The Children's Book Review: Growing Readers Podcast

In this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast, host Bianca Schulze welcomes Kenan Thompson—SNL's longest-tenured cast member, comedian, and actor—to discuss his picture book debut, The Unfunny Bunny (co-authored with Bryan Tucker and illustrated by Tony Neal). Kenan shares how a simple rhyming title sparked a story about a bunny whose jokes fall flat on the first day of school, and why that journey from "unfunny" to finding your funny mirrors his own experiences in comedy.From his favorite SNL sketches like "What's Up With That" to learning how to ice skate for a hockey role, Kenan opens up about the power of perseverance and why it's okay when things don't go according to plan. With humor and heart, he reveals what makes kids laugh and how the magic of friendship can help you find your voice. Whether you're a parent preparing a child for their first day of school or someone who's ever felt like their jokes didn't land, this conversation is a joyful reminder that trying, failing, and trying again is all part of the journey.Read the transcript on The Children's Book Review.Highlights:From SNL to Picture Books: Why Kenan wanted to jump into children's literatureThe Title Came First: How "Unfunny Bunny" sparked the entire story conceptComedy Lessons for Kids: What happens when your jokes don't land and how to keep goingDon't Be Afraid to Scrape Your Knee: Kenan's philosophy on resilience and recoveryWhat Makes Kids Laugh: The power of silliness, energy, and honest portrayalThe Magic of Two Friends: Why partnership helps you find your balanceBeing Yourself is Enough: Kenan's message about confidence, friendship, and perseveranceNotable Quotes:"Don't be afraid to scrape your knee. If you scrape your knee, put the bandaid on it and keep it moving. It'll heal and you'll be better off for it." —Kenan Thompson"You really can do anything you put your mind to and try hard at. The timing part, you know, is the key." —Kenan Thompson"Don't let anybody stop you. But also be willing to take on a passenger; there's nothing wrong with going down the road, not alone. We're supposed to be united in this world." —Kenan ThompsonBooks Mentioned:The Unfunny Bunny by Kenan Thompson, Bryan Tucker, and Tony Neal: Amazon or Bookshop.orgAbout Kenan Thompson:Kenan Thompson's career spans decades, including being the longest-tenured Saturday Night Live cast member in history and starring in family-centric projects like Kenan and Kel, All That, The Grinch, the Trolls franchise (as Tiny Diamond—the cutest character ever), The Mighty Ducks 2 and 3, Smurfs 1 and 2, and both Good Burgers. The Emmy award-winning actor’s iconic work has made him a beloved household name. Unfunny Bunny is his debut picture book.Credits:Host: Bianca SchulzeGuest: Kenan ThompsonProducer: Bianca Schulze

In this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast, host Bianca Schulze welcomes Penn Holderness—content creator, podcaster, and New York Times bestselling author—to discuss his picture book, All You Can Be With ADHD (co-authored with Kim Holderness). Penn shares his journey from being diagnosed with ADHD in college after chewing on a fly swatter at his grandmother's funeral to creating a joyful, empowering book that invites kids to join the ADHD Club rather than just cope with a diagnosis.What started as an adult book became a children's resource after parents at book signings asked for something their kids could understand. Penn opens up about why he felt like "no one in history was as weird as I was," how his deeply feeling nature and emotional regulation delays shaped his childhood, and why ADHD is a delay—not a deficit. With humor and honesty, he reveals how sharks, ninjas, and a fiddle-playing snake came to represent the creative, wild world of ADHD brains, and why understanding executive function development can change everything for kids and parents alike.Read the transcript on The Children's Book Review.Highlights:The Fly Swatter Moment: Penn's unexpected ADHD diagnosis storyFrom Academic Probation to Author: How college struggles led to understandingThe ADHD Club Concept: Why Penn chose a playful clubhouse over clinical terminologyExecutive Function is Delayed: Understanding brain development in ADHD kidsDeeply Feeling Kids: Penn's emotional regulation journey and what he wishes he'd knownFrom Social Media to Books: How kids at signings inspired the picture bookTeacher Resources: The curriculum Penn and Kim created for classroom discussionsIt's Not Just Medical: Why modern ADHD understanding focuses on brain differences, not just deficitsNotable Quotes:"It is a delay... our executive functioning part of our brain is underdeveloped. And that goes on through most of childhood and adolescence, and it will catch up in some ways during adulthood." —Penn Holderness"I always thought of ADHD as a club, as a group of people... people who weren't sure why they were drawn to each other, but were able to kind of live creatively." —Penn HoldernessBooks Mentioned:All You Can Be With ADHD by Penn Holderness and Kim Holderness: Amazon or Bookshop.orgADHD Is Awesome by Penn Holderness and Kim Holderness: Amazon or Bookshop.orgThe Educator Guide for this book can be found at the bottom of the publisher's book page: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/penn-holderness/all-you-can-be-with-adhd/9780316597678/About Penn Holderness:Penn Holderness is a content creator, podcaster, and New York Times bestselling author known for his viral videos with his wife Kim. Together they've built a community around honest conversations about parenting, marriage, and mental health. After being diagnosed with ADHD in college, Penn has become an advocate for understanding and celebrating neurodivergent brains. He and Kim are the authors of ADHD Is Awesome and All You Can Be With ADHD.Credits:Host: Bianca SchulzeGuest: Penn HoldernessAudio Editor: Kelly RinkProducer: Bianca Schulze

