Finding Yourself in the Characters from Children's Books

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The children’s classic Frog & Toad has been made into a new animated series for AppleTV+. The gentle and enduring friendship between those two characters allowed its author, Arnold Lobel, to, according to his daughter, explore and embrace his own sexuality as a gay man. Characters in children’s books allow readers to imagine a different world for themselves. Whether it is the Lorax, Iggy Peck (Architect), or Harriet the Spy, the characters in children’s books can make you feel seen or help you identify emotions that you didn’t know you had. We’ll talk to an author and a bookseller about the characters who bring books to life, and we’ll hear from you: Who is a character in a kids’ book that remains important to you or the children in your life? Guests: Michelle H. Martin, Beverly Cleary Professor for Children and Youth Services, MLIS Program Chair, University of Washington's School of Information Mac Barnett, author of the children's books "Circle," "Square" and "Triangle," which have been made into a new animated series "Shape Island" on AppleTV+. Barnett is the author of the "Mac B. Kid Spy" and the "Jack" series. His books have won Caldecott honors and E.B. White Read Aloud Awards. Thu Doan, children's book buyer, East Bay Booksellers, a bookstore located in Oakland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for Forum comes from Rancho La Puerta, a wellness resort in Baja, California, just an hour from San Diego,
0:07.4	recently voted the number one destination spa by readers of travel and leisure magazine.
0:12.8	Summer retreat packages of three, four, or seven nights including hiking, water classes,
0:19.0	mindfulness, spa therapies, and culinary adventures with
0:22.8	farm-fresh ingredients. Learn more at Rancho LePuerta.com.
0:27.3	Support for Forum comes from Broadway S.F. presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a
0:33.2	true story. From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and
0:39.7	Lucille Frank, a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused
0:46.3	of an unspeakable crime, it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice,
0:53.4	and devotion.
1:02.6	The riveting and gloriously hopeful parade plays the Orphium Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th.
1:06.9	Tickets on sale now at Broadway, sF.com.
1:09.5	From KQED. From KQED.
1:24.6	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:30.6	Frog and Toad, Iggy Peck, Curious George, The Cat in the Hat, Max from where the wild things are, that dang pigeon from Mo Willem's books, children's book characters are among
1:35.8	the most memorable in all of literature.
1:38.3	And not only because you end up reading kids the same book 100 times, done well, just a few
1:43.4	lines of text and the right illustration can conjure an entire personality,
1:48.0	a history, a way of being.
1:50.0	Kids and adults connect with these characters, and they can make us feel seen or help us identify
1:55.0	emotions we didn't know anyone else had.
1:57.0	So today we'll talk about our favorite kids, bears, shapes, detectives, and more from
	...

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