Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Small dun said, help from this small dug a small
sat human area, small say, it's so funky.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome to another edition of Small Doses pod kiass, I
am a year older since you last heard me.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I'm forty four, y'all. It's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It's only a big deal because I've had like astrological
readings consistently for like the past six years, and every
time they're like, forty four is your year, girl, So
it's like, okay, well show me forty four.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
So I'm here.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
So, you know, the first time that I ever came
across the a kid's book about series, it was a
kid's book about racism, and I read this very simple
book that was also like very necessary, and it was
the kind of book that I said, literally every kid
in America.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Should read in the United States.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
And then I learned that there's an entire extensive series
of these books. And it's not just about you know,
things that are like sociological in terms of I guess,
like social justice, but also mindfulness. So they have a
kid's book about empathy, a kid's book about anxiety, then
(01:33):
they have like a kid's book about periods. It's really incredible.
What they've done. Then Garrison Hayes, who is just I
really like it Garrison and I like his commentary and
he does a lot of work with Mother Jones.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
He did Smartphnny and Black.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
When I was in Nashville and he was telling me
about how he had just done a kid's book about
institutional racism, and I was like, what do you mean
that you've done. It's like, Oh, all of the books
are done in partnership with somebody, and he was like,
I'm gonna put you in touch with them. I think
it could be a good match, and so he did.
He put me in touch with our guest today, Jelani Memory.
(02:08):
Jelani and I have been talking for over a year
now and we're about to get started on our a
kid's book.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
But I'm not going to tell you what it's going
to be.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
But I was really happy to get him on Views
from amandaland and something I want to do ever so
often is share with you guys really dope interviews from
Views from amandaland my show that I do on YouTube,
Amanda Seels TV Wednesdays at ten a m. Eastern, Because
these interviews end up being so impactful that I feel
(02:35):
like I got to put them in front of every
audience that I have, and I know some of y'all
don't listen to views from a Mandland. I'll watch it,
so I'm bringing it to you. What I loved about
this interview with Jelani is that he really does a
great job of just talking about not only how these
books came about, but also about how not only how
they came about, like as a process in terms of commercially,
(02:57):
but also how they came about, like as a part
of his value system. And you know that I am
so much about this necessity for us to be able
to live in our values in a real way, and
I do believe that capitalism so profoundly prevents us from
doing that. And what he is doing here with this
book series, I think is going to be really impactful
(03:19):
and reverberating for years to come on the children and
the parents who are a part of bringing this into
their lives. And he really illuminates for us just how
he as a child existed and now how he has
a parent existed, and how the books exist within the
framework of both of those, and so many of us
(03:41):
were just like wow while listening that, I said, all right,
this is easy. The first views for a Mandelid episode
that we're going to play on Small Doses will have
to be jil Ani Memory.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
So listen in y'all. It's side effect of a kid's
book about.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Would memory, And hopefully after you'll be inspired to go
get a kid's book about a few of them for
your kids or for the kids in your life.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
And share them and read them. And let me just
tell you.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
They may be written with kids in mind, but the
fact that the United States collectively has like a sixth
grade reading level lets me know that all of us
can benefit from the simplifying of what have become really
over complicated issues of just living.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
So let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Side effects of a kid's book about with Johanni Memory
of used from Mandolin Special here on Small Doesses Podcast.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Welcome to the stage, Welcome to the class. Jelanie, how
are you.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
I'm good. You know, I didn't know I'd be Ambassador
of the week.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah, yeah, you are Ambassador of the week. It's a
big deal. It's a big Oh.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
So I was telling everybody that you were coming on
the show, and I'm going to read h I'm going
to read just a brief bio. Jelani Memory is an
African American entrepreneur, thinker, and constant learner. He lives in Portland, Oregon,
with his wife and six kids.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Has there been more than six? Now? Okay? You give
it a six? All right?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
And because you know, sometimes bios haven't been update and
it's like, actually is nine now?
Speaker 3 (05:32):
All right? In twenty eighteen, he wrote a book for
his six kids called A Kid's Book About Racism, and
it has blossomed into a full line, y'all, a full.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Line of books that really help children navigate the nuances
of this world we are in. You can see some
of them behind Jilani and I actually I bought several
the other day because I basically treat them like when
people come to the house with kids, they leave with
a book. Yeah, Like I'm like, Okay, your kid need
(06:05):
this book.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I feel like your baby need.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
This this particular book, all right. And so here are
some of the titles just so you all, because I
know you all have seen these books of kids book
about racism, anxiety, belonging, feminism, disabilities.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Raisa Eslaon did a kid's book about Palestine.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Right is Palestine? Yep?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
So okay, you know, just some basic background, give the
people the basics of how this started.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Yeah, so I have six kids. That's a lot of kids.
It's okay to gasp. It's a blended family. So it's
like Brady Bunch, right. I got two black biological kids
and four white step kids. And you know, having that
conversation around race, culture, color and racism with my kids
felt so important. And look, I didn't grow up with
(06:56):
the dad. My my wonderful white mom the best she could,
but we didn't really have these conversations growing up except
amongst each other as siblings. So I wanted my kids
to have something better. So, like any good dad, I
made a book for my kids. It was it was
only supposed to be one copy. Well, to start that
conversation on racism and basically make it okay for them
(07:17):
to always come to me with questions their experiences at school,
the soccer field, you name.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
It, question for you real quick? Yeah, because I know
you've told this story a fifty million times. So my
goal is always to try and ask a question that
hasn't been asked. Did you doubt that you should write
this book at any point?
Speaker 4 (07:37):
No?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
No, because you know I feel like some parents be like,
I don't know if I want my kids to know
about racism yet, and you know.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
No, I actually quite the opposite, you know, growing up
with a really traumatic childhood, I realized not having the
conversations too early was a bigger risk than having them
too late or the other way around. I wanted to
(08:04):
start those conversations as early as possible with my kids
so that they could ask me questions and not experience
things alone. So I wrote the book in a week.
I designed it in a week. I handed the copy
to my kids and they saw. What I didn't see
is they were like, Dad, this is so cool. This
is two ten year olds. By the way. They were like,
you can make a kid's book about anything, and I
(08:26):
was like, huh yeah. I was like, what would you
do a book about? And my son El was like,
I do a kid's book about ice cream and I
was like, oh, yeah, okay. My son Jay was like,
I do a kid's book about divorce, and I was
like oh. And all of a sudden, all these sort
(08:47):
of neurons started firing for me because of what I
realized was by me actually taking the brave step to
put this book in front of my kids. Wasn't just
going to spark a conversation about racism. It was actually
going to spark all all these other conversations and all
these other vulnerable moments. I was like, man, And so
I was running another company at the time. I did
(09:09):
no business starting a publishing company. I had never written
a book other than my little book that I'd made
for my kids. But I was like, a man, I
really think there's something here, and I don't think anybody
is either brave or stupid enough to do this. And
so I remember one afternoon I sat down and I
was like, Okay, I'm not going to start a publisher,
(09:30):
but if I did, what topics would I do a
kid's book about what? I was like, Ah, well, we
got to talk about sex, we got to talk about love,
we got to talk about depression, we got to talk
about anxiety, we got to talk about bullying, we got
to talk about death, we got to talk about cancer.
And I went and I like literally took me ten
minutes to rattle off one hundred ideas and I had
(09:51):
to stop and I was like, whoa, I can do this,
going like this is too easy, And I was like
nobody's going to do because you sort of need this
strange vultron of maladies and superpowers to be able to
do it.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Me.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
I have six kids, so I spend more time being
a dad than anything else. I'm an entrepreneur by trade,
so I start companies and businesses and products. And I
genuinely think there is no too early with any conversation,
almost with any kid on the most difficult, challenging, tough, sticky,
you know, worst topics. And so I was like, man,
(10:31):
I just got to do this in some way to
see if it'll work, but also to go These are
the kind of books that I wish I had when
I was a kid, And these are the kind of
books that this next generation really deserves if they're going
to build that world that we all think we deserve.
