The Curious Compassionate Podcast

Today we welcome Suhasini Gupta of the Picture Book Peeps to the Curious Compassionate Podcast. Suhasini talks about the launch of her debut picture book, Kai Po Che: Mini’s Perfect Kite, how kites are like dreams, and how she got kids to fly kites inside. Suhasini describes how she went from engineering to writing, including reaching for emotions that were previously unaccessible. She talks about...

In this episode of the Curious Compassionate, Emily Dangremond and Joyce Uglow discuss Joyce’s new book, STUCK: the Story of La Brea Tar Pits. We discuss the process of finding a topic to write about related to tar pits and fossils; scientific research and working with scientists that vetted the book; and how Joyce became a picture book writer. Joyce quizzes Emily on which animal was found the mos...

Hunger. It’s something all of us feel at some point in our lives but our experiences vary almost infinitely. In this episode of The Curious Compassionate, author Roxanne Chester talks with author Gina Soldano-Herrle about her picture book, Nia’s Rescue Box , and the inspiration behind it. “I wanted to make it as accessible as possible. Everyone’s been hungry before. But there’s a difference betwee...

“A book is only 32 pages so I really need to be concise with words. Each word holds weight. I would say–I would argue that creative writing is even harder because it’s not just about clarity, it really is about beauty, and the art, and the flow. That is creative writing.” – Roxanne Chester A Few Highlights: The inspiration behind the book. The bag that holds everything. How do writing and law inte...

If you’ve ever been or considered what it is like to be unhoused, you won’t want to miss this episode. As a topic that is often avoided or literally hidden from view, we dive into the reality of homelessness in the United States. It looks different than you’d expect and is more prevalent than you can imagine. So, how do we have a conversation about it with our children? Well, you’ll have to listen...

“When you tell a story enough times, it needs to be written down.” — Wendy Goldstein A Few Highlights: * Oscar’s dance moves and the legacy they’ve inspired as a therapy dog.💃🦮🐕‍🦺 * What happens when circumstances conspire to make achieving your therapy dog certification impossible? * What can a dog do? You will definitely be surprised. * The truth behind his fictional story.🐕‍🦺🐶🦮🐕 * Stay...

In this episode, Picture Book Peeps members Christine J. Ko and Wendy Goldstein talk about animals, particularly domesticated ones such as dogs, and what they mean to us. Wendy is the author-illustrator of Oscar’s Blue Bandana which is inspired by her own Havanese dog Oscar and his adventures in training to become a service animal. Whether we have pets or other domesticated animals in our own home...

“ Plants are people too! Trees are individual beings that are alive, they have their own lifetimes. They can’t run and hide, they can’t attack the way we think of animals doing that. But they are living beings.” - Emily Dangremond A Few Highlights: * Caterpillar outbreaks, defoliated trees, and juneberry season all played a part in the inspiration for Meet the Trees .🌲🌳 * Native planting/landsca...

In this episode, Roxanne Chester and Gina Soldano-Herrle talk about co-Picture Book Peep Member Emily Dangremond’s book, Meet the Trees . Emily’s book inspires a personal connection with readers to each of the trees depicted (Juneberry, Aspen, Oak) as their stories unfold. As nature is such a huge force in our world, this conversation serves as more of a spark to alight whichever trail you choose...

We are so happy to feature one of our own Picture Book Peeps, Christine J. Ko today. She is in conversation with Gina Soldano-Herrle about her book Sound Switch Wonder (coauthored with Owen Whang and illustrated by Katie Crumpton) as well as her writing journey. 🖋️ I just wanted a book with a main character with cochlear implants without it being about them being deaf…Just a book with them out the...

In this episode, Roxanne Chester and Gina Soldano-Herrle talk about co-Picture Book Peep Member Christine J. Ko’s book, Sound Switch Wonder . Christine’s book creates a bridge toward an unhearing experience told through the POV of a boy with cochlear implants (like her son, Owen Whang, also her co-author). We were definitely ambitious in this first episode of The Curious Compassionate. 🏋️ We wante...

As promised in the last post, here is a hint of what’s to come with our podcast, The Curious Compassionate. While we are and always will be Picture Book Peeps (raise your hand if you love picture books!📚📚), we want to use what we can—our words—to do more for this world. 🌏🌎🌍 Let’s get started on this exploration of curiosity and compassion with our first episode about using picture books to bu...