Despite the feeling that digital is taking over, a wonderful group of kidlit people are still writing, sharing, and promoting the importance of, and a love of books and reading. Author Shara Curlett hosts a collective, industry-wide discussion around why books are essential, why modeling reading and reading to kids is more important than ever, and how creators are digging deep to write the best books possible to engage with kids. In this podcast we discuss thoughts, ideas, research, and the science around the importance of stories, and why we need to persist in encouraging our children to turn to a book, rather than a device.