I'm tired of convincing adults because it's too hard and
most of them don't change their minds. But kids can
(10:53):
grow up with these ideas. And what is a generation
of kids who grow up with these ideas around understanding
systemic racism at six years old, understanding you know, dynamics
of power, understanding democracy, Like what kind of generation grows
up and what kind of world do they build, what
kind of societies, what kind of communities do they build?
(11:13):
And so I took the leap in twenty nineteen and
launched with twelve books, and it's been a wild ride
ever since.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Are there.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Any titles that like surprised you that you hadn't even considered?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
And it was like, oh, I guess.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Yeah, yeah, we you know. I had a long list
of titles and I was like, we got to do these,
and every once in a while somebody would come to me
with a suggestion. I thought, huh, that's interesting. So one
of them was nervous system Regulation. You know, how do
we regulate our bodies? And especially for kids, it's really difficult.
(11:51):
I thought, great book, bad sales. It's just a terrible
title of kids about just too long, and it's done.
It's been one of our best books.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Because I bought it.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
I bought that book for me.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
There you go, see, that's it and so we you know,
for me, it's about finding the voice and the topic
and trying to align those things and not putting huge
pressure on what I think will do well and won't
do well. We ended up doing a book with Jessica
Biel on periods, and I thought, yeah, we should probably
do sort of you know, sexual health, sort of body
(12:32):
stuff periods. Yes, sure, And going through the process of
making the book, I just thought, Man, I'm I'm actually
the demographic for this book because I grew up as
that six, seven, eight, nine, ten year old kid who
didn't know anything about periods, even though I had two
sisters and a mom. And it took me to college
to first sort of start to get my understanding. And
(12:54):
even then, you know, now I'm a dad of kids
who have periods, and it's like I still there's stigma,
there's all the stuff surrounded around it. And so I
had all the stuff that I was actually needing to
unpack with this book that I thought, this is the
book that I needed when I was seven years old
to start with, to destigmatize this thing that half of
the population experiences.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
So you talked about in the process of writing the books,
So can you share with folks what that process is.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Yeah, it's it's wild, it's crazy, and it is not
like anything in the publishing world. We have made two
hundred books with this process, and it is both fool
proof and chaotic and crazy. The closest Proxies are improv
jazz and improv comedy meets group therapy. We write all
of our books through a one day workshop process. We
(13:42):
bring in an author for three to five hours, sometimes virtually,
sometimes in person. We spend the whole first half on
personal story, telling our life stories through the lens of
the topic, whatever that topic might be. Maybe we know
a lot about the topic, maybe we don't, but we
try and put all of those vulnerable jams. Like to me,
I would talk about not growing up with the dad,
(14:03):
and neglect from my mom, and abuse from my brother
and trying to wrestle with chronic depression at age fourteen.
I would actually walk through those things as vulnerably as
I can through the lens of the topic. And then
by the time I've gone and our creative director's gone
and our editor's gone, now it's the author's turn, and
we've sort of set a stage to go, hey, you're
(14:24):
going to be vulnerable too. You're going to spill all
your guts too, right, And there's a bit of a
social pressure there, but there was also a trust to
go we've already gone there, You're safe to go there too.
Once we do that, then there's a healthy conversation of
going what must go in this book, what must go
in this book about addiction, what must go in this
book about joy? What must go in this book about
(14:47):
coping skills? All books that we've done, And then whole
second half we write the book together and it sounds
like it shouldn't work. We've got about two hours left
at that moment, but we worked together and we trust
each other, and the creativity is bubbling because you've sort
of just spilled your life story, so you're sort of
unblocked and totally free to do that. And we do
(15:09):
a litmus test at the end. We have the author
read the book, and it's a let miss tests on
two fronts. One does this read right? Does it? Does
this do we that were listening to it? And does
it sound like a children's book? And then we ask
ourselves a second question is could this have made a
massive impact on me when I was six, seven, eight
years old? Could this have changed that? You're a trajectory
(15:31):
of my life. This is a conversation that I didn't
get that I desperately needed. And if we can say
yes to those both, you know both those questions and
we know we're onto something. So that's the first draft manuscript.
We spend a handful of weeks editing, a handful of
weeks designing. Every time I try and explain this to
somebody who's published a book before, they go, well, but wait,
but what about And I go, no, No, that all
happens in the workshop. They say, yay, yeah, but what
(15:52):
about what what do I do before the work show?
You don't do anything before the workshop. It happens in
the workshop. And and the sort of the crux of
it is, it's about choosing the right voice the topic.
They need to be unassailable. They need to be unimpeachable.
They need to be through their life lived experience and
their identity, through their education, through their expertise. They need
to be able to deliver on that topic. And and
(16:14):
I you know, I'm not saying we're batting a thousand,
but we've done pretty well about choosing authors.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
As I'm listening to I'm just like, which one is
my book? You know what's funny is that right now
it's like so we have there's all these like beat
like the titles are about things that range right in
terms of their expansiveness and then their simplicity because something
(16:51):
that's like side effects of Israel and Palestine.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Has a very you know, expansive.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Conversation that has to happen, and that I feel like
it's different than I just I said side effects, because
that's the name of my that's my podcast, a kid's
book about But then there's also like a kid's book
about divorce, which is I feel like, less political, right,
and it's more experiential. And then I find that there's
(17:21):
at this point things that I would never have applied to.
Kids need to know about this to understand the world better.
But it's like it's something that I wouldn't think need
to be earnestly discussed. But like the concept of just
like truth, like honesty, like we're in such a land
(17:41):
of lies.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, that I genuinely am, Like.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I was taught about that in school, Like I was
taught that it mattered to be like honest and tell
the truth. And I don't know if kids are taught
that anymore. I don't know that society even says that anymore.
Like I genuinely was always castigated for even a fib
I don't know if you grew from this type of house,
(18:09):
I couldn't call people liars for some reason. I don't
know about what do y'all did y'all have that? Maybe
it was a West Indian thing.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
No, but it's funny. I will tell my kids. I go,
it's a strong word. I go, they lied, But does
that make them a liar? I go? Just think about it,
right right, right?
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Like if I said I hated something, it'd be.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Like, well, do you already hate it? Or do you
just not like it because it is a strong word.
