Reach Out and Read
Reach Out and Read
From the national organization Reach Out and Read comes a brand new podcast centered around the belief that children's books build better brains, better family relationships, and happier, healthy children and societies. Join us as host Dr Dipesh Navsaria, a pediatrician with a children's librarianship degree, dives into a wealth of varied early childhood health and literacy topics with expert guests examining the many facets of supporting the parent-child relationship as key to early success.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jun 26, 2025 • 36min
Leave Me Alone! Solitude and Creativity with Vera Brosgol
We can all benefit from healthy relationships and connections, but sometimes kids (and adults) just want some 'alone time' - and that's OK too. Author and illustrator Vera Brosgol joins us to dig into several of her fantastically imaginative book worlds that help explore relationships with our family, and ourselves.
Jun 12, 2025 • 35min
Words With Wings
Poetry is often perceived to be "hard" or inaccessible, but as our next guests illustrate, poetry can offer an "uplifting journey through everyday moments, moods and experiences" for kids at any age or stage of development. Author Matthew Burgess and illustrator Doug Salati join us to talk about "Words With Wings", their magical new book of poems for children and families.
May 29, 2025 • 33min
The Hedgehog's Dilemma
How can one discuss topics such as social exclusion, anxiety, paranoia, human intimacy, affection, and our need to bond with others? A brilliant book, The Hedgehog's Dilemma, by Dutch author Toon Tellegen, is a "metaphor for the dilemma humans are faced with in their intimate relationships with others", exploring all this in an accessible manner for adults and children alike. Its English translator, David Colmer, joins us to explain how.
May 15, 2025 • 35min
Building Resilience in Caregivers
Approaching families with a 'resilience lens' is a relatively new practice but might turn out to be one of the most impactful tools in our pediatric toolbox yet. Dr. Gretchen Pianka, author of "Coaching Families for Resilience: How Pediatricians Can Support Caregivers and Prevent Burnout", joins us to talk about how this manner of thinking can help parents and pediatric care clinicians better approach childcare challenges."
May 1, 2025 • 32min
Love to Learn: A Conversation with Isabelle Hau
Relationships have long been recognized as a catalyst of learning; changing our focus away from a solely child-centric model of education to relationship-centered thinking may prove to be the key to success. Isabelle Hau, Executive Director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, joins us to talk about her new book Love to Learn: The Transformative Power of Care and Connection in Early Education, and the concept of "Relational Intelligence".
Apr 17, 2025 • 34min
The History of the Science of Reading
Despite humans having read for thousands of years, we still don't understand everything about how it happens. It is still a mystery of how the eye, mind, and the brain are called upon to perform tasks that are fundamentally 'unnatural'. Dr. Adrian Johns, Chair of the Department of History at the University of Chicago, joins us to talk about how all this has been explored throughout history, laid out in his new book The Science of Reading: Information, Media, and Mind in Modern America.
Apr 3, 2025 • 35min
Picture Books Help Us "See" Differently
Kids (and adults) sometimes have a hard time accepting unique characteristics in themselves and in others. But when a book lands just right, sometimes the simplest format – a picture book – can have the greatest impact on how we view ourselves, others, and the world. Author and illustrator Barney Saltzberg joins us to talk about how picture books invite us to embrace curiosity, vulnerability and new perspectives.
Mar 20, 2025 • 36min
Bonding with a Newborn
It's overwhelming to form a relationship with a new baby while your relationship with yourself as a new parent is in flux! Keeping it simple is one of the ways parents can get through a challenging but rewarding time. Dr. Joanna Parga-Belinkie, a clinical neonatologist and author of "The Baby Bonding Book", explains how one-on-one time and getting 'back to basics' can create the needed building blocks of bonding, safety, and attachment.
Mar 6, 2025 • 30min
The Last Human Job: Part 2
In Part 2 of our interview with Allison Pugh, professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University and author of "The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World", we talk about what "connective labor" means for early relational health, and can how physicians, practitioners, and caregivers can apply this theory to their everyday interactions with children.
Feb 20, 2025 • 34min
The Last Human Job: Part 1
How people connect to one another is something we sometimes don't think about, and how technology touches modern life is a key factor. Allison Pugh, Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University and author of a notable book on this subject, joins us to talk about how, and why, the human connections now at risk in our tech-driven lives are worth fighting for.
