Helen Clare Taylor
Host of Little Voices, Big IdeasHelen Clare Taylor was born in London, England and came to the USA for the PhD which she earned from the University of Connecticut. She moved to Louisiana to become a professor of English at Louisiana State University Shreveport where she now serves as Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. She became involved in the LEH’s PRIME TIME Family Reading in 2002 and later served as a consultant and trainer for that program.
My favorite picture book is Flossie and the Fox by Patricia McKissack. Why? Because it combines a familiar trope (little girl, journey/task, big bad fox) with a story about how courage, confidence, and just plain being smart can save the day.
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In this episode, we explore what makes this tale so endearing--and enduring--and why Where the Wild Things Are allows parents and children to have tame talks about the pain of punishment, and the healing power of the imagination. -
Anansi the spider, the thieving trickster at the heart of Eric Kimmel’s Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock, offers up an opportunity for pushing past mere moralizing toward more nuanced conversations about when tricks cross over into deception territory--and even when a seemingly harmless little lie may not be seen as such by others. -
In this episode, we discuss Jacqueline Woodson’s The Other Side, a beautifully illustrated picture book set during the segregation era--and how to use it to invite safe, non-didactic conversations about how our racial differences have divided us, and how we can take the conversation forward. -
Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are, takes readers on an extraordinary journey into the imagination of the wildest thing… -
There’s plenty of attention given to the pursuit of “happily ever after” in stories of all sorts. But how should we go about acquiring happiness? Is there… -
Of all the difficult subjects deserving of discussion with children, race and racism are perhaps the most required, and least easy to address. In fact,…
