading in our communities? In The Reading Culture podcast, Beanstack co-founder Jordan Bookey hosts conversations that dive into beloved authors' personal journeys and insights into motivating young people to read. And I am a big fan! Check out the Reading Culture Podcast with Jordan Bookey, from Beanstack. Available wherever podcasts are found.   DISCLAIMER: Bookshop.org affiliate links provided for any book titles mentioned in the episode. Bookshop.org support independent bookstores and also shares a small percentage of any sales made through this podcast back to me, which helps to fund production of this show.  

Katrina Moore shares Grumpy New Year, a story about spending time with the special people in our lives, but also making plans to sleep, too, because nobody wants to be grumpy.    BOOK DESCRIPTION: Grumpy New Year by Katrina Moore; illustrated by Xindi Yan Page Length: 40 pages Ages 4 to 8, Grades P to 3 "You should sleep on the long flight," said Mama. Daisy should have slept- but she didn't. She was too excited to see Yeh-Yeh! Daisy is traveling to China, and she's excited to see her Yeh-Yeh again! She has big plans for all the fun they'll have together in preparation for Lunar New Year, like flying kites and making jiao zi. But when she arrives, she has trouble sleeping and is less jolly than she hoped. Throughout the week, Yeh-Yeh tries all sorts of things to help her have a fun holiday and get her past her grumpiness. Will Daisy be able to get some rest and have one perfect day before she goes home?   NOTABLE QUOTES: (6:03) “That was always me. That still is me. If I know something is coming up, I'm just thinking of 500 things that I wanna do and how it's gonna go, and a lot of times, as you all know, in life things don't work out that way.” (8:05) “When I was younger, I remember thinking, “Gosh, [my grandpa is] so grumpy.” And so I have that memory like, “He's grumpy. He's my grumpy grandpa.”  When I look back on it now as a grownup, I realize he wasn't grumpy. We were just missing each other in communication.” (9:13) “When I wanted to write a story for children that would really resonate with them, I was thinking about one of my favorite relationships. And that's the one with my grandpa.” (12:24) “You have to eat really, really, really long noodles, that you have a long life. I made the mistake one year of cutting my noodles. And I never saw my grandpa cry like he cried when I cut my noodles. You can't cut your noodles because you'll cut your life short. And so he threw out those noodles and he gave me a new bowl with like, really, really long noodles, cause you need to have a long life, so you eat long noodles.” (13:20) “So that's really what I remembered: everybody laughing, everybody sitting around the table, eating food, being together. Those are the sounds that I remember growing up and bring a smile to my face.”  (14:38) “On nights where my sleep is interrupted, the next day I'm really grumpy. I'm really grumpy. Things that would not normally bother me do. And so I find myself just being very, very irritable because I haven't gotten a good rest. So I know that about myself and especially on days where I know I need to be well rested, I make sure that I am otherwise I am a very, very grumpy person.” (18:28) “The way that Xindy has brought these characters to life. It, it just feels so, so real. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that Xindy feels that this story is very personal to her, too. And I think that's a lot of the magic of picture books as I wrote this based off of my relationship with my grandpa and my experience.” (22:04) “Share the things that you love to do with the people that you love. And that way when you're doing that thing, but you're not together it's like you still are.  And I will also end with a note to remember the importance of a good night's sleep.”    ADDITIONAL LINKS: Katrina Moore Website - www.katrinamoorebooks.com Purchase the Book - Grumpy New Year Purchase the Book - Grandpa Grumps   TALK ABOUT THE EPISODE: Do you have a special relative in your family or with a person outside of your family? What do you value most in your relationship with this person? What is a memory you’ve shared with them that means a lot to you?  How do you feel after not getting enough sleep? How does it affect your mood? How does it affect your ability to concentrate at school? Or your ability to do things at home? Katrina talked about eating long noodles to symbolize long life as part of a New Year tradition observed by members of her family. What are some foods you eat during special holidays or occasions? What makes these foods significant or important to your celebration? (For example, do you have a birthday cake to celebrate the birthday of someone in your home?) What is something that you love or that means a lot to you? How might you share this with others? (For example, can you show it and tell them about it? Is it something you can see or do together?)   CREDITS: This podcast episode of The Children’s Book Podcast was written, edited, and produced by Matthew Winner. For a full transcript of this episode, visit matthewcwinner.com.  Write to me or send me a message at matthewmakespods@gmail.com.  Our podcast logo was created by Duke Stebbins (https://stebs.design/).  Our music is by Podington Bear.  Podcast hosting by Libsyn.  You can support the show and buy me a coffee at www.matthewcwinner.com. We are a proud member of Kids Listen, the best place to discover the best in kids podcasts. Learn more at kidslisten.org. Fellow teachers and librarians, want a way to explore building a stronger culture of reading in our communities? In The Reading Culture podcast, Beanstack co-founder Jordan Bookey hosts conversations that dive into beloved authors' personal journeys and insights into motivating young people to read. And I am a big fan! Check out the Reading Culture Podcast with Jordan Bookey, from Beanstack. Available wherever podcasts are found. DISCLAIMER: Bookshop.org affiliate links provided for any book titles mentioned in the episode. Bookshop.org support independent bookstores and also shares a small percentage of any sales made through this podcast back to me, which helps to fund production of this show.