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Beanstack co-founder and edtech pioneer Jordan Lloyd Bookey has dedicated his career to the grand challenge of expanding families’ access to education and reading. Her new podcast, The culture of readingturns a more intimate lens on children’s literature through in-depth personal interviews with children’s authors.
Beanstack co-founder and edtech pioneer Jordan Lloyd Bookey has dedicated his career to the grand challenge of expanding families’ access to education and reading. Now her new podcast, The culture of reading, turns a more intimate lens on children’s literature through in-depth personal interviews with the children’s authors themselves. In a fireside chat format, her guests—from Newbery winners to newcomers—reveal their own childhood reading moments, their intentions for their past and future work, and their suggestions for building stronger reading cultures in communities. The culture of reading is for anyone who loves to read and is interested in children’s literature, but its focus will particularly appeal to librarians and educators.
How I Built This Meets Fresh Air
Author Karina Ian Glaser (also a guest on the show) calls Jordan “the children’s book version of Terry Gross,” and indeed, the podcast resembles How I built this answers Fresh air, for children’s authors. Each interview is part memoir, part discussion of the craft, and part internal brainstorming session, as the writers lay bare their praises and criticisms of the children’s industry. Topics run the gamut from lighthearted anecdotes (Karina Jan Glaser reveals she wrote The Vanderbikers of 141st Street for a month, motivated by a challenge from her husband) to heavy contemplation (Renee Watson considers how poetry can potentially heal social trauma).
Favorite authors and new voices
The show airs a new episode every week, featuring both established writers and emerging talent. Guests include a wide range of Newbery and Caldecott winners, New York Times bestsellers and former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. In keeping with Beanstack’s core mission of inclusion, the podcast features a large number of female authors and authors of color.
Unforgettable passages
In every episode of The culture of reading, Jordan asks guests to share a passage from a book that has had a huge impact on them. Authors read the excerpts aloud (often showing they may have missed out on a career in the theater!) and delve into how those words have shaped the writer they’ve become and what they go on to write. They offer an intriguing perspective on a surprisingly eclectic range of selections, from Nikki Giovanni to EB White to Stephen King.
Challenges selected by the author of the reading list
Each author who joins the show shares their personal reading list challenge, available for free and ready to use through the Beanstack app. Examples: Newbery Award winner Meg Medina offers “Girls on the move” a challenge featuring athletic girls who know the power of their voices; Carina Ian Glaser heads into the setting with “Only in New York”, a collection of books in which New York plays a major role; and Varian Johnson curated “Painted in color”, a list of graphic novels featuring different characters and written by different authors.
Featured librarians
The culture of reading wraps each episode with a quick tip or story from a Beanstack featured librarian, focusing on specific strategies for creating “electrical connections” for their young readers. Some are deeply personal—Tulsa City-County Library’s Leah Weyand shares a strong reaction she witnessed to an author visit from Jason Reynolds—while other librarians share their recommendations for homemade books or what’s in their “secret sauce,” for to inspire children to Read more.
Jordan and the Beanstack team hope the show will inspire listeners to read more themselves and bring lessons and insights to their own communities, wherever they may be. Subscribe to The culture of reading On Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.
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