Messages of Hope: March 2025

Here at the Children’s Book Podcast, where we are purveyors of hope and in community with those cultivating hope for children of all ages. In this new miniseries of indefinite length, I invite my friends from the kidlit community to share what is giving them hope today. 

No matter where you are. No matter what’s going on around you. No matter what is pulling your attention or competing for space in your mind. May these next few minutes offer you rest, peace, and hope.

Hope Ep. 1 - March 15, 2025

Lesléa Newman (Joyful Song: A Naming Story) shares what is giving her hope today: being in community with like-minded people who want to make the world a better place.

Listen along:

Transcript:

Lesléa: What is giving me hope?

Hope is the thing with feathers and we all need to hold on to hope. What gives me hope is being in community with other people. Like-minded people who want to make the world a better place. People who are kind, people who are full of empathy and compassion, people who are taking action, people who are writing letters, writing editorials, showing up at marches and protests, but most of all being kind to one another and creating books for readers of all ages that show the kind of world that we want to live in.

If we can imagine it, we can create it. So that is what is giving me hope.

For a full transcript, episode takeaways, quotes, and more, visit https://deepcast.fm/episode/what-gives-leslea-newman-hope

Hope Ep. 2 - March 22, 2025

Kaz Windness (Bitsy Bat, Team Star) shares what is giving her hope today: a commitment to being joyful and doing things that bring happiness as an act of rebellion.

Listen along:

Transcript:

Kaz: What is giving me hope today?

So some of the greatest creativity and advocacy comes from adversity. Anger is motivating. You want to get something done, get angry about it. So I'm saying more outreach and community than ever before.

We are learning how much we need each other, how the act of teamwork, regardless of outcome, is critical to us as humans. It benefits those in power to keep us isolated and siloed. People who don't ask for help and don't share need to make purchases to stay that independent.

We also don't see how much power we have because we feel like what can little old me do? Well, little old big ol us can do a lot.

I'm also committed to being joyful and doing things that bring happiness as an act of rebellion. I'm not being ignorant about the awful in the world, but I can still take care of me and my people and smile in the rain.

For a full transcript, episode takeaways, quotes, and more, visit https://deepcast.fm/episode/what-gives-kaz-windness-hope

Hope Ep. 3 - March 29, 2025

Zetta Elliott (The Oracle’s Door) shares what is giving her hope today: art. Art has always been not just an expression of hope, but an act of resistance.

Listen along:

Transcript:

Zetta: What's giving me hope these days is art.

I am working on a new novel. I am reading for at least an hour every day. I'm going to as many galleries and museums as I can to take in the art of other people who created in a time of struggle. Because there has always been struggle and art has always been not just an expression of hope, but an act of resistance.

And last month I got to attend a Black History Month celebration where a group of four fourth graders here in Chicago, kids of all races, sang the black national anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing. And I looked up at those kids on stage and I thought, that's what they don't want: all of us working together, drawn together through art, sharing a vision of a better world.

And when I need inspiration, I turn to a quote by Maxine Hong Kingston.

She wrote,

"In a time of destruction,

create something.

A poem, a parade,

a community, a school,

a vow, a moral principle.

One peaceful moment."

I hope that gives you hope, too.

Be well. Read on. And don’t lose hope.

https://deepcast.fm/episode/what-gives-zetta-elliott-hope