The Children's Book Podcast · Matthew C. Winner

Overcoming Prejudices with Kaz Windness

·30 min·2 clips

Kaz Windness explains how moving every two years as an Army kid led her to sabotage friendships to avoid loss.

The welcome begins. The host first places Kaz Windness in the world of books that help young readers feel seen and less alone. Then Worm and Butterfly are Friends steps into view as the sequel to Worm and Caterpillar are Friends, the book that started this thread of conversation. The host calls it tender and reads it as a coming out story, which gives the episode a soft, careful mood before the craft talk starts. Kaz answers in kind. She talks about ideas as things that can arrive through more than one creator, and that turns competition into something looser. Similar books do not have to cancel each other out. They can land differently, with different voices and different readers. The host hears that generosity and, naturally enough, ends up at jumping spiders. Could Kaz and Jessica Lannan help make them beloved in children's books? Kaz likes the idea. She describes Speed or Spider as an early reader with rhyme, fiction, and a bit of nonfiction tucked inside. The episode keeps that mix of heart and shop talk. The host asks how Worm and Caterpillar became a series, and the answer makes room for markets without flattening the work. By the end, Kaz brings it back to critical thinking: notice the ideas that narrow your view, then question them.

As heard by us

A focused conversation about safety, series-building, and the books that help young readers feel seen.

The episode follows Kaz and Matthew as they talk through how children's books can carry safety, fear, and the kinds of ideas that seem ready to exist in the world.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play for a warm conversation about feeling safe, building a series, and kids' books that help young readers feel seen.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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