Dr. Marion Blank is the creator of the Reading Kingdom reading program and the director of the A Light on Literacy program at Columbia University in New York. She is a developmental psychologist with a specialization in language and learning who has spent over forty years studying how children learn language, in both its spoken and written forms. She has lectured extensively around the world, served as a consultant to government bureaus in many different countries, and authored scores of peer-reviewed articles and books.