And sometimes I'd be like, yeah, no, I hate cauliflower,
like qu putting that in front of me.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
I don't just dislike it, I just buse it.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Part of my wanting to learn vocabulary was just so
that I could have more ways to explain like no,
really I mean this. So where do you feel like
this book series exists in our current climate in terms
of necessity, in terms of how it can be used
as tools.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
I think, thank you hit it on the nose. It's
about truth telling. It's about not trying to save the
conversation for later or I'll tell you when you grow up,
or you wouldn't understand. It's about actually being candid with kids,
respecting their intelligence, respecting their curiosity and respecting their experiences, right,
(19:23):
And so each of the books is trying to not
finish a conversation. So or Israel Palestine book isn't finishing
the conversation. Is it saying everything that there is to
say about it? Because that would be impossible. It's starting
the conversation. It's creating the context for that conversation to
go on and on and on. And it's really about
opening a door on both sides. For the kid who's
(19:46):
being introduced, sometimes to a new thing or sometimes to
the thing that they're already aware of but want the
sort of concrete words, but also for the grown up
who's likely they are reading with them, parent, auntie, uncle, teacher,
you name it. Who needs that fear taken down a
notch to just have the conversation, right, Because we walk
in with all these sorts of fears I'm going to
(20:06):
ruin my kids life. They're not ready yet. Oh they
need to be a teenager. Oh if I tell them
about this? What if they do drugs? Because I tell
them about drugs? Right, So it's like all these weird,
complicated feelings then gets us to sort of bottle up
and go, oh, I don't want to have this conversation,
and so it loosens that fear and allows parents to go, oh,
my kid's actually okay, Oh my kid has questions. Oh,
(20:28):
I have thoughts and ideas that I can share. And
now that conversation, instead of happening once, is an ongoing
one that actually can happen across weeks and years and
grow and grow and growth. So where does it fit
in the climate today? I think our kids desperately need
sign posts and sort of flags in the ground, because
(20:49):
we do live in a world where so many of
the people in power have basically said up is down,
left is right. What you saw with your own eyes
wasn't real, and that's not what happened, and in fact,
it was the opposite of that, And why don't you
agree with me? And also I will threaten you if
you don't agree with me. It's a very tenuous and
scary time to live. And so just to have that
(21:09):
validation to go, yeah, the thing that I saw felt
like this and is this, and actually have someone giving
you those words back, giving you the comfort and the confidence,
both as a grown up and as a kid to
know something's real and tangible and true.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
I feel like there's probably some people who are like, well,
you know, we didn't need this, but these kids need this.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I feel like I would have.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Really appreciated as a kid like these, like even if
they were just all at the library and I could
just pick one by one we.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Talk about this this week, you know. But I feel
like parents too, there's so much that.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
My mom just was not equipped, yeah, to address, because
of her upbringing, because of her ignorance about a topic,
et cetera.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
And so there's a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I think what you've done here too, is not just
equip the kids, but like you really have equip parents
in a way where there is a concerted effort to
handicap them, like on a daily basis. I just see
such an effort to say like, oh, it's about parents rights,
(22:31):
but it's really not. It's about like keeping parents stupid
and their kids stupider. Yeah, how do you talk to
your kids about the current climate?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
It's pretty candid. I like to listen a lot more
than I try and talk with my kids. And that
might sound counterintuitive, but if I create enough space for
my kids feel comfortable to bring me stuff, then I
try and listen and ask questions because sometimes it's not
about reframing their ideas or teaching them some new thing.
(23:04):
It's about actually letting them fully share their experience in
a way that they won't be judged or in a
way that they won't be sort of given a lecture
over right, And and then what typically happens is all
offer back some of my experiences. Oh, here's what it
was like when I was get or here's what it's
like for me today, and then maybe a little nuggetive
truth inside there. But kids are so used to getting
(23:25):
talked down to, so used to getting lectured, and so
I find, you know, my kids know they can kind
of bring me anything, and so you know, we're having
conversations about everything, trans writes elon musk Democracy. My kids
were dialed in and tuned into the election in a
(23:47):
way that I just never could have imagined at their age.
You know, like my six year old can articulate thoughts
and feelings about our president, you know what I mean,
Like that's.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
The day was Like I don't like President Trump was
like in sixth grade. I know that when I was six,
no one in my class knew who the president was.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
Like I know that, yeah, yeah, no, Look, it was
a different time in some ways. But as much as
we've I don't know, talk down to our kids about
their sort of chronic onlineness and how much they spend
on their devices and screen time and anxiety and blah
blah blah blah, which is a lot of that. Actually,
(24:29):
I think it's true. It has opened our kids to
a world of information and understanding and the ability to
dig deeper and to go find answers to things and
experiences that aren't their own. I mean, I actually think
it's really incredible, and I think, you know, I look
at Gen Z and I look at Gen Alpha and
(24:50):
with all of their foibles around a bunch of different
stuff that maybe we as millennials had growing up or whatever.
The Generation X or the boomers, I think they are
more driven towards activism. I think they are more driven
towards inclusion and belonging. I think they are more welcoming
and accepting. And I also think they don't put up
(25:13):
with anything like they're not just trying to take the
pad answers or this is the way that it's always
been done as a given. Of course that's not all
of those generations, but I see that very strongly in
my own kids.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
How did your style of parenting form?
Speaker 4 (25:35):
I didn't grow up with the dad. He left when
I was about four. I would later reconcile with him,
and he said that, you know, when I was born,
I was the youngest of four kids, that it was
like a truck full of heroin had backed up in
the neighborhood. That's how readily available drugs were. And so
(25:55):
he and my mom were both addicts. My mom decided
to get clean. Moves a Crosstown's his dad. You can
come when you get clean. Never he never gets clean,
at least by the time he does, I don't see him.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
This is an organ.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
This is an organ.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
He was putting hair, went on the streets, and organ.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Putting hair on the streets, and organ, and and and
so I I grew up with that a dad. Mom
worked nights as a nurse, doing the best she could
to put food on the table.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
But wasn't.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
But she wasn't always there for me emotionally, and so
I struggled a lot as a kid. I struggled to read.
I you know, I wasn't proficiently reading until about seventh
or eighth grade. I always got bad grades even though
I was a really smart kid. I was the kid
with all the potential in the classroom but never really
doing well. I would later find out that I was
dealing with really sort of chronic depression and uh, and
(26:45):
I remember like wanting somebody to just shoot straight with me,
to just like to see that I wasn't growing up
with a dad and I was, you know, going home
after school by myself and that, like, I just wanted
somebody to notice all those things, and if they did,
they never said anything. So by the time I became
a grown up, I was like, Okay, childhood actually isn't
(27:07):
easy for every child. In fact, it might not be
easy for any child. And so this like, oh, let
kids be kids. I'll protect their innocence. I'll just let them.
I'll let them have fun and grow up. I think
minimizes the real experiences that kids have around racism, around discrimination,
(27:31):
around misogyny, around bullying, around abuse, whether that's domestic violence
in the home, sexual abuse, you name it. And so
I thought, I'm actually going to try and have every
conversation too early. I'm going to be sort of uncomfortably
honest with my kids, especially when they ask me about something.
I'm going to be very direct with them early on,
(27:51):
so they know I'm never going to shoot back one
of their questions and give them a pad answer or
you know, not acknowledge them or save it for later.
I'm always actually going to engage to directly, and and
I'm always going to try and foster room for a
conversation so they never have to be alone with these
thoughts and feelings, which is actually the harder part, right wow.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
And I think I'm in therapy.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
And that's that's a part of our books is like that, uh,
you know, they're they're therapeutic in that way. They actually
speak to our seven year old self. And I like,
I remember, you know, with with my one of my
youngest uh, when they were oh gosh, maybe maybe five,
maybe six? Where do babies come from? Dad? Oh? I
(28:38):
would love to explain that to you. I get, I
get out of a pad of paper and and I'm
start I'm start drawing biology. I'm explaining. I'm here's what happens,
heed egg blah blah blah. Goh is it does? This
makes sense? Oh yeah? But what's that thing right there?
Oh yeah? Let me draw it a little more clearly,
this is in the car, the parking lot, fuel like
a safe way, right, and and they were okay. I
(28:59):
was over, you know what I mean? Yeah, And I
remember when my wife and I got married. I told
her that story and she's like, you did what And
I was like, yeah, well we had the conversation. I go,
we can have it again. Is one of our other kids,
and she was like well, but like and all of
a sudden, it was like she didn't even know it.
She was afraid of It was just like, what could
(29:20):
happen right where we're driving. My son, he's like seven
at the time. We passed by a strip club. He's like,
what's a gentleman's club? Because he saw it was like
gentlemen you know something something? And I was like, oh,
you want to know what that is? And I'm We're
on the way to school. All of our kids are
in the car, right, And I was like, oh well.
