This week’s Story Seeds collaboration brings together 7 year old creative rockstar Cici and Aram Kim, Elmhurst Queens-based Korean-American author and illustrator of Bank Street’s Best Children’s Book of 2018 "No Kimchi for Me." 

Aram  Kim helps Cici grow this story seed about:

Electric Kitty, a superhero who floats on blasts of light and fights evil electric things that try to take her superpowers.

Follow along on an electrifying Story Seeds adventure with our host Betsy Bird as she introduces listeners to the genre of superhero stories, and as Aram Kim:  

• Visits Cici’s home in Jackson Heights, Queens to meet her cat Nola, the inspiration behind Electric Kitty
• Helps Cici develop Electric Kitty's character and superhero origin story using the 5Ws of storytelling
• Invites Cici to design and illustrate  Electric Kitty’s boots-a-blazin' look
• Chronicles her own creative process and creates a tale about Electric Kitty’s face off with a menacing wind monster who wraps their Queens neighborhood in darkness

The episode concludes with a storytime segment (16:29) where Aram, reads the original story she grew from Cici’s story seed: "Adventures of Electric Kitty: The Blackout."

Books and media mentioned in this episode: Cat on the Bus, No Kimchi for Me, and Let's Go to Taekwondo by Aram Kim. Songs: "There's a Platypus Controlling Me” - Phineas and Ferb. Comic Books: Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Black Panther.

Calls to Action

Bonus Episode: Check back next week to hear Betsy's interview with Aram. You'll get to go behind the scenes and hear how Aram got her start as a writer.

Kids: Call The Story Seeds Hotline at 646-389-5153, email us at [email protected], or visit our website to submit your story ideas. You can also join The Story Seeds Society, our kids listeners club.

Get our Imagination Lab: Experiments in Creativity activity book! It pairs perfectly with the podcast and features tons of episode-inspired prompts and projects! Order your copy here!

Grownups: Visit www.storyseedspodcast.com for subscription links, to sign up for our newsletter, and to download our printable activity e-zines for your kids (or the  kid in you!). You can also follow us on Instagram @storyseedspod, on Twitter @litsafarimedia, and on Facebook @literarysafari. 

This episode is also available on YouTube. Subscribe here. 

Show credits

Produced and written by Sandhya Nankani and Anjali Sakhrani. Kayla Fedeson is our Associate Producer. Scoring, mixing, and sound design by Ania Grzesik and Matt Boynton of Ultraviolet Audio. Field audio recorded by James Boo. Hosted by Betsy Bird. Music by Andrew VanWyngarden, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/musician and co-founder of MGMT. 

The Story Seeds Podcast is a creation and production of Literary Safari www.literarysafari.com