Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
How are you, brother?
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am doing great, sir, how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I am good? Because we are going tonight to the
World Series.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Okay, Well, isn't it going to be shocking when you
get there tonight and there's no game going on?
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Well, I mean I'm leaving tonight. I didn't mean like
this play whenever I go.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Wait a minute, So you're going to Toronto for the
World Series.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So here's a bit.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Every year since my son is little, I make a
bet with him he can pick a team that's in
the bottom half of the rankings in baseball.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Wait a minute. I feel like before.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
I've told you this story, I've told you privately. I
maybe on the air, but and if he pick if
that team makes the World Series, I'll take him.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
And it's an impossible.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Bet because you're taking like one of the worst teams
in trying to make it into the best.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
It never worked.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
He's been doing it for a dozen years nothing, and
two years ago he picks the Texas Rangers who go
to the World Series. I'm like, this is the most
expensive bet I've ever made. Now, and so the game's
one and two are always during my daughter's parents weekend,
so we can't.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Go to one and two.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
I get tickets to Game six, but.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
The Rangers win in five. Last year, I.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Get tickets to Game six and seven.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And the Dodgers win in five. And so this is
the third year.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
I'm trying to complete this bet for three years now,
and finally there's a game six and we are going
to Toronto.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Dude, that is awesome. That is freaking awesome.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
It's so good because my son is like, he's almost
happy when it keeps going, because he just loves watching
me being tortured trying to get tickets to game six
and seven, the two hardest tickets every year, three years
in a row.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Now have you been to I've never been to that
stadium for a baseball game. And that that entire city
is going to be nuts tomorrow night.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Well that's why I was happy that one last night,
because I'm.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Like, this place is gonna explode. It's you know, obviously,
I'm so excited. We went to We went to the
Cubs the first time they were in the World Series,
and even though they lost the first game regularly, when
we were there, it was like the place it was
the best game I've ever seen, because every pitch was
like it was the end of the universe, and and
I love that atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
It's so fun to be a part of.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Oh dude, oh you got to send pictures. I can't
imagine what that's going to be.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Like, yeah, no, no, it's gonna be good.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Where and and and you know, our our kids all
the all the animators for our kids TV show based
on the books, they're all from Toronto, so all like,
you know, for.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
A month now, they're all freaking.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Out and I'm like, let's let's not get crazy until
you guys get there.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
And then you know, after that, you.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Know, nearly twenty inning game, I'm like, everybody calm down.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
And then suddenly they're.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Like, do not tell us to calm down. You should
not come down.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Well, dude, good for you. Oh, I'm so excited for you.
I'm so excited for you. All Right, I got a
couple of things that I need to get into. And
before I get to Moan Biles, can I start with
a different I Am book if you don't mind, please,
I thought of.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
You, and I can't. It feels like it was a
week ago.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Was probably closer to a month ago, but I thought
of you when the news broke about Jane Goodall, I
thought of you immediately.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
She was so special.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
You know, she was the first famous person when we
were when we started the im series.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
She was the first one that.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Was alive that we ever did a hero of. And
we wrote to her and said, hey, can you help us?
And again the series was just getting started, and she
was like yep, and we were like what you know?
And she was so nice, And let me tell you
one thing. You know, she did pictures with with you know,
I am Jane Goodall, you know, and did all the stuff.
But what I love, and I've never told this story,
(03:48):
is when we were doing the book, there's a moment
when she was little, she used to love putting dressing
her dogs up with real clothes. It was just fun
for her as a little girl. And we put that
in the book. And then when she was proofing the book,
she said, can you do me a favor though, and
take out that part about me dressing the dogs in clothes?
And I said, wait, but didn't you do that?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
She says? I did.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
She says, but it's not good for the dogs. And
I want to always do what's best.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
By the animal. And I love that, like even ninety.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Years old, she's still always on message, like never ever.
It was so nice and I was just like, of course,
so obviously when she passed away, all of us, you know,
I was emailing with her whole team and we were
just like, I mean, she's a legend, the best.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Now then, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
The other thing that I thought was really nice is
they like when they announced her funeral, it's going to
take place at the National Cathedral in DC.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I like that, me too, Me too.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
I feel like I feel like that's you know, there's
like a she's she's she's on that mount rushmore of
like people, you know, like not presidents, but just like
people who truly changed the world.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I think that's a good thing. I love that.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
I don't know, I actually didn't even know that.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, I like that, and I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
It just shows how big she is and how important
she was that that's where they're holding her funeral. I
loved when I saw that. Anyway, let me switch gears.
Let me get to Simone Biles.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
First.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Remind me I read the book, Brad, but remind me,
how did we get to Simone Biles?
Speaker 4 (05:21):
So it's a good question. You know, they a couple
of years ago, they said, hey, we want you to
do Simone Biles. What you know, everyone puts together different things.
And at the time I was like, no, her story's
not done yet. She just walked away from the Olympics.
I was like, you know, I'm glad she stood up
for her mental health, but but there's no ending to
the story yet. She needs an ending. And then when she.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Won the gold medal, I was like, well, let me
look into this.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Let me just look into what her story is. I
really didn't know it very well because I thought it
was about like, oh, you get knocked down and then
you get back up right, And I was completely wrong.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I was just wrong.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Like what I realized her story was is I wanted
to do.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
I knew this.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
I came about as I knew I wanted to do
a book about mental health. I was just looking at
my own kids and looking at all my friends' kids,
and our kids today are suffering. They're suffering, right, I mean,
it is not the same as when we were growing up.
You know, social media has wrecked these kids' self esteem.
If you have a kid today of a certain age,
there's like anxieties off the charts, and I said, who
(06:20):
can I do? And it was Simone Biles whose name
kept coming up. And then that's what the book.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I said.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
I don't care about the gold medal. I care about
this advocate for her mental health. And man, do our
kids need a mental health kid's book more than ever?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
And you know what's interesting, Brad, is like you said,
you didn't know her story. And I feel like Simone
Biles is so famous and Simone Biles is.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Like such a star.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
And then I realized when I was reading it, I
don't know her story. I know her as an olympian.
I know her as the olympian that had to take
a break from the sport for her mental health. And
I know her as an olympian or a gymnast. I
should say who came back and then and then shocked
the world and did it again. I didn't know her
story from when she was a kid. I didn't know
(07:06):
that at what is at three years old, her mom
and her dad, or her mom rather takes her to
foster care and she ends up with a foster family
until her grandparents are able to come get her with
her and her silly I had.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
No idea.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
And that you know, we the letters that were getting
from families already, the book's been out like two days
from foster families. I'll read you another one when we
gets to the mental health part. But like they're so emotional.
And when she goes and lives with her our grandparents,
you know, she's officially adopted at six years old, and
she goes to her grandmother's like is this I mean,
(07:43):
I can call you mom and dad now, And she's
so excited by that possibility that she goes up to
her room and she just practiced it, you know.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Saying mom and dad, mom and dad.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Those words are so meaningful to her. And then she
runs back downstairs. She's like mom, dad, you know, and
they're like yeah, and they're like, you know, what's going
on to the mown and she's like nothing, and she
just runs back upstairs. And it's like, I call the
mom and dad, and I know that there are kids
that are going to read this book. That that page
is the most important page in any book I've ever written,
(08:14):
by the way they suddenly they're not alone.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I wrote it down. I was like, it's the greatest
page in the book.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
It is by far that that whole scene where she
goes downstairs and for the first time she says mom
and dad and they answer, it's the greatest page in
the book.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I mean, listen, the rest of the.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Book is good, and there's a lot of good stuff
in there, but that page is so powerful.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
No, and listen, That's why I gave it its own page.
I was like, you know, I think you know in
these biographies, you know you can be like I'm going
to give the big page to the gold medal. I'm
going to give the page where she learns to do
a flip.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
When we have those.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Pages is fine, but like, no, this is the most
important part. Like I stretched that part out because I'm like,
there are kids out there that are just like, where's
a book where the hero looks like me? And I
don't mean like skin color, I mean like they have
my life. I'm a foster child. I was I don't
know who my parents are, or I do know who
they are, and they let me go, and I was like, no, no, no,
(09:07):
this this is where we're going to help some kid,
and this is a permanent memory. And I care more
about that one kid, you know, than all the kids
are going to buy. No offense, but for the gold
medal like that is.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
And then you know the other thing.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
And I tell you this, I always love at these
moments of trying to go through the book and trying
to figure out if that didn't happen, would we get blank?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
And like when when?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
When?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
When she's really really young, like I think like four
or five or whatever, is that trampoline?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And listen, she's hiding.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
She's all over the place and she's like running around
and if that trampoline isn't in the backyard, do we get.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Some moan biles?