And it led to this amazing conversation about our bodies,
(29:43):
about intimacy, about relationships, about all of these things. And
my wife was like, I cannot believe you did that.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Not.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
I end up sort of cascading way in a way.
We're sort of like I didn't expect that actually to
be one thing and okay, but also to go as positive,
like that our kids engage within in a meaningful way.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Kids are not having conversations about things from the same
place that adults are, like, they are having genuine, curious
conversations that don't carry judgment in the.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
Same way I have all the baggage.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
They don't have the baggage, So it's a different conversation
to you know, like, what's a gentleman's club? Well, can
I just hear even an excerpt of how that answer was.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Yeah, Well, I was like, well, typically women stand on
a stage with a pole, and then I go, and
they undress their clothes to show their bodies to typically
men who were there to pay them money to watch
them undress. And of course their question was like why
would anybody do for the women? I go. It's typically
(30:55):
a job, but they get paid money to do this,
both getting paid as a salary or you know, hourly,
and also from the tips, right, and I go, men
bring cash and they able to set it on there
and they like the enjoyment of watching these women do this,
And of course my kids go, but why would they
enjoy that? So we're getting further and I go. I
go because it's it's interesting to them and attractive them
(31:17):
to see their bodies, right, why is that? So? Again
we're getting into like okay, why is it? Why are
people attracted to? In some ways, the conversation actually got
more innocent the further we got. We went in, right,
because kids want to unpack that stuff. Now, there's all
sorts of bad ways to probably have a conversation, but
the easiest way and the best way is just to
be honest about the actual mechanics of the thing.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
And then that's the thing, right there is the mechanics.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Like the way you just explained it is like, yeah,
that that is what it is.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Like I did not need to add in, like.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
And these men are usually having terrible why terrible you know,
marriages and their draw and they're hard and their pants
Like that's not necessary, that's not necessary.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
But I cut you off.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Continue continue, you know, I think, Well, look, I get
to travel around now to go talk with elementary schools.
It's my favorite thing that I do as a part
of my job, even though I'm going paid for it.
And I'll meet with five hundred k through five and
I'll do much of what I'm doing here. I'll tell
my story, I'll talk about my book, I'll read my book.
(32:28):
I'll talk about these big ideas why we made these
books for kids. And of course a couple kids will
raise their hand and go, oh, I have your book,
or I have this book, or this is my favorite book.
But I was end in the same way I say,
if you could write a kid's book about anything, this
is elementary school students, by the way, If you could
write a kid's book about anything, what would you write about?
And kids, you think it all be minecraft, candy and
(32:49):
video games, and I like ponies or I like skateboarding. No,
kids will come with the heaviest, most consequential topics I've had.
You know, kids pitch me you should do a kid's
book about toxic relationships. I would do a kid's book
about abuse. I would do a kid's book about nuclear warfare.
I would do a kid's book about having an incarcerated parent.
(33:11):
And often what's happening when kids are saying these topics
is they're speaking towards a personal experience, or at least
a personal interest of their own right. And kids will
grab me afterwards. I didn't get a chance to tell
you my idea, I really think you should do a
book on this. And then of course they've got me there,
and they'll go and here's why, and they'll share an
experience that they had, often that was around somebody being
(33:33):
racist towards them, somebody bullying, somebody, you know, a parent.
One kid grabbed me afterwards, a third grader, and said,
my dad used to abuse me, and now he's in
jail and my mom and I are safe now. And
she was telling me this, not not so that she
would have a book for herself. She's saying, some other
(33:54):
kid needs this book. Do you know what I'm saying.
She's offering up her life experiences, going here's why you
should go do some work somewhere else for some other kid.
And in that way, like a whole bunch of things
are happening. Is I watch kids feel empowered. I watch
kids feel validated for their own experiences, right I feel
(34:17):
I watch kids feel not feel so alone right in there.
And you've got kids saying some of the most vulnerable
stuff in front of their the whole student body, because
in some sense, all I've done is shown up and
said it's Okay, Yeah, I've modeled how you can do this,
which is I'm going to share my story very vulnerably.
Y'all can do that back to me, and it's gonna
(34:37):
be okay, and everybody's gonna be awesome. And I'll watch
teachers sort of on the sidelines, not gas white, but
sort of their jaws on the floor, going what happened
to our kids? Like our kids are, they're showing up
in a totally different way.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
That actually that last line, they're showing up in a
totally different way is what I think is so important
in the reality that kids become adults, and we need
adults to show up in a different way if this
world is going to save itself, and that starts with
how they get to be seen as kids. And one
(35:17):
of the things that really scares me, particularly in the
United States, is just the effort that is made to
create adults that don't know how to show up for themselves,
that don't know how to understand, like, they don't know
how to understand themselves because they don't even they're not
even foster. There's no curiosity fostered to understand themselves, let
(35:39):
alone other people right to understand this planet and.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
How we all.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
So I really what I really love about the series
is that it fosters from an early age this concept
that the world is yours. Like all of these experiences, topics,
et cetera are available for you to understand, whether they
happened to you or whether they impact you, but they are.
(36:05):
When I say the world is yours, that's also like
a part of your responsibility to protect.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
And I think that kids see that as like.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Something exciting versus whereas adults see that as obligation.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Like with the masks. I just remember seeing these people,
like the kids don't want to wear the mask.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Kids don't give a goddamn They're like, this is spider
Man on the mask?
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Is Spider Man's on the mask? I'm wearing a mask,
you know.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
But adults are like, no, if I'm wearing a mask,
you're expecting me to be obligated for this other human being.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
It's like, why is there a problem for you?
Speaker 4 (36:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah, So we have some questions from the people. Shamika says,
mister memory, is your work at the local library and
is there a kid's book about puberty?
Speaker 4 (36:53):
Yes? And yes, we've sold over a million books. I
think across five to six years. And we have great
relationships with libraries, with schools, school districts of course, indie
bookstores and big box bookstores, so you can kind of
find the books anywhere, and a kid's book about puberty
(37:14):
is definitely in there.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
There you go. Pauloma says, mister memory. Do you seek
collaboration with professionals or people representing communities that you're discussing?
Speaker 4 (37:24):
Ah, I love this, I love it. It's like a
trap question that I know is actually well intentioned. It
is always about representing those identities from members of those
communities who represent those identities. I've had books pitched to
me by folks who work with folks who help certain folks.
You can imagine this is like whether that's folks who
(37:47):
are deaf or blind, whether that's folks who are houseless,
and they go, ah, I'm an expert at this. You're
not in the nonprofit world. I should write this book.
And I go, ah, but is this a part of
your own experience? Yeah, it's a part of your identity,
is a part of So we always say no on
that front and opt for somebody who is who lives
(38:09):
inside that identity. There's a couple of rare exceptions, and
those are historical books. A kid's book about Israel and
Palestine is a history. It's a history book, So we
found a historian. A kid's book about the Tulsa Race
Master is a history book. We found a historian, right,
And then it's about trying to find the right historian
that we think is going to reflect the story in
(38:29):
a way that's going to be meaningful for kids. And
a conversation starter.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
There you go, guys.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
You was ready for that one. I had to answered
this question several times. Next question, Miss Seals and mister Memory.
I was a kid told, but I was a kid
told by adults to not worry about adult things, which
was devaluing as a kid.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Wie wide questions. These books help both adults and kids.
Thank you, So that was more of a common than
a question.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
I was one of those kids too, though like by
certain adults, my mom didn't do that.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
My mom wouldn't say like I remember, like.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
I've seen way too many movies that I shouldn't have
seen because my mom was just like, we're going to
the movies sometimes, Like I remember when I went to
we went to see pulp fiction and The person at
the door was like, are you sure, and my mom
was like, yeah, give me a ticket.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Wait. Here's here's what I love. And I've seen this
happen over and over again. Is it often takes one
or two safe grown ups who are in close proximity
to us to be to determine who we are able
to become when we are grown ups. Okay, so that time,
more time, it takes one or two safe grown ups
(39:49):
to determine who we can become we're grown ups. Okay.
