Latest / The LIFTS Podcast / Growing Our Storytellers: Montana’s First Lady Susan Gianforte on the Joy and Power of Reading

Transcript

Growing Our Storytellers: Montana’s First Lady Susan Gianforte on the Joy and Power of Reading · The LIFTS Podcast

• 0:09
  Gwyneth Hyndman - HMHB: Welcome to season six of our List podcast, where we talk about what it's like to give birth, to raise and nurture our babies and toddlers in Montana, and what it looks like to care for ourselves in this tumultuous season.
• 0:21
  Gwyneth Hyndman - HMHB: I'm Gwyneth Hyndman, storytelling coordinator for Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies, the Montana Coalition, and I'm so excited to share this space with mothers, fathers, caregivers, and providers who will speak on the beautiful chaos of the zero to three years.
• 0:45
  Susan Gianforte: I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." And she hitched herself up to the little train.
• 0:52
  Susan Gianforte: She tugged and pulled and tugged, and slowly they started off.
• 0:58
  Susan Gianforte: And the toy clown jumped aboard, and all the dolls and toy animals began to smile and cheer.
• 1:04
  Susan Gianforte: "Puff, puff, chug, chug," went the little blue engine.
• 1:07
  Susan Gianforte: "I think I can.
• 1:08
  Susan Gianforte: I think I can.
• 1:09
  Susan Gianforte: I think I can." Up up, faster and faster the little engine climbed, until at last they reached the top of the mountain.
• 1:18
  Susan Gianforte: Down in the valley lay the city.
• 1:20
  Susan Gianforte: "Hooray! Hooray!" cried the funny little clown and all the dolls and toys.
• 1:25
  Susan Gianforte: "The good little boys and girls in the city will be happy because you helped us," cried little blue engine.
• 1:31
  Susan Gianforte: And the little blue engine smiled and seemed to say, as she puffed steadily down the mountain,"I thought I could.
• 1:38
  Susan Gianforte: I thought I could.
• 1:40
  Susan Gianforte: I thought I could." The end.
• 1:46
  This is Montana's First Lady Susan Gianforte reading to us this morning.
• 1:51
  You may recognize the last paragraphs of The Little Engine That Could, published in nineteen thirty.
• 1:56
  It had different versions that were told through the early twentieth century.
• 2:00
  This version was written and published by Arnold Munk, who went by the pen name Watty Piper.
• 2:05
  And this has been a favorite of Ms.
• 2:07
  Gianforte and Dolly Parton, and it's the first book that many families, including ours, got when they signed their littles up for Dolly Parton Imagination Library programs.
• 2:16
  Last month, Ms.
• 2:17
  Gianforte was at the Butte Four C's in Butte to celebrate the handing out of the program's one-millionth book in Montana.
• 2:26
  Ms.
• 2:26
  Gianforte has been a champion of this program that expanded into Montana in twenty twenty-three, and education has played a big role in her life.
• 2:35
  She's earned an MS in mechanical engineering from Cornell, a master's in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley, and then earned an MBA from NYU while working for Bell Laboratories.
• 2:46
  She's been a working mom up until her third child was born.
• 2:50
  She and our now governor, Greg Gianforte, moved to Montana, where they had their fourth child.
• 2:56
  But anyways, we're gonna be getting back to our conversation about this favorite book, what it means to us, and why it's important for kids to have access to free books in their homes.
• 3:08
  Healthy Mothers: Ms.
• 3:08
  Healthy Mothers: Gianforte, you had mentioned before why this book had significance to you.
• 3:14
  Healthy Mothers: Can you just talk about that again
• 3:17
  Susan Gianforte: It's about doing things or trying to do things that you think are impossible.
• 3:22
  Susan Gianforte: And this book was a favorite with our children, and I loved to read it to them because the little train is helpful versus other engines said,"Oh, we don't care about your dolls and toys.
• 3:37
  Susan Gianforte: We're gonna do our own thing.
• 3:39
  Susan Gianforte: We're too big," or,"You're not worth it." And but the dolls and toys were important to the children, and maybe it was like a Christmas delivery.
• 3:48
  Susan Gianforte: Can you imagine not having any toys at Christmas?
• 3:52
  Susan Gianforte: Just the, the, the positive attitude and at least trying, right?
• 3:56
  Susan Gianforte: We can all always at least try.
• 3:59
  Susan Gianforte: That's our attitude and our effort.
• 4:02
  Susan Gianforte: We can't always control the outcome, but we can control what we think and what we do
• 4:08
  Healthy Mothers: so I was reading that you are the daughter of German immigrants who came to the East Coast.