Speaker 4 (09:50):
I mean, the thing is I think we like, let's
just talk about it, right. So she goes to live
in this new home and in the backyard is a
full trampoline and she's like, you know, they're like you
want to try it?
Speaker 1 (10:01):
She's like, are you kidding?
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Runs Chris Elliopolis draws one of the most beautiful pictures
I've ever seen him draw, which is her, you know,
in the air, her braids just all you know, like
a rainbow around her, and obviously that's where she starts
figuring out what she loves. I do think we still
get it because there's a and I didn't make up
any moment in this book. You know, you can see
her on her bunk beds. When she be on the bottom,
(10:24):
she would grab the slats on the top and then
use them as monkey bars like she is, she's doing gymnastics.
I don't care if there's a trampoline.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Gymnastics will be done in this house. And and you.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Know, obviously she event I think the bigger moment is
even when she walks into that gymnastics place.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
But oh that tumbling john the tumbling gym where the
person's like, you got a membership.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
She's six years old. She's six years.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Old inside the tumbling gym, and the director of it
is like, uh, you could just stay here, like you
can do whatever you want here, Like she was amazing
what she was doing in there.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Well, what they do is they have like one of
those think what of the giant ropes that come down
from the ceiling, and they're like, listen, if you want
to climb the rope using just your arms, put your
legs straight out, give it a shot. You probably won't
get far. Button she's like, and she's all the way
to the top and they're like what And you know
they're like six year olds are not supposed to be
able to do that.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
And the coach is like, who's that.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
And they're like, that's the one I'm telling you about.
And yeah, then they're like, you have a membership. Here's
the Blockbuster card, come back every day.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
But like, I was so glad to read that stuff,
because again, I know of Simone Biles when she became famous.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I don't know her upbringing. But that gets me too.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
There's another part here, Brad where and this is the
other place, like as impactful and as important to me
as that foster fan or calling her her grandparents mom
and dad is where she says, at the age of nine,
she was diagnosed with anxiety and ADHD at the age
(12:03):
of nine.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
How great.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
I mean, listen when I say how great is that?
Not that not that she has anxiety in ADHD, but
that she was she had parents that were interested that
that took notice and then got her diagnosed.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
We know ADHD very well in my family, and it
was obviously I did not know that about her when
I started writing the book, And of course I was like, no,
this is it, and I'm going to read you this
is a letter. It's actually going up on our social
media later tonight. But this is this is the first
letter I got when the book came out the day
came out, and it said this. It was like, dear Brad,
(12:38):
not sure this will reach you, but just want to
say a wonderful Amsmo bilesis and this is what it says.
It says, we had a rough week over here with
my daughter who's in third grade, being laughed at on
the bus in tears.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
But when she.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Saw that Simone had ADHD like her, she lit up
and she said, thank you for writing this book.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
We needed it.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
We have all your books, but this is definitely our favorite.
And again those moments where a kid can see themselves
that ADHD moment again, you can see what I you know,
what I did there is. I'm like, you get your
own page for this. This is not something we mentioned
in the timeline, you know, And she says, you know,
looking if you look at that page I have sometimes
Simon Biles will break the fourth wall and talk to
(13:18):
you directly as the reader, right, And it says on
that page to be your best, you need to feel
good about yourself. And that is what kids who are
going through that stuff don't understand at that young age.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
And here's Simonbiles.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Breaking the fourth wall and saying, you're okay, exactly as
you are. You know, you have worth and you're worthy
of being loved. And I don't care if you're, you know,
in third grade or you're, you know, fifty years old.
We all need that message.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Hey, you talk about like certain moments in the book
getting their own page and not just being part of
a timeline or just kind of telling the story when
you talk about her withdrawing from the Olympics. Right, so
now fast forward that we're we're Olympian Simone Biles and
she withdraws from the Olympics, and it talks about the
public reaction.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
That page is pretty heavy, dude.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Yeah, it is the one that we were like, you
should see.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
It was heavier.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Like what she says about her time is she feels
like all the words that everyone calls her publicly are
on her face. So failure, quitter, loser, terrible, embarrassment. And
so we had we did exactly what she says when
she talked about it publicly, is we put all those
(14:32):
words on her face and it was devastating.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I was like, we were like, we can't do it.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
And Chris then very smartly put those words all over
the page, and she's just you know, has a tear
coming down and she's crying as you feel it, and
I think, you know, you cannot understand what she comes
back from until you understand what she's been through. And
that is a pub you know, sometimes the internet's really
(14:57):
fun and funny.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
We can make a good joke.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
And sometimes it is the rulest most you know, and
we are as a society ruthless, and we were ruthless
with her, and when no one understood even at the time,
because they were like, oh, you're a quitter, you quit
the Olympics, and then you forget that that story came
out about sexual.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Abuse for all these gymnasts.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Yeah right, and then you forget that Wait a minute,
she went through that too, and we don't we don't
talk about that part, right like we obviously in a
book we make a mention of she had some coaches
that were bad, and we make it so it stage appropriate,
so you can, you know, if you need to tell
that story with your kid, you know what page it's on.
But as a as a as a society, we we didn't.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
We didn't mention that.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
We just went after her throat because we didn't win
the she didn't win the goal for us, like she
owed us something and I again, and that page to
me is that's when you realize, man, we put her
through the ringer.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
That was rough.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
And by the way, Brad, where you mentioned and you're right,
like it references that she had some coaches that were bad.
And like you said, depending on who's reading the book,
they may not be ready for for that and would
be up to parents.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
But I will give a ton of.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Credit to Chris Eliopolist that little frame where it says
that she had the coaches that are really bad. I
mean for trying to send a message without saying the
message that artwork is great.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
Now, I mean, listen, the secret weapon of these books
is Chris, right. I mean, he has this art style
that's like Calvin and Hobbes meets Charlie Brown and that's
all adorable and kids love it.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
But like there's a.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Reason why there have been, you know, thousands of books
written about Rosa Parks or Amelia Earhart or Abraham Lincoln
or the Beatles. But kids gravitate to arts and it's
no offense to me.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
It's not my.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Writing it's Chris's beautiful art. He makes you you know,
anyone can do cute, right, Chris has cute arsat but
what Chris can do, he can do heart. He can
make you feel. And on that page it says, you know,
and one coach was.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Very bad for me.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
You know, I had coaches who were intents and coaches
who were good, but one coach was very bad. And
it's Simone in the shadows, just looking down. Now you
have a little kid whatever. They just think you have
a bad coach, but you have a kid who needs
that story, and you have an opportunity now to change
their life. And it's all thanks to Chris's art.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Hey, Brett, I hesitate to ask what I'm going to
like you would you'd mentioned when we were talking about
Jane good all about how she was involved and her
people were involved. Has were some moons people involved in
the in the at least the reading of the book
and going through it.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
So I know she's read the book. The funny part
was when we were proofing it, and it's just the
time and of how it worked. She finally went on
her honeymoon. So we've been talking to all of her people,
but They're like, she's on her honeymoon. I'm like, I
can't bother her on our honeymoon to check our books.
Like there's only so much, like you know, like I'm
pretty shameless about asking people for papers, but I was
(17:46):
like I can't. Like the woman has been like done
nothing but try to win stuff for the country her
whole life and has finally taken the you know, a
six month period where she truly escaped and left and
was like I need to live my own life now.
And I'd be like, what about our book? Though, you know,
I'm like, we really really could use your helper.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So I know she's read it.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
They said, we sent it to her, and obviously we
sent it to her gym and to her parents and
and and the people that she works with have been
really really nice to us.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
But yeah, even I couldn't do that one.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
And so she also hasn't commented on the picture you
posted of you in tights.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
I mean, can I let's talk about that for a moment.
Of all the pictures I've ever posted on my Instagram, whatever,
Twitter or whatever that all, you know, all the things,
nothing has horrified my daughter more than this photo. Like
I sent it to Lilah. My daughter is now twenty
years old, so I sent her two pictures that Chris
ali Appas did where it's a it's a picture of
(18:46):
Stephen the awesome gymnasts, who you know with glasses, who
you know is the heart throb, and they put my
head on his body and my and my daughter literally
wrote back and said I'm terrified.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
I'm horrified.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I was the only response. I'm like, so you're saying
you love this. She's like, do not post those? And
so of course I posted it, and she and yesterday
it's two days later, and yesterday she says to me,
why did you post that?
