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Reading Inspires is Reading Is Fundamental’s new podcast celebrating the power of books and the joy of reading. Each episode invites educators, librarians, families, authors, illustrators, and all who champion children’s literacy to explore one big question: What does reading inspire for you? Through engaging conversations and storytelling, Reading Inspires bridges the gap between research and real-world practice—showing what literacy looks and feels like in classrooms, libraries, and homes. Grounded in evidence yet open-ended in approach, this is a space for curiosity and connection. Whether you’re an educator seeking fresh ideas, a parent hoping to spark a love of reading, or simply a lifelong bookworm, you’ll find inspiration, practical insights, and stories that remind us all why reading matters—and how it changes lives.
Erin Bailey: Welcome to Reading Inspires by Reading is Fundamental.
I'm your host, Dr. Erin Bailey.
This podcast celebrates the power of books and the joy of reading.
In each episode, we talk with educators, librarians, families, authors, and literacy champions to explore one big question.
What does Reading inspire for you?
Through stories, research, and real world experiences from classrooms, libraries, and homes, we explore what literacy looks like and why it matters.
Whether you're nurturing young minds, shaping learning spaces, or simply love a good book, we're glad you're here.
Be sure to subscribe and get the latest episode.
Let's get inspired.
We are con continuing to celebrate March as National Reading Month, and today I'm joined by Beha Wells who leads quality assurance at Stoffers.
She's an expert in what it takes to earn the trust and everyday moments with families as Stoffers celebrates.
155 years and RIF celebrates 60 years.
Staffers is proud to introduce Simply Animals.
This is an updated product that's produced in a peanut-free facility and made without high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors.
We're chatting today to talk about what it means to nourish children's bodies as well as their minds.
How snack time and story time can play a powerful role in literacy rituals.
So welcome sbe.
Sabetha Wells: Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Erin Bailey: So when you think of the question, what does reading inspire for you?
What is the first memory that comes to mind?
Sabetha Wells: Well, it's it's actually kind of funny that you.
Asked this question because it's also one of the reasons that I came to work for Stauffers biscuit Company was our, my grandma Margie, my brothers and I, she would read
to us the Grinch that Sold, stole Christmas all year long, and it became a really special time at Christmas when she would also have Stoffers holiday shortbread cookies.
For us to have and snack on as she read that story to us.
So it's, that's my earliest memory of a book that I truly loved.
And of course that was the first book I learned to read.
Erin Bailey: That is so sweet.
We're, we are big Grinch fans in the Bailey household and my daughter, who's five, wears a Grinch sweater pretty much all year round.
So we can relate to that.
Sabetha Wells: Yeah.
Erin Bailey: So you have a big title of quality assurance at staffers.
What is something that you feel like people misunderstand about quality assurance in food?
Sabetha Wells: Okay.
Well, I think one of the things is that while having the same great taste every time, having the product look the same, feel the same, have the wonderful, you know, is.
Signif signature flavors and crunch of animal crackers, for example.
We, we wanna have that be consistent.
So that's definitely what quality, one of the aspects of quality assurance.
But I think the thing that kind of gets missed a little bit is the millions of little things that the folks do here at Stauffers Biscuit Company, making the products.
That put into each aspect of the product, whether it's sourcing the ingredients from vendors down to understanding their expectations and follow through on food safety matters all the way through to the end of the product.
There's a great deal of, of effort in every.
Step, every ingredient, every process that ensures that the product is safely delivered to our customers in the manner you would expect so
that you're only getting the ingredients that are listed on the label and that those are, are good for you and result in a pleasant experience.
Erin Bailey: Something that's really big for me, and I'm sure you can relate to this 'cause I know you have a daughter.
So I have two younger ones who go to daycare and my daughter's in elementary school and both of their, the daycare and the school are peanut free.
I mean, peanut allergies are prevalent everywhere.
So you know, when I'm looking at packages and labels, I am looking for something that's peanut free and made in a peanut free facility.
Can you share a little bit about.
What changes Stauffers made?
Like I mentioned earlier, the no high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors, and what kind of listening and testing went into making those kind of decisions.
Sabetha Wells: Okay, well, yeah, the you're, you're right about the no high fructose corn syrup and no artificial flavors or colors go into any of our stuffers, simply animal crackers or cookies.
But as we were just discussing about food safety and the millions of little things that go into that product, it also includes our efforts in making sure that peanut.
And all other allergens are excluded from our products.
So there are certification processes that we go through, auditing processes through third party auditors.
