Reading Inspires by Reading Is Fundamental

Erin Bailey: Welcome to Reading Inspires by Reading is Fundamental.

I'm your host, Dr. Erin Bailey.

This podcast celebrates the power of books and the joy of reading.

In each episode, we talk with educators, librarians, families, authors, and literacy champions to explore one big question.

What does Reading inspire for you?

Through stories, research, and real world experiences from classrooms, libraries, and homes, we explore what literacy looks like and why it matters.

Whether you're nurturing young readers, shaping learning spaces, or simply love a good book, we're glad you're here.

Let's get inspired.

Today I'm chatting with Dr.

Deborah Pope, executive director and Jocelyn McCarthy, associate Director of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation.

And if you're unfamiliar with Ezra Jack Keats, you probably know one of his most famous books I know I do.

The Snowy Day, which was one that I loved reading with my daughter and I. This little red plush, stuffy doll of the main character, Peter and my daughter.

And I would often cuddle up and read the book together.

Oh, Deborah has the same doll.

Yep, that's it.

And even though the book is about snow, it always filled us with a warm feeling inside, so a very beloved.

Book and beloved author.

So I'm excited to chat with you today.

We'll start with introductions.

I'd love to hear from you, Deborah.

How did you get into children's literature?

Deb Pope: Well, it's an interesting story, I guess, at least to me.

Ironically, I didn't read very many children's books illustrated children's books because I had a lot of trouble learning how to read and didn't really learn how to read until the fourth grade.

My parents, of course, read to me, but my father.

Who read to me enjoyed things like Jules Verne, and so I, I had a lot of chapter books and enjoyed them thoroughly.

But for me, reading was very difficult.

And so I understand in particular kids who don't immediately glom onto books.

And because books became so important to me as an older child and as an adult, it resonates with me the need to make reading.

More of a friend to all children, even children who do not come to it organically or immediately.

And the other aspect of my coming, not just to children's literature, but to this particular corner, is that my father and Ezra grew up together and were boyhood friends and best friends until he died in 19 82.

And so, this kind of blends into some of the other questions I think that you're gonna be asking.

So I'll pause here and, you know, we can come back to that subject more about the origins of the foundation and the mission.

Erin Bailey: I love that Deborah, and you know, when I taught reading specialist.

Candidates.

I would often say from my experience, the best reading specialists are those who struggled to learn to read as children.

They develop a deeper empathy that they can relate to the students that they're going to be working with.

So it doesn't surprise me at all that has been your experience as well.

And I also love what you said about making.

Reading a friend.

Such a beautiful phrase.

Thank you for that.

And we'll turn it over to you.

Jocelyn.

Would love to hear how you entered this space.

Jocelyn McCarthy: Yeah, thanks Erin.

So I joined the foundation just about five years ago.

I came from actually a different, totally different background.

I was working in marketing and promotions.

And it just came to a point in my career where I didn't wanna work just to work.

I wanted to do something that I cared about and I was passionate about.

And I had a young child at the time was five or six years old, and Deborah and I just started talking about the foundation and if it made sense and.

I started seeing what the foundation does and it was very important to me watching these kids in a traditional setting, not getting the support they needed and how important reading is and the programs that we do.

And I've been with the foundation ever since.

Erin Bailey: Wonderful.

Thank you.

Well, let's dive in and hear a little bit more about that.

Can you share the story of how the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation began and what inspired its core mission of supporting children's literature?

Deb Pope: Well, first and foremost, it's came.

Came from your introduction, Karen, and that is the.

Snowy day.

And Ezra looking around when he was invited to write, as well as illustrate a children's book saying, well, what about the children whom we don't see the children who are there and whom we do not see in children's books?

He said, that's the child that I'm going to center my literature on, because that was the child I was.

It really does have to do with what you were saying also about people who can empathize with non-readers.

Ezra empathize with the children who don't feel visible, and so that's who he wanted to make visible in children's literature so they could see themselves in the literature.

And so really the focus of the foundation is based very much on Ezra's vision and also on his life experience.

He created the foundation in 1964 after the publication of the Snowy Day, but it really was used for about 20 years only to support organizations that he wanted to organize support rather.

He left the royalties of the books, all of his books to this foundation that he created so that after his death, all those royalties could be used to do good in the world.

And that was actually, that was the direction in his will.

To do good.

And as I said just a moment ago our programs and our mission is based on his life.

So his vision was that all children should be able to see themselves in the books that they read.

And so that is our core mission.

And then in addition to that, Ezra grew up in a very poor home.

And his parents were terrified that he would actually become an artist because artists categorically starved.

They did not want him to starve, and so they tried not to give him encouragement.

They did anyway, but it was muted.

It was strained because it was so frightened.

The encouragement that Ezra got was from his public school teachers and public librarians.

