Jennifer Payne on Sounds of America and Finding a Place to Belong

Madison Lucchesi welcomes Jennifer Payne to discuss her picture book, Sounds of America, which follows a young Italian boy traveling from Naples to New York Harbor. Through the sounds he encounters, the story explores how children experience new places, community, safety, and belonging.

Drawing on 25 years as a teacher, Jennifer shares her belief that children learn best when teaching connects with their individual interests and senses. She uses joyful language, sound, visuals, and playful reading to spark engagement and help ideas stick. For her, reading is a relationship: grown-ups can watch children's expressions and body language, then adjust their pace or tone to suit what a child needs.

She also encourages families to make room for many paths into literacy. Audiobooks can connect struggling readers with stories, while graphic novels invite children to infer and think deeply. At home, she urges adults to model reading and make reading for joy part of family life, rather than letting reading levels define what children can enjoy. Her book can also open gentle, honest conversations about immigration and change, helping children feel heard and welcome. Through Victory Garden Kids, her tutoring program, she offers individualized academic and emotional support, building confidence through consistent relationships and tailored instruction. She is finishing a parent-focused literacy workbook, Victorious Reading, and already imagining more children's books. She hopes every child sees themselves in Polly's journey and leaves the story feeling wrapped in a sense of love and acceptance.

Jed Doherty also welcomes Tricia Aquilar, author of Fruit Rainbow, which introduces colors through fruit, and the Once Upon a Lullaby series, pairing stories with songs via QR codes. She collaborates with musicians and is planning story-and-song events, including performances in Connecticut and Florida, with stops in Rhode Island and Alabama.