Mirrors, Windows And Moonlit Roads
Reading With Your Kids Podcast
In this heartfelt episode, Jed welcomes author Julie Leung and illustrator Angie Kang to celebrate their new picture book “Navigating Night,” a moving father–daughter story that beautifully coincides with AAPI Month. Julie shares that Navigating Night grew out of her memories of riding along on Chinese food deliveries with her dad in rural Georgia in the 1990s. The book is part memoir, part homage to her father and to the often-invisible workers in the food service industry who “make sure the food shows up at your doorstep on time”. It also explores the loneliness and...
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Sour, Sweet, and Adventurous: Inspiring Journeys in Children’s Books
Reading With Your Kids Podcast
In this episode of Reading With Your Kids, we’re celebrating three very different – but beautifully connected – picture books and their creators. First, Dr. Candice Childs joins us to talk about her autobiographical picture book “CC, Sour and Sweet Journey to Medical School.” She shares how the “sweet” parts of her journey are actually the moments of growth, resilience, and purpose that came from repeated failure and perseverance. The “sour” moments include painful setbacks and even an advisor bluntly telling her she’d never get into medical school. Candice explains how she...
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Inside The Endless Game
Reading With Your Kids Podcast
In this episode of Reading With Your Kids, we spend most of our time in the joyful, high‑energy world of JD Amato and Sophie Morse, the creative team behind the middle grade graphic novel The Endless Game. JD shares how the story grew out of his own childhood in the Chicago suburbs—moving around a lot, finally landing in one neighborhood where kids knocked on his door and pulled him into a world of street games, friendships, and long summer evenings. That sense of kid freedom and community became the heart of the book’s epic, town‑wide game of capture the flag. Sophie explains how the...
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Every Child Deserves To Be Seen
Reading With Your Kids Podcast
In this episode of Reading With Your Kids, host Jed Doherty welcomes author Kristen Mei Chase and illustrator Basia Tran to celebrate their Gracie Wei chapter book series. Kristen explains that Gracie is a mixed-race Asian American fourth grader with “a lot of opinions and a heart of gold,” designed to reflect many real kids and offer representation she didn’t see for herself or her own children growing up. She clarifies the difference between chapter books (often ages 6–10, transitional early readers) and middle grade (roughly grades 4–8), noting that Gracie Wei bridges those spaces...
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Celebrating The Cozy And Creepy Sides Of Kidlit
Reading With Your Kids Podcast
In this episode of Reading With Your Kids, we’re celebrating both the cozy and the creepy sides of kids’ lit! First, we welcome Alyssa Satin Capucilli, creator of the beloved Biscuit series, as she celebrates 30 years of her small yellow puppy who has helped millions of children become independent readers. Alyssa shares the heartwarming real-life moment that inspired Biscuit, explains the difference between picture books and first readers, and talks about why pattern, repetition, and those famous “woof woofs” are so powerful for young readers. She also reflects on generations of...
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Celebrating Night Owls And Night Markets
Reading With Your Kids Podcast
In this episode, Jed welcomes Emily Sun Li, debut picture book author of Mister Chow’s Night Market, for a warm and lively conversation about creativity, culture, and doing life a little differently. Emily shares how living in Taiwan for two years—zipping around on a moped, drinking fresh juice, and visiting night markets almost every evening—inspired her story of a sleepy grocery store and its equally sleepy, grumpy owner, Mister Chow. When they can’t manage mornings, they reinvent the store as a night market, celebrating night owls, Taiwanese snacks, and the courage to pivot instead...
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The Mystery Of The Stolen World Cup Trophy
Reading With Your Kids Podcast
In this episode of Reading With Your Kids, host Jed Doherty welcomes author Angela Cervantes to celebrate her new middle-grade mystery, The Mystery of the Stolen World Cup Trophy. Angela shares her lifelong love of soccer and mysteries, rooted in her childhood in a Mexican American community in Topeka, Kansas, where soccer wasn’t yet a big organized sport. She talks about how the game connected her family and community, bringing both joy and heartbreak, and why she still follows teams like USA, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, England, and Croatia so passionately. Her novel centers on 12-year-old...
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Magic, Mystery & The Incredible Phyllis Wong
Reading With Your Kids Podcast
In this episode, Jed welcomes back Australian author Geoffrey McSkimming, creator of the much‑loved Phyllis Wong and Cairo Jim series. Geoffrey joins from Sydney to celebrate Phyllis Wong and the Lure of the Lighthouse, the eighth book in the series, and talks about why Phyllis remains one of his favorite characters—resourceful, brilliant, magical, and deeply inspired by his wife, Sue-Anne Webster, a renowned stage magician. Geoffrey explains how magic and mystery writing overlap: both rely on misdirection, red herrings, and staying several steps ahead of the audience. He shares how he...
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Catitude At The Pool
Reading With Your Kids Podcast
In this episode of Reading With Your Kids, Jed Doherty welcomes author Matthew Burgess and illustrator Robin Rosenthal to celebrate their charming new picture book, Serafina Makes Waves. Serafina is no ordinary cat—she’s full of catitude, completely confident on land, but absolutely terrified of water. When her parents sign her up for swim lessons before a family vacation, she’ll do just about anything to avoid getting in the pool. Robin shares how Serafina began as a single sketch of a cool, sassy beach cat with big goggles and a stuffed bunny named Noodles. The character existed before...
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Raffi Riffs On Love, Chores & Children's Music
Reading With Your Kids Podcast
In this episode of Reading With Your Kids, Jed welcomes back legendary children’s singer, songwriter, and author Raffi to celebrate his new picture book “Mama Loves It.” The book is based on a song Raffi recorded with Canadian trio The Good Lovelies, all about kids pitching in with household chores. Through joyful lyrics and warm illustrations, it encourages children to see chores not as burdens, but as chances to help their families and feel like part of a team. Raffi talks about his long creative journey—over 50 years of making music for children—and what keeps him energized: the...
info_outlineIn this episode of Reading With Your Kids, host Jed Doherty welcomes author Angela Cervantes to celebrate her new middle-grade mystery, The Mystery of the Stolen World Cup Trophy.
Angela shares her lifelong love of soccer and mysteries, rooted in her childhood in a Mexican American community in Topeka, Kansas, where soccer wasn’t yet a big organized sport. She talks about how the game connected her family and community, bringing both joy and heartbreak, and why she still follows teams like USA, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, England, and Croatia so passionately.
Her novel centers on 12-year-old Diaz Espada, named after the number ten worn by Lionel Messi. Diaz is caught between his soccer-loving dad, a former college player, and his mystery-loving mom, a librarian who raised him on Agatha Christie and classic whodunits. When the World Cup trophy is stolen during a VIP reception in Miami—right as a tropical storm knocks out the lights—Diaz can’t resist the case, even when adults tell him to step aside.
Angela weaves in real history about the original World Cup trophy disappearing multiple times, including the famous story of Pickles the dog finding it in 1966, and the later theft in Brazil where the trophy was never recovered. That blend of real soccer lore and twisty mystery is what inspired her book—and she’s eager to write more Diaz stories if kids love this one.
The episode also briefly features Darshana Khiani, who shares Building a Dream, her picture book about Thai boys who build a floating soccer pitch, highlighting persistence and creativity in the face of challenges.