We do our own self-audits to ensure that there isn't a step being skipped or a process being missed so that we are exclusively serving the products that are the ingredients that appear on those labels.
Yeah.
Erin Bailey: Are there any behind the scenes steps that a lot of families might be surprised about that you.
Consider.
Sabetha Wells: I think one of the things that is the most surprising sometimes is the size of the, the batches.
We're not making small batches, right?
These are very large scale several thousand pounds of, of dough and it's a very, interesting process with lamination that goes into the animal crackers.
So that it's a series of, of multiple rollers over and over again.
It's a very fast bake.
I think that's also pretty surprising sometimes to folks that it goes from dough to a delicious animal cracker in about eight minutes.
So yeah, it's, it's a really, so that's sometimes quite surprising.
And I think those are the kinds of things that kids tend to find fascinating is how large the equipment is.
Erin Bailey: I bet.
So let's.
Think about this idea of nurturing the body and the mind, bringing together snack time and story time as a ritual.
And many families do this right?
They have snacks and stories as a routine.
Why do you feel like these small rituals matter so much for children's wellbeing and learning?
Sabetha Wells: Well, I think that anytime that you're generating routines that are healthy and, and good for our children, you know that we are creating powerful learning opportunities.
And when we share things like our snacks and have the opportunity to create playful, you know, story time moments, so you may start out with this story about animals and then move on to a snack or vice versa.
You know, it's always a good time to reinforce various aspects of, of learning with our kids especially with the animal crackers, with those.
13 different simply animals shapes.
You know, we can practice animals by name, the, the shapes, the the sizes habitats, you know, as they get older we'll talk more about, you know, to them about the various aspects of those animals' lives.
And so.
And makes for a really nice interaction.
And anytime we can, we have the opportunity to make reading joyful and fun, I think really helps make it more of a a positive for kids as opposed to, you know, just another chore, another, you know, bit of work that I have to do.
Erin Bailey: Yeah.
I, I love that.
And as somebody who believes in preserving creativity and imagination in childhood, that, that speaks so much to my philosophy about childhood.
So thank you for sharing that.
I'll, I'll share a story of my husband, who I think I've taught very well, but he has breakfast with my daughter at school every morning, and he always comes home and tells me about this.
This one child and he says, I love the way that he plays with his food.
Which is so funny to me because a lot of, a lot of people may tell children, don't play with your food.
And I mean, of course there are some parameters around this, but how, and you described this a little bit, but how are animal crackers and or animal cookies simply animals?
A natural way to invite imaginative play for children.
And how does this play then connect to storytelling and curiosity?
Sabetha Wells: That's I could just use my own life examples with my daughter.
She is a big fan of making the sound of the animal.
Every time before she bites the head off of that poor little animal cracker.
But, you know, she, she'll spend time telling me about you know, that particular cracker sometimes and or that animal if it's the giraffe.
She likes to, you know, mimic chewing leaves and tell me about how Hyatt it had to reach to, to get those leaves.
And there are lots of different ways that she.
Shares with me.
And I, I think that's the best part is seeing where her mind goes with that and how she uses it.
Erin Bailey: That's beautiful.
Perfect example.
What is her favorite animal in the crackers?
Sabetha Wells: Yeah.
So it's the elephant by far.
She loves the elephant first and foremost.
Yes.
Erin Bailey: Amazing.
My son loves elephants too.
That was one of the first animals actually, that he started mimicking the sounds and making the, you know, gesture.
He would put his, you know, put his hand up like.
Like a trunk.
And I think what many families don't realize is that these are very important developmental milestones when you are, you know, my son, he's two.
So when you're hearing environmental sounds or animal sounds and mimicking them, these are actually the building blocks for.
Hearing and producing sounds, which then later on gets translated into hearing sounds, connecting them with letters, and that's how we read and write.
So these are very great for building those foundational literacy skills.
Sabetha Wells: Absolutely.
Yeah.
Erin Bailey: Do you remember when you were a child inventing stories with toys or characters and you know, how does that connect with what you're doing now?
Sabetha Wells: as a child I lived on, I grew up on a farm and so we had many of, of the animals that we'll sometimes that you'll see on farms and many of the animal crackers, especially the cat.
And so I remember doing a lot of storytelling with my brothers about meow the cat.
Who was our cat that we had on the farm.
She was yeah, a, an excellent cat.
And also our dairy, the dairy cattle down the road.
You know, lots of moose and lots of animal cracker stories that we shared, that I shared with my brothers.
Erin Bailey: That is perfect for bringing up the book that Simply Animals is producing.
