FCRR’s Dr. Beth Phillips Helps Bring Early Literacy to Life in New Super Why! Series

Helping young children become readers takes more than learning letters and sounds. It’s about building the skills they need to read while encouraging curiosity, exploration, and a love of reading. Dr. Beth Phillips, Associate Director of the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR), brings her literacy expertise to that effort as a Literacy Advisor for PBS KIDS’ Super Why’s Comic Book Adventures, a new series designed to support early literacy development in young children.

Phillips served as one of two primary literacy advisors for the series, working with the creative team to shape the curriculum and help guide how reading skills are introduced throughout the episodes. Her contributions included advising on the episode topics, reviewing scripts, and collaborating with producers and PBS on the development of the show.

Spinning off the original Super Why! series, Super Why’s Comic Book Adventures continues to introduce young viewers to foundational literacy skills through engaging stories and activities. Designed for children ages 3 to 5, the series covers skills such as letter names and sounds, letter formation, phonological awareness, phonics, spelling, vocabulary, and more. The goal is to help children build the skills they need to become readers.

For Phillips, the work reflects the importance of giving children opportunities to build strong literacy skills early in life. "There’s few things more important for young children than developing their language and literacy skills," Phillips said. "Reading opens the door to independence, learning, and exploration. Anything we can do to help children become excited about reading is worth the effort." 

Phillips’ expertise made a meaningful impression on the team behind the series. “Beth’s knowledge and expertise was necessary for getting the reading skills curriculum right,” said Anne Lund, Senior Director of Content and Curriculum at PBS KIDS. “Her years of experience with teaching young children and studying how they learn to read not only provided critical guidance and ideas that shaped the show, but working with her also provided an incredible learning experience for me personally and professionally.”

Her work extended beyond the initial curriculum planning. Throughout production, Phillips provided feedback on scripts, interactive games, and digital storybooks, helping ensure that literacy learning remained central to the series.

“Beth was an integral part of our creative team on Super Why’s Comic Book Adventures,” said Dr. Jess deMonsabert, Director of Research and Curriculum at Scholastic Entertainment. “She provided incredibly valuable expert feedback at every stage of the production process: participating in a Curriculum Summit, helping shape the early literacy curriculum framework, and giving notes throughout scripting, production, and on our interactive games and digital storybooks. Beth played a huge role in making this series engaging and robust. We are all so excited to see the impact on kids and their families after watching!”

To learn more about Super Why’s Comic Book Adventures and explore available episodes and educational resources, visit: pbskids.org/videos/super-whys-comic-book-adventures.