Exquisitely Ever After Christina Phillips-Mattson, PhD

In this special final episode of Season 2, I answer YOUR questions about children’s literature and reading to children.  We cover topics such as the importance of reading in the Early Years; what books will hook an 9-year-old reader; how to prepare a child for the arrival of a new baby; and how to teach your child to read using early reader books.  Happy Reading and I’m looking forward to talking to you in Season 3!
Click HERE for the TRANSCRIPT, the FULL LIST OF BOOKS mentioned in this episode, and all FREE PRINTABLES. 
 
 
Click HERE to join our mailing list! 
Get in touch via email: christina@exquisitelyeverafter.com
Get in touch on Instagram: @exquisitelyeverafter
All other information can be found in the blog post for this episode: 
https://exquisitelyeverafter.com/episode20/
 
If you liked this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and tell your friends!  Happy Reading!
 
 
 
Exquisitely Ever After is a podcast about reading children’s literature to cultivate kind, intelligent, and successful kids.  Host Christina Phillips-Mattson is a writer, educator, and mother of two little boys who received her Ph.D. in children’s and young adult literature from Harvard University. 
 

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a gorgeous stack of books beneath the tree!  We’re counting down to Christmas with 12 of my family’s favorite Christmas books.  In this episode, we discuss the best Christmas books for children, from board books for infants and toddlers to picture books preschoolers and kindergarteners.  I also recommend a couple of interactive Christmas picture books to read with your child, as well as some classic Christmas picture books—and some twists on classic Christmas picture books—for the whole family to enjoy.
Click HERE for the TRANSCRIPT, the FULL LIST OF BOOKS mentioned in this episode, and all FREE PRINTABLES. 
 
 
Click HERE to join our mailing list! 
Get in touch via email: christina@exquisitelyeverafter.com
Get in touch on Instagram: @exquisitelyeverafter
All other information can be found in the blog post for this episode: 
https://exquisitelyeverafter.com/episode19/
 
If you liked this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and tell your friends!  Happy Reading!
 
 
 
Exquisitely Ever After is a podcast about reading children’s literature to cultivate kind, intelligent, and successful kids.  Host Christina Phillips-Mattson is a writer, educator, and mother of two little boys who received her Ph.D. in children’s and young adult literature from Harvard University. 

In this third installment of our Bedtime Book Series, we are discussing two excellent, engaging, brain-building bedtime books in tandem: Arnold Lobel’s Owl At Home and Greg Pizzoli’s Good Night Owl because one has directly influenced the other.  We talk about how Greg Pizzoli found inspiration in many of the amusing scenarios, cozy illustrations, and even some of the turns of phrase that are found in Arnold Lobel’s collection of stories about his Owl.  Drawing attention to the connection between books is not only interesting and fun to do as a reader, but it’s also a good way to subtly introduce your child to the concept of intertextuality.  Demonstrating how stories can relate to each other helps to hone your child’s comparison skills and can also help your child later on when she is asked in school to put a work of fiction in historical, social, or literary context.  It’s key for her success as a reader if your child can start seeing the interconnectivity among books, stories, and characters and start discovering how literature works early on in her reading life.
Click HERE for the TRANSCRIPT, the FULL LIST OF BOOKS mentioned in this episode, and all FREE PRINTABLES. 
 
 
Click HERE to join our mailing list! 
Get in touch via email: christina@exquisitelyeverafter.com
Get in touch on Instagram: @exquisitelyeverafter
All other information can be found in the blog post for this episode: 
https://exquisitelyeverafter.com/episode18/ 
If you liked this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and tell your friends!  Happy Reading!
 
 
 
Exquisitely Ever After is a podcast about reading children’s literature to cultivate kind, intelligent, and successful kids.  Host Christina Phillips-Mattson is a writer, educator, and mother of two little boys who received her Ph.D. in children’s and young adult literature from Harvard University. 