• 4:15
  Healthy Mothers: They would've brought stories with them, and what are some of those stories that you remember growing up of their homeland, and how did that make an impression on you?
• 4:26
  Susan Gianforte: Yes.
• 4:27
  Susan Gianforte: They both came from Bremen, Germany, and there's a very famous story that is centered on Bremen called The Bremen Musicians.
• 4:35
  Susan Gianforte: And there, in that story, there are four barnyard animals: a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster, and they each get thrown off of their farm because they got too old and they weren't productive anymore.
• 4:51
  Susan Gianforte: So they're all- they're walking on the road and they meet up.
• 4:54
  Susan Gianforte: They're coming from different places, and they become friends.
• 4:58
  Susan Gianforte: And so they're talking about what are they gonna do, like, how are they gonna feed themselves.
• 5:04
  Susan Gianforte: So they see a house in the distance and they go up and have a look, and it turns out there are robbers inside arguing about the loot they had stolen.
• 5:13
  Susan Gianforte: And so the animals get on each other's back, and they each make the loudest noise they can.
• 5:21
  Susan Gianforte: So the donkey is braying, the dog is barking, the cat's meowing, and the rooster's crowing.
• 5:27
  Susan Gianforte: So the robbers get so scared they run away, and the animals move into the house, and they live happily together.
• 5:36
  Susan Gianforte: And I just think it's a sweet story about becoming friends in need and working together.
• 5:43
  Susan Gianforte: So the picture of the donkey and then the dog on his back, the cat on the dog's back, the rooster on the cat's back, it- you'll see that all over Bremen when you are in shops or sculptures or so.
• 5:57
  Susan Gianforte: It's a very well-known story, so that's really the main one that comes to mind.
• 6:01
  Healthy Mothers: जी।
• 6:02
  Susan Gianforte: there are a lot of German fairy tale au- authors that I like as well.
• 6:06
  Healthy Mothers: Have you, do you go back very often, or is this a regular family trip back?
• 6:11
  Susan Gianforte: Yes, when I was growing up we would go back every other year.
• 6:15
  Susan Gianforte: So yes, all my family was there, my grandmother, aunts and uncles, cousins.
• 6:21
  Susan Gianforte: Yeah, so we would go back frequently.
• 6:23
  Healthy Mothers: Do you speak German?
• 6:25
  Susan Gianforte: German was this is something I don't talk about all the time, but my father passed away when I was a year old, and my mother really wanted to stay in the United States.
• 6:35
  Susan Gianforte: They came for the opportunity.
• 6:37
  Susan Gianforte: So she sent me to live with my grandmother for almost two years.
• 6:42
  Healthy Mothers: Oh, back in Germany.
• 6:43
  Susan Gianforte: yes.
• 6:44
  Healthy Mothers: Okay
• 6:45
  Susan Gianforte: actually, I had two grandmothers alive when I was little.
• 6:48
  Susan Gianforte: She went, she worked during the day and went to school at night, secretarial school, so she could get a better job.
• 6:55
  Susan Gianforte: And that would've been very hard to do as a single mom.
• 6:57
  Susan Gianforte: So German was my first language.
• 6:59
  Healthy Mothers: Okay
• 7:00
  Susan Gianforte: I usually try and brush up before we go, but with serving in public office we haven't, we probably, we haven't gone since my mother has passed, for sure.
• 7:12
  Susan Gianforte: So it's probably been 10 years been there, To be quite frequent.
• 7:16
  Susan Gianforte: Whenever we had a child, we'd go back over the family could see the ch- our children and they could see their second cousins.
• 7:24
  Healthy Mothers: And you have four boys?
• 7:26
  Healthy Mothers: Is that
• 7:27
  Susan Gianforte: Yeah, three boys and a girl.
• 7:28
  Healthy Mothers: Three boys and a girl.
• 7:29
  Healthy Mothers: Okay, wonderful.
• 7:30
  Healthy Mothers: Did they grow up hearing some of those stories that you just shared?
• 7:34
  Susan Gianforte: Oh, gosh.
• 7:35
  Susan Gianforte: I was a pretty strict mom.
• 7:37
  Susan Gianforte: They definitely know about the Bremen musicians.
• 7:40
  Susan Gianforte: I'm trying to think.
• 7:41
  Susan Gianforte: Did they play instruments too?
• 7:44
  Susan Gianforte: I have to remember how that ties in.
• 7:46
  Susan Gianforte: Just what I remember about them,
• 7:48
  Healthy Mothers: yeah.
• 7:48
  Healthy Mothers: It's
• 7:48
  Susan Gianforte: friends.
