Featured Team Member: Rocco Staino

Rocco Staino is the face of KidLit TV and our host for StoryMakers! He is an important figure in the book community, a prominent librarian, a contributing editor at School Library Journal, a contributing writer at The Huffington Post, and the Director of the Empire State Center for the Book, which administers the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. From luminaries such as Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, and Jean Craighead George, Rocco has interviewed many authors, industry experts and has done so much for the children’s book community. As a librarian he is all about the book and the joy of life long reading and learning. This month Rocco is our Featured KidLit TV Team Member! You can follow him on Twitter at @RoccoA.

Over the last year it has been rewarding in my role as host of StoryMakers, to be the face of KidLit TV. I have been able to meet a cadre of folks involved in the creation and sharing of children’s books. In my career as school librarian, I realized the need for getting the word out about discovering books and the promotion of reading.

One of the organizations that has a long history of doing both is our local public television stations. I have had the privilege of being a longtime member of the Educational Services Advisory Committee of WNET TV, the New York City affiliate of public television. I recently had the opportunity to preview their Parenting Minutes feature. These short videos, developed with the New York City Early Learning Network, provide important information that will help you as parents raise your young children in an educational, healthy home, and help your children fulfill their full potential as they grow and attend school.

I am happy to feature two of those videos here on KidLit TV. Please take a moment to check them out: