In this special Foreword mini-episode we sit down with IRW Director of School Programs Alison Johnson and Steve Costanza, author & illustrator of The King of Ragtime, at the Henry D. Moore Library in Steuben, ME.

Steve & Alison reflect on their 5-school tour of Washington County and share with us what it's like to be back in-person at school assemblies, their most memorable moments with students, and their experience traveling hundreds of miles along the Maine coast with a piano.

SHOWNOTES:

• The podcast episode Alison quotes is the On Being podcast, "For the Eight Year Old in You," an interview with Kate DiCamillo, and a must-listen.
• You can read more about the Maple Leaf Rag and listen to it here.
• The music at the end of this episode is Steve Costanza playing Scott Joplin's Fig Leaf Rag at the Henry D. Moore Library, May 7, 2022.

In advance of Stephen Costanza's five-school tour with IRW in early May, we're re-releasing this episode of Foreword. Author/illustrator Stephen Costanza talks his newest picture book, "King of Ragtime: The Story of Scott Joplin."

You can see Stephen perform in person at the Henry D. Moore library in Steuben, ME on Saturday, May 7, 2021, 7:00pm. Visit IRW's events calendar for details.

This episode originally aired on September 8, 2021.

Welcome back to Season 2 of the Foreword podcast: Reading Outside the Box, where we ask our listeners to think about who, what, where and how they read—and implore them to explore the wide and wonderful world of children's literature!

On Episode 2 we talk to Hazel Stark of Maine Outdoor School, who describes the beauty and benefit of learning outdoors.

Show Notes

About Our Guest

Hazel Stark is Co-Founder and Naturalist Educator at Maine Outdoor School, where she connects her community and classrooms to the outdoors through custom educational experiences. Hazel is a Registered Maine Guide and holds a Bachelor's degree in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic and a Professional Science Master's degree in Resource Management and Conservation from Antioch University New England. You can find her at maineoutdoorschool.org and on WERU on Saturday mornings at 9:30 am where she hosts the Nature of Phenology program, and shares what’s happening in nature each week, all year long.

About Foreword

Foreword is a podcast of Island Readers & Writers (IRW), a nonprofit in Southwest Harbor, ME with a mission to inspire a love of reading and learning in children. Foreword podcast was created in 2020 by Taylor Mace, and is written, hosted, and produced by Kelsey Buckley.