• 7:50
  Healthy Mothers: when you were reading it as a
• 7:51
  Susan Gianforte: Yeah, so I did not let my children watch TV.
• 7:55
  Susan Gianforte: They could watch a movie, like once a month if we went out to dinner.
• 7:59
  Susan Gianforte: So we would go to the library once a week and take out like 30 books, and we would just read.
• 8:05
  Susan Gianforte: So we have a lot of memories of reading and stories, and honestly, probably our favorite were the Harry Potter series that I read to them, they read, we listened to it on audio, they've listened to it again as adults, as I have.
• 8:23
  Susan Gianforte: Yeah, but we have very fond memories, and I remember nursing my children and any older children would be sitting around.
• 8:31
  Susan Gianforte: So nursing time wasn't like time away from them.
• 8:34
  Susan Gianforte: It was time where we all sat together reading.
• 8:37
  Susan Gianforte: And then the baby heard the books too.
• 8:39
  Healthy Mothers: Aw.
• 8:40
  Susan Gianforte: sweet.
• 8:41
  Healthy Mothers: That
• 8:41
  Susan Gianforte: It was.
• 8:42
  Healthy Mothers: Did they talk about that?
• 8:44
  Healthy Mothers: I'm curious as a mom, right?
• 8:46
  Healthy Mothers: I'm, my daughters are five and seven and I love to read, so wonder how, will my love of reading get passed on to them?
• 8:53
  Healthy Mothers: And do you find that's happened with your children?
• 8:57
  Susan Gianforte: Some of them are still very good readers.
• 8:59
  Susan Gianforte: My husband and I are huge readers.
• 9:01
  Susan Gianforte: But a couple of them I don't think they, they read as adults.
• 9:05
  Susan Gianforte: Maybe we, maybe what I could do when we're out of office, but do a book club with our kids.
• 9:12
  Susan Gianforte: Because we've taken some trips together, and this is before Kindle, but we'd all bring a book, and we'd pass the books around.
• 9:21
  Susan Gianforte: We'd read them, and then somebody else would pick it up and read it, and then we'd be talking about the books,'cause we're all reading the same books at the same time.
• 9:31
  Susan Gianforte: So that might be a way to bring it back.
• 9:34
  Susan Gianforte: I just, it came to me because I just had some friends visiting, and I think all of them are in book clubs.
• 9:41
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah.
• 9:42
  Healthy Mothers: That used to be how my mom would k- connect with her sisters.
• 9:46
  Healthy Mothers: They would have a book that they
• 9:48
  Susan Gianforte: Oh yeah.
• 9:49
  Healthy Mothers: and then I would, my mom and I would read.
• 9:51
  Healthy Mothers: It was just a, a connector to keep those, I don't know.
• 9:54
  Healthy Mothers: It was just a way for us to meet up once a month, even virtually like this, which I really enjoyed,
• 9:59
  Susan Gianforte: yeah
• 10:00
  Healthy Mothers: How do you feel like, books and literature set you up for a love of learning?
• 10:07
  Susan Gianforte: My interest was primarily math and science but reading is just so foundational.
• 10:15
  Susan Gianforte: It's just so critical.
• 10:17
  Susan Gianforte: And the transition that I think people have realized is up to third grade, you're learning how to read and comprehend, and then starting in fourth grade, you're reading to learn.
• 10:28
  Susan Gianforte: So no matter what subject it is or subjects that are of interest you have to be a good reader.
• 10:34
  Susan Gianforte: Our children actually went to a, a classical Christian school, and their reading list was truly unbelievable.
• 10:43
  Susan Gianforte: So my husband also being an engineer we started reading their books, and that was great too, because then we could talk about the books that they were reading in school, and then we were having to read because we never read them.
• 10:57
  Susan Gianforte: I didn't read Where the Red Fern Grows until I was an adult.
• 11:01
  Healthy Mothers: Yes
• 11:02
  Susan Gianforte: oh my gosh, what an amazing-- I-- it was like I can't believe I missed reading this in high school or forgetting I read it, which I can't imagine.
• 11:12
  Susan Gianforte: So I had yeah, just not a very, actually not a very strong background in reading until I became an adult and was exposed to more books.
• 11:22
  Healthy Mothers: Do you remember what exposed you to more books?
• 11:24
  Healthy Mothers: Was it a group of friends or it was people?
• 11:27
  Susan Gianforte: It was my kids and the books they were reading in school.
• 11:29
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah.
• 11:30
  Susan Gianforte: Yeah.
• 11:32
  Susan Gianforte: It was like,"Oh, wow.
