A Worm's Worth with Jason Reynolds

This week’s Story Seeds collaboration brings together 12 year old Irthan and the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jason Reynolds (poet, storyteller, National Book Award finalist, Newbery Honoree, and New York Times best-selling author.) Jason's latest work is Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, a Remix of the National Book Award-winning book by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. As National Ambassador, he recently started the Grab the Mic platform  which empowers young people  to share their own personal stories.

Jason sat down with 12 year old Irthan at Brooklyn Public Library to grow this story idea: 

A worm becomes human at the stroke of midnight. Kind of like werewolves, but the opposite. Why a worm? Because worms are the least popular. Barely anybody talks about worms. A worm would be interesting and it would put them on an equal status with all the other bugs. 

Join our host Betsy Bird as she introduces you to Jason and Irthan and sets the scene for an episode where:

• Irthan shows Jason his YouTube videos of him playing the drums
• They talk about Spongebob, Minecraft, and music that inspires them
• They hash out some important details about Irthan's story seed
• They connect over their common observations as young Black men in America today
• Jason chronicles his writing process and reflects on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy and Irthan's story seed as a metaphor for social justice

The episode concludes with this week’s storytime (25:15) where Jason reads the story, "Hoo and Wut," that he grew from Irthan’s story seed. 

This episode is also available on YouTube. Subscribe here. 

Additional Information

Books mentioned in this episode: Ghost by Jason Reynolds. Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. 

Musicians mentioned in this episode:  R David R, Jack White, Bob Marley

Media mentioned in the episode: Write. Right. Rite. video series by Jason Reynolds for The Library of Congress. Minecraft. Spongebob Squarepants. 

Calls to Action

Bonus Episode: Check back next Thursday to hear Betsy's bonus interview with Jason. You’ll get to hear about his approach to writing and he also shares his tips.

Kids: 

Call The Story Seeds Hotline at 646-389-5153, email us at [e-mail], or visit our website to submit your story ideas. You can also join The Story Seeds Society, our kids listeners club.

Grownups: Visit www.storyseedspodcast.com for subscription links, to sign up for our newsletter, and to download our printable activity e-zines for your kids (or the  kid in you!) Our zines offer opportunities to read, write, and get creative alongside listening to each episode . You can also follow us on Instagram @storyseedspod, on Twitter @litsafarimedia, and on Facebook @literarysafari. 

Get our Imagination Lab: Experiments in Creativity activity book! It pairs perfectly with the podcast and features tons of episode-inspired prompts and projects! Order your copy here!

Support Us

Visit our recently launched glow.fm page where you can support The Story Seeds Podcast on a recurring or one-time basis. Your donation - large or small - will help us create more episodes of the show and give us the ability to provide opportunities for more kids from around the world to participate in Story Seeds. 

Show credits

The Story Seeds Podcast is Literary Safari production, created and executive produced by Sandhya Nankani. This episode was produced and written by