The Children's Book Podcast · Matthew C. Winner

Leaving It Messy with Torrey Maldonado

·35 min·3 clips

Torrey Maldonado reveals the origin of his powerful quote about people who don't make you feel right.

Hope opens the door. Matthew Winner sets up a conversation about books and creators who help young readers feel seen without smoothing over the hard parts. Just Write gets the close read. The picture book follows Toby as he moves between the disappointment of his father's silence and the warmer, easier space of Uncle's garage. The socks should be simple. Toby buys them for his dad and his uncle, then starts blaming himself when his dad stays on his phone. His mother gives him a better way to hold it. Another person's failure to meet you kindly does not mean you did something wrong. Uncle changes the air. His response is generous in a way Toby can feel before he can fully explain it. Winner stays with that feeling, connecting Toby's confusion to the hard truth that you cannot make someone else become the person you need. The episode does not tidy Dad into a cartoon villain, and it does not pretend the ache disappears because Uncle is there. Therapy comes in as a lens, but the story stays with the child. Toby still has to live with a father whose absence is part of the room. Messiness matters here. The episode treats children's books as places where hurt, safety, and unanswered questions can sit together for a while. It closes by asking listeners who they might be a Highlight for today.

As heard by us

A steady conversation about a picture book, uneven care, and the value of leaving some questions open.

Matthew Winner's conversation with Tori Maldonado stays focused on a child trying to reach the adults around him, and on how each response shapes that effort. It keeps close to Just Write, a picture book about the adults who help a child feel safe, valued, and true to himself.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a picture-book talk that leaves the hard feelings visible.

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