• 11:33
  Susan Gianforte: So what are you reading?" Because, we'd buy them, they'd be in the house, and they'd read them, and and my husband and I would pick them up and read them.
• 11:40
  Susan Gianforte: It's oh, we don't want our kids to be better read than us.
• 11:43
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah.
• 11:46
  Susan Gianforte: At least we should be as well read.
• 11:48
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah
• 11:48
  Susan Gianforte: If they can do it, we can do it.
• 11:50
  Healthy Mothers: Can you talk a little bit about how you got involved with Dolly Parton Imagination Library program, and what you think the impact has been specifically here in Montana?
• 12:04
  Susan Gianforte: So I heard about the program from another first lady, we get together periodically and of Ohio, Fran DeWine, and she has a very successful program.
• 12:15
  Susan Gianforte: I think she's at that high watermark of 70% of eligible kids are actually registered.
• 12:21
  Susan Gianforte: So being so passionate about literacy, and this was probably four or five years ago, five years ago, I heard-- she mentioned it, presented it to other first ladies, and I was like,"That's it."'Cause I had been noodling on what I wanted my initiative to be.
• 12:37
  Susan Gianforte: And everyone asks you"What's your initiative gonna be?" It's like I don't know yet, but I'm already raising money for it," through the governor's Christmas galas.
• 12:45
  Susan Gianforte: So I was passionate about that.
• 12:50
  Susan Gianforte: So I first found out how many groups we had here, and we had about 15% of kids were registered.
• 12:57
  Susan Gianforte: We had two big counties, Gallatin and Missoula United Way Had programs, and after that it was small, like a city, usually just a city, maybe a county.
• 13:10
  Susan Gianforte: So then I went to Dollywood, told them I want to become a statewide partner, had to form a 501[c][3] and get that approved, and then find affiliates in all the missing places.
• 13:23
  Susan Gianforte: That was a lot of work, and a lot of paperwork with Dollywood.
• 13:27
  Susan Gianforte: But I think the impact, So right now we have 31,000 kids registered, which is like 53% of eligible.
• 13:37
  Susan Gianforte: We've been statewide since June 2023, so we've had 19,000 children have graduated.
• 13:43
  Susan Gianforte: So that means they had some number of time where they were getting books in the home.
• 13:48
  Susan Gianforte: So that's 50,000 children impacted with reading in the home.
• 13:54
  Susan Gianforte: My hope is that over the next few years l- literacy scores will increase.
• 14:01
  Susan Gianforte: Proficiency, above proficient, basic levels will all improve as, as kids are being read to in the home and are better prepared when they reach kindergarten to just keep reading and keep talking about stories and characters.
• 14:20
  Susan Gianforte: So that's one main thing is the number of children.
• 14:23
  Susan Gianforte: The second is the bonding experience between the reader and the child.
• 14:27
  Susan Gianforte: So it prepares children not only with early literacy skills, but with emotional skills as you talk with your child about the characters in the book and what's happening in the storyline, and you emotionally engage at the age appropriate level with the characters in the story.
• 14:49
  Susan Gianforte: And I think that also is a part of growing and becoming a person is you're becoming more emotionally aw- aware of yourself and the people around you.
• 15:02
  Susan Gianforte: So two great things.
• 15:03
  Susan Gianforte: It's the mechanics of reading, and it's the, the emotion that reading generates.
• 15:09
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah.
• 15:09
  Healthy Mothers: I have such wonderful memories of being read to as a child.
• 15:14
  Healthy Mothers: We're in that literacy sort of that, that time where they're starting to grasp sentences, they're starting to put them together.
• 15:21
  Healthy Mothers: Evening reading time is still something they really enjoy, which...
• 15:26
  Healthy Mothers: And I love it.
• 15:27
  Healthy Mothers: It's one of parts of parenthood that I'm not good at and crafts and pretend play and crafts and those kinds of things, but I feel like reading is where I, probably because my mom did that with me, it's something I just, it's one of those repetition things that I really enjoy with my daughters.
• 15:44
  Susan Gianforte: I feel the same, yeah.
• 15:46
  Susan Gianforte: Crafts and make believe.
• 15:48
  Healthy Mothers: I, it's, I have a hard time with it, but this is the area that I love
• 15:52
  Susan Gianforte: Yes
• 15:53
  Healthy Mothers: being a mom where I think, oh gosh, this is wonderful.
• 15:56
  Healthy Mothers: So as you've traveled through the state, are there any stories of early readers and families receiving these books that stand out to you that you could share?
• 16:06
  Susan Gianforte: Sure.