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I told you not to. And I'm like, because she
told me Nazi.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Of course that's why I posted it, exactly why I
posted it.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
But we did text Simone Biles and and I'm.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Like, I don't think she's going to be sharing this one,
but whatever it's it's going to bother my daughter, so
it's got to be worth it.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
And then let me switch to something else because I
don't know. I don't want to run out of time
with you. So that that book is out, I am
some o Biles, Uh, that is out and it's available
it's fantastic, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Did I did?
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I was reading about it and I love this.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Also, you took the Nazi conspiracy and you made it
a kid's book.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
We did, you know, because you know kids love Nazis.
I mean, and again.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
The thing is when you say is a kid's book,
it's me it's like for your year old. I mean,
we did do im m frank, we did do a
kid's book for.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Like like a child's book. Yes, no, no, but it's
we did it. It's for I don't even know what age,
young adults, young adults.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
But Brad, how long have I been telling you that
I wished like all your conspiracy books. How long have
I been telling you that's how history books should be written.
They should be written like novels in a way that
read where it's interesting and it tells the story and
it puts you in it. I love that they actually
that you actually did it. And now it's a it's
a history book for for for young adults.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Yeah no, no, listen, we it's for nine, you know,
nine to twelve year olds, because older than that you
could just read the real book. But we had all
these kids that were that were exactly what you just
said that all these parents are like, we want this
since we did a first conspiracy book for young readers.
But the Nazi Conspiracy book, you know, a secret plot
to kill Fdr Stalin in Churchill at the height of
World War Two. It's this amazing story of them against
(20:58):
the Nazis. And we had all teacher's writing to us saying, hey,
can you do a young adult version, so we can
you know, assign it to you know, our nine year olds,
ten eleven, twelve year olds, and and it worked, It
actually works.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Scholastic was like, we want to do this with you.
So we went through the book.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
You pull out the most graphic stuff, you pull out
obviously the language stuff that doesn't work for that young
age group. But the funny thing was is my son
in his in his school last year, got assigned one
of our conspiracy books that was on the list.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Of books you can pick.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
So the First Conspiracy, which is about a secret plot
to kill George Washington at the height of the of
the revolution, is one of them. And my son, of
course is not picking my book, but all of his
friends picked the book because they were like, whatever we
can ask Brad if you don't, you know, if we
get stuck on something and my again, my son is like,
they picked your book, and I'm actually getting worried. And
(21:53):
then my son says to me with a shock, like
true shock, they liked it, like well thanks for that,
Like what like I mean truly as if it was
like an impossible dream, like how could that possibly be,
you know, happen that they would like this book. And
and that's and the Not Conspiracy to me is an
(22:13):
even better book for you know, those kids who are
reluctant readers who are in you know, kind of want
to find something that they would.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Love in history. You're not alone, dude.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Is Scholastic was like, we're doing it, and I love
the fact they did. I want to do it with
all the all of our conspiracy books.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Well I'm just going to ask you will, like will
will you end up doing it with all of them?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
You should? They should? Scholastic should, yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Bliss and people buy the books and they'll do another
one with us. It's all about, you know, is this
gonna work or not? Like and and you know they
they don't know, we've never done a book together before,
so obviously that came out you know, this has been
a busy week for us, but yeah, we have nots
conspiracy coming out at the you.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Know, same time.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
But it's a I love the fact that these And
the thing is is, you know, at my book signs,
those kids come and find me, like if you're a
history nerd like me when I was, Like.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
When I was, I don't know where to go.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
But those kids when I go to events, like when
I'm coming in January for the new.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Thriller there, like you'll look, you'll pick them out in line.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
There are these really smart, shy kids who just look
like me when I was little, and they come up
to me and they'll tell me like and they'll tell me.
The best part is they'll tell me what I get wrong.
Like they'll tell me like you typoed FDR's birthday. You
got it off by a digit, like because you typed
the eighteenth instead of the nineteenth. I'm like, they find
everything like they and I'm like, they should be my
proof readers, not the ones I got.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Hey, nerd, you're at a book signing.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
No, But the best part of the kids, the younger
ones who like are still like they you know, Chris
hides me in every single I am right, so I'm
always hid in the background.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
And so I had these It was like these two.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Brothers and they came up to me and one is
probably like ten years old and the younger brother's like
seven years old, maybe even a little younger. And the
younger one is like, wait, you know, I saw you
and I am Rosa Parks and I saw you and
you know we are the Beatles and I saw you
in this and They're like, I have a question for you.
And I'm like yeah, They're like, are you a time traveler?
(24:08):
And I thought that was really adorable and then the
older brother, the older brother says like angry at the
younger brother says he's not a time traveler, idiot, and
he says he's a vampire look at him.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
And I'm like, look at me?
Speaker 4 (24:23):
What is that part? Like I know, I'm like not
the Tannis guy around. But I was like, so kids
can come and like ask him questions about your history stuff,
but like they are fantastic.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Hey. Two other things about the conspiracy books.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Number one, and not not to get all heavy and stuff,
but with the Nazi conspiracy, dude, with the amount of
anti Semitism that's out there and running around right now,
great timing for this to be out.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
And listen, when we wrote that book, we thought we
were at the height of anti Semitism, right, Josh mentioned
I put that book out a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
We did not know it was going to be even worse.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
And that I love you for saying that, because that's
what Scholastic love too, if they were like, you need
a book that you can teach your kids, you know,
and to me, when what the Nazi Conspiracy is as
a kid's book and as an adult book, you know, yes,
it's cool to say we have a secret plot to
kill Fdr Stalin in Churchill and that's.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Titillating and all that.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
But the key thing about that book is that authoritarianism
has a roadmap, and it always has had a roadmap.
And if you look at it, you know, you have
this charismatic leader who basically is like, finds these you know,
these these poor and struggling economically, you know, white Germans,
and then he says those magic words, right, those magic
(25:42):
words are those people. Those people are the cause of
your pain. And for decades, you know, that's a code word,
right right, And in World War Two, it's a code word,
you know, Hitler's saying it about. In Adolf Hitler's case,
it's it's the Jewish people, right, but it eventually has
become the black community, it becomes a gay community, it
becomes the immigrant community, and we forget that. To me,
(26:07):
you know, the Holocaust doesn't start with death camps. It
starts with slogans and propaganda and rallies and book bands.
And to me, the American dream is not about, you know, money.
The American dream is that when you see a bully
and you see someone being picked on, you use your
voice and you say enough enough already. And man, we're
(26:30):
fighting Nazis in twenty twenty five. Still they're still here.
And you know, and I'm not talking about like just
calling anyone in a different political party, not saying there
are really we're fighting Nazis, right like there are people
who are happy to watch the Jewish people be wiped
off the planet. And as someone who's Jewish, that matters.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
To me a great deal.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
So yeah, you know, when we want people's kids to
learn these lessons, because it's hard to change the minds
of adults, Eliot, as you know, but for decades now,
We've been arming the next generation of kids with these
lessons of kindness and generosity and compassion.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
And I'll take that battle any day.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Hey, Is there gonna be another conspiracy book?
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Like obviously, and we'll we'll circle back to the I
Am books and I'm definitely gonna get to the to
the novel.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Is there gonna be another conspiracy book?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Oh yeah, working on it.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Now, you're gonna you're gonna love this one. You're gonna
love this one. I'll tell I'll text you when we're done,
or unless you tell you no, don't.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
You know, because then I'll just I'll come back here
and go, Hey, Brad, text it.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I know what it is. I'm horrible with secret. Yeah,
if normally I love a secret, but I'll blow it.
I'll blow it.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
You're gonna like it.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
It's good, all right?
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Tell me I'm not a Yeah, no, go ahead, no,
go ahead.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
No, no, no, I got all the time in the world.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
I got it.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Wherever you want to go.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Oh, I was gonna say I mentioned the novel, dude.
We got a date for the novel?
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, I'm coming to.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Town January sixth, just in time for Christmas.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
The as usual marketing team that brought you January fifth,
January seventh, January eight.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
So the new novel is The Viper, a Zig and
Nola novel.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Hey remind me? So, So back up a little bit.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
When was the last When was the last Zig and
Nola novel?
