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| Brightly co-founder Christine McNamara (r.) and content director Liz Kotin. | |
Brightly is a new online resource "devoted to helping parents who want to raise lifelong readers," according to co-founder Christine McNamara. "It's a lifestyle website and newsletter dedicated to children and reading." McNamara co-founded Brightly with Amanda Close. They also recommend a few titles for grown-ups and a generous amount of parenting tips. Their goal is to provide parents with "inspiration around creating a reading life for their families and helping just about anyone find the right book for the right kid at the right time," said McNamara. We spoke with McNamara and Liz Kotin, Brightly's content director, about the inspiration behind the site, the voices that inform it, and what readers can expect to find there.
What inspired you to launch Brightly?
Christine McNamara: The age-old question, "What should I read next?" changes when you become a parent--"What should my child be reading next?"--and, frankly, dozens more questions before and after that one. The inspiration for Brightly came from the realization that although my co-founder, Amanda Close, and I have spent our lives working in publishing, we actually have very little pragmatic knowledge about the best books for our kids at each age and stage. Before we were parents, we needed help finding the right books for the kids in our lives. Now that we're parents, we need even more help finding the right books for our children. The more we talked to others, the more it became clear that they also wanted practical guidance finding books for their own children and grandchildren.
How did you come up with the name "Brightly"?
CM: We chose Brightly as our name because we believe reading has the power to illuminate kids' lives. Reading is a window to the world and leads to bright futures. When we think of young book lovers, the image that pops into our heads is that of a child reading under the covers at bedtime with a flashlight.
What can readers expect to find on Brightly?
Liz Kotin: On Brightly, you'll find book recommendations for every age and stage of reader--from toddlers to teens to grown-ups. You'll see essays from authors, insights from illustrators, tips and advice on raising readers, seasonal inspirations, and more.
Whether you have a third-grader looking for his next read, a preschooler obsessed with dinosaurs, a teen delving into more intense topics, or a middle-schooler who's not so talkative about books, we hope you'll find information that's helpful and relevant to your family.
Tell us about some of the voices on Brightly.
LK: Our regular contributors are teachers, librarians, authors, book bloggers and journalists. They're lifelong book lovers, and many of them are also parents. They draw upon their reading, learning and literature insights, and also their parental insights, which gives the pieces an expertise and a kind of road-tested realness.
In addition to pieces from our regular contributors, readers will see original pieces from authors, guest posts from bloggers, and articles from partners such as Common Sense Media, Fatherly and GeekDad. You can learn more about our contributors here.
What are some of your favorite pieces that you've run?
LK: That's a tough one to answer! We publish new content daily, so there's often a new favorite. Some of the pieces I've really enjoyed include How to Diversify Your Child's Bookshelves; one of the very first pieces we published, What Reading Means to Me, which is a poignant personal essay on how reading shapes our sense of self; an entertaining roundup of Legitimately Funny Read-Aloud Books that are guaranteed to produce some giggles; and a piece full of great insights on The Importance of Reading Aloud to Big Kids.
CM: I have so many favorites, both for sharing with friends or, more selfishly, helping me find books for my toddler--like Tougher Than Your Toddler: Robust Lift the Flap Books, which my dad, in his best spoiling-grandparent-mode, wanted to buy all of for my daughter. I really love 10 Reasons Why Kids Need to Read Non-Disney Fairy Tales because I believe it's so important to explore various styles of storytelling and myth with kids of all ages. Leigh Ann Henion, author of Phenomenal, wrote us a great piece, Little House on the Prairie: The Next Generation, about reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books with her sons and how welcome the pioneer perspective is for many modern kids. And my most recent favorite mom-giggle to share is Help! 'Free-Range' Parenting Is Spreading to Picture Books. The whole conversation around "free-range" parenting is ripe for the parodying, but that said, I don't know if I'll ever read Blueberries for Sal the same way again!
What kind of responses have you received thus far?
CM: The response has been overwhelmingly positive. We'd had a great deal of supportive feedback from our readership, and our audience is sharing ideas for content and coverage they'd like to see. We welcome all the dialogue and conversation, so if you see something, say something! Contact us on social or at hello@readbrightly.com.
How do I sign up?
CM: Visit us at www.readbrightly.com and click "Subscribe" in the upper right-hand corner. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. --Jennifer M. Brown