• 16:07
  Susan Gianforte: Frequently, like almost every place I go, people come up and say,"My child loves getting her Dolly Parton book." And just yesterday at the Butte thing, they said the child checks the mailbox every day.
• 16:24
  Susan Gianforte: Every day.
• 16:25
  Susan Gianforte: And a lot of parents will leave the book in the mailbox when it comes so that when the child gets home, they can actually go to the mailbox and open it and take their book out.
• 16:34
  Susan Gianforte: So there's a lot of excitement about the arrival, and as soon as it arrives they wanna open it and have it read to them, the new book, right away.
• 16:43
  Susan Gianforte: So that's really sweet.
• 16:46
  Susan Gianforte: And then people send me pictures, like of the dad reading to the kids, and sometimes very young.
• 16:52
  Susan Gianforte: And one of my favorites was an older sibling reading like a nine-year-old reading to a two-year-old, and then there's also like a six or seven-year-old other sibling also sitting there.
• 17:04
  Susan Gianforte: And I just thought, wow, that is just so sweet.
• 17:08
  Susan Gianforte: And that is great for the older kids to practice their reading and to practice putting the emotion in, using different voices for the characters.
• 17:18
  Susan Gianforte: So yeah.
• 17:20
  Susan Gianforte: I just think it's just bonding.
• 17:22
  Susan Gianforte: Whoever is reading to, to the younger ones it's a great bonding experience and emotional con- connection on many levels.
• 17:30
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah.
• 17:31
  Healthy Mothers: And I think too watching my older daughter read to my...
• 17:36
  Healthy Mothers: she's grasping it now and she can now read, a little bit more, there's something you can see them get that,"Here, I'm gonna show you.
• 17:44
  Healthy Mothers: Here, I'm gonna teach you
• 17:46
  Susan Gianforte: Yeah
• 17:47
  Healthy Mothers: I read this book." There's this I don't know, love of
• 17:50
  Susan Gianforte: She's proud.
• 17:51
  Susan Gianforte: Yeah.
• 17:52
  Healthy Mothers: proud of herself.
• 17:52
  Healthy Mothers: Exactly.
• 17:53
  Susan Gianforte: Yes
• 17:54
  Healthy Mothers: of herself, and she's showing off to her little sister.
• 17:56
  Susan Gianforte: Which makes them wanna read.
• 17:58
  Susan Gianforte: That's perfect
• 17:59
  Healthy Mothers: so it's twofo- it works really well both ways, which is really fun to see.
• 18:03
  Healthy Mothers: And I was just thinking too, we did a podcast with Hilary Gorno, and she was mentioning how you were wonderful about just checking in with her.
• 18:13
  Healthy Mothers: She'd asked to be held accountable each week for tasks, and she said you did that.
• 18:19
  Susan Gianforte: She was so enthusiastic, but, when you're running a Head Start, things come up.
• 18:24
  Susan Gianforte: It, what was great about working with Hillary is that she wanted to work with us to solve some of the problems that they were running into with i- I call it unstable addresses.
• 18:37
  Susan Gianforte: It's like address insecurity.
• 18:39
  Susan Gianforte: It's like food insecurity.
• 18:41
  Susan Gianforte: And to figure out how to solve those address problems, and then they request an email and not everybody, that she is serving, that she wanted to get registered, their parents don't necessarily have an email.
• 18:53
  Susan Gianforte: She worked we brainstormed ideas about how to solve that, and figured out from Dollywood how many of the same emails you can have, you can use on a form.
• 19:03
  Susan Gianforte: And we've been able to then spread that to other reservations or other areas that have, where ki- foster kids, for instance, to have a, they move around a lot, so their addresses are also unstable.
• 19:17
  Susan Gianforte: But we want those kids to get books.
• 19:19
  Susan Gianforte: So one reservation, the, the librarian is our partner.
• 19:24
  Susan Gianforte: She has the books delivered to the library, and then calls the families and says,"Your books are here,"
• 19:29
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah.
• 19:29
  Healthy Mothers: Oh, that's great.
• 19:29
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah
• 19:30
  Susan Gianforte: or,"Your book is here." And then they can stop by the library, which is great.
• 19:34
  Susan Gianforte: So you...
• 19:35
  Susan Gianforte: And then pick up a few more books,
• 19:37
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah, exactly.
• 19:38
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah,
• 19:38
  Susan Gianforte: So Hillary's been super helpful as a, the first one that we really worked with enthusiastically on the head Start to get those kids registered.
• 19:49
  Healthy Mothers: You've touched on this, but w- favorite books.
