Going to the Festival: Celebrating Community, Memories, and Art

In this episode of Reading With Your Kids , we're celebrating two joyful, community-minded picture books that are perfect for creating memories with kids. First, Jed chats with Jodi Tatiana Charles , author of Going to the Festival . Inspired by her decade of volunteering—two years as president—at the Marblehead Festival of the Arts in Massachusetts, Jodi turned her experiences into a vibrant picture book that honors festivals, volunteers, and community life. She talks about how annual events bring neighbors together, support local businesses, and create multigenerational memories that last a lifetime. We meet her four main characters— Tanner , Sebastian , Beatrice , and Danielle —each reflecting different talents and personalities, and each carrying a bit of Jodi and her illustrator, Julia Potvin . Jodi also shares how Easter eggs hidden in the illustrations, intergenerational scenes, and a strong sense of place make the book relatable whether or not you've ever been to Marblehead. Then we welcome back Kris Tarantino , author of Bed Slime Blues , the follow-up to Be My Valent-Slime . Kris introduces us to her four monster characters— Snoodle, Iggy, ZZ, and Fleck —who stand in for kids facing classic bedtime battles: baths, toothbrushing, more snacks, more stories, and missing stuffies. She explains how she learned to let the illustrator tell half the story, how revision truly transforms a manuscript, and how her school visits use humor and interactivity to get kids excited about reading and writing. Kris also teases the third "slime" book, centered on the monsters' first day of school. This episode is all about community, connection, and the magic of picture books.

You can listen to Going to the Festival: Celebrating Community, Memories, and Art online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Going to the Festival: Celebrating Community, Memories, and Art is an episode from Reading With Your Kids Podcast by Jedlie Circus Produtions, Inc.

This episode is 55:15 long.

This episode was published on Apr 12, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Reading With Your Kids Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.