Today’s episode is all about shapes!  Learning about shapes is foundational to your child’s cognitive development; by teaching your children about shapes from an early age, you are helping: to augment their communication skills, to develop their pre-reading and writing skills, to enhance their creative skills, to develop their logical thinking skills through sorting, and to give them an understanding of the basics of geometry.  In this episode, we discuss concept books that will help you teach your younger children to identify and label shapes as well as books for your older children that simply have fun with shapes.  I also recommend a few toys and activities that you can do with your child to supplement these shape books.  Happy Reading!
Click HERE for the TRANSCRIPT, the FULL LIST OF BOOKS mentioned in this episode, and all FREE PRINTABLES. 
 
 
Click HERE to join our mailing list! 
Get in touch via email: christina@exquisitelyeverafter.com
Get in touch on Instagram: @exquisitelyeverafter
All other information can be found in the blog post for this episode: 
https://exquisitelyeverafter.com/episode17/ 
 
If you liked this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and tell your friends!  Happy Reading!
 
 
 
Exquisitely Ever After is a podcast about reading children’s literature to cultivate kind, intelligent, and successful kids.  Host Christina Phillips-Mattson is a writer, educator, and mother of two little boys who received her Ph.D. in children’s and young adult literature from Harvard University. 

One of the tests of a book for me is: Do I see myself giving this book to someone I love and admire?  And if so, will their child also love it and benefit from it?  You Belong Here, a picture book in verse written by M. H. Clark and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault easily passes that test and so it’s one of my go-to books to give to expecting parents and grandparents or any person who is just so excited to give a child that sense of belonging.  This is the bedtime book that I read to both of my children when they were infants, so it holds a special place in our family.  You Belong Here is both a beautiful celebration of belonging to a particular person or family or home and also about having a place in humanity and belonging to the world.  There is a deliberate vagueness in both the image and the text that allows for imagination, which also makes You Belong Here more universal and inclusive of all families, whatever form they might take.  Additionally, this book is a good choice to read to your infants because it taps into what appeals to their developing minds and hearts.  Every time I read this book (which has been a lot in the past four years!), I marvel at its ingenuity and its general loveliness.  I hope you and your children love it, too!
Click HERE for the TRANSCRIPT, the FULL LIST OF BOOKS mentioned in this episode, and all FREE PRINTABLES. 
 
 
Click HERE to join our mailing list! 
Get in touch via email: christina@exquisitelyeverafter.com
Get in touch on Instagram: @exquisitelyeverafter
All other information can be found in the blog post for this episode: 
https://exquisitelyeverafter.com/episode16/ 
 
If you liked this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and tell your friends!  Happy Reading!
 
 
 
Exquisitely Ever After is a podcast about reading children’s literature to cultivate kind, intelligent, and successful kids.  Host Christina Phillips-Mattson is a writer, educator, and mother of two little boys who received her Ph.D. in children’s and young adult literature from Harvard University. 

There is no other book more closely associated with bedtime in children’s literature than Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd, which is why it is our first choice for our Bedtime Book Series.  In today’s episode, we talk about why Goodnight Moon isn’t just an academic favorite, but how this weird little book is actually quietly revolutionary and appeals to the interests and needs of even the smallest children.  What’s more, we discuss how Goodnight Moon benefits your child’s cognitive and emotional development, in addition to helping him actually go the you-know-what to sleep, which is the ultimate and noble goal of all bedtime books!
 
Click HERE for the TRANSCRIPT, the FULL LIST OF BOOKS mentioned in this episode, and all FREE PRINTABLES. 
 
 
Click HERE to join our mailing list! 
Get in touch via email: christina@exquisitelyeverafter.com
Get in touch on Instagram: @exquisitelyeverafter
All other information can be found in the blog post for this episode: 
https://exquisitelyeverafter.com/episode15/ 
 
If you liked this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and tell your friends!  Happy Reading!
 
 
 
Exquisitely Ever After is a podcast about reading children’s literature to cultivate kind, intelligent, and successful kids.  Host Christina Phillips-Mattson is a writer, educator, and mother of two little boys who received her Ph.D. in children’s and young adult literature from Harvard University.