Reading Wellness (3:45)

Does reading really ever make a difference? What part does reading play in our lives? Ideally, it would help us grow as human beings – and better understand what we want to be. And what about the characters in the books we read? Today on Worlds Awaiting Rachel visits with literacy specialist and author, Jan Burkins, who addresses the topic of “Reading Wellness.” In the healthiest sense, books can be a gateway to the world, a doorway into shaping who we want to be. Dr. Jan Burkins has spent her career studying and teaching about how children learn to read. She earned her doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in reading at the University of Kansas. She taught as an elementary school teacher and was a literacy coach for several years, and has published five books about literacy and literacy coaching, including the bestselling Preventing Misguided Reading. Her latest book is Who’s Doing the Work? How to Say Less So Readers Can Do More, co-authored with Kim Yaris.

Book Chat (14:42)

Next, Rachel chats with Jessica Verzello and Sebastian Shiraishi from the BYU Education and Juvenile Literature Library. They discuss an innovative picture book entitled, Du Iz tak written and illustrated by Carson Ellis.

Reading & Writing (24:38)

Now, we finish up this installment of Worlds Awaiting with Whitney Gibbons, Assistant Producer of Thinking Aloud on BYU Radio. She shares her passion for reading and writing and her hopes of seeing her own work eventually published.