Hop in your car and find the nearest Party City. You need confetti, streamers, star balloons, and party hats. Why, you ask? Well, because you'll want to celebrate the 100th episode of Brain Burps About Books while you're listening to Katie Davis interview the first three National Ambassadors for Young People's Literature.
Children’s Lit Heroes Appear on 100th Episode of Children’s Book Podcast, Airing on 6/13/2012
The first three National Ambassadors for Young People's Literature help celebrate the 100th episode of Brain Burps About Books, the #1 podcast in iTunes in Children’s Publishing, by talking about the struggle to get kids to read. Ambassadors Emeritus Jon Scieszka (The Stinky Cheese Man), and Katherine Paterson (Bridge to Terabithia), as well as Ambassador Walter Dean Myers (Monster) each spoke with host and author/illustrator Katie Davison an extended edition of the weekly show.
The episode begins with the first Ambassador Emeritus, bestselling children’s author, Jon Scieszka, joking with Davis about the velvet-lined Ambassadorial helicopter. Though known for being very funny, the author of, in addition to the Caldecott book, The Stinky Cheese Man, bestsellers such as The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and the Time Warp Trio, Scieszka’s very serious about getting parents and kids to read together.
Davis said, “One reason I started the show was to ‘spread the gospel of kidlit’.” She added, “I wanted something really special to offer my listeners for this milestone. I decided there’d be no better way to mark this occasion than with the esteemed panel of people appointed by the Library of Congress to promote literacy.”
In 2010, two-time Newbery medalist Katherine Paterson (Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved) began her tenure as the second National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Paterson’s platform focused on encouraging reading as an integral part of life. Davis admits to Paterson during the interview, “I was nervous to talk to you because I revere your books,” but in the end, the two were laughing together over the idea of getting media coverage for book awards by sliming the most respected members of the business.
“Reading is Not Optional,” is Walter Dean Myers theme for his term as third (and present) Ambassador. The author of two Newbery Honor books, five Coretta Scott King Awards, and the inaugural recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement has said, “If you had a sick patient, you would not try to entice them to take their medicine. You would tell them, ‘Take this or you will die.’ We need to tell kids flat out: reading is not optional.” Davis talks to him about a remarkable discovery Reading is Fundamental (RIF) made while working with low income families as well as how the publishing community can get people outside the business to support literacy.
Brain Burps About Books is an interview format show hosted by author/illustrator Katie Davis and has held steady at #1 in iTunes in the Children’s Books and Children’s Publishing categories. It has been downloaded in half the world (124 countries). Published every Wednesday with an accompanying link-filled blog post at Davis’s site, it covers everything to do with the business of children’s books, from publishing trends, craft, and marketing, to controversial issues such as editing classic books like Huck Finn, and banning books and/or authors. To subscribe to this free show, go to iTunes> Brain Burps About Books> hit the subscribe button.
