Petitations (pet-centered meditations), interviews and stories for kids. Interviews with artists, authors, musicians, editors, illustrators teachers, and mindfullnes/meditation and yoga practitioners. It's not just for kids any more. Find the website at www.mindfulhappykids.com for links to the podcast and YouTube videos, pdf's of Dr. Paige's children's books on gratitude, compassion, mindfulness and yoga and examples of Petitations set to music.
Subscribe:.rss.atom.json.md.m3u.pls
Live Last read · last published · next check
Saves to your Listen queue, to pick up on another day or another device.
Dr. Elisabeth Paige welcomes middle grade and YA author Tracy Badua to Mindful Happy Kids to discuss her contemporary and contemporary fantasy books that weave in Filipino folklore, humor, mystery, and heartfelt moments. Badua explains differences between middle grade and YA, her path from legal writing to fiction, and why Filipino American voices and folklore matter, including intergenerational…
Dr. Elisabeth Paige interviews middle grade author Diana Harmon Asher about her writing journey and books "Side Tracked," "Up Staged," and "Trouble Finds Evie Lefkowitz." Asher explains why she writes for ages 8–12 and recounts years of rejections before "Side Tracked" sold to Abrams, followed by her other novels. She discusses weaving Jewish culture and Yiddish into her work, drawing on her…
Loretta Lopez in conversation with Dr. Elisabeth Paige shares her writing journey from early encouragement and mentors to publishing her debut middle-grade novel, "City Girls", and explains how her work as a case manager for undocumented children inspired the character Elisa and the asylum storyline. She summarizes the book’s three 11-year-old protagonists—Elisa, Lucia, and Alice—each facing…
Dr. Elisabeth Paige interviews YA author and literary agent Sandra Proudman about her debut YA fantasy Salvación and her work in publishing for her podcast, Mindful, Happy Kids: Embracing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Sandra introduces her upcoming books, including the YA dystopian "The End of Us" (out in October) and another standalone YA fantasy with Wednesday Books, "Lost and Darling…
In this powerful episode, Sonido Reyes joins Elisabeth Paige to discuss his journey as an acclaimed author bringing vital representation to young adult literature. Sonido shares his late-blooming love for writing, sparked through fan fiction and a journey from shame to joy in self-expression. The episode delves deep into Sonido’s award-winning novels, including The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic…
Physician and children's author Rajani LaRocca has published over 20 books for kids of all ages. In this second interview (you can also see the first interview by scrolling), we talk about her forthcoming young adult novel about grief, truth, authenticity, and friendship and her published fantasy middle grade adventure based in Indian culture on colonialism. We also spoke about two very relevant…
Dr. Elisabeth Paige interviews middle grade author and English professor Chris Baron about two recent books: the Passover anthology "On All Other Nights," which he co-edited with Joshua Levy and Naomi Milliner, and his verse novel "Spark" about California wildfires. Baron discusses his preference for poetry, his writing journey into middle grade, and why certain stories choose verse versus prose…
Dr. Elisabeth Paige interviews middle grade author Dan Gemeinhart about his writing journey and three of his ten novels: The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, Coyote Lost and Found, and Busted. Dan discusses why his stories include grief and death as backstory, how he balances heavy themes with humor, and why animals and friendship are central. They outline Coyote’s road-trip plot to save a…
Dr. Elisabeth Paige and Mike Rosenstein interview children’s author and illustrator Johnny Marciano about his career writing from board books to chapter books to middle grade books and young adult books. He’s even written adult nonfiction. His first book was about his grandfather Ludwig Bemelmans, author of the Madeline series. Johnny discusses learning to paint in Bemelmans’ style for Madeline…
This is a heart-wrenching and fascinating interview with Nora Lester Murad: Activist, Educator, and Writer About Palestine. Nora is Jewish and married a Palestinian, Muslim man. Together they raised three daughters in the West Bank during the Israeli occupation. Her middle grade novel, "Ida in the Middle" was inspired by her daughter and her own experiences living in the West Bank and coming back…
The Petitation Companion: Enhance the Lives of You and Your Pets with Mindfulness Meditation are the adventures of Pago and Pippi, Schipperke pups trying to teach Norman, the negative cat to Petitate. I will be reading you the book, written by myself, Dr. Elisabeth Paige and Joanne Leslie chapter by chapter. I will also be adding the Petitations 1 by 1 set to music composed and recorded by Steve…