{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Hope in an Angry World: Tim Wright and The Adventures of Toby Baxter","description":"In this episode of Reading With Your Kids, Jed welcomes back Tim Wright from Arizona to celebrate book five in The Adventures of Toby Baxter series, Revenge of the River Home, Rutabagas. Jed shares the exciting news that this latest installment has, like the first four books, been named a Reading With Your Kids Certified Great Read, praising its powerful emotional core and hopeful message. Tim explains how a long-running family joke about \u201cfried rutabagas\u201d inspired the title, and how he used that playful seed to explore serious themes like anger, distraction, and hope. Set in the magical land of River Home, Toby\u2019s adventures function as a year-long rite of passage for a 13-year-old boy who doesn\u2019t like reading, yet finds himself literally living inside a story. Each book features a compass word\u2014heroism, goodness, wisdom, love, hope\u2014that guides Toby\u2019s growth. Book five becomes the \u201cfulcrum\u201d for an overarching arc that will carry through books six and seven, touching deeply on social media, AI, and how kids can stay hopeful in an often angry, screen-saturated world. Tim and Jed also talk about modern parenting, the loss of meaningful rites of passage, and the powerful role of grandparents and intergenerational relationships\u2014especially Tim\u2019s special bond with his five grandkids, who appear as characters in the series. Later in the episode, Jed chats with author and Yorkie breeder Jane Lumen about her picture book Monkey Mae, Noble and Percy\u2019s Farm of Strength, a warm, dog-centered story that gently teaches kids about acceptance, inclusion, and differences, inspired by her life as a mom of special needs children. ","author_name":"Reading With Your Kids Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/readingwithyourkids.libsyn.com\/site","html":"