Writing for children—especially books that can be emotionally challenging—requires a great deal of insight, honestly, talent, and self reflection; and that's before you even pick up the pencil! Peter Brown, author of The Wild Robot, a beautifully crafted and deeply moving middle grade novel about technology, nature, and family, joins us to talk about his approach to this work.

Season 5 of our podcast kicks off with highlights from expert voices in early relational health, pediatrics, and publishing, captured live at the Reach Out and Read Leadership Conference in New York City in May 2024.

The Gretchen Hunsberger Medical Champion Award honors a clinician whose exemplary personal and professional medical leadership has helped to make delivery of the Reach Out and Read program model all it can be. Meet this year's winner!

Recent data shows that in school, by almost every metric, boys of all ages are doing worse than girls. How did this happen, how can we thoughtfully approach it, and turn the situation around? Ruth Whippman, author of "BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity" joins us to talk about raising boys in the US — how our boys are being shaped by society, how they're reacting, and how we can help.

Racism and discrimination affects the health of children, and can have lifelong consequences. Dr. Ashaunta Anderson, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Southern California and Children's Hospital Los Angeles, has been studying this, and in particular the concept of racial socialization. We discuss with her how 'positive childhood experiences' – such as embracing and enhancing cultural pride, can help mitigate these challenges.

Eat with the funniest person in the office; when you wake up, give yourself a high five; turn off screens one hour before bed, and demand a bedtime story. These are just a few of the secrets to a happier life that our guest, Dr. Hasan Merali, author of "Sleep Well, Take Risks, Squish the Peas: Secrets from the Science of Toddlers for a Happier, More Successful Way of Life", says we can and should learn from both the young children in our lives…and from our past younger selves.

In this special 'double feature' podcast recorded in front of a live audience, the Early Relational Health Funders Summit hear from four speakers with different experiences of building and maintaining a robust Early Relational Health ecosystem. We're looking at the practices, programs, and policies that need to work independently, and also together, to fully benefit families with young children.

Individual interviews can be found at the following timecodes:

Dr. Dipesh Navsaria: 01:43 Hope Williams-Burt: 23:06 Allison Logan: 36:00 Dr. Corey Williams: 48:40 Deborah Brown: 56:39 Ira Hillman: 01:08:25

Thirty-five years ago, Reach Out and Read was founded in one clinic in Boston as a route to supporting shared reading with young children at home. Today, we're in all 50 states with 6200 program sites, comprising 8.8 million interactions through 7 million books. Marking that anniversary, and in partnership with Scholastic, we've created 35 for 35, a visionary, wide ranging collection of books that reflect our mission and the families and communities we serve. Marty Martinez, CEO of Reach Out and Read, Judy Newman, Chief Impact Officer at Scholastic, and Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney, the award-winning author and illustrator team behind one of the books in the collection, join us to talk about this incredible project.

We know that kids' brains change as they grow, but did you know that their parents' brains change too? Dr. Darby Saxbe, a clinical psychologist, professor and director of clinical training at the Department of Psychology, and the Principal Investigator of the NEST Lab (NeuroEndocrinology of Social Ties Lab) at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, joins us to talk about emerging research that shows how parenthood changes the brain and how encouraging focused time between parents and children benefits everyone in the relationship.

Beloved author Meg Medina, current National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and the first of Latina heritage in the program's history, joins us to talk about 'mirrors and windows' in children's books and why what kids hear coming off the page is just as important as what they see.