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Our story
Miss Pam has over 35 years of experience of reading and rhyming with babies and has gained insight into what makes a baby listen, smile or laugh.​​​
She won the Allie Beth Martin award from Public Library Association and Baker and Taylor, which recognizes a librarian who has demonstrated “an extraordinary range and depth of knowledge about books and a distinguished ability to share that knowledge."
Miss Pam (Aunty Pam in some countries) has thousands of children and their parents or caregivers in four countries: in armchairs and schoolrooms, on beaches, in buses and trains, in gazebos and underneath many trees.
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2020 Pandemic
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Overnight, gone were the critical face-to-face, cara-a-cara, interactions for young children. The use of screens with young children became ubiquitous - understandable, but Miss Pam didn’t like it one bit.
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Her daughter, about to give birth to her first child, said suggested she start a podcast FOR babies. "There are podcasts about pregnancy, and parenting, but I don’t think a podcast meant for babies exists.”
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She was right –there were many podcasts about babies,but made none FOR them. ​
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A podcast for babies was born​
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She went to work learning how to start a podcast. Four months later she launched Small Talk Baby Podcast (now called Baby Wordplay) with eighty 15-minute episodes, excited about giving parents a screen-free tool to use with their babies, from birth.
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In less than a year, the "pod" had received over 40,000 downloads. In 2024, we're well over one million downloads.
Martina Barbour
Project Manager
Mahvelous Martina has always loved writing poetry and the excitement of curling up with a crisp new book. An avid reader, she realized from a young age that she enjoyed sharing her love of reading and writing with others.
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She attended NYU for Creative Writing and Education, and in this time realized literacy education and activism was her calling. After years of traveling, she returned to her home of Philadelphia and worked for years in the Free Library of Philadelphia's Books Aloud program before joining Miss Pam at Baby Wordplay.
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