• 19:51
  Healthy Mothers: Are there other favorite books that come to mind that you remember as a child or just being around
• 19:57
  Susan Gianforte: Yeah.
• 19:58
  Healthy Mothers: the-
• 19:58
  Susan Gianforte: there's a f- a few.
• 19:59
  Susan Gianforte: So I love fairy tales, and I think it generates what, what Dolly talked about with dreaming and imagining.
• 20:07
  Susan Gianforte: That's what fairy tales do.
• 20:09
  Susan Gianforte: And they do reinforce morals usually,'cause usually there's a bad character, and that's the characters that they have the happy ending after some trials.
• 20:19
  Susan Gianforte: But Dr.
• 20:20
  Susan Gianforte: Seuss I love.
• 20:21
  Susan Gianforte: They are not part of Imagination Library.
• 20:23
  Susan Gianforte: They have a special deal with Random Penguin, Random House Penguin Books.
• 20:29
  Susan Gianforte: And I will mention the books have reading tips.
• 20:32
  Susan Gianforte: The older, the books for older children, reading tip on the inside, how to make them more just different, memorable, just to help parents that may not be as comfortable like you and I are about reading.
• 20:43
  Susan Gianforte: But we also love Bill Peet books, P-E-E-T.
• 20:49
  Susan Gianforte: And he used to be an illustrator for Disney, and he left, and and he had been write- transitioning to children's books.
• 20:59
  Susan Gianforte: But the Dr.
• 20:59
  Susan Gianforte: Seuss and the Bill Peet books, they have this rhyming which children love.
• 21:05
  Susan Gianforte: Both of the illustrations, Dr.
• 21:07
  Susan Gianforte: Seuss is just hysterical, but Bill Peet also has really great illustrations because that was his initial job.
• 21:14
  Healthy Mothers: Bill Peet
• 21:16
  Susan Gianforte: Yeah, P-E-E-T
• 21:18
  Healthy Mothers: Okay
• 21:20
  Susan Gianforte: And yeah, I think he has 30 books or something.
• 21:22
  Susan Gianforte: I actually bought the whole set.
• 21:24
  Susan Gianforte: I had to buy them one at a time.
• 21:25
  Susan Gianforte: They're not offered as a set, so then I had them because the library doesn't carry them anymore.
• 21:30
  Susan Gianforte: But yeah, he's really good too for children's books.
• 21:34
  Healthy Mothers: What are you reading right now?
• 21:37
  Susan Gianforte: So I decided I was gonna read the biographies of the presidents.
• 21:41
  Susan Gianforte: So I s- I did George Washington, and then I was like, ah, I've always been fascinated the Great Depression, and Hoover got such a bad name.
• 21:50
  Susan Gianforte: So I jumped ahead to President Hoover and read all the way through President Trump.
• 21:56
  Susan Gianforte: I haven't r- read a Biden biography yet.
• 21:59
  Susan Gianforte: But then I jumped back, and then started back with Washington and came through.
• 22:04
  Susan Gianforte: So right now I am at President Theodore Roosevelt,
• 22:07
  Healthy Mothers: Wow!
• 22:07
  Susan Gianforte: Mornings on Horseback,
• 22:09
  Healthy Mothers: Oh,
• 22:10
  Susan Gianforte: the David McCullough book, who's quite a good author and biography.
• 22:16
  Healthy Mothers: What are some of your takeaways from that book right now?
• 22:19
  Susan Gianforte: He had a very privileged childhood.
• 22:22
  Susan Gianforte: But it's very interesting.
• 22:23
  Susan Gianforte: He just always had a natural bent for conservation, and we see that, with his national parks effort as president, and he was a hunter, but he was a conservationist.
• 22:35
  Susan Gianforte: The, the thing I've been enjoying about the biographies is that the time periods overlap because you're reading one president, but meanwhile the other president is a child or a young adult, and you see the same period of history say the same 10 years or the same catastrophe like the Civil War, between the eyes of young to adolescent, older to the president that was, you know, like Abraham Lincoln, who was president during the war.
• 23:08
  Susan Gianforte: I hadn't anticipated that, but it's been interesting to see the same time period through the eyes of what turned out to be very influential men as they grew up and then eventually became president.
• 23:21
  Healthy Mothers: That would be really interesting to read those back to back too,
• 23:25
  Susan Gianforte: Yeah, back to back
• 23:26
  Healthy Mothers: and then start thinking about...
• 23:29
  Healthy Mothers: it's like reading, it is, you are reading a series, a, a history series
• 23:34
  Susan Gianforte: Yeah, exactly.
• 23:36
  Susan Gianforte: The other one I read, the other biographies I read back to back was Steve Jobs and then Elon Musk.
