Author Deborah Wiles

They say – It’s never too early to introduce a child to reading. So when should you begin?  At birth? Or even before – in the womb? – (by osmosis). Or, maybe during early infancy, holding a baby in your lap. Our first guest, Kathleen Brown, Director of the University of Utah Reading Clinic, shares some tips on the most productive ways to help a child learn to read beginning at an early age. Kathleen Brown spent seven years in southern Idaho as a remedial reading and migrant education teacher. Her doctorate at the University of Utah focused on comprehension instruction with a post-doctorate in reading intervention. Nowadays, Dr. Brown is dedicated to supporting struggling readers on a regular basis because she believes that “to talk the talk” we have to “walk the walk.”

Next, Rachel welcomes poet Margarita Engle, author of many children’s books in free verse form that are often focused on significant (hero-like) persons who have been left out of history. Margarita talks about how poetry can be a safe place for emotions, as well as a good way for children to have connection with someone living in another time in history. Margarita Engle is the national Young People’s Poet Laureate and as a Cuban-American, is the first Latina to receive that honor. She’s a trained agronomist and botanist as well as a poet and novelist of award-winning books including The Surrender Tree, Enchanted Air, Drum Dream Girl, and All the Way to Havana.