Speaker 4 (28:18):
It's going to be by that January four years. I
mean it's a long time. I mean I used to
write a book every two years, but when I started
doing the kids' books and all the other stuff we do,
I was like, I just, you know, whatever, something has
to give somewhere.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
So it's four years people.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
I mean even my wife is like, I don't remember
what happened anymore.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I'm like, don't worry.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
We reset everything, like I can't, you know? I and
so what you don't you know?
Speaker 1 (28:43):
We got a really nice blurb from.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
You know some of these you send your books out to,
like famous people to blurb them. And one of the
blurbs came back and said, this is the perfect place
to start. You don't have to know anything about Zig
and Nola, but you can read The Viper and just
read a good story. And that's how I treat it.
I treat it as like whenever you pick it up.
It could be your first book and you can go
from there.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
So I but I love.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
This book, and there is one thing in this book
I know you're gonna love and I can't you're gonna
I don't know if they did they send you a
copy yet?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
No, no, I don't. I don't have a copy of it.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
I did get an early copy, if I am Simone Biles,
though you did?
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah? Did you always get it? But you're you're about
to get the viper. The viper is you know it is.
Don't do not turn your back on the viper. It's
a it's a I love this book. And so yeah,
we're coming to DC.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
We're doing like Baltimore, we're doing outside other part of Maryland.
And then we're going back to Tyson's Corner which has
opened up again the Borne and Noble there, so we're
going to be there as well.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Wait hold on, we'll be there in January.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Wait hold on, Brad, Yes, Tyler, Brad, are you waiting
on Elliott's blurb.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
That's the blurb we were waiting for, the blurb that says,
great job putting it out in January?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
We can get that. But no, but I'm glad. I'm
glad number one.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
I think like your wife, but I thought the same thing.
Is like when I was reading that it's coming out
in January, is like, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I'm so glad it's coming out. I don't remember how
the other one ended, and.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
In my head, I was like, is there like is
there going to be a prequel book or something, or
do I just have to go back and read it.
But I'm glad to hear that if I wanted to start,
I could just start there.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Yeah, no, Lessen, I mean I remember when I was
I know it's a silly comparison, but like when you
read Harry Potter, you forget those books came out and
she was, you know, she really did whatever you think
about those books, Like she resets the table, right, You've
got to reset the table for everyone, because I can't
remember what happened. And that's where I'm a middle aged guy,
like my brain is not you know, all of our
(30:36):
brains have been fried by social media.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
We can't remember anything.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
So I was like, I'm going to.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Just reset it.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
And the funny part is this one scene in the
book that was in like my friend said to me
because he was proofing it for me who I always
go to, and he's like, this is my favorite scene. Man,
you kill this scene. I'm like, yeah, that scene is
in the previous two books, like it's in there two
other times and you had no And I'm like, dude,
you're my best friend and you don't remember what I did,
(31:03):
so I have no hope for any Like, so I
knew and that's why I put it in there, because
I'm like, you're never gonna remember this scene.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
It's so vital.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
So I we tell it again. We make sure you
get it again. We're not We're not crazy.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
All right?
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Good?
Speaker 2 (31:15):
The biper will be out on January sixth. Like you said,
you're coming to town. Last couple of things.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
What is the action figure thing that you got from
comic Con?
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Oh? This is the best. Oh, I gotta get one
for you. It's so good.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
So I walk up to I take my kids to
San Diego Comic Con this year. My boys wanted to
go and they said to me, can we go? And
I'm like, I've been waiting my whole life for you
to say those words.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Let's go. And as we walk.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Up, there is a beautiful, stunning woman dressed as Linda
Carter Wonder Woman, and I'm like, it's a sign from God.
It's the first cosplay I see.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
So immediately I go up.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
I say, hey, can we take a picture together? And
and she.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
I basically tell her.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
I'm like, I know Linda Carter, She's gonna love your outfit.
And she's like, you really know her. I'm like, yeah,
she's a good friend of ours, Like we just didn't
that we didn't have vent with her in Virginia, like
for the for the I Am wonder Woman book. And
so she dms me on Instagram. I mean when I say, like,
you just look look up the picture of me and
Wonder Woman, you'll see like, and she dms me and says,
(32:18):
come buy my booth I have. I'm entertaining that some
booth or I'm dressing. And I don't even know what
she's talking about, Like I don't even pay much attention
because San Dieo is so big, but I get a tell.
I send a picture of the text of me and
Wonder Woman to Linda Carter, and then Linda texts me
back and and writes back like how amazing the woman's
costume is. And as I turn the corner with that
(32:38):
text in my hand. I run into the woman at
this booth and her booth is a booth that she's
you know, entertaining to draw people. In is where they
make your own action figure of you. They scan your
body and they make you into an action figure. And
so I'm like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
That's you.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
You're You're wonder when you're here.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Here's here's the text Linda Carter.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
And she loves it. She goes, I'm going to have
them make a free action figure of you. And again
I'm like, I'm.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Waiting my whole life for this.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
And so they they get I mean, they put you
in a little like laser thing and it's truly out
of like you know, Minority Report or something, and it
scans around you and they're like, you know, in two months,
we're gonna send you an action figure. And I open
up this box and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's me.
And the funniest part is my daughter when she sees it,
(33:27):
she's like, Dad, because I have a little mole on
the top of my head. She's like, they didn't get
the mole, and she took a sharpie and put it
in for me. She literally sharpied.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
My mole in.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
By the way, Tyler found the picture. That woman is
amazing looking.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
She's and she's the nicest person of all time, truly,
one of the nice pupils.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
She's become a good friend.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
And I love the fact that she was so excited
to see that. Linda Carter like thinks that she has
the longest legs on the planet.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
She is very tall. I mean she dwarfs you, that's
for sure.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Oh it's not. One, it's not hard, but two, yes
she does.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
I mean she's gigantic. And I'm like, even without the boots,
she's like, you know, six whatever.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
It's great.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
But she's a perfect Linder Carter wonder woman.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Hey, what is the Otis spunk Meyer chocolate chip cookie story?
Speaker 4 (34:21):
Someone's been going through my instagram, So so I go
to do it.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
This is this is how my life works, right. So
I go to do this speech at this like corporate event.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
And you know when you go to these corporate events,
they always have like free food outside whatever. They'll be like,
you know, like salads or something, or coffee stations or whatever.
At this particular one, it was a food service one.
They have Hershey bars and Otis spunk Meyer Cookies, which
is crazy to me. So my first thought is, well,
I'm stealing all this, and so I just load up
(34:52):
on spunk Meyer Cookies and Hershey Bars because it's like
full sized Hershey bars. And as I give the speech,
I'm like, listen, I have this line in the speech
says when you leave here, when you go back home,
but I added the line just imprompt I said, when
you leave here and you're done stealing all the Hershey
Bars and Otis spunk Meyer cookies.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Like you blah blah blah.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
And at the end of the speech, these two people
come up to me looking really serious. I'm I got, oh,
this is bad. And they're representatives from the Hershey Corporation
and from Otis spunk Meyer Cookies. And both of them
say the same thing to me, that was so nice.
We're so because, I said, and I said, by the way,
I totally stole them myself.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
I admitted to the audience.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
I sold myself and I and I said, they said,
thank you for that shout out. Give us your address.
You're about to get the best care packages in the world.
And I get an entire thing of Hershey Bars that
will last me.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
You know forever.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
And then Otis spunk Meyer Cookies sends me like a
year's worth of frozen cookies. It's like, I can't tell you,
Like the picture doesn't do a justice. It is like
you need another refrigerator, freezer. It is like pounds and
pounds and pounds of giant cookies. We eat them every weekend.
I still am not halfway done.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
It's awesome, all right.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
So, by the way, my sons, my son's friends come
over and they're like, you got cookies. I'm like, I
got cookies for everybody.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Let go all right.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
So the Nazi Conspiracy for the young adult that's out.
More importantly, I am Simone Biles, part of the ordinary
People Change the World collection that is out and available.
Bred That book is great. That book is so so good.
And then we'll see you in January for Viper.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
I can't wait. I'll see you face to face and
miss you, guys.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
I appreciate all the kindness and love for Simone Biles,
because man, I think there are some kids who need
that mental health love right now.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Amen, And by the way, have fun at the World
Series tomorrow night.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Yeah, thank you. I'll send you a picture, all right.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Good deal, Thanks Brad,
How are you, brother?
