Fatherhood, Diversity, and Democracy

Fatherhood (3:13) We hear a lot of different perspectives here on this show. Educators, mothers, authors, illustrators, and experts. Anyone and everyone who cares about literacy and our children. Today we’d like to give a perspective that gets forgotten sometimes. We’re in studio with Joe Hadfield today. He’s the director of online communications here at BYU and more importantly, a dad. He uses his academic background to give context to some of the reading and literacy practices he uses at home. Storytime (16:02) Libraries are known for their storytimes and we are too. Each week at around 15 minutes past the hour, tune in to hear book reviews or live readings of picture books or poetry. Today we share a few poems from Emily Dickinson's collected works. Emily didn't formally title her poems, but if you want to look up the ones we read today, the first lines are Faith is a Fine Invention, I’m Nobody Who Are You, and Nature is What We See. Author L.L. McKinney (17:37) Most authors have many stories that never hit the shelves, but with every word written, lessons are learned. Author L.L. McKinney joins us today to talk about her journey to publishing her first book, A Blade So Black, a modern and diverse twist on the Alice in Wonderland story. Elle is also a poet and has written many other works before being published. She is a fierce advocate for equality and representation in publishing and other media. Democratic Literacy (36:46) Here on World’s Awaiting our entire focus is on children’s literacy and helping children to reach their full potential. Once they have those fundamental foundations they can move into the world prepared for what is ahead of them, socially, culturally, economically, and politically. Today we are joined by educator Amy Minor to encourage democratic behaviors in children even years before they vote or participate in politics. Book Setting (47:07) Today we are around the Librarians' Table with Emily and Taylor of the BYU Harold B. Lee Library. They conclude a discussion with Rachel a