• 23:42
  Susan Gianforte: This was like 10 years ago.
• 23:43
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah
• 23:44
  Susan Gianforte: But that was fascinating at the time to, compare them.
• 23:49
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah.
• 23:49
  Healthy Mothers: I remember reading the Steve Jobs.
• 23:52
  Healthy Mothers: I remember the audiobook of it.
• 23:53
  Healthy Mothers: It was a big audiobook.
• 23:55
  Healthy Mothers: I remember it was a massive book so I remember it
• 23:59
  Susan Gianforte: Yeah
• 23:59
  Healthy Mothers: the this was books on CD, I think.
• 24:02
  Healthy Mothers: This is when I was driving around.
• 24:04
  Healthy Mothers: But I remember when I first moved to Montana, it was one of the, that was one of the audiobooks I had checked out, and I remember there was a lot of CDs in that collection for that book.
• 24:13
  Healthy Mothers: But
• 24:14
  Susan Gianforte: Oh, when I say read, I almost do exclusively audio
• 24:17
  Healthy Mothers: And you do audio, and that's and I've loved that too.
• 24:21
  Healthy Mothers: It's so funny when I think about parts I've been in Montana for 10 years now, but there's certain parts of it that I'll drive through, and when I'm driving through, all I can think of as I'm driving through, oftentimes it'll be an audiobook.
• 24:39
  Healthy Mothers: I'll see
• 24:39
  Susan Gianforte: You'll remember what book you were listening to when you did that
• 24:43
  Healthy Mothers: that mountain range, and sometimes it'll be totally, completely opposite to what I'm to what I'm looking at.
• 24:51
  Healthy Mothers: It doesn't have to necessarily do with, that place I'm in, and that's That's just so amazing how the mind, has little chapters of places that you've been in your life.
• 25:00
  Healthy Mothers: And those audiobooks become, backdrops to those places you've lived in, yeah.
• 25:06
  Susan Gianforte: Speaking of that, the Ivan Doig books are amazing.
• 25:09
  Healthy Mothers: yes.
• 25:10
  Susan Gianforte: And he's a Montanan.
• 25:10
  Healthy Mothers: is your favorite?
• 25:12
  Susan Gianforte: Oh Last Bus to Wisdom is one.
• 25:15
  Susan Gianforte: I love the trilogy.
• 25:17
  Susan Gianforte: Love.
• 25:17
  Susan Gianforte: But The Last Bus to Wisdom I thought was just a very sweet story.
• 25:22
  Susan Gianforte: Have you read that one?
• 25:23
  Healthy Mothers: No, I, when I started reading Ivan Doig, and it- he's one of the ones who I need to go back and reread again.
• 25:30
  Healthy Mothers: I have, I can still see it in my library collection, the binding of the book.
• 25:35
  Healthy Mothers: Him and Jim Harrison are the two that I keep thinking like,"This summer need to go back and read Ivan
• 25:42
  Susan Gianforte: gotta write that down.
• 25:43
  Susan Gianforte: Is he a Montana author, Jim Harrison?
• 25:46
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah, he wrote the, the big famous one was Legends of the Fall, which was made into that movie with Brad Pitt, years, gosh, 25, 30 years ago maybe.
• 26:00
  Healthy Mothers: But it was part of a collection of stories.
• 26:03
  Healthy Mothers: His writing's very beautiful, and For a while I lived up in near Libby, and I would drive back and forth to this area and then up to Libby, and so I had him on audiobook as well too, and that was pretty amazing to be listening to him writing about Montana, and then driving and through that scenery was pretty spectacular.
• 26:24
  Healthy Mothers: And then Norman Maclean was the other Montan- who, River Runs Through It, and
• 26:28
  Susan Gianforte: Yes.
• 26:30
  Susan Gianforte: Men and Fire is good too.
• 26:32
  Healthy Mothers: Yes.
• 26:33
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah.
• 26:33
  Susan Gianforte: actually write very much.
• 26:35
  Susan Gianforte: He was mostly a professor at University of Chicago.
• 26:38
  Healthy Mothers: Yeah.
• 26:40
  Healthy Mothers: One of those stories that I remember him talking about a dog that he had running up over a mountain, and him watching the dog and knowing that there were wolves on the other side of that, that ridge, and the dog went knowing that there were wolves on the other side of the ridge, like that's what he was seeking out.
• 26:57
  Susan Gianforte: ஆஹா.
• 26:59
  Healthy Mothers: We had a dog that would run, just take off running, and you didn't know if he would come back sometimes'cause he went after everything.
