Stories with a hefty emotional punch often stick with us — and when it comes to timeless stories (think fairy tales) — that punch is often rooted in some pretty dark feelings. Exploring Hans Christian Anderson's famous tale "The Little Match Girl", Sadie Stein, an editor at the New York Times Book Review, joins us to talk about how parents and caregivers can help children navigate challenging emotions through books.

A few months ago, our host, Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, was one of several experts asked by The Atlantic magazine to share nominations for "best picture books for children", from the past 100 years. Dr. Navsaria and guest Emma Sarappo, a senior editor at The Atlantic, break down the process, which books made their list, and why.

Language shapes all aspects of our lives, including how we connect with our family. Often, the more "insider" that language is, the stronger the family bonds are. Cynthia Gordon, a professor in the linguistics department at Georgetown University and the author of "Making Meanings, Creating Family", joins us to talk about "familect" — a unique dialect particular to each and every family — and why it matters.

In early November 2025, nearly 300 people from the Reach Out and Read and Nurture Connection worlds — comprising clinicians, staff, community leaders, funders, and parents — gathered in Washington, DC for the National Summit. This event convened a coalition of innovative organizations representing the nation's early childhood community, child health systems, and networks of public and private investments to share progress, ideas, hopes, and dreams.

Voices heard in this episode include:

00:00: Mark Del Monte

02:06: Dr. Lynette Fraga

07:11: Dr. Robert Needleman

07:30: Dr. Mary Ann Woodruff

07:43: Molly Fields

09:16: Dr. Lee Beers

10:31: Mark Del Monte

14:13: Katherine Beckmann and Ira Hillman

25:29: Stephanie Smiley and Dr. John Duby

35:45: Dr. David Willis

We're thankful, all year round, to those who read aloud to young children and who encourage shared reading with others. To celebrate Thanksgiving 2025, we're revisiting a powerful selection of stories from Traci Sorell, Ann Clare LeZotte, and Dr Sayantani DasGupta, three children's authors who joined us share their own stories of thanks.

Over 200,000 children enter foster care each year in the United States. How can we create safe, stable, and nurturing environments for foster children who have, by definition, experienced a rupture of at least one of these elements? Dr. Camille Broussard, Executive Committee member for the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Foster Care, Adoption, and Kinship Care and co-editor in chief of Fostering Health: Health Care for Children and Adolescents in Foster Care, joins us to talk about relational health for children in foster care.

Sometimes called "spirited" or "deeply feeling", highly sensitive children are "more likely to have challenges regulating their big emotions because their brains are wired to process and react to their experiences in the world more deeply than other children." Claire Lerner, a licensed social worker and author of "Big Reactors: Practical Strategies for Parenting Highly Sensitive Children", join us to talk about how to recognize the temperament traits of highly sensitive children, the pros and cons of various parenting approaches, and how clinicians can support families with highly sensitive kids.

We continue to learn so much about the development of our brains in the first 1,000 days of life, and how the social world around those young brains matter deeply. What can parents and caregivers do in those early days to allow healthy and strong brain growth? Dr. Andrew Garner, pediatrician and co-author of Thinking Developmentally: Nurturing Wellness in Childhood to Promote Lifelong Health, joins us to talk about how the science behind healthy childhood experiences helps us build healthy children, nurturing families, and communities that care.

There are loads of poetry books for children but not too many by children. Sarah Manguso, author and curator of the new book "Questions Without Answers", joins us to talk about children's deep (and often unknowingly) philosophical questions—and that though kids may yet be developing their vocabulary, they have plenty of profound questions."

Dr. Lynette Fraga, Reach Out and Read's new CEO, joins us to talk about the lived experience she brings to this role, and her plans to accelerate our mission, scale impact, advance equity, and, of course, strengthen families.