Community Corner
95-Year-Old North Haven Resident Star Of Award-Winning Podcast
Daughter of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" writer talks about the book's creation
January 31, 2018 – Her mom wrote one of the most-loved books of all time and 95 year old Nancy Smith Pfeiffer of North Haven, CT welcomes the opportunity to tell a new generation about Betty Smith’s classic novel “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.”
Pfeiffer is featured on the newest episode of the Book Club for Kids podcast. On the show, a trio of young women from Washington, D.C. discuss Betty Smith’s novel about a second generation Irish immigrant family struggling to survive in 1900’s Brooklyn with host Kitty Felde. The conversation tackles poverty and even the #MeToo movement. Actress Sonia Manzano - perhaps better known as Maria on “Sesame Street” - is celebrity reader. “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” is her favorite book. Pfeiffer tells the tale of rushing home from school to read the latest pages from the novel, hot off her mother’s typewriter.
The Book Club for Kids podcast is a free, 20-minute show designed to turn kids into lifelong book lovers. The show has been honored by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser with the 2017 DC Mayor’s Award for “Excellence in the Humanities” award. Common Sense Media just named the podcast “excellent” and The Times of London named it one of the top ten podcasts for kids in the world.
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The episode is supported in part by a grant from the Nora Roberts Foundation and the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities. Past celebrity readers include members of Congress, including Senator Angus King and Congressman Jeff Denham, NPR types like Peter Sagal and Renee Montagne, the former Secretary of Education, an LA Laker, even former CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Book Club for Kids began as a regular segment on Felde’s public radio talk show in Pasadena, where it won the Literacy in Media award. It ran for several years on cable TV in Southern California. It was re-launched as a podcast in July of 2015. Book Club for Kids has taped live shows at the National Archives, the LA Times Festival of Books, and the Baltimore Book Festival. There's even a free newsletter for teachers, librarians, and parents full of reading tips. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or listen online.