So as part of this partnership between Simply Animals and.
Reading is fundamental.
Simply Animals has created a book called Bryson's Rocket Riddles, which features Bryson the Bear one of the key characters.
And the book actually starts out on a farm or close to a farm where Bryson lives and goes on this journey.
Of all the different animals that are featured in the Stauffers, simply animals crackers and learns about their habitats and what they need to live in those habitats.
So it's, it's an, it's a fictional story, but with a lot of great information and bringing to life the, the characters
Sabetha Wells: Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
Bryson's Rocket riddles.
Do you wanna see the image of the.
The
Erin Bailey: love to Yes.
Sabetha Wells: Yeah.
It's really exciting as Bryson is meeting in Stockville with his friends, Harper, the Hippo, and Taylor the tiger.
And they are going, they go over to Stockville farm to, to see how animals are living there on Stockville farm.
And and then Bryson yeah, uses this rocket to take off and, and evaluate, or, or visit some other habitats throughout the world.
It's a, it's a really fun story.
I, my daughter loved it, so I hope that your, your family finds it as, as fun as we did.
Erin Bailey: Yes, and I had the opportunity to review it as it was being written and illustrated, and that was really fun to participate in.
And so with this partnership between staffers, simply Animals and Reading is fundamental when you purchase the book.
Pro 20% of the proceeds will go directly to reading as fundamentals to support our programs, which we're very grateful for.
And I'll link the book below.
It's at simply animals.com so that our listeners can go check it out themselves.
But in creating this, working with, you know, your team to create this book and bring this story to life what were your hopes for kids and what they would do after they read it?
Sabetha Wells: Well, the exciting, I think it was exciting that it was, it was national reading month and the reading is fundamental is celebrating their 60th year, which I thought was,
pretty fantastic with staffers celebrating 155 years and bringing this tradition of animal crackers into a book that introduces the life of the animals in a different way for kids to explore.
And you can have snack time at the same time.
It's, it's actually a really fun we practice or practice.
We, my daughter and I, we actually went through the book with the animal crackers and it, and we read it.
First we read it just the book, and then we did it with the animal crackers and we could not stop laughing.
Doing it with the animal crackers made it that much more fun as opposed to just noting away.
We know where she incorporated the animals into the story.
So I think it's a great way to, bring literature or, and, and reading to children in, in a fun way.
Because anytime we can create joy from reading, I think it's, it's a positive for everyone.
Erin Bailey: I'm definitely going to copy you and also read the books with the animal crackers.
I mean, how could you.
How could you not do that?
But I think the wonderful thing is we talk a lot in the literacy space about how books are able to, well, two things.
One, how you, you bring your own background knowledge to reading when you, when you meet a book and the other ways how books can help.
Build background knowledge.
And so with these animals, the way you're describing before, you can use this book to build a little background knowledge about the animals and where they live, their habitats, what they need for survival.
And then let's say you don't have the book because you're at the playground or the park munching on your animal crackers.
You can still think about, oh, remember when we read.
This and that book.
And tell me a little bit about what you learned about these animals.
What sounds do they make?
Where do they live?
What do they need to survive?
You know, it's, it's a great way to bring that snack time and that storytelling and creativity and building background knowledge all together.
Sabetha Wells: Absolutely.
I, I think that's one of the.
Funnest parts about being a mom is having those moments where you see your child in a completely different setting.
You're not reading together, but you are seeing those concepts gel in her mind and she is taking that forward, what she learned and read into a completely different situation.
Yeah.
Erin Bailey: Absolutely.
So if an educator or library wanted to connect food choices, play and reading, what's a simple, inclusive way to do that without making it seem like being a perfect parent or being a perfect educator?
Sabetha Wells: Oh gosh.
Well
Erin Bailey: I.
Sabetha Wells: think that anytime we can make it fun that's been you know a big part of, my, the reading with my child is trying to make it fun.
Asking a lot of questions about what was your favorite part and what did you think that the character, what did you think Bryson was going to do in the rocket when he first got in and,
and asking questions about the, the characters or, or what they're learning and what their takeaways are, kind of not only reinforces it, but also can bring about another level of fun.
Erin Bailey: Yes, absolutely.
And what message would you hope that families hear when they see this legacy brand?
And I do mean Legacy 155 year old brand, evolve and respond to really what families need today.
Sabetha Wells: I would say that it's, this business created in 1871 was created by a family of Stauffers.
And from that over the years they have continued to hire and be very family focused.
And so we've got a lot of team members.
