Reading With Your Kids Podcast

In this powerful and heartfelt episode of Reading With Your Kids, we welcome Chrystal D. Giles to talk about her new middle grade novel, "Listen to the Girls." Chrystal introduces us to Calla, a seventh grader whose carefree start to summer is shaken when rumors surface about her favorite teacher's inappropriate behavior with students. The story follows Calla as she navigates confusion, fear, and uncertainty, learning how to sort through information, trust her feelings, and—most importantly—listen to the girls who are bravely speaking up.
Chrystal shares the real-life inspirations behind the book, including disturbing cases in her own school district and her experiences as both a parent and a survivor of peer harassment. She talks about wanting to give kids language, signs, and emotional tools to recognize grooming, understand boundaries, and know they deserve to be believed. Chrystal also discusses how writing this story has made her more intentional as a parent, and how she balances tough topics with care, levity, and love. She even reveals that her next picture book, "We Are Joy," is a bright, uplifting counterbalance to the heaviness of "Listen to the Girls."
In the final segment, we're joined by author Michelle S. Kennedy and illustrator Bonnie Bright to talk about their picture book "Cell Phone Itis," a fun, insightful look at kids' (and adults'!) attachment to their phones. Bonnie shares the real-life moments that inspired the story and how the book opens up honest, sometimes humorous conversations in classrooms and families about screen time, safety, and being present in the real world.

In this heartfelt episode, Jed welcomes author Julie Leung and illustrator Angie Kang to celebrate their new picture book "Navigating Night," a moving father–daughter story that beautifully coincides with AAPI Month.
Julie shares that Navigating Night grew out of her memories of riding along on Chinese food deliveries with her dad in rural Georgia in the 1990s. The book is part memoir, part homage to her father and to the often-invisible workers in the food service industry who "make sure the food shows up at your doorstep on time".  It also explores the loneliness and dislocation of being a child of immigrants, driving through other families' "normal" evenings while her own family worked late and ate at odd hours. Julie explains how the story was originally a multigenerational epic including her grandfather's escape during the Cultural Revolution, but her agent helped her refine it to the emotional core focused on her and her dad.
Angie describes her powerful emotional reaction to Julie's manuscript and the parallels with her own relationship with her father and her family's Cultural Revolution history. She breaks down her art process, including using gouache and table salt on wet paint to create rain textures that mirror the story's emotional storms, clearing as father and daughter reconnect and the moon comes out. Both Julie and Angie reflect on being only children, the quiet intimacy of car rides, and their hopes that the book serves as both a mirror and window into immigrant family life.
In the final segment, Jed travels (virtually) to Australia to chat briefly with Amelia Tonta about "Neil, the Amazing Sea Cucumber," inspired by her love of snorkeling and the overlooked, "boring" creatures on the ocean floor. Amelia discusses giving a seemingly dull character surprising heart and humor, and hints at more playful, visually driven stories to come.

In this episode of Reading With Your Kids, we're celebrating three very different – but beautifully connected – picture books and their creators.
First, Dr. Candice Childs joins us to talk about her autobiographical picture book "CC, Sour and Sweet Journey to Medical School." She shares how the "sweet" parts of her journey are actually the moments of growth, resilience, and purpose that came from repeated failure and perseverance. The "sour" moments include painful setbacks and even an advisor bluntly telling her she'd never get into medical school. Candice explains how she turned that discouragement into fuel, and how her parents' unwavering belief in her – especially her late mother's message, "Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't do" – continues to guide her. She also talks about why parents' words matter so deeply for kids' mental health, and how books can spark the most powerful family conversations.
Next, Margaret Proctor shares the delightful backstory behind "Cousins, What's Next?" Inspired by her great-granddaughter and youngest grandson getting into everything together, Margaret explores the joy, chaos, and blessings of intergenerational relationships. She reflects on being rejected by traditional publishers years ago, what it felt like to finally hold her own book ("I danced for ten minutes!"), and encourages aspiring writers to honor their ideas and just start.
Finally, Tricia Gardella introduces us to Mouse, star of the Mouse Traveler series, including "Mouse Visits Everglades National Park." Tricia talks about falling in love with this little character, weaving real national park facts into fun adventures, and why she hopes her books help kids love – and fight to protect – our national parks for generations to come.

In this episode of Reading With Your Kids, we spend most of our time in the joyful, high‑energy world of JD Amato and Sophie Morse, the creative team behind the middle grade graphic novel The Endless Game. JD shares how the story grew out of his own childhood in the Chicago suburbs—moving around a lot, finally landing in one neighborhood where kids knocked on his door and pulled him into a world of street games, friendships, and long summer evenings. That sense of kid freedom and community became the heart of the book's epic, town‑wide game of capture the flag.
Sophie explains how the manuscript instantly clicked with her own memories of neighborhood play in Boston, especially capture the flag, and how that nostalgia drove her visual storytelling. She talks about the challenge of illustrating a nearly 250‑page full‑color graphic novel over four and a half to five years, keeping the art consistent and dynamic, and collaborating closely not only with JD but also with colorist Sarah Calhoun. Together, JD and Sophie describe a highly collaborative process—unusual in traditional publishing—where they constantly bounced ideas, problem‑solved scenes, and supported each other through creative highs and lows.
We also meet Jacquelyn Boylan, whose picture book A Broken Twig Can Sprout draws on her own profound losses in childhood to comfort kids facing trauma and adverse experiences. Finally, Christine Ricci McNamee returns to the show with Logan and the Disappearing Document, the latest in her Logan series, sending a magic‑bone‑powered pup on a patriotic, cross‑country mystery adventure.

In this episode of Reading With Your Kids, host Jed Doherty welcomes author Kristen Mei Chase and illustrator Basia Tran to celebrate their Gracie Wei chapter book series. Kristen explains that Gracie is a mixed-race Asian American fourth grader with "a lot of opinions and a heart of gold," designed to reflect many real kids and offer representation she didn't see for herself or her own children growing up. She clarifies the difference between chapter books (often ages 6–10, transitional early readers) and middle grade (roughly grades 4–8), noting that Gracie Wei bridges those spaces with accessible text and some bigger ideas.
Basia shares how she brings humor and heart to the black‑and‑white illustrations and describes the joy of revisiting the same cast over three books until they felt like "old friends." She talks about working through an art director rather than directly with Kristen, and the particular challenge of drawing specialized items like a wheelchair‑bicycle combination.
Kristen discusses crafting a diverse ensemble—including characters with different bodies, abilities, and backgrounds—so that any one of them could be a main character. She highlights the series' core themes: social‑emotional learning, empathy, bravery, and "pivoting" in life, supported by caring adults who model kindness and firm, loving guidance. She also hints at a possible fourth Gracie Wei book and other projects in the works.
In the final segment, Jed talks with Pam Ehrenberg about her rhyming board book Planting Parsley, which introduces young children to the Jewish holiday Tu Bishvat and connects families to nature. Pam reflects on writing from a child's perspective, the precision required for rhyming picture books, and how diverse cultural traditions can deepen kids' sense of connection to the earth and to one another.