You your mom's lack of fear around uh bringing you
to that movie, around having certain conversations with you, not
batting that those adult thanks. She going, I'm gonna pull
you right in to me. I go that that's who
you are today. Actually she set the feeling much higher
(40:10):
to go, oh yeah, go run aman to go and
for me, you know, huge credit to my mom. No,
no conversation was off off limits, just genuinely, no conversation
was off limits with my mom. That doesn't mean we
always had them, but it wasn't off limits. She never said, oh,
don't worry about that, you're not you're not old enough
for that, and that I think raised that bar and
(40:30):
So the reason why we have a lot of grown
ups to go you can't do that, you can do
that is because that's what their parents did with them.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Well, we love what you are doing with these books
and giving parents the opportunity to do exactly what you
just said, because I really feel like, also if you're
in a single parent home, these books can help fill
a gap that another person physically being there, you know,
(40:59):
would possibly be filling. I know, like in my single
parent home, I feel like these books would have been
really helpful because if my father had been there, it
would have been even less conversation.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
So I just remember my dad trying to talk to
me about sex.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
And we were snowed in in.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
Like he had decided we were going to go skiing.
I don't like skiing, but okay, we're going skiing.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
And we were snowed in and there was a giant
glass of orange juice. He was always giving me, you like,
more portions than I needed, and there was a giant
glass of orange juice.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
And he was like, so, let's talk about the birds
and the bees. And I was like, I don't.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Want to talk about this at all, and he was like, well,
you can either drink that whole glass of orange juice
or talk about this y'all.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
When I tell you, I.
Speaker 4 (41:40):
Was like, how old were you? How old were you? Then?
Speaker 2 (41:49):
I was twelve? Like I had already seen a porno.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
Yeah, well, it's just too late. It's too It's like,
kids know I.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Already know, and I already I don't like you, and
this is already too much.
Speaker 4 (42:02):
And the fact that he was like birds in the
beat and he's just like, why why do we use
this language? Why?
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Doctor?
Speaker 4 (42:09):
Yeah, it's like, what's the malady?
Speaker 3 (42:12):
No, twelve was too late. I saw a point of eight.
Speaker 4 (42:16):
Yeah, that's why I like starting your conversations seems insane
at five, six and seven. The problem is you don't
start him, then they have already been had somewhere else.
Your kid's third grade best friend has had that conversation
with that, Like somewhere else that's happened, and now kids
(42:36):
got the internet. It's like, then why not what's the
risk in actually having it in that safe environment with
you where kids can ask you whatever questions you want
because you're the safe grown up, right. But the moment
you go no, it's too early, kids will just find
that answer.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Somewhere else, Facts on Facts on Facts.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
Do you have any releases coming out soon that.
Speaker 4 (43:01):
My mind is mostly in the books that we're working
on now.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Do you talk about those before they come out?
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Not? Not usually So Penguin Random House and DK bought
the publishing business last summer, So now I run the
kid's book about imprint underneath the big prch umbrella, which
has been awesome and wonderful, and they're really letting me
sort of cook on just the book projects that I
think are really worthwhile. And so as a part of that,
(43:29):
we're bringing in the full backlist of two hundred titles,
which you can see day. I had to make a
special style all two hundred titles into the front list,
and so those are being published in batches of twenty
five until we're done, basically every month of the first
six months of this year. So all of those are
(43:51):
coming out. So they're all getting for reissued by this day,
and sort of a new fun format with all in
nerdy book stuff that I love, you know, just the
colored endsheets and stuff like that. But I know we
have a book about self love by Brandon Farbstein, a
really incredible book. We've got a book on chronic illness
(44:12):
that's coming out through the Lovely Book by Gid Robinson,
uh and and a number of others. I mean, they're
on the Kid's Co website, they're on the PRH website,
they're on the DK website of course, on Amazon and
everywhere else. So shop, shop where you shop, people buy
books where they buy books, and and if you've thought
of the topic, we've probably already done it. And if
(44:33):
we haven't already done it, then maybe reach out. Maybe
maybe you can do.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
That time there you go, well, thank you so much,
and thank you for your service, because this really is
a service. And yeah, you have an email coming from
me shortly by the way.
Speaker 4 (44:52):
All right, all right, finally, all right, thanks.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Mama, thank you. Have a good one.
Small dun said, help from this small dug a small
sat human area, small say, it's so funky.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome to another edition of Small Doses pod kiass, I
am a year older since you last heard me.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I'm forty four, y'all. It's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It's only a big deal because I've had like astrological
readings consistently for like the past six years, and every
time they're like, forty four is your year, girl, So
it's like, okay, well show me forty four.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
So I'm here.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
So, you know, the first time that I ever came
across the a kid's book about series, it was a
kid's book about racism, and I read this very simple
book that was also like very necessary, and it was
the kind of book that I said, literally every kid
in America.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Should read in the United States.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
And then I learned that there's an entire extensive series
of these books. And it's not just about you know,
things that are like sociological in terms of I guess,
like social justice, but also mindfulness. So they have a
kid's book about empathy, a kid's book about anxiety, then
(01:33):
they have like a kid's book about periods. It's really incredible.
What they've done. Then Garrison Hayes, who is just I
really like it Garrison and I like his commentary and
he does a lot of work with Mother Jones.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
He did Smartphnny and Black.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
When I was in Nashville and he was telling me
about how he had just done a kid's book about
institutional racism, and I was like, what do you mean
that you've done. It's like, Oh, all of the books
are done in partnership with somebody, and he was like,
I'm gonna put you in touch with them. I think
it could be a good match, and so he did.
He put me in touch with our guest today, Jelani Memory.
(02:08):
Jelani and I have been talking for over a year
now and we're about to get started on our a
kid's book.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
But I'm not going to tell you what it's going
to be.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
But I was really happy to get him on Views
from amandaland and something I want to do ever so
often is share with you guys really dope interviews from
Views from amandaland my show that I do on YouTube,
Amanda Seels TV Wednesdays at ten a m. Eastern, Because
these interviews end up being so impactful that I feel
(02:35):
like I got to put them in front of every
audience that I have, and I know some of y'all
don't listen to views from a Mandland. I'll watch it,
so I'm bringing it to you. What I loved about
this interview with Jelani is that he really does a
great job of just talking about not only how these
books came about, but also about how not only how
they came about, like as a process in terms of commercially,
(02:57):
but also how they came about, like as a part
of his value system. And you know that I am
so much about this necessity for us to be able
to live in our values in a real way, and
I do believe that capitalism so profoundly prevents us from
doing that. And what he is doing here with this
book series, I think is going to be really impactful
(03:19):
and reverberating for years to come on the children and
the parents who are a part of bringing this into
their lives. And he really illuminates for us just how
he as a child existed and now how he has
a parent existed, and how the books exist within the
framework of both of those, and so many of us
(03:41):
were just like wow while listening that, I said, all right,
this is easy. The first views for a Mandelid episode
that we're going to play on Small Doses will have
to be jil Ani Memory.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
So listen in y'all. It's side effect of a kid's
book about.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Would memory, And hopefully after you'll be inspired to go
get a kid's book about a few of them for
your kids or for the kids in your life.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
And share them and read them. And let me just
tell you.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
They may be written with kids in mind, but the
fact that the United States collectively has like a sixth
grade reading level lets me know that all of us
can benefit from the simplifying of what have become really
over complicated issues of just living.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
So let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Side effects of a kid's book about with Johanni Memory
of used from Mandolin Special here on Small Doesses Podcast.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Welcome to the stage, Welcome to the class. Jelanie, how
are you.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
I'm good. You know, I didn't know I'd be Ambassador
of the week.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah, yeah, you are Ambassador of the week. It's a
big deal. It's a big Oh.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
So I was telling everybody that you were coming on
the show, and I'm going to read h I'm going
to read just a brief bio. Jelani Memory is an
African American entrepreneur, thinker, and constant learner. He lives in Portland, Oregon,
with his wife and six kids.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Has there been more than six? Now? Okay? You give
it a six? All right?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
And because you know, sometimes bios haven't been update and
it's like, actually is nine now?
