Overprotected Offline, Underprotected Online: Veronica Sommer Tells Parents What They Need to Know
Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast
Release Date: 04/20/2026
If You’re Lucky Enough to Know a Unicorn: Grief, Joy, and Resilience with Haley Bresnan
Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast
On this episode of the Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast, Jed welcomes Haleigh Bresnan, second grade teacher and debut picture book author of If You’re Lucky Enough to Know a Unicorn. The conversation explores how a deeply personal loss blossomed into a gentle, hopeful story for children and families. Haleigh shares that the book was inspired by Kennedy, a baby girl born with heterotaxy, a rare condition where organs may be reversed or malformed. Kennedy passed away just shy of four months. In the quiet moments of rocking her own newborn son, while grieving alongside Kennedy’s family,...
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Grandpas, Grandkids & Great Stories: Inside Dina Hardt's Catch Of The Day
Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast
On this episode of the Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast, Jed welcomes debut picture book author and longtime teacher, Dina Hardt, to celebrate her new book, Catch of the Day. Dina shares the deeply personal origin of the story, which she first wrote over 20 years ago, inspired by a cherished family photo of her brother fishing. After her brother Anthony passed away two years ago, Dina revisited the manuscript as part of her healing journey, revising it with fresh eyes, richer memories, and a deeper sense of purpose. The book follows Anthony’s first time fishing on his own, guided by his...
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Celebrating Hanukkah and Childhood Play with Adina Oberman
Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast
In this warm and thoughtful episode, Jed welcomes back Adina Oberman to celebrate her new board book, H Is for Hanukkah: A Festival of Lights, an ABC primer that introduces little ones to Hanukkah traditions and diverse Jewish cultures from around the world. Adina shares how she first joined the show as a blogger with Big Books for Little Hands and later became part of the Familius publishing team, where her passion for early childhood and representation shines through. Adina explains how H Is for Hanukkah highlights not only familiar Ashkenazic traditions, but also Sephardic and other Jewish...
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Breaking Free from a Malignant Manager: Cathy Alfandre’s Guide to Taking Back Your Career
Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast
On this episode of the Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast, host Jed Doherty welcomes career coach and author Cathy Alfandre, whose new book is “Breaking Free from a Malignant Manager: Strategies to Reclaim Your Confidence and Career.” Cathy explains that the book grew out of years of coaching mid‑career professionals who were stuck with truly harmful bosses—managers who stole credit, created gossip-filled, suspicious workplaces, or pushed people so hard they became physically ill and started doubting their own competence. She realized how common these experiences are, and wanted...
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Furtive Activity: Faith, Family, and Thrills with Author Michael Ignatius
Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast
In this episode of the Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast, Jed welcomes Michael Ignatius, Connecticut-based author of the new thriller Furtive Activity. Set in Bolton, Putnam, and the Boston College area, the novel follows Mickey Ryback, a respected Catholic elementary school principal, devoted husband and father of seven, and former Navy cyber intelligence specialist who secretly works as an analyst for the CIA. Michael shares how Mickey juggles his double life—school leader and covert operative—while quietly battling alcoholism and overwhelming guilt. As Mickey navigates cartel threats,...
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From Greenhaven to Jordan’s Bitter Pill: The Evolving Worlds of Luca Di Matteo
Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast
Luca Di Matteo returns to the Connecticut Book Festivals podcast to celebrate his new novel, Jordan’s Bitter Pill, and to share the inspiring story behind the fast-growing Connecticut Book Festivals community. Luca introduces Jordan’s Bitter Pill as a contemporary novel about Jordan, a young doctor from a sheltered, middle-class background who chooses an inner-city residency. There, she meets patients forced to choose between healthcare and basic needs, a reality that reshapes her values and career path. Instead of taking a lucrative job, Jordan opens a practice in the neighborhood—but...
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A Saga of Bad Choices and Big Hearts: Lis Blanchard’s Sutton’s Home
Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast
In this warm and engaging episode, Jed welcomes debut novelist Lis Blanchard to celebrate her first book, “Sutton’s Home.” Lis introduces listeners to Sutton, a deeply flawed but lovable young woman who seems destined to make every wrong choice—and yet, readers can’t help but root for her as tragedy follows tragedy. Lis shares how she came to writing just five years ago, not through a lifelong dream of being an author, but as a way to cope with the emotional weight she carries from the people around her. After losing a dear friend to suicide during the pandemic, Lis discovered that...
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Storytelling, Folklore, and the Power of Place with Kelly Jarvis
Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast
In this warm and engaging episode of the Connecticut Book Festivals podcast, Jed Doherty welcomes back author and folklorist Kelly Jarvis to celebrate her new gothic historical romance, Sea and Stars. Kelly begins by sharing the real-life “fairy tale” behind her own Belle-inspired library, a promise made by her high school boyfriend—now husband—that beautifully echoes the romance at the heart of her work. From there, the conversation flows into the power of books in our lives. Jed recalls a Reading With Your Kids conversation about how books in the home are a top predictor of a...
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The Eternality Of Love
Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast
In this warm episode of The Ct Book Festivals Podcast Jed welcomes Dr. Dale Atkins. Dr Dale joins us to celebrate her touching picture book The Turquoise Butterfly. Inspired by her late mother Sylvia, whose favorite color was turquoise and who was fondly associated with butterflies, the story explores what Dr. Dale calls the “eternality of love.” Through the relationship between a grandmother and granddaughter, the book shows how memories, stories, and shared experiences help children carry a loved one’s spirit forward, even after death. Dr. Dale and Jed talk about the profound benefits...
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What Makes a Human Human: Understanding That Everyone Belongs
Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast
In this powerful episode of the Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast, Jed welcomes back Mary Keating, lawyer, poet, and author of Recalibrating Gravity, to celebrate Disability Pride Month and reflect on the legacy—and limits—of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Mary shares the story of the car accident at age 15 that left her a paraplegic and completely changed her life in a single moment. With warmth and candor, she recalls how her “can‑do” family refused to sideline her, including her mom’s memorable insistence that she still come downstairs and set the table—an early lesson...
info_outlineIn this powerful episode of the Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast, host Jed Doherty welcomes Veronica Sommer, author of Sacred Stewardship: Restoring Moral Clarity in the Digital Age. Drawing on over two decades in cybersecurity recruiting and her experience raising two smartphone-era teens, Veronica offers a heartfelt, eye-opening look at what today’s kids are really facing online.
Jed and Veronica begin by talking about that familiar parenting dilemma: giving kids phones “for safety” and connection, without fully understanding that those same devices give the entire world access to our children. Veronica references ideas from Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, especially how we often overprotect kids in the real world and underprotect them online.
From there, the conversation gets very real. Veronica explains how a hyper-sexualized culture, amplified by algorithms on apps like Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and Facebook, is shaping kids’ values, language, and relationships—often without parents realizing it. They discuss sextortion, pornography reaching children under 10, and the heartbreaking link between these harms and rising rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide.
But the episode is not just warnings; it’s full of practical hope. Veronica shares concrete ideas for parents: ongoing, judgment-free conversations, looking together at kids’ “For You” pages, creating shared agreements about phone and social media use, and presenting a united front among caregivers.
Finally, Veronica talks about the deeper foundation behind Sacred Stewardship: a return to faith, prayer, and spiritual protection as anchors for families navigating the digital storm. It’s an honest, compassionate conversation that will leave parents better informed—and less alone.