They cheered him on and they really allowed him to move forward in the field that he loved.

And so, for so many reasons, public education is so incredibly important.

It became a focus also of our mission.

And so when he died, the foundation was activated.

And the programs were designed to do that work.

And we have now three major programs.

One is the Ezra Jack Keats Award, which is given every year to what a committee of scholars and experts deemed the best of the year, illustrated and written.

Children's books of that year.

That's one of our awards, which I know we'll talk more about.

One of our programs, another program is the Ezra Jack Keats Bookmaking program in which children grades three through 12 write and illustrate their own books.

And I have to tell you that they rival any of the professional books that we also examine.

And of course then there's the mock a JK award, which is.

A reflection of the EJK reward, but tailored to and reflective of the actual EJK.

We'll get into that later too.

Erin Bailey: Wonderful.

Thank you.

That's great to hear about his Ezra Jack Keats life and legacy and how it continues to be alive today.

That moves us into our next question.

I'm wondering how the foundation's focus has evolved.

Over the years, while, you know, still remaining true to the core mission, particularly around championing d diversity and inclusion in storytelling and in children's books, because I've seen this movement grow a lot over the last few years.

I.

Deb Pope: We're very proud of the fact that we really have always been focused on it.

It really, as you know, I said earlier, is the core of our being.

And we are now in the 40th year really of the programs that I described to you, how has our mission changed or evolved?

To a large extent, it has changed based on the economy in the sense that teachers and public schools and public librarians have their needs have changed and the requirements.

That they need to meet have changed.

And so we need to meet teachers and librarians where they are not where they were 10 years ago.

The core of what we offer them has pretty much remained stable, you know, diversity, inclusion and public education.

Our programs have evolved.

We used to have a program called the Mini grant program, which in which we got applications from teachers and librarians for programs that they otherwise could not do.

And there's a small grants evolved into the Mach e jk, which we have found to really be much more doable to the teachers.

And that's what they need now.

They need things that are.

Erin Bailey: Do you wanna add anything, Jocelyn?

Jocelyn McCarthy: our programs also, we've gone along with the times where we offer a lot of virtual support and we have, for the, for example, for our mock EJK program, we do a Zoom orientation now 'cause it's all across the country.

For our committee on the EJK award, we do virtual deliberations, whereas before anyway, we're just, you know, we're a victim of.

The advances of technology just like anywhere else, but it does make our programs and our work more accessible for everyone.

Erin Bailey: I wanna talk a little bit about just the EJK award before we get into the mock.

So for listeners who are unfamiliar, your definitely going to see it everywhere.

Now, check out your classroom library.

You'll find either a gold or silver round emblem with.

The character Peter in it, in his famous red, puffy snowsuit.

And that, that's the award it's given every year to a children's book.

So I'm sure all of our listeners, as I am, are eager to find out how does it happen?

What's the behind the scenes of the award?

Who reviews the books?

How do you submit books?

All of the behind the scenes.

Deb Pope: I just also wanna add, you know, we have two winners.

One is for illustration and one is for writing author, and we also have four honor books.

So each year there are actually six books highlighted, and we're very proud of that.

Two honors for writing and two honors for illustration.

How does it work?

Well, as Jocelyn said, the committee meets virtually over a weekend every year.

The people who sit on the committee are pretty much.

Are the same people are similar to the award committees that sit on Newbury, the call to Cop, CSK, Chris Scott King.

These are people who work with children who are librarians, who are scholars and work with graduate students who are themselves.

Authors and illustrators also we're one of the few committees that include.

Book makers themselves, and they meet over the course of three days.

Books are submitted by publishers over the course of a year, and so what we get are is a selection of books published from January 1st to basically December 1st.

We, our deadline is December 1st because we meet right after the new year.

We need time to organize the books.

And everybody on the committee gets a copy of every book and has to read every book and evaluate every book.

And there is a list of criteria.

And I think what Jocelyn was saying just a few moments ago was, we are one of the first, and to include.

Diversity as a criteria for excellence.

It's not just something that we look for, it's that it's core, it's a core quality to remove.

And the criteria also include the regular things, you know, integration of text and illustration, originality.

Appealing to the intelligence of the child, featuring family and community, the childhood experience.

And we're also very proud that people who serve on the committee always tell us how much they enjoy the conversations they feel the conversations are open up the books.

And I think to some extent it's because.

The scholars and the teachers are meeting with the artists and the illustrators and they learn from each other.

So at the end of the three days, we have the two winners and the four honors.

And then comes the real fun and that is calling the publishers to tell them to tell their artists and authors that they've won or been honored.

that's always a fantastic experience because it means so much.

It does what we want it to do.

And that this is really to boost careers and so we, we are able to see that kind of joy,

Jocelyn McCarthy: So what's special about the EJK award is that they're all new illustrators and authors.