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am doing great, sir, how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I am good? Because we are going tonight to the
World Series.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Okay, Well, isn't it going to be shocking when you
get there tonight and there's no game going on?
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Well, I mean I'm leaving tonight. I didn't mean like
this play whenever I go.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Wait a minute, So you're going to Toronto for the
World Series.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So here's a bit.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Every year since my son is little, I make a
bet with him he can pick a team that's in
the bottom half of the rankings in baseball.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Wait a minute. I feel like before.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
I've told you this story, I've told you privately. I
maybe on the air, but and if he pick if
that team makes the World Series, I'll take him.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
And it's an impossible.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Bet because you're taking like one of the worst teams
in trying to make it into the best.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
It never worked.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
He's been doing it for a dozen years nothing, and
two years ago he picks the Texas Rangers who go
to the World Series. I'm like, this is the most
expensive bet I've ever made. Now, and so the game's
one and two are always during my daughter's parents weekend,
so we can't.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Go to one and two.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
I get tickets to Game six, but.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
The Rangers win in five. Last year, I.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Get tickets to Game six and seven.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And the Dodgers win in five. And so this is
the third year.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
I'm trying to complete this bet for three years now,
and finally there's a game six and we are going
to Toronto.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Dude, that is awesome. That is freaking awesome.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
It's so good because my son is like, he's almost
happy when it keeps going, because he just loves watching
me being tortured trying to get tickets to game six
and seven, the two hardest tickets every year, three years
in a row.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Now have you been to I've never been to that
stadium for a baseball game. And that that entire city
is going to be nuts tomorrow night.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Well that's why I was happy that one last night,
because I'm.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Like, this place is gonna explode. It's you know, obviously,
I'm so excited. We went to We went to the
Cubs the first time they were in the World Series,
and even though they lost the first game regularly, when
we were there, it was like the place it was
the best game I've ever seen, because every pitch was
like it was the end of the universe, and and
I love that atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
It's so fun to be a part of.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Oh dude, oh you got to send pictures. I can't
imagine what that's going to be.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Like, yeah, no, no, it's gonna be good.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Where and and and you know, our our kids all
the all the animators for our kids TV show based
on the books, they're all from Toronto, so all like,
you know, for.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
A month now, they're all freaking.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Out and I'm like, let's let's not get crazy until
you guys get there.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
And then you know, after that, you.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Know, nearly twenty inning game, I'm like, everybody calm down.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
And then suddenly they're.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Like, do not tell us to calm down. You should
not come down.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Well, dude, good for you. Oh, I'm so excited for you.
I'm so excited for you. All Right, I got a
couple of things that I need to get into. And
before I get to Moan Biles, can I start with
a different I Am book if you don't mind, please,
I thought of.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
You, and I can't. It feels like it was a
week ago.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Was probably closer to a month ago, but I thought
of you when the news broke about Jane Goodall, I
thought of you immediately.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
She was so special.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
You know, she was the first famous person when we
were when we started the im series.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
She was the first one that.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Was alive that we ever did a hero of. And
we wrote to her and said, hey, can you help us?
And again the series was just getting started, and she
was like yep, and we were like what you know?
And she was so nice, And let me tell you
one thing. You know, she did pictures with with you know,
I am Jane Goodall, you know, and did all the stuff.
But what I love, and I've never told this story,
(03:48):
is when we were doing the book, there's a moment
when she was little, she used to love putting dressing
her dogs up with real clothes. It was just fun
for her as a little girl. And we put that
in the book. And then when she was proofing the book,
she said, can you do me a favor though, and
take out that part about me dressing the dogs in clothes?
And I said, wait, but didn't you do that?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
She says? I did.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
She says, but it's not good for the dogs. And
I want to always do what's best.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
By the animal. And I love that, like even ninety.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Years old, she's still always on message, like never ever.
It was so nice and I was just like, of course,
so obviously when she passed away, all of us, you know,
I was emailing with her whole team and we were
just like, I mean, she's a legend, the best.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Now then, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
The other thing that I thought was really nice is
they like when they announced her funeral, it's going to
take place at the National Cathedral in DC.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I like that, me too, Me too.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
I feel like I feel like that's you know, there's
like a she's she's she's on that mount rushmore of
like people, you know, like not presidents, but just like
people who truly changed the world.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I think that's a good thing. I love that.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
I don't know, I actually didn't even know that.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, I like that, and I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
It just shows how big she is and how important
she was that that's where they're holding her funeral. I
loved when I saw that. Anyway, let me switch gears.
Let me get to Simone Biles.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
First.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Remind me I read the book, Brad, but remind me,
how did we get to Simone Biles?
Speaker 4 (05:21):
So it's a good question. You know, they a couple
of years ago, they said, hey, we want you to
do Simone Biles. What you know, everyone puts together different things.
And at the time I was like, no, her story's
not done yet. She just walked away from the Olympics.
I was like, you know, I'm glad she stood up
for her mental health, but but there's no ending to
the story yet. She needs an ending. And then when she.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Won the gold medal, I was like, well, let me
look into this.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Let me just look into what her story is. I
really didn't know it very well because I thought it
was about like, oh, you get knocked down and then
you get back up right, And I was completely wrong.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I was just wrong.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Like what I realized her story was is I wanted
to do.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
I knew this.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
I came about as I knew I wanted to do
a book about mental health. I was just looking at
my own kids and looking at all my friends' kids,
and our kids today are suffering. They're suffering, right, I mean,
it is not the same as when we were growing up.
You know, social media has wrecked these kids' self esteem.
If you have a kid today of a certain age,
there's like anxieties off the charts, and I said, who
(06:20):
can I do? And it was Simone Biles whose name
kept coming up. And then that's what the book.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I said.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
I don't care about the gold medal. I care about
this advocate for her mental health. And man, do our
kids need a mental health kid's book more than ever?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
And you know what's interesting, Brad, is like you said,
you didn't know her story. And I feel like Simone
Biles is so famous and Simone Biles is.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Like such a star.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
And then I realized when I was reading it, I
don't know her story. I know her as an olympian.
I know her as the olympian that had to take
a break from the sport for her mental health. And
I know her as an olympian or a gymnast. I
should say who came back and then and then shocked
the world and did it again. I didn't know her
story from when she was a kid. I didn't know
(07:06):
that at what is at three years old, her mom
and her dad, or her mom rather takes her to
foster care and she ends up with a foster family
until her grandparents are able to come get her with
her and her silly I had.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
No idea.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
And that you know, we the letters that were getting
from families already, the book's been out like two days
from foster families. I'll read you another one when we
gets to the mental health part. But like they're so emotional.
And when she goes and lives with her our grandparents,
you know, she's officially adopted at six years old, and
she goes to her grandmother's like is this I mean,
(07:43):
I can call you mom and dad now, And she's
so excited by that possibility that she goes up to
her room and she just practiced it, you know.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Saying mom and dad, mom and dad.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Those words are so meaningful to her. And then she
runs back downstairs. She's like mom, dad, you know, and
they're like yeah, and they're like, you know, what's going
on to the mown and she's like nothing, and she
just runs back upstairs. And it's like, I call the
mom and dad, and I know that there are kids
that are going to read this book. That that page
is the most important page in any book I've ever written,
(08:14):
by the way they suddenly they're not alone.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I wrote it down. I was like, it's the greatest
page in the book.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
It is by far that that whole scene where she
goes downstairs and for the first time she says mom
and dad and they answer, it's the greatest page in
the book.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I mean, listen, the rest of the.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Book is good, and there's a lot of good stuff
in there, but that page is so powerful.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
No, and listen, That's why I gave it its own page.
I was like, you know, I think you know in
these biographies, you know you can be like I'm going
to give the big page to the gold medal. I'm
going to give the page where she learns to do
a flip.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
When we have those.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Pages is fine, but like, no, this is the most
important part. Like I stretched that part out because I'm like,
there are kids out there that are just like, where's
a book where the hero looks like me? And I
don't mean like skin color, I mean like they have
my life. I'm a foster child. I was I don't
know who my parents are, or I do know who
they are, and they let me go, and I was like, no, no, no,
(09:07):
this this is where we're going to help some kid,
and this is a permanent memory. And I care more
about that one kid, you know, than all the kids
are going to buy. No offense, but for the gold
medal like that is.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
And then you know the other thing.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
And I tell you this, I always love at these
moments of trying to go through the book and trying
to figure out if that didn't happen, would we get blank?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
And like when when?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
When?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
When she's really really young, like I think like four
or five or whatever, is that trampoline?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And listen, she's hiding.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
She's all over the place and she's like running around
and if that trampoline isn't in the backyard, do we get.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Some moan biles?