Speaker 3 (05:32):
All right? In twenty eighteen, he wrote a book for
his six kids called A Kid's Book About Racism, and
it has blossomed into a full line, y'all, a full.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Line of books that really help children navigate the nuances
of this world we are in. You can see some
of them behind Jilani and I actually I bought several
the other day because I basically treat them like when
people come to the house with kids, they leave with
a book. Yeah, Like I'm like, Okay, your kid need
(06:05):
this book.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I feel like your baby need.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
This this particular book, all right. And so here are
some of the titles just so you all, because I
know you all have seen these books of kids book
about racism, anxiety, belonging, feminism, disabilities.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Raisa Eslaon did a kid's book about Palestine.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Right is Palestine? Yep?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
So okay, you know, just some basic background, give the
people the basics of how this started.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Yeah, so I have six kids. That's a lot of kids.
It's okay to gasp. It's a blended family. So it's
like Brady Bunch, right. I got two black biological kids
and four white step kids. And you know, having that
conversation around race, culture, color and racism with my kids
felt so important. And look, I didn't grow up with
(06:56):
the dad. My my wonderful white mom the best she could,
but we didn't really have these conversations growing up except
amongst each other as siblings. So I wanted my kids
to have something better. So, like any good dad, I
made a book for my kids. It was it was
only supposed to be one copy. Well, to start that
conversation on racism and basically make it okay for them
(07:17):
to always come to me with questions their experiences at school,
the soccer field, you name.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
It, question for you real quick? Yeah, because I know
you've told this story a fifty million times. So my
goal is always to try and ask a question that
hasn't been asked. Did you doubt that you should write
this book at any point?
Speaker 4 (07:37):
No?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
No, because you know I feel like some parents be like,
I don't know if I want my kids to know
about racism yet, and you know.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
No, I actually quite the opposite, you know, growing up
with a really traumatic childhood, I realized not having the
conversations too early was a bigger risk than having them
too late or the other way around. I wanted to
(08:04):
start those conversations as early as possible with my kids
so that they could ask me questions and not experience
things alone. So I wrote the book in a week.
I designed it in a week. I handed the copy
to my kids and they saw. What I didn't see
is they were like, Dad, this is so cool. This
is two ten year olds. By the way. They were like,
you can make a kid's book about anything, and I
(08:26):
was like, huh yeah. I was like, what would you
do a book about? And my son El was like,
I do a kid's book about ice cream and I
was like, oh, yeah, okay. My son Jay was like,
I do a kid's book about divorce, and I was
like oh. And all of a sudden, all these sort
(08:47):
of neurons started firing for me because of what I
realized was by me actually taking the brave step to
put this book in front of my kids. Wasn't just
going to spark a conversation about racism. It was actually
going to spark all all these other conversations and all
these other vulnerable moments. I was like, man, And so
I was running another company at the time. I did
(09:09):
no business starting a publishing company. I had never written
a book other than my little book that I'd made
for my kids. But I was like, a man, I
really think there's something here, and I don't think anybody
is either brave or stupid enough to do this. And
so I remember one afternoon I sat down and I
was like, Okay, I'm not going to start a publisher,
(09:30):
but if I did, what topics would I do a
kid's book about what? I was like, Ah, well, we
got to talk about sex, we got to talk about love,
we got to talk about depression, we got to talk
about anxiety, we got to talk about bullying, we got
to talk about death, we got to talk about cancer.
And I went and I like literally took me ten
minutes to rattle off one hundred ideas and I had
(09:51):
to stop and I was like, whoa, I can do this,
going like this is too easy, And I was like
nobody's going to do because you sort of need this
strange vultron of maladies and superpowers to be able to
do it.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Me.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
I have six kids, so I spend more time being
a dad than anything else. I'm an entrepreneur by trade,
so I start companies and businesses and products. And I
genuinely think there is no too early with any conversation,
almost with any kid on the most difficult, challenging, tough, sticky,
you know, worst topics. And so I was like, man,
(10:31):
I just got to do this in some way to
see if it'll work, but also to go These are
the kind of books that I wish I had when
I was a kid, And these are the kind of
books that this next generation really deserves if they're going
to build that world that we all think we deserve.
I'm tired of convincing adults because it's too hard and
most of them don't change their minds. But kids can
(10:53):
grow up with these ideas. And what is a generation
of kids who grow up with these ideas around understanding
systemic racism at six years old, understanding you know, dynamics
of power, understanding democracy, Like what kind of generation grows
up and what kind of world do they build, what
kind of societies, what kind of communities do they build?
(11:13):
And so I took the leap in twenty nineteen and
launched with twelve books, and it's been a wild ride
ever since.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Are there.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Any titles that like surprised you that you hadn't even considered?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
And it was like, oh, I guess.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Yeah, yeah, we you know. I had a long list
of titles and I was like, we got to do these,
and every once in a while somebody would come to me
with a suggestion. I thought, huh, that's interesting. So one
of them was nervous system Regulation. You know, how do
we regulate our bodies? And especially for kids, it's really difficult.
(11:51):
I thought, great book, bad sales. It's just a terrible
title of kids about just too long, and it's done.
It's been one of our best books.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Because I bought it.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
I bought that book for me.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
There you go, see, that's it and so we you know,
for me, it's about finding the voice and the topic
and trying to align those things and not putting huge
pressure on what I think will do well and won't
do well. We ended up doing a book with Jessica
Biel on periods, and I thought, yeah, we should probably
do sort of you know, sexual health, sort of body
(12:32):
stuff periods. Yes, sure, And going through the process of
making the book, I just thought, Man, I'm I'm actually
the demographic for this book because I grew up as
that six, seven, eight, nine, ten year old kid who
didn't know anything about periods, even though I had two
sisters and a mom. And it took me to college
to first sort of start to get my understanding. And
(12:54):
even then, you know, now I'm a dad of kids
who have periods, and it's like I still there's stigma,
there's all the stuff surrounded around it. And so I
had all the stuff that I was actually needing to
unpack with this book that I thought, this is the
book that I needed when I was seven years old
to start with, to destigmatize this thing that half of
the population experiences.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
So you talked about in the process of writing the books,
So can you share with folks what that process is.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Yeah, it's it's wild, it's crazy, and it is not
like anything in the publishing world. We have made two
hundred books with this process, and it is both fool
proof and chaotic and crazy. The closest Proxies are improv
jazz and improv comedy meets group therapy. We write all
of our books through a one day workshop process. We
(13:42):
bring in an author for three to five hours, sometimes virtually,
sometimes in person. We spend the whole first half on
personal story, telling our life stories through the lens of
the topic, whatever that topic might be. Maybe we know
a lot about the topic, maybe we don't, but we
try and put all of those vulnerable jams. Like to me,
I would talk about not growing up with the dad,
(14:03):
and neglect from my mom, and abuse from my brother
and trying to wrestle with chronic depression at age fourteen.
I would actually walk through those things as vulnerably as
I can through the lens of the topic. And then
by the time I've gone and our creative director's gone
and our editor's gone, now it's the author's turn, and
we've sort of set a stage to go, hey, you're
(14:24):
going to be vulnerable too. You're going to spill all
your guts too, right, And there's a bit of a
social pressure there, but there was also a trust to
go we've already gone there, You're safe to go there too.