They can't have more than four books published.

And that's really special.

It really boosts their career.

It's really focused on early career and it boosts their career and helps 'em get known.

Erin Bailey: I'm sure that resonates with Ezra Jack Keats mission as well and his experience of being told to some degree.

That an being an artist, you know, wasn't for him.

And now he has the opportunity to support newer artists, people just entering the space, and that's very powerful as well.

Deb Pope: It is very powerful.

It is.

And there are quite a few of the artists who say, I was Peter.

They simply say, I was Peter, or I am Peter.

That book made me feel like I had a place in the world of books, and we want to increase that experience.

That's really it.

It, you know, certainly we're fans, great fans of the snowy day, but you know, we always need more.

Erin Bailey: Absolutely.

That's beautiful.

I love that.

So.

I know Jocelyn, you work very closely with then what is called the mock EJK award.

Can you share the details about that and why is it so important for younger readers to participate in that kind of award?

Jocelyn McCarthy: Yeah.

We were.

We were actually being told that there was a lot of interest in bringing in the EJK mock award into the classroom by one of our partners in Baltimore, one of our educators.

So we developed this program, the EJK Mock Award, and we think it's really important because it makes it really accessible for students and teachers and educators, librarians who bring in these discussions into their classrooms.

It's very, it's a really fun exercise going through the process.

It reflects and mimics the actual EJK award process.

And kids and educators really take a deep dive into these books.

We offer our educators who participate in the program a list of suggested books, and they choose several, and they go through the actual process of what it's like to evaluate a book.

Based on different criteria, of course, one being diversity and they all talk about it.

There's really interesting and fun conversations that they have in the classroom as a result of this program.

Erin Bailey: So the students are actually using the same rubric that the committee would use to evaluate the books.

Jocelyn McCarthy: Yeah, more or less it's a kid friendly version, like what hits your heart, you know, the language is a little bit different.

And what we found is the Debra and I were just talking about this earlier today, is that we talk about diversity as being one of the, criteria for kids to evaluate.

And, you know, they come up with really interesting things.

Like one our, one of our partners said the kids came up with biodiversity in a book and talked about the biodiversity of a book.

And it really brings up fun conversations.

And they talk about illustration and community and all, all different things.

Deb Pope: We actually do hear that from the teachers that this is a way for them to see this quality, to encourage this quality of
critical thinking in their students organically without saying, this is what you need to be thinking, or this is what you need to believe.

It's looking at the book and talking about what happens in the book.

Erin Bailey: Yeah, especially your example, Jocelyn, of the biodiversity.

I see a lot of critical thinking happening there and vocabulary development for those students.

Of what the word diversity means and how it may change in different contexts and through discussions, so that's wonderful.

How else have educators and students responded to the mock EJK award, especially in terms of student engagement levels, critical thinking discussions and promoting diverse perspectives.

Jocelyn McCarthy: The feedback that we have received is very positive.

You know, we have a lot of repeat educators, so we, this program is fairly new.

It's one of our, like Debra mentioned, we transitioned over from our mini grant program into doing this mock EJK program based on need and desire.

And we're seeing that with our, the people that sign up.

But it's only increasing.

People are returning, they're running the program multiple times.

This is the third year that they are running it in their classroom.

When you hear, when you see an award ceremony in, let's say a kindergarten class, and all the kids are, you know, clapping their hand and they're really invested in these books, it's just such a rewarding experience.

Deb Pope: The kids there's one particular clip that Jocelyn, I think is thinking of in which the kids.

It's like they're at a rock concert when they hear the name of the book or the winning book that they chose announced they go bananas.

And you would think these are just kindergarten kids.

Jocelyn McCarthy: And what's really fun too, is that we provide a list of suggested books, like I mentioned, and some of those books are some of the same books that are up for the EJK award.

So we provide a suggested timeline that these educators run the program and it mimics the actual award.

So our.

Interests in our, we wanna see if they choose the same books that win the actual award.

If it matches up that way we don't know of course, because we don't know who's gonna win the award when they run their mock.

And it interesting to hear what, who wins the award and why for these kids and for the, and for our committee for the actual award.

Deb Pope: And also for the for the authors and illustrators because we encourage the teachers to write to the authors and illustrators.

And so it means a great deal to them, to the bookmakers, to know that the kids have chosen their book.

Jocelyn McCarthy: we actually ran a EJK mock, with riff with reading as fundamental Southern California.

And I recorded someone saying why they chose a certain book, and I sent it to the author illustrator of the book and she was blown away by the evaluation there.

It was just, it was a lot of fun.

Erin Bailey: What a great way for children to engage with authors and illustrators too, in a informal way.

And it doesn't have to be in real time, you know, it's something they can record a video, write a letter, send it to the author, maybe get.