In this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast, host Bianca Schulze welcomes Academy Award-winning director, animator, and author Alan Barillaro to discuss his middle-grade novel, Bunns Rabbit. Best known for directing Pixar's beloved animated short Piper, Alan brings over 25 years of animation experience to the page with a deeply moving tale about a brave rabbit born with unusually short ears who must find her place in a world that fears her because she's different.What began as a vulnerable leap from the security of animation—where Alan could "hide behind a monster"—became an intimate exploration of belonging, courage, and following your heartsong. Alan shares how his childhood struggles with dyslexia and his habit of reading backwards shaped his creative journey, why Roald Dahl's The Witches became a pivotal moment in his development as a storyteller, and how his personal experiences became woven into Bunns's world. With honesty and warmth, he reveals why he never feels "up to the task" as a creator, how vulnerability is essential to authentic storytelling, and why treating young readers with the same respect as adults creates the most powerful connections.Read the transcript on The Children's Book Review.Highlights:From Animation to Prose: Why Alan's editor had to convince him to write a novel instead of a graphic novelThe Roald Dahl Awakening: How a fourth-grade book report on The Witches changed everythingLearning to Read Backwards: Alan's experience with dyslexia and finding his way to storytellingHide and Seek: Why animators feel like actors and how that prepared (and didn't prepare) Alan for writingPersonal Sketches to Story: How drawings from his son's baseball games and his daughter's monarch butterfly became part of Bunns's worldThe Garden Approach: Alan's method of throwing story "seeds" without knowing which ideas will growColor Scripts and Heartsongs: How film techniques like color scripting and specific music playlists shape his book writingBalancing Dark and Light: Creating illustrations that feel both shadowy and luminousEaster Eggs and Book Two: What's planted in Bunns Rabbit that will pay off in the sequelNotable Quotes:"I think Bunns would ask you to be true to yourself and that she would remind you that everyone feels that way... there isn't a single character in the story that doesn't feel a little different." —Alan Barillaro"I felt like Roald Dahl always spoke to me like you would speak to an adult... the honesty and there's like some truth to what he's saying or cruelty, like he has all these little sides of him that as a young reader I found just really attractive." —Alan BarillaroBooks Mentioned:Bunns Rabbit by Alan Barillaro: Amazon or Bookshop.orgWhere the Water Takes Us: Amazon or Bookshop.orgThe Witches by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake: Amazon or Bookshop.orgRevolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake: Amazon or Bookshop.orgMadame Badobedah series by Sophie Dahl: Amazon or Bookshop.orgAbout Alan Barillaro:Alan Barillaro is an Academy Award-winning director, writer, and animator who has spent over 25 years at Pixar Animation Studios bringing beloved characters to life. His directorial debut, the animated short Piper, won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2017. Alan has contributed his animation talents to numerous Pixar classics and now brings his gift for visual storytelling to children's literature with his debut middle-grade novel, Bunns Rabbit.For more: alanbarillaro.comCredits:Host: Bianca SchulzeGuest: Alan BarillaroProducer: Bianca Schulze and Kelly Rink