Once we do that, then there's a healthy conversation of
going what must go in this book, what must go
in this book about addiction, what must go in this
book about joy? What must go in this book about
(14:47):
coping skills? All books that we've done, And then whole
second half we write the book together and it sounds
like it shouldn't work. We've got about two hours left
at that moment, but we worked together and we trust
each other, and the creativity is bubbling because you've sort
of just spilled your life story, so you're sort of
unblocked and totally free to do that. And we do
(15:09):
a litmus test at the end. We have the author
read the book, and it's a let miss tests on
two fronts. One does this read right? Does it? Does
this do we that were listening to it? And does
it sound like a children's book? And then we ask
ourselves a second question is could this have made a
massive impact on me when I was six, seven, eight
years old? Could this have changed that? You're a trajectory
(15:31):
of my life. This is a conversation that I didn't
get that I desperately needed. And if we can say
yes to those both, you know both those questions and
we know we're onto something. So that's the first draft manuscript.
We spend a handful of weeks editing, a handful of
weeks designing. Every time I try and explain this to
somebody who's published a book before, they go, well, but wait,
but what about And I go, no, No, that all
happens in the workshop. They say, yay, yeah, but what
(15:52):
about what what do I do before the work show?
You don't do anything before the workshop. It happens in
the workshop. And and the sort of the crux of
it is, it's about choosing the right voice the topic.
They need to be unassailable. They need to be unimpeachable.
They need to be through their life lived experience and
their identity, through their education, through their expertise. They need
to be able to deliver on that topic. And and
(16:14):
I you know, I'm not saying we're batting a thousand,
but we've done pretty well about choosing authors.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
As I'm listening to I'm just like, which one is
my book? You know what's funny is that right now
it's like so we have there's all these like beat
like the titles are about things that range right in
terms of their expansiveness and then their simplicity because something
(16:51):
that's like side effects of Israel and Palestine.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Has a very you know, expansive.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Conversation that has to happen, and that I feel like
it's different than I just I said side effects, because
that's the name of my that's my podcast, a kid's
book about But then there's also like a kid's book
about divorce, which is I feel like, less political, right,
and it's more experiential. And then I find that there's
(17:21):
at this point things that I would never have applied to.
Kids need to know about this to understand the world better.
But it's like it's something that I wouldn't think need
to be earnestly discussed. But like the concept of just
like truth, like honesty, like we're in such a land
(17:41):
of lies.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, that I genuinely am, Like.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I was taught about that in school, Like I was
taught that it mattered to be like honest and tell
the truth. And I don't know if kids are taught
that anymore. I don't know that society even says that anymore.
Like I genuinely was always castigated for even a fib
I don't know if you grew from this type of house,
(18:09):
I couldn't call people liars for some reason. I don't
know about what do y'all did y'all have that? Maybe
it was a West Indian thing.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
No, but it's funny. I will tell my kids. I go,
it's a strong word. I go, they lied, But does
that make them a liar? I go? Just think about it,
right right, right?
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Like if I said I hated something, it'd be.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Like, well, do you already hate it? Or do you
just not like it because it is a strong word.
And sometimes I'd be like, yeah, no, I hate cauliflower,
like qu putting that in front of me.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
I don't just dislike it, I just buse it.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Part of my wanting to learn vocabulary was just so
that I could have more ways to explain like no,
really I mean this. So where do you feel like
this book series exists in our current climate in terms
of necessity, in terms of how it can be used
as tools.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
I think, thank you hit it on the nose. It's
about truth telling. It's about not trying to save the
conversation for later or I'll tell you when you grow up,
or you wouldn't understand. It's about actually being candid with kids,
respecting their intelligence, respecting their curiosity and respecting their experiences, right,
(19:23):
And so each of the books is trying to not
finish a conversation. So or Israel Palestine book isn't finishing
the conversation. Is it saying everything that there is to
say about it? Because that would be impossible. It's starting
the conversation. It's creating the context for that conversation to
go on and on and on. And it's really about
opening a door on both sides. For the kid who's
(19:46):
being introduced, sometimes to a new thing or sometimes to
the thing that they're already aware of but want the
sort of concrete words, but also for the grown up
who's likely they are reading with them, parent, auntie, uncle, teacher,
you name it. Who needs that fear taken down a
notch to just have the conversation, right, Because we walk
in with all these sorts of fears I'm going to
(20:06):
ruin my kids life. They're not ready yet. Oh they
need to be a teenager. Oh if I tell them
about this? What if they do drugs? Because I tell
them about drugs? Right, So it's like all these weird,
complicated feelings then gets us to sort of bottle up
and go, oh, I don't want to have this conversation,
and so it loosens that fear and allows parents to go, oh,
my kid's actually okay, Oh my kid has questions. Oh,
(20:28):
I have thoughts and ideas that I can share. And
now that conversation, instead of happening once, is an ongoing
one that actually can happen across weeks and years and
grow and grow and growth. So where does it fit
in the climate today? I think our kids desperately need
sign posts and sort of flags in the ground, because
(20:49):
we do live in a world where so many of
the people in power have basically said up is down,
left is right. What you saw with your own eyes
wasn't real, and that's not what happened, and in fact,
it was the opposite of that, And why don't you
agree with me? And also I will threaten you if
you don't agree with me. It's a very tenuous and
scary time to live. And so just to have that
(21:09):
validation to go, yeah, the thing that I saw felt
like this and is this, and actually have someone giving
you those words back, giving you the comfort and the confidence,
both as a grown up and as a kid to
know something's real and tangible and true.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
I feel like there's probably some people who are like, well,
you know, we didn't need this, but these kids need this.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I feel like I would have.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Really appreciated as a kid like these, like even if
they were just all at the library and I could
just pick one by one we.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Talk about this this week, you know. But I feel
like parents too, there's so much that.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
My mom just was not equipped, yeah, to address, because
of her upbringing, because of her ignorance about a topic,
et cetera.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
And so there's a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I think what you've done here too, is not just
equip the kids, but like you really have equip parents
in a way where there is a concerted effort to
handicap them, like on a daily basis. I just see
such an effort to say like, oh, it's about parents rights,
(22:31):
but it's really not. It's about like keeping parents stupid
and their kids stupider. Yeah, how do you talk to
your kids about the current climate?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
It's pretty candid. I like to listen a lot more
than I try and talk with my kids. And that
might sound counterintuitive, but if I create enough space for
my kids feel comfortable to bring me stuff, then I
try and listen and ask questions because sometimes it's not
about reframing their ideas or teaching them some new thing.
(23:04):
It's about actually letting them fully share their experience in
a way that they won't be judged or in a
way that they won't be sort of given a lecture
over right, And and then what typically happens is all
offer back some of my experiences. Oh, here's what it
was like when I was get or here's what it's
like for me today, and then maybe a little nuggetive
truth inside there. But kids are so used to getting
(23:25):
talked down to, so used to getting lectured, and so
I find, you know, my kids know they can kind
of bring me anything, and so you know, we're having
conversations about everything, trans writes elon musk Democracy. My kids
were dialed in and tuned into the election in a
(23:47):
way that I just never could have imagined at their age.
