Building Young STEM Readers with Jay Flores

Building Young STEM Readers with Jay Flores

From Reading Inspires by Reading Is Fundamental by Reading Is Fundamental

June 30, 2026 · 28 min · Episode 38

About this episode

Dr. Erin Bailey interviews Jay Flores about the intersection of literacy, STEM, and representation in children's literature.

In this episode, Dr. Erin Bailey sits down with Jay Flores — engineer, author, and upcoming American Ninja Warrior competitor — to explore the powerful intersection of literacy, STEM, and representation. Jay shares how his lifelong curiosity, nurtured by a supportive family, led him from tinkering with pots and pans as a child to becoming an engineer and now a children's book author. His bilingual picture book Engineer Someday introduces 10 types of engineering through familiar childhood play, with rhymes that work in both English and Spanish — not as a translation, but as a true bilingual experience. The conversation covers why reading is one of the best tools for sparking STEM curiosity in young children, why representation in books and media matters, and how bilingualism is a cognitive superpower worth celebrating. About Jay Flores: Jay Flores is a Global STEM Ambassador, founder of Invent The Change, and author of the bilingual STEM children’s book series, Engineer Someday ! He is a two-time semifinalist on NBC’s American Ninja Warrior , recently starred on Amazon Prime Video’s Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? and has hosted PBS’s innovation show Make48 . Jay also starred on…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Erin Bailey

Guest: Jay Flores

Topics covered

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Invent The Change, PBS, Telemundo, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video

Books & works: Engineer Someday

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