Supercharged Saroj! Early Literacy Leader Shares Decades of Wisdom

Abstract

Now retired, early childhood literacy consultant and national trainer and author Saroj Nadkarni Ghoting has spent decades supporting the causes dear to librarians’ hearts. We thought spotlighting her long-time advocacy was well earned.

Saroj, you have always supported and promoted diversity in your work; how did this become an important value to you?

I guess you could say I was lucky! My father was from India and my mother was the daughter of orthodox Jews from Russia. So, I grew up with multiple languages and cultures in Bethesda, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC.

We spoke English at home. My father taught us Marathi before we visited India when I was 12, and my mother read us the postcards in Yiddish she received every day from her mother. Our father told us stories from his childhood, from Hindu works (YAY! Oral storytellling!). My mom read us picture books every day. And we always used our public libraries.