That helped in the development of this product as well as in the execution of the brand's development and making the animal crackers that have really given of themselves to see that
each and every animal cracker that is coming out from Stauffers is safe and wholesome and is, is going to bring or going to take, crackers into the future with those growing families.
So it's a wonderful evolution demonstrating the leadership of the organization that we are listening to, the voice of the customer and bringing in reducing a high fructose corn syrup or.
Excuse me.
Eliminating high fructose corn syrup and as well as artificial colorants and flavors and taking the brand into the, the future for hopefully another 155 years.
Erin Bailey: Absolutely, and I've enjoyed this partnership that Reading is Fundamental has had with Stauffers Simply Animals.
When you all came to us and asked.
Me to review the book every step of the way.
I mean, that's a different level of quality, insur assurance.
But what I saw from that was that you really did care about input.
I mean asking me as a literacy expert along the way, what do you think about this book?
What recommendations do you have?
It's, it's very easy, I feel like for.
A company to say we're gonna write a children's book, but it takes it to another level of care and quality to look for an organization whose mission and values aligns and look for an expert in the field to give feedback along the way.
And these are seem to me, very simple things, but have a deep and meaningful impact.
Sabetha Wells: Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
It's it was what brought me to say yes to this as a novice and obviously not a professional podcast interviewee I this, reading is fundamental, has been a big part of my life since I was small as have staffers products.
And so it's, it's a great marriage, especially the 20% of the profits going to help the literacy programs for children nationwide.
And then we'll have our staffers, simply animal crackers, available nationwide by the end of April, just in time for national Animal Cracker Day.
Erin Bailey: Amazing.
So thinking holistically, what's one quality check that families can do at home with their routines?
Not just looking at food labels, but just to make sure they're spending time together.
Sabetha Wells: Oh yeah, the, oh, that's another one you caught me on because I find myself, when you, I hear questions like that, my ins my immediately feel emotional.
Erin Bailey: Of course.
Sabetha Wells: So sorry.
So that just immediately takes me.
But I would say that the best way that we can, honor quality quality time with each other is, is literally being there, being fully present.
We have a lot of, of screens and other options before us when we're together as a family and making sure that we take that time, even if it's as.
Small amount of time as, as a routine throughout the day to to read a book together, to have a snack together.
To talk to each other.
Yeah.
Erin Bailey: I appreciate that so much.
As, as somebody who advocates for less screen time and less competing priorities when you are around your children and acknowledging that it is
very difficult, you know, snack time can easily turn into, let me give my child a snack and step into the other room to check my work emails.
Let me put my child in front of a tv.
While they're eating a, a snack.
And I'm not saying to never do those things.
I live in the real world too.
But I think what we've discussed here today is really the intention that you can bring to snack time, having fun with it, setting aside that routine as something special.
And these little adorable animal crackers are perfect for it because you can naturally engage in conversation and play and let your imagination take you somewhere else.
Sabetha Wells: Absolutely it is.
One of the, you know, one, there are so many wonderful parts of parenting and then there are lots and lots of challenges.
But having those moments, just those moments of, of complete, intunement with each other.
Even if they're brief and they're few and far between, the fact that we have them, it makes a lot of things worth it.
Erin Bailey: Absolutely.
So I am going to have you finish this sentence as we close out.
Reading inspires in families.
Sabetha Wells: Creating joyful life moments.
I, I have to say it that way because that's not only kind of the motto for my family, our, our family motto is, let's have fun.
But staffers, biscuit, company's actual vision for our organization is to create joyful life moments within our organization, but also with the families that we serve.
And so it's kind of have to say it that way, but.
It's a beautiful sentiment and it's really what we try to practice and why we, it matters so much to us that we have we're bringing staffers, simply animal crackers to households nationwide.
Erin Bailey: Absolutely.
I'm, I couldn't agree more.
Reading is fundamental.
We are all about promoting the joy of reading, particularly in today's climate around literacy.
So I. That reading inspires joyful moments in families.
Thank you so much, sbe.
Sabetha Wells: Thank you so much, Erin.
It was, it was great to talk to you today and I love to talk.
Of course, this is one of my favorite subjects, so reading and and eating snacks.
I love it.
Erin Bailey: I love reading and eating snacks too.
Thank you so much.
And thank you all for listening to Reading Inspires by Reading is Fundamental.
I hope today's conversation sparked new ideas, meaningful connections, and a renewed love of reading.
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, share with a fellow literacy champion, and join us next time as we continue to explore what reading inspires.