Connecting the Dots: Seeing God's Hand in Your Story with Lisa M. Pritchard - Part 2Connecting the Dots: Seeing God's Hand in Your Story with Lisa M. Pritchard - Part 2
Crossroads with Jenny Bushkell
Jenny Bushkell talks with author Lisa M. Pritchard about how childhood moments, faith and literacy shaped her children’s books and wider ministry. The conversation touches on reading with kids, gentle Christian themes, patriotism and the belief that helping just one person can matter deeply.
24:39•25 Sept 2026
Connecting the Dots: Lisa Pritchard on Faith, Children’s Stories and One Child at a Time
Episode Overview
- Reading aloud for 15 minutes a day can expose a child to millions of words and greatly improve readiness for school.
- Helping even one child with literacy or one woman in crisis can significantly change the trajectory of a life and family.
- Stories that include humour, relatable characters and gentle Christian themes can make children eager to keep turning the page.
- Forgiveness, saying "I’m sorry", and understanding the impact of our words are framed as crucial lessons for children and adults.
- Repentance is described as turning away from harmful choices, not repeatedly doing what we want and simply saying sorry.
“Each of us would just help one. We can reduce the number of dropouts. We can change the trajectory of a child's life, of a family's life.”
How do people find hope in the everyday moments of life? This conversation between Jenny Bushkell and award-winning children's author Lisa M. Pritchard leans into that question with a mix of humour, heartfelt faith, and a big passion for helping kids read. You’ll hear Lisa talk about tracing God’s hand through her story, right back to a misunderstood first-grade assignment where she wrote her own tale into a wordless picture book.
That simple moment became the seed of her dream to be an author, even though she didn’t see how it would unfold for many years. Lisa shares how her Dirt Dog and Friends series blends literacy skills with character-building themes like kindness, courage, inclusion, perseverance and self-worth.
Jenny asks her to read from "Dirt Dog Invites Prissy Poodle to the Prom", and the playful passage about a scruffy dog bravely asking Prissy to the Paw Party prom shows how Lisa uses light-hearted humour to help children think about confidence, forgiveness and fitting in. The episode also touches on Lisa’s patriotic story "Tiny Tot Tiger Says, Happy Birthday, America", inspired by her Marine father and a desire to help children respect the sacrifices behind freedom.
She explains how her illustrator’s imagination and creative visual touches help children see themselves as brave, capable and ready to "fly" into their own future.
Alongside the books, Lisa talks about her literacy games and activity ideas, and why reading aloud matters so much: "If you will read to them 15 minutes a night, they will be exposed to millions of words." She links this to her wider mission of helping "just one" child at a time and supporting women in shelters through a collaborative romance project.
Woven through everything is Lisa’s story of early faith, later repentance, and learning to recognise that God hadn’t given up on her, even when she’d drifted. It’s a warm reminder that past experiences, even small ones, might be preparation for something bigger God is planning. Could one child, one book, or one choice be the start of a new chapter in your own story?
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