Speaker 4 (09:50):
I mean, the thing is I think we like, let's
just talk about it, right. So she goes to live
in this new home and in the backyard is a
full trampoline and she's like, you know, they're like you
want to try it?
Speaker 1 (10:01):
She's like, are you kidding?
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Runs Chris Elliopolis draws one of the most beautiful pictures
I've ever seen him draw, which is her, you know,
in the air, her braids just all you know, like
a rainbow around her, and obviously that's where she starts
figuring out what she loves. I do think we still
get it because there's a and I didn't make up
any moment in this book. You know, you can see
her on her bunk beds. When she be on the bottom,
(10:24):
she would grab the slats on the top and then
use them as monkey bars like she is, she's doing gymnastics.
I don't care if there's a trampoline.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Gymnastics will be done in this house. And and you.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Know, obviously she event I think the bigger moment is
even when she walks into that gymnastics place.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
But oh that tumbling john the tumbling gym where the
person's like, you got a membership.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
She's six years old. She's six years.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Old inside the tumbling gym, and the director of it
is like, uh, you could just stay here, like you
can do whatever you want here, Like she was amazing
what she was doing in there.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Well, what they do is they have like one of
those think what of the giant ropes that come down
from the ceiling, and they're like, listen, if you want
to climb the rope using just your arms, put your
legs straight out, give it a shot. You probably won't
get far. Button she's like, and she's all the way
to the top and they're like what And you know
they're like six year olds are not supposed to be
able to do that.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
And the coach is like, who's that.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
And they're like, that's the one I'm telling you about.
And yeah, then they're like, you have a membership. Here's
the Blockbuster card, come back every day.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
But like, I was so glad to read that stuff,
because again, I know of Simone Biles when she became famous.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I don't know her upbringing. But that gets me too.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
There's another part here, Brad where and this is the
other place, like as impactful and as important to me
as that foster fan or calling her her grandparents mom
and dad is where she says, at the age of nine,
she was diagnosed with anxiety and ADHD at the age
(12:03):
of nine.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
How great.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
I mean, listen when I say how great is that?
Not that not that she has anxiety in ADHD, but
that she was she had parents that were interested that
that took notice and then got her diagnosed.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
We know ADHD very well in my family, and it
was obviously I did not know that about her when
I started writing the book, And of course I was like, no,
this is it, and I'm going to read you this
is a letter. It's actually going up on our social
media later tonight. But this is this is the first
letter I got when the book came out the day
came out, and it said this. It was like, dear Brad,
(12:38):
not sure this will reach you, but just want to
say a wonderful Amsmo bilesis and this is what it says.
It says, we had a rough week over here with
my daughter who's in third grade, being laughed at on
the bus in tears.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
But when she.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Saw that Simone had ADHD like her, she lit up
and she said, thank you for writing this book.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
We needed it.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
We have all your books, but this is definitely our favorite.
And again those moments where a kid can see themselves
that ADHD moment again, you can see what I you know,
what I did there is. I'm like, you get your
own page for this. This is not something we mentioned
in the timeline, you know, And she says, you know,
looking if you look at that page I have sometimes
Simon Biles will break the fourth wall and talk to
(13:18):
you directly as the reader, right, And it says on
that page to be your best, you need to feel
good about yourself. And that is what kids who are
going through that stuff don't understand at that young age.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
And here's Simonbiles.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Breaking the fourth wall and saying, you're okay, exactly as
you are. You know, you have worth and you're worthy
of being loved. And I don't care if you're, you know,
in third grade or you're, you know, fifty years old.
We all need that message.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Hey, you talk about like certain moments in the book
getting their own page and not just being part of
a timeline or just kind of telling the story when
you talk about her withdrawing from the Olympics. Right, so
now fast forward that we're we're Olympian Simone Biles and
she withdraws from the Olympics, and it talks about the
public reaction.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
That page is pretty heavy, dude.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Yeah, it is the one that we were like, you
should see.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
It was heavier.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Like what she says about her time is she feels
like all the words that everyone calls her publicly are
on her face. So failure, quitter, loser, terrible, embarrassment. And
so we had we did exactly what she says when
she talked about it publicly, is we put all those
(14:32):
words on her face and it was devastating.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I was like, we were like, we can't do it.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
And Chris then very smartly put those words all over
the page, and she's just you know, has a tear
coming down and she's crying as you feel it, and
I think, you know, you cannot understand what she comes
back from until you understand what she's been through. And
that is a pub you know, sometimes the internet's really
(14:57):
fun and funny.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
We can make a good joke.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
And sometimes it is the rulest most you know, and
we are as a society ruthless, and we were ruthless
with her, and when no one understood even at the time,
because they were like, oh, you're a quitter, you quit
the Olympics, and then you forget that that story came
out about sexual.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Abuse for all these gymnasts.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Yeah right, and then you forget that Wait a minute,
she went through that too, and we don't we don't
talk about that part, right like we obviously in a
book we make a mention of she had some coaches
that were bad, and we make it so it stage appropriate,
so you can, you know, if you need to tell
that story with your kid, you know what page it's on.
But as a as a as a society, we we didn't.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
We didn't mention that.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
We just went after her throat because we didn't win
the she didn't win the goal for us, like she
owed us something and I again, and that page to
me is that's when you realize, man, we put her
through the ringer.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
That was rough.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
And by the way, Brad, where you mentioned and you're right,
like it references that she had some coaches that were bad.
And like you said, depending on who's reading the book,
they may not be ready for for that and would
be up to parents.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
But I will give a ton of.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Credit to Chris Eliopolist that little frame where it says
that she had the coaches that are really bad. I
mean for trying to send a message without saying the
message that artwork is great.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
Now, I mean, listen, the secret weapon of these books
is Chris, right. I mean, he has this art style
that's like Calvin and Hobbes meets Charlie Brown and that's
all adorable and kids love it.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
But like there's a.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Reason why there have been, you know, thousands of books
written about Rosa Parks or Amelia Earhart or Abraham Lincoln
or the Beatles. But kids gravitate to arts and it's
no offense to me.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
It's not my.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Writing it's Chris's beautiful art. He makes you you know,
anyone can do cute, right, Chris has cute arsat but
what Chris can do, he can do heart. He can
make you feel. And on that page it says, you know,
and one coach was.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Very bad for me.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
You know, I had coaches who were intents and coaches
who were good, but one coach was very bad. And
it's Simone in the shadows, just looking down. Now you
have a little kid whatever. They just think you have
a bad coach, but you have a kid who needs
that story, and you have an opportunity now to change
their life. And it's all thanks to Chris's art.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Hey, Brett, I hesitate to ask what I'm going to
like you would you'd mentioned when we were talking about
Jane good all about how she was involved and her
people were involved. Has were some moons people involved in
the in the at least the reading of the book
and going through it.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
So I know she's read the book. The funny part
was when we were proofing it, and it's just the
time and of how it worked. She finally went on
her honeymoon. So we've been talking to all of her people,
but They're like, she's on her honeymoon. I'm like, I
can't bother her on our honeymoon to check our books.
Like there's only so much, like you know, like I'm
pretty shameless about asking people for papers, but I was
(17:46):
like I can't. Like the woman has been like done
nothing but try to win stuff for the country her
whole life and has finally taken the you know, a
six month period where she truly escaped and left and
was like I need to live my own life now.
And I'd be like, what about our book? Though, you know,
I'm like, we really really could use your helper.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So I know she's read it.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
They said, we sent it to her, and obviously we
sent it to her gym and to her parents and
and and the people that she works with have been
really really nice to us.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
But yeah, even I couldn't do that one.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
And so she also hasn't commented on the picture you
posted of you in tights.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
I mean, can I let's talk about that for a moment.
Of all the pictures I've ever posted on my Instagram, whatever,
Twitter or whatever that all, you know, all the things,
nothing has horrified my daughter more than this photo. Like
I sent it to Lilah. My daughter is now twenty
years old, so I sent her two pictures that Chris
ali Appas did where it's a it's a picture of
(18:46):
Stephen the awesome gymnasts, who you know with glasses, who
you know is the heart throb, and they put my
head on his body and my and my daughter literally
wrote back and said I'm terrified.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
I'm horrified.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I was the only response. I'm like, so you're saying
you love this. She's like, do not post those? And
so of course I posted it, and she and yesterday
it's two days later, and yesterday she says to me,
why did you post that?
