Mirror, Mirror, can I get a bite of that? On this week's episode, 12 year old Liyana collaborates with Rajani LaRocca (author of "Midsummer’s Mayhem," a Kirkus Best Book of 2019 and long-listed for the 2020 Massachusetts Book Award as a must-read title in MG/YA Literature) to brainstorm her story idea about what happens when a girl who is a misfit in her family of celebrities finds a magic mirror. Join host Betsy Bird as she follows Rajani and Liyana to Pippin Vintage, a NYC antique store, where they go hunting for inspiration, and then collaborate to grow Liyana's story seed into a modern fairytale filled with Youtube stars, biracial characters, a particularly delicious Bengali snack, and of course, magic. Finally, sit back for storytime as Rajani narrates the original story she wrote inspired by her collaboration with Liyana: “Aina and the Mirror."
This week’s Story Seeds collaboration brings together 12 year old creative rockstar Liyana and Rajani LaRocca, author of the 2019 middle-grade hit Midsummer’s Mayhem (a Kirkus Best Book of 2019 and a Must Reads in the 2020 Massachusetts Book Awards) .
Rajani helps Liyana grow this story seed:
A girl who doesn’t fit in with her family of celebrities (her mom is a Bangladeshi supermodel and her dad is a Japanese soccer player) gets a magic mirror from a fairy
Follow this magical Story Seeds adventure with host Betsy Bird as Rajani and Liyana:
The episode concludes with this week’s storytime (15:49) where Rajani reads the story she grew from Liyana’s story seed: Aina and the Mirror.
Books and media mentioned in this episode: Snow White by the Brothers Grimm, Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, Harry Potter by JK Rowling, Midsummer’s Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Food mentioned in this episode: channachur, okra, hot dogs, pizza, and doughnuts
Calls to Action
Bonus Episode: Check back next week to hear Betsy's interview with Rajani. You’ll get to hear about not only her writing career, but wait ... guys ... she’s a doctor too!
Kids: Call The Story Seeds Hotline at 646-389-5153, email us at storyseeds@literarysafari.com, or visit our website to submit your story ideas. You can also join The Story Seeds Society, our kids listeners club.
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Show credits
Produced and written by Sandhya Nankani, Anjali Sakhrani, and Kayla Fedeson. Scoring, mixing, and sound design by Ania Grzesik and Matt Boynton of Ultraviolet Audio. Field audio recorded by James Boo. Hosted by Betsy Bird. Music by Andrew VanWyngarden, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/musician and co-founder of MGMT.
The Story Seeds Podcast is a creation and production of Literary Safari www.literarysafari.com