Maya Payne Smart

Maya Payne Smart helps parents nurture, teach, and advocate for children on the road to reading. In her book, Reading for Our Lives: A Literacy Action Plan from Birth to Six, she outlines what it takes for children to become thriving readers, and how we can all invest in improving the learning, literacy, and life trajectories of the next generation. Her website, MayaSmart.com, publishes new book lists, literacy activities, and other free family resources weekly to help parents play their dual roles as first teachers and educational advocates. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from the Medill School at Northwestern University and a bachelor’s in social studies with honors from Harvard University. She serves as affiliated faculty in Educational Policy and Leadership in the College of Education at Marquette University.