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I told you not to. And I'm like, because she
told me Nazi.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Of course that's why I posted it, exactly why I
posted it.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
But we did text Simone Biles and and I'm.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Like, I don't think she's going to be sharing this one,
but whatever it's it's going to bother my daughter, so
it's got to be worth it.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
And then let me switch to something else because I
don't know. I don't want to run out of time
with you. So that that book is out, I am
some o Biles, Uh, that is out and it's available
it's fantastic, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Did I did?
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I was reading about it and I love this.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Also, you took the Nazi conspiracy and you made it
a kid's book.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
We did, you know, because you know kids love Nazis.
I mean, and again.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
The thing is when you say is a kid's book,
it's me it's like for your year old. I mean,
we did do im m frank, we did do a
kid's book for.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Like like a child's book. Yes, no, no, but it's
we did it. It's for I don't even know what age,
young adults, young adults.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
But Brad, how long have I been telling you that
I wished like all your conspiracy books. How long have
I been telling you that's how history books should be written.
They should be written like novels in a way that
read where it's interesting and it tells the story and
it puts you in it. I love that they actually
that you actually did it. And now it's a it's
a history book for for for young adults.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Yeah no, no, listen, we it's for nine, you know,
nine to twelve year olds, because older than that you
could just read the real book. But we had all
these kids that were that were exactly what you just
said that all these parents are like, we want this
since we did a first conspiracy book for young readers.
But the Nazi Conspiracy book, you know, a secret plot
to kill Fdr Stalin in Churchill at the height of
World War Two. It's this amazing story of them against
(20:58):
the Nazis. And we had all teacher's writing to us saying, hey,
can you do a young adult version, so we can
you know, assign it to you know, our nine year olds,
ten eleven, twelve year olds, and and it worked, It
actually works.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Scholastic was like, we want to do this with you.
So we went through the book.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
You pull out the most graphic stuff, you pull out
obviously the language stuff that doesn't work for that young
age group. But the funny thing was is my son
in his in his school last year, got assigned one
of our conspiracy books that was on the list.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Of books you can pick.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
So the First Conspiracy, which is about a secret plot
to kill George Washington at the height of the of
the revolution, is one of them. And my son, of
course is not picking my book, but all of his
friends picked the book because they were like, whatever we
can ask Brad if you don't, you know, if we
get stuck on something and my again, my son is like,
they picked your book, and I'm actually getting worried. And
(21:53):
then my son says to me with a shock, like
true shock, they liked it, like well thanks for that,
Like what like I mean truly as if it was
like an impossible dream, like how could that possibly be,
you know, happen that they would like this book. And
and that's and the Not Conspiracy to me is an
(22:13):
even better book for you know, those kids who are
reluctant readers who are in you know, kind of want
to find something that they would.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Love in history. You're not alone, dude.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Is Scholastic was like, we're doing it, and I love
the fact they did. I want to do it with
all the all of our conspiracy books.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Well I'm just going to ask you will, like will
will you end up doing it with all of them?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
You should? They should? Scholastic should, yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Bliss and people buy the books and they'll do another
one with us. It's all about, you know, is this
gonna work or not? Like and and you know they
they don't know, we've never done a book together before,
so obviously that came out you know, this has been
a busy week for us, but yeah, we have nots
conspiracy coming out at the you.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Know, same time.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
But it's a I love the fact that these And
the thing is is, you know, at my book signs,
those kids come and find me, like if you're a
history nerd like me when I was, Like.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
When I was, I don't know where to go.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
But those kids when I go to events, like when
I'm coming in January for the new.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Thriller there, like you'll look, you'll pick them out in line.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
There are these really smart, shy kids who just look
like me when I was little, and they come up
to me and they'll tell me like and they'll tell me.
The best part is they'll tell me what I get wrong.
Like they'll tell me like you typoed FDR's birthday. You
got it off by a digit, like because you typed
the eighteenth instead of the nineteenth. I'm like, they find
everything like they and I'm like, they should be my
proof readers, not the ones I got.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Hey, nerd, you're at a book signing.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
No, But the best part of the kids, the younger
ones who like are still like they you know, Chris
hides me in every single I am right, so I'm
always hid in the background.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
And so I had these It was like these two.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Brothers and they came up to me and one is
probably like ten years old and the younger brother's like
seven years old, maybe even a little younger. And the
younger one is like, wait, you know, I saw you
and I am Rosa Parks and I saw you and
you know we are the Beatles and I saw you
in this and They're like, I have a question for you.
And I'm like yeah, They're like, are you a time traveler?
(24:08):
And I thought that was really adorable and then the
older brother, the older brother says like angry at the
younger brother says he's not a time traveler, idiot, and
he says he's a vampire look at him.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
And I'm like, look at me?
Speaker 4 (24:23):
What is that part? Like I know, I'm like not
the Tannis guy around. But I was like, so kids
can come and like ask him questions about your history stuff,
but like they are fantastic.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Hey. Two other things about the conspiracy books.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Number one, and not not to get all heavy and stuff,
but with the Nazi conspiracy, dude, with the amount of
anti Semitism that's out there and running around right now,
great timing for this to be out.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
And listen, when we wrote that book, we thought we
were at the height of anti Semitism, right, Josh mentioned
I put that book out a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
We did not know it was going to be even worse.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
And that I love you for saying that, because that's
what Scholastic love too, if they were like, you need
a book that you can teach your kids, you know,
and to me, when what the Nazi Conspiracy is as
a kid's book and as an adult book, you know, yes,
it's cool to say we have a secret plot to
kill Fdr Stalin in Churchill and that's.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Titillating and all that.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
But the key thing about that book is that authoritarianism
has a roadmap, and it always has had a roadmap.
And if you look at it, you know, you have
this charismatic leader who basically is like, finds these you know,
these these poor and struggling economically, you know, white Germans,
and then he says those magic words, right, those magic
(25:42):
words are those people. Those people are the cause of
your pain. And for decades, you know, that's a code word,
right right, And in World War Two, it's a code word,
you know, Hitler's saying it about. In Adolf Hitler's case,
it's it's the Jewish people, right, but it eventually has
become the black community, it becomes a gay community, it
becomes the immigrant community, and we forget that. To me,
(26:07):
you know, the Holocaust doesn't start with death camps. It
starts with slogans and propaganda and rallies and book bands.
And to me, the American dream is not about, you know, money.
The American dream is that when you see a bully
and you see someone being picked on, you use your
voice and you say enough enough already. And man, we're
(26:30):
fighting Nazis in twenty twenty five. Still they're still here.
And you know, and I'm not talking about like just
calling anyone in a different political party, not saying there
are really we're fighting Nazis, right like there are people
who are happy to watch the Jewish people be wiped
off the planet. And as someone who's Jewish, that matters.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
To me a great deal.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
So yeah, you know, when we want people's kids to
learn these lessons, because it's hard to change the minds
of adults, Eliot, as you know, but for decades now,
We've been arming the next generation of kids with these
lessons of kindness and generosity and compassion.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
And I'll take that battle any day.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Hey, Is there gonna be another conspiracy book?
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Like obviously, and we'll we'll circle back to the I
Am books and I'm definitely gonna get to the to
the novel.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Is there gonna be another conspiracy book?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Oh yeah, working on it.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Now, you're gonna you're gonna love this one. You're gonna
love this one. I'll tell I'll text you when we're done,
or unless you tell you no, don't.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
You know, because then I'll just I'll come back here
and go, Hey, Brad, text it.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I know what it is. I'm horrible with secret. Yeah,
if normally I love a secret, but I'll blow it.
I'll blow it.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
You're gonna like it.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
It's good, all right?
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Tell me I'm not a Yeah, no, go ahead, no,
go ahead.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
No, no, no, I got all the time in the world.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
I got it.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Wherever you want to go.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Oh, I was gonna say I mentioned the novel, dude.
We got a date for the novel?
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, I'm coming to.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Town January sixth, just in time for Christmas.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
The as usual marketing team that brought you January fifth,
January seventh, January eight.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
So the new novel is The Viper, a Zig and
Nola novel.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Hey remind me? So, So back up a little bit.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
When was the last When was the last Zig and
Nola novel?
