Dr. John Hutton MD

Dr. John S. Hutton is an author whose work is inspired by experiences as a parent (3 daughters, 1 grandson), pediatrician, researcher and children’s bookstore owner (Blue Manatee, 2001-2019). His dad was a doctor, his mom a writer; he strives to honor both. He is among the world’s leading experts in quantifying relationships between home reading and digital media (“screen time”) environments on brain structure and function in preschool-age children using MRI, featured extensively in academic and news outlets. He is also an innovator in developing and testing children’s books for parenting and child health promotion, including safe sleep, breastfeeding, infant crying, reading with babies (SHARE/STEP method), dialogic reading (DR Books), alternatives to digital media (Baby Unplugged) and how the heart and brain work. In his career, he has worked in Cincinnati and Dallas, served as “spokes-doctor” for the Read Aloud 15 MINUTES national campaign, on the Medical Advisory Board of Reach Out and Read, worked closely with the Children and Screens Institute and other groups, and is a co-author of the technical manual for American Academy of Pediatrics Literacy Promotion Guidelines. “Dr. John” lives with his wife Shelley near a lake in Dallas with intermittent, welcome visits from children, pets and critters. They love to travel, dig in the dirt, walk, talk, play and read.