In this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast, host Bianca Schulze welcomes award-winning science author Melissa Stewart to discuss her latest picture book, From BAM to BURP: A Carbon Atom's Never-Ending Journey Through Space and Time and YOU. With over 200 science books for children under her belt, Melissa takes listeners on an extraordinary journey that begins with the Big Bang and ends with a third grader's breakfast burp—all while following a single carbon atom across billions of years.What started as a curious question from a third grader during a school visit became a cosmic adventure that connects kids to the larger natural processes of our universe. Melissa shares how she uses her background in biology and science journalism to spark wonder and curiosity in young readers, why she believes getting kids invested in nature is more important than ever, and how seeing ourselves as "just a speck in this gigantic universe" can actually inspire humility, gratitude, and environmental responsibility.Read the transcript on The Children's Book Review.Highlights:From Shower to Page: How Melissa uses her morning routine and shower time as a creative problem-solving techniqueThe Question That Started It All: The third grader's persistent curiosity that inspired a billion-year carbon journeyCarbon Beyond Climate: Why this essential element deserves celebration, not just concernFinding Wonder Everywhere: Melissa's approach to staying curious, from tree holes to rail trailsConnecting Cosmic to Personal: Why it's important for children to see themselves as part of larger natural processesThe Publishing Timeline: How Melissa juggles writing new books while promoting ones that won't release for yearsNotable Quotes:"I always say that sort of the mission of my writing is to just make kids curious. And if one of my books can inspire a child to chase after a butterfly, to see where it's going, or look under a rock, then my job is done." —Melissa Stewart"We are just sort of like a speck in this gigantic universe... the more that they can kind of feel the sense of awe that we even exist. Like it's a coincidence... and to just really be humble and grateful about our existence." —Melissa Stewart"Carbon is sometimes a little bit maligned because of its role in climate change and global warming, but the carbon cycle is so critical to life on Earth. Life could not exist without it." —Melissa StewartBooks Mentioned:From BAM to BURP: A Carbon Atom's Never-Ending Journey Through Space and Time and YOU by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Marta Álvarez Miguéns: Amazon or Bookshop.orgWhale Fall: Exploring an Ocean-Floor Ecosystem by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Rob Dunlavey: Amazon⁠ or ⁠Bookshop.org⁠Meet the Mini Mammals: A Night at the Natural History Museum by Melissa Stewart: Amazon or Bookshop.orgMonarch and Morning Cloak: A Butterfly Journal by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen: Amazon or Bookshop.orgAbout Melissa Stewart:Melissa Stewart is the award-winning author of more than two hundred science books for children. She holds degrees in biology and science journalism. Recent books include Summertime Sleepers: Animals That Estivate, Seashells: More Than a Home, Feathers: Not Just for Flying, and Whale Fall: Exploring an Ocean-Floor Ecosystem.For more: melissa-stewart.comCredits:Host: Bianca SchulzeGuest: Melissa StewartProducer: Bianca Schulze

In this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast, host Bianca Schulze welcomes back author-illustrator Nyasha Williams, alongside her co-author Sidney Rose McCall, to discuss their collaborative picture book, Once Upon a Kwanzaa. Though the two have never met in person, they describe themselves as "deeply ancestral soul sisters" who connected through the adult adoption community online. Together, they explore how the seven principles of Kwanzaa—from Umoja (unity) to Imani (faith)—offer a pathway back to communal ways of being that our world desperately needs.Read the transcript on The Children's Book Review.Highlights:The Seven Principles Explained: Sidney walks through each Kwanzaa principle and how they apply to everyday life, not just one week a yearTen Families, One Vision: How Nyasha and Sidney intentionally represented diverse Black families, including adoptive families, queer families, and multigenerational householdsEveryday Kwanzaa: Why these principles of community, creativity, and collective responsibility are needed now more than everCollaboration as Dance: The process of two writers creating magic through voice memos, memes, and ancestral downloadsVisibility vs. True Representation: Nyasha's powerful distinction between simply being seen and being truly represented in literatureNotable Quotes:"Literature and media has such an immense power in shaping our future, in shaping what can be, in imagining what's even possible." —Nyasha Williams"Community is not just about finding your safe people, but also finding people who you might not have initially considered your safe people." —Sidney Rose McCall"Empathy isn't a passive word. It requires active participation. It is a relationship that you are building." —Sidney Rose McCallBooks Mentioned:Once Upon a Kwanzaa by Nyasha Williams and Sidney Rose McCall, illustrated by Sawyer Cloud: Amazon or Bookshop.orgAbout Nyasha Williams:Nyasha Williams grew up living between the United States and South Africa. As a kindergarten teacher, she was inspired to become an author and activist after a Black student told her mermaids could not be Black. She is the author of four picture books with Running Press Kids, including the bestselling I Affirm Me, and is the author of RP Studio's Black Tarot.For more: nyashawilliams.onlineAbout Sidney Rose McCall:Sidney Rose McCall is a historian and community intellectual who combines academic work with activism. She serves on the Academic Committee for the ZORA! Festival of the Arts and Humanities and shares decolonized history lessons through her Patreon platform.For more: linktr.ee/Rosecolored_ScholarCredits:Host: Bianca SchulzeGuests: Nyasha Williams and Sidney Rose McCallProducer: Bianca SchulzeEpisode Sponsor:Mimi and Ary by Rashad Mirzayev: Amazon or Bookshop.org