Speaker 4 (28:18):
It's going to be by that January four years. I
mean it's a long time. I mean I used to
write a book every two years, but when I started
doing the kids' books and all the other stuff we do,
I was like, I just, you know, whatever, something has
to give somewhere.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
So it's four years people.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
I mean even my wife is like, I don't remember
what happened anymore.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I'm like, don't worry.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
We reset everything, like I can't, you know? I and
so what you don't you know?
Speaker 1 (28:43):
We got a really nice blurb from.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
You know some of these you send your books out to,
like famous people to blurb them. And one of the
blurbs came back and said, this is the perfect place
to start. You don't have to know anything about Zig
and Nola, but you can read The Viper and just
read a good story. And that's how I treat it.
I treat it as like whenever you pick it up.
It could be your first book and you can go
from there.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
So I but I love.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
This book, and there is one thing in this book
I know you're gonna love and I can't you're gonna
I don't know if they did they send you a
copy yet?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
No, no, I don't. I don't have a copy of it.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
I did get an early copy, if I am Simone Biles,
though you did?
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah? Did you always get it? But you're you're about
to get the viper. The viper is you know it is.
Don't do not turn your back on the viper. It's
a it's a I love this book. And so yeah,
we're coming to DC.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
We're doing like Baltimore, we're doing outside other part of Maryland.
And then we're going back to Tyson's Corner which has
opened up again the Borne and Noble there, so we're
going to be there as well.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Wait hold on, we'll be there in January.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Wait hold on, Brad, Yes, Tyler, Brad, are you waiting
on Elliott's blurb.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
That's the blurb we were waiting for, the blurb that says,
great job putting it out in January?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
We can get that. But no, but I'm glad. I'm
glad number one.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
I think like your wife, but I thought the same thing.
Is like when I was reading that it's coming out
in January, is like, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I'm so glad it's coming out. I don't remember how
the other one ended, and.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
In my head, I was like, is there like is
there going to be a prequel book or something, or
do I just have to go back and read it.
But I'm glad to hear that if I wanted to start,
I could just start there.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Yeah, no, Lessen, I mean I remember when I was
I know it's a silly comparison, but like when you
read Harry Potter, you forget those books came out and
she was, you know, she really did whatever you think
about those books, Like she resets the table, right, You've
got to reset the table for everyone, because I can't
remember what happened. And that's where I'm a middle aged guy,
like my brain is not you know, all of our
(30:36):
brains have been fried by social media.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
We can't remember anything.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
So I was like, I'm going to.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Just reset it.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
And the funny part is this one scene in the
book that was in like my friend said to me
because he was proofing it for me who I always
go to, and he's like, this is my favorite scene. Man,
you kill this scene. I'm like, yeah, that scene is
in the previous two books, like it's in there two
other times and you had no And I'm like, dude,
you're my best friend and you don't remember what I did,
(31:03):
so I have no hope for any Like, so I
knew and that's why I put it in there, because
I'm like, you're never gonna remember this scene.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
It's so vital.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
So I we tell it again. We make sure you
get it again. We're not We're not crazy.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
All right?
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Good?
Speaker 2 (31:15):
The biper will be out on January sixth. Like you said,
you're coming to town. Last couple of things.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
What is the action figure thing that you got from
comic Con?
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Oh? This is the best. Oh, I gotta get one
for you. It's so good.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
So I walk up to I take my kids to
San Diego Comic Con this year. My boys wanted to
go and they said to me, can we go? And
I'm like, I've been waiting my whole life for you
to say those words.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Let's go. And as we walk.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Up, there is a beautiful, stunning woman dressed as Linda
Carter Wonder Woman, and I'm like, it's a sign from God.
It's the first cosplay I see.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
So immediately I go up.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
I say, hey, can we take a picture together? And
and she.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
I basically tell her.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
I'm like, I know Linda Carter, She's gonna love your outfit.
And she's like, you really know her. I'm like, yeah,
she's a good friend of ours, Like we just didn't
that we didn't have vent with her in Virginia, like
for the for the I Am wonder Woman book. And
so she dms me on Instagram. I mean when I say, like,
you just look look up the picture of me and
Wonder Woman, you'll see like, and she dms me and says,
(32:18):
come buy my booth I have. I'm entertaining that some
booth or I'm dressing. And I don't even know what
she's talking about, Like I don't even pay much attention
because San Dieo is so big, but I get a tell.
I send a picture of the text of me and
Wonder Woman to Linda Carter, and then Linda texts me
back and and writes back like how amazing the woman's
costume is. And as I turn the corner with that
(32:38):
text in my hand. I run into the woman at
this booth and her booth is a booth that she's
you know, entertaining to draw people. In is where they
make your own action figure of you. They scan your
body and they make you into an action figure. And
so I'm like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
That's you.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
You're You're wonder when you're here.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Here's here's the text Linda Carter.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
And she loves it. She goes, I'm going to have
them make a free action figure of you. And again
I'm like, I'm.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Waiting my whole life for this.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
And so they they get I mean, they put you
in a little like laser thing and it's truly out
of like you know, Minority Report or something, and it
scans around you and they're like, you know, in two months,
we're gonna send you an action figure. And I open
up this box and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's me.
And the funniest part is my daughter when she sees it,
(33:27):
she's like, Dad, because I have a little mole on
the top of my head. She's like, they didn't get
the mole, and she took a sharpie and put it
in for me. She literally sharpied.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
My mole in.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
By the way, Tyler found the picture. That woman is
amazing looking.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
She's and she's the nicest person of all time, truly,
one of the nice pupils.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
She's become a good friend.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
And I love the fact that she was so excited
to see that. Linda Carter like thinks that she has
the longest legs on the planet.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
She is very tall. I mean she dwarfs you, that's
for sure.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Oh it's not. One, it's not hard, but two, yes
she does.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
I mean she's gigantic. And I'm like, even without the boots,
she's like, you know, six whatever.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
It's great.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
But she's a perfect Linder Carter wonder woman.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Hey, what is the Otis spunk Meyer chocolate chip cookie story?
Speaker 4 (34:21):
Someone's been going through my instagram, So so I go
to do it.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
This is this is how my life works, right. So
I go to do this speech at this like corporate event.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
And you know when you go to these corporate events,
they always have like free food outside whatever. They'll be like,
you know, like salads or something, or coffee stations or whatever.
At this particular one, it was a food service one.
They have Hershey bars and Otis spunk Meyer Cookies, which
is crazy to me. So my first thought is, well,
I'm stealing all this, and so I just load up
(34:52):
on spunk Meyer Cookies and Hershey Bars because it's like
full sized Hershey bars. And as I give the speech,
I'm like, listen, I have this line in the speech
says when you leave here, when you go back home,
but I added the line just imprompt I said, when
you leave here and you're done stealing all the Hershey
Bars and Otis spunk Meyer cookies.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Like you blah blah blah.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
And at the end of the speech, these two people
come up to me looking really serious. I'm I got, oh,
this is bad. And they're representatives from the Hershey Corporation
and from Otis spunk Meyer Cookies. And both of them
say the same thing to me, that was so nice.
We're so because, I said, and I said, by the way,
I totally stole them myself.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
I admitted to the audience.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
I sold myself and I and I said, they said,
thank you for that shout out. Give us your address.
You're about to get the best care packages in the world.
And I get an entire thing of Hershey Bars that
will last me.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
You know forever.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
And then Otis spunk Meyer Cookies sends me like a
year's worth of frozen cookies. It's like, I can't tell you,
Like the picture doesn't do a justice. It is like
you need another refrigerator, freezer. It is like pounds and
pounds and pounds of giant cookies. We eat them every weekend.
I still am not halfway done.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
It's awesome, all right.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
So, by the way, my sons, my son's friends come
over and they're like, you got cookies. I'm like, I
got cookies for everybody.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Let go all right.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
So the Nazi Conspiracy for the young adult that's out.
More importantly, I am Simone Biles, part of the ordinary
People Change the World collection that is out and available.
Bred That book is great. That book is so so good.
And then we'll see you in January for Viper.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
I can't wait. I'll see you face to face and
miss you, guys.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
I appreciate all the kindness and love for Simone Biles,
because man, I think there are some kids who need
that mental health love right now.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Amen, And by the way, have fun at the World
Series tomorrow night.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Yeah, thank you. I'll send you a picture, all right.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Good deal, Thanks Brad,
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