A response back via the mail or social media and just a great way to keep the conversation going.

And I love that visual that you painted for us, Debra of kindergartners cheering for a book the way you might cheer at a rock concert.

And isn't that what we want for children?

We want reading.

To be the equivalent of going to a rock concert or insert your you know, concert of choice because we want that engagement to be there.

I think that's something that reading is fundamental and the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation share is inspiring reading for young children and a love of reading.

And to your, what you said earlier, Deborah, too, of making reading your.

Friend, that's really what we want is to cultivate that love and that joy.

So I think you do that, I'm sure for all the educators who are listening, they wanna know, how can I get involved?

How can I get mock EJK at my school?

So how does it work?

Jocelyn McCarthy: Yeah.

You just go to our website, e jk f.org and sign up for the mock there.

And you can learn all about our programs there.

But if you sign up for the mock this year, we're offering a $200 bookshop gift certificate.

If you submit your results at the end of the year sharing with us what you did and we're really excited about that.

We're hoping that'll help.

Make it easier for more people to run the mock if they have some support to buy the books for the mock.

Erin Bailey: I guarantee you they appreciate that very much and I'll include the link for that in the show notes as well for all of those who are interested.

But what a fun way to engage your students in reading Joy critical Think.

I love it.

I wish that I had that when I was a teacher.

I definitely would have participated.

So the next question is.

About looking ahead what new initiatives or goals does the foundation have to further expand access to diverse children's literature and support emerging authors and illustrators?

Deb Pope: Well, this friendship with reading is fundamental has been a real boost.

Just one.

We have enjoyed this kind of interaction with you and your mission, and we look forward to working with you to see what new things perhaps we can do.

In terms of our changing our core, it's an evolution that we experience as it becomes necessary.

As Jocelyn said, the mock is relatively new and it continues to evolve.

We really try very hard to stay.

Connected with our constituents and being sensitive to what they need.

So continuing to support the new voices of authors and illustrators.

And this is something I think we didn't really mention before.

We stay in touch with the people who have won.

EJK because it's very important to us and we have found very important to them, former winners to pass to pay forward.

And the the awards and the recognition that former EJK award winners have received adds to the meaning of winning an EJK.

And that's something that we have found former winners enjoy doing.

They enjoy being part of the movement to lift up the future.

And this is also something that evolved because you can't do that until you have a whole family of winners.

And so now we really do have that large family, and we can use what they have achieved to lift up the future just as Ezra did.

So it's a very much a community effort.

Erin Bailey: Thank you.

I appreciate that.

So our final question, we always end the podcast by asking our guests what does reading Inspire for you?

So maybe Deborah, we can start with you and then Jocelyn would love to hear from you as well.

Deb Pope: You know, this goes back to the very beginning and the fact that reading.

was very difficult for me.

And so reading means sharing power because reading really is power over your environment and your world and your life.

And of course that's too much to say to a child, but it's part I think of why educators are educators.

Because we want our population to be able to have a world that's larger than what's immediately around them, and that's what we can do.

I think that's enough for the moment.

Jocelyn McCarthy: This is a reading inspire.

This is a hard question, Erin.

I'm looking forward to seeing what others have said, but you know, Deborah and I were talking about this earlier and I, and going back to what Ezra said about seeing yourself in books and.

Not only is it important for kids to see themselves in books, but it's also important for adults to see themselves in books and for everyone to kind of self-reflect and look at the, look at things also in a different perspective.

And it's so important today, more than any other time, I don't know.

You know, it's always important to look at things at a, from a different perspective.

And also relate to characters and behaviors and visuals in a book.

You know, I, as an adult, I still enjoy reading picture books and you see, you always see something different when you look at a book just with words or with visuals as well.

And it's it's always inspiring.

Erin Bailey: Thank you Deborah.

And Jocelyn.

I think, you know, looking at picture books, if we all, I mean I do that for my job.

I'm lucky to have that privilege.

Imagine a world where all adults could just take a moment and enjoy a picture book, one in which they saw themselves reflected, but also opened their eyes and their hearts to new adventures.

And as you said, Deborah.

A wider world because that is what we're hoping for, is to always continue to expand the world around us.

So thank you both so much for sharing your insights.

It was wonderful hearing about the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, the award, the mock award.

I know listeners right now are going to be checking out that link in the show notes.

To do the ward in their classroom.

I wish I could time travel so that I, when I taught first grade, so that I could do it with my students because it sounds like an incredible opportunity and sounds like it's continuing to expand for you and for your community.

So thank you so much.

And thank you for listening to Reading Inspires by Reading is Fundamental.

I hope today's conversation spread new ideas, meaningful connections, and renewed a love of reading.

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, share it with a fellow literacy champion, and join us next time as we continue exploring what reading inspires.