• 27:08
  Healthy Mothers: So yeah it's funny how you just have images that you carry from books in your mind too as you, yeah, go about your life.
• 27:16
  Healthy Mothers: Just as we're wrapping up, Ms.
• 27:17
  Healthy Mothers: Gianforte, do you have any parting thoughts
• 27:21
  Susan Gianforte: I'd love every child under five to be signed up by someone who cares about their early literacy at montanaimaginationlibrary.org.
• 27:32
  Susan Gianforte: It's free.
• 27:34
  Susan Gianforte: The the books are free to every child.
• 27:37
  Susan Gianforte: They're beautiful books.
• 27:38
  Susan Gianforte: And yeah, it just it will change a child's life for that.
• 27:44
  Susan Gianforte: And I try and encourage, like if somebody is listening right now, it's take out your phone, go to the website, montanaimaginationlibrary.org, and just sign up.
• 27:55
  Susan Gianforte: It literally takes a minute or two.
• 27:59
  Susan Gianforte: And then in eight to 10 weeks, a book will arrive, and you'll be like,"Oh my gosh." Everyone will be so happy.
• 28:08
  Susan Gianforte: So people put it off"Oh, I'll sign up tomorrow." It's like, no, just take a minute and do it.
• 28:14
  Susan Gianforte: It.
• 28:15
  Healthy Mothers: Yep.
• 28:16
  Susan Gianforte: Otherwise, you'll forget.
• 28:17
  Susan Gianforte: The kid- kids are busy.
• 28:18
  Susan Gianforte: You got a baby or two in the house or three.
• 28:22
  Susan Gianforte: And and the books change every year, so if you're getting a set, sign your other, your younger child up because they'll get a book with their own name on it, and it should be mostly different.
• 28:36
  Susan Gianforte: So yeah, I just can't encourage people enough to just sign up for this free program, book gifting program
• 28:44
  Healthy Mothers: Thank you so much for that, and thank you so much for your time today.
• 28:47
  Healthy Mothers: I really appreciate
• 28:48
  Susan Gianforte: yeah.
• 28:48
  Susan Gianforte: Thank you, Gwyneth.
• 28:49
  Healthy Mothers: And yeah, this has just been a joy.
• 28:51
  Healthy Mothers: I love talking about books.
• 28:52
  Susan Gianforte: I do too.
• 28:54
  Susan Gianforte: That was nice.
• 28:54
  Susan Gianforte: Thank you for the recommendation
• 28:57
  Gwyneth Hyndman - HMHB: this chat today concludes our Growing Our Storytellers series, looking at early literacy in Montana, and we will be back next Thursday morning, as our season continues.
• 29:08
  Gwyneth Hyndman - HMHB: This podcast will be continuing on through the fall most weeks.
• 29:12
  Gwyneth Hyndman - HMHB: We'll have a couple of breaks in there for the holidays that we'll let you know about.
• 29:16
  Gwyneth Hyndman - HMHB: I'm really excited about what's coming up.
• 29:18
  Gwyneth Hyndman - HMHB: We will be covering topics that I'm learning so much about from our guests, exploring mothering through recovery, perinatal mental health for new fathers.
• 29:28
  Gwyneth Hyndman - HMHB: We're gonna be hearing from a labor and delivery nurse educator who will be talking about her experience as both a provider and a patient.
• 29:36
  Gwyneth Hyndman - HMHB: And we will also be getting ready for the 70th Montana legislative session this coming January, and I'm gonna be speaking with our policy director, Mary Collins, about what this looks like.
• 29:47
  Gwyneth Hyndman - HMHB: So thank you so much for tuning into this series.
• 29:49
  Gwyneth Hyndman - HMHB: It has been so fun for me as a mom and a reader, And I'm looking forward to everything to come.
• 29:58
  Gwyneth Hyndman, HMHB-MT: The Lifts podcast is hosted by Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies, the Montana Coalition, a nonprofit organization out of Helena, Montana dedicated to the health and wellbeing of families expecting and raising little ones.
• 30:12
  Gwyneth Hyndman, HMHB-MT: Opinions and views expressed in these interviews do not necessarily represent the views expressed by HMHB as an organization.
• 30:20
  Gwyneth Hyndman, HMHB-MT: If you have a topic or a story you would love to see covered on our podcast, or if you have any feedback on a podcast that has aired, you can contact me at gwyneth@hmhb-mt.org.
• 30:33
  Gwyneth Hyndman, HMHB-MT: You can also go right to our website at hmhb-mt.org.
• 30:39
  Gwyneth Hyndman, HMHB-MT: We look forward to hearing from you