You know, like my six year old can articulate thoughts
and feelings about our president, you know what I mean,
Like that's.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
The day was Like I don't like President Trump was
like in sixth grade. I know that when I was six,
no one in my class knew who the president was.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
Like I know that, yeah, yeah, no, Look, it was
a different time in some ways. But as much as
we've I don't know, talk down to our kids about
their sort of chronic onlineness and how much they spend
on their devices and screen time and anxiety and blah
blah blah blah, which is a lot of that. Actually,
(24:29):
I think it's true. It has opened our kids to
a world of information and understanding and the ability to
dig deeper and to go find answers to things and
experiences that aren't their own. I mean, I actually think
it's really incredible, and I think, you know, I look
at Gen Z and I look at Gen Alpha and
(24:50):
with all of their foibles around a bunch of different
stuff that maybe we as millennials had growing up or whatever.
The Generation X or the boomers, I think they are
more driven towards activism. I think they are more driven
towards inclusion and belonging. I think they are more welcoming
and accepting. And I also think they don't put up
(25:13):
with anything like they're not just trying to take the
pad answers or this is the way that it's always
been done as a given. Of course that's not all
of those generations, but I see that very strongly in
my own kids.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
How did your style of parenting form?
Speaker 4 (25:35):
I didn't grow up with the dad. He left when
I was about four. I would later reconcile with him,
and he said that, you know, when I was born,
I was the youngest of four kids, that it was
like a truck full of heroin had backed up in
the neighborhood. That's how readily available drugs were. And so
(25:55):
he and my mom were both addicts. My mom decided
to get clean. Moves a Crosstown's his dad. You can
come when you get clean. Never he never gets clean,
at least by the time he does, I don't see him.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
This is an organ.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
This is an organ.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
He was putting hair, went on the streets, and organ.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Putting hair on the streets, and organ, and and and
so I I grew up with that a dad. Mom
worked nights as a nurse, doing the best she could
to put food on the table.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
But wasn't.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
But she wasn't always there for me emotionally, and so
I struggled a lot as a kid. I struggled to read.
I you know, I wasn't proficiently reading until about seventh
or eighth grade. I always got bad grades even though
I was a really smart kid. I was the kid
with all the potential in the classroom but never really
doing well. I would later find out that I was
dealing with really sort of chronic depression and uh, and
(26:45):
I remember like wanting somebody to just shoot straight with me,
to just like to see that I wasn't growing up
with a dad and I was, you know, going home
after school by myself and that, like, I just wanted
somebody to notice all those things, and if they did,
they never said anything. So by the time I became
a grown up, I was like, Okay, childhood actually isn't
(27:07):
easy for every child. In fact, it might not be
easy for any child. And so this like, oh, let
kids be kids. I'll protect their innocence. I'll just let them.
I'll let them have fun and grow up. I think
minimizes the real experiences that kids have around racism, around discrimination,
(27:31):
around misogyny, around bullying, around abuse, whether that's domestic violence
in the home, sexual abuse, you name it. And so
I thought, I'm actually going to try and have every
conversation too early. I'm going to be sort of uncomfortably
honest with my kids, especially when they ask me about something.
I'm going to be very direct with them early on,
(27:51):
so they know I'm never going to shoot back one
of their questions and give them a pad answer or
you know, not acknowledge them or save it for later.
I'm always actually going to engage to directly, and and
I'm always going to try and foster room for a
conversation so they never have to be alone with these
thoughts and feelings, which is actually the harder part, right wow.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
And I think I'm in therapy.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
And that's that's a part of our books is like that, uh,
you know, they're they're therapeutic in that way. They actually
speak to our seven year old self. And I like,
I remember, you know, with with my one of my
youngest uh, when they were oh gosh, maybe maybe five,
maybe six? Where do babies come from? Dad? Oh? I
(28:38):
would love to explain that to you. I get, I
get out of a pad of paper and and I'm
start I'm start drawing biology. I'm explaining. I'm here's what happens,
heed egg blah blah blah. Goh is it does? This
makes sense? Oh yeah? But what's that thing right there?
Oh yeah? Let me draw it a little more clearly,
this is in the car, the parking lot, fuel like
a safe way, right, and and they were okay. I
(28:59):
was over, you know what I mean? Yeah, And I
remember when my wife and I got married. I told
her that story and she's like, you did what And
I was like, yeah, well we had the conversation. I go,
we can have it again. Is one of our other kids,
and she was like well, but like and all of
a sudden, it was like she didn't even know it.
She was afraid of It was just like, what could
(29:20):
happen right where we're driving. My son, he's like seven
at the time. We passed by a strip club. He's like,
what's a gentleman's club? Because he saw it was like
gentlemen you know something something? And I was like, oh,
you want to know what that is? And I'm We're
on the way to school. All of our kids are
in the car, right, And I was like, oh well.
And it led to this amazing conversation about our bodies,
(29:43):
about intimacy, about relationships, about all of these things. And
my wife was like, I cannot believe you did that.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Not.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
I end up sort of cascading way in a way.
We're sort of like I didn't expect that actually to
be one thing and okay, but also to go as positive,
like that our kids engage within in a meaningful way.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Kids are not having conversations about things from the same
place that adults are, like, they are having genuine, curious
conversations that don't carry judgment in the.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
Same way I have all the baggage.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
They don't have the baggage, So it's a different conversation
to you know, like, what's a gentleman's club? Well, can
I just hear even an excerpt of how that answer was.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Yeah, Well, I was like, well, typically women stand on
a stage with a pole, and then I go, and
they undress their clothes to show their bodies to typically
men who were there to pay them money to watch
them undress. And of course their question was like why
would anybody do for the women? I go. It's typically
(30:55):
a job, but they get paid money to do this,
both getting paid as a salary or you know, hourly,
and also from the tips, right, and I go, men
bring cash and they able to set it on there
and they like the enjoyment of watching these women do this,
And of course my kids go, but why would they
enjoy that? So we're getting further and I go. I
go because it's it's interesting to them and attractive them
(31:17):
to see their bodies, right, why is that? So? Again
we're getting into like okay, why is it? Why are
people attracted to? In some ways, the conversation actually got
more innocent the further we got. We went in, right,
because kids want to unpack that stuff. Now, there's all
sorts of bad ways to probably have a conversation, but
the easiest way and the best way is just to
be honest about the actual mechanics of the thing.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
And then that's the thing, right there is the mechanics.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Like the way you just explained it is like, yeah,
that that is what it is.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Like I did not need to add in, like.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
And these men are usually having terrible why terrible you know,
marriages and their draw and they're hard and their pants
Like that's not necessary, that's not necessary.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
But I cut you off.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Continue continue, you know, I think, Well, look, I get
to travel around now to go talk with elementary schools.
It's my favorite thing that I do as a part
of my job, even though I'm going paid for it.
And I'll meet with five hundred k through five and
I'll do much of what I'm doing here. I'll tell
my story, I'll talk about my book, I'll read my book.
(32:28):
I'll talk about these big ideas why we made these
books for kids. And of course a couple kids will
raise their hand and go, oh, I have your book,
or I have this book, or this is my favorite book.
But I was end in the same way I say,
if you could write a kid's book about anything, this
is elementary school students, by the way, If you could
write a kid's book about anything, what would you write about?
And kids, you think it all be minecraft, candy and
(32:49):
video games, and I like ponies or I like skateboarding. No,
kids will come with the heaviest, most consequential topics I've had.
You know, kids pitch me you should do a kid's
book about toxic relationships. I would do a kid's book
about abuse. I would do a kid's book about nuclear warfare.
I would do a kid's book about having an incarcerated parent.
(33:11):
And often what's happening when kids are saying these topics
is they're speaking towards a personal experience, or at least
a personal interest of their own right. And kids will
grab me afterwards. I didn't get a chance to tell
you my idea, I really think you should do a
book on this. And then of course they've got me there,
and they'll go and here's why, and they'll share an
experience that they had, often that was around somebody being
(33:33):
racist towards them, somebody bullying, somebody, you know, a parent.
One kid grabbed me afterwards, a third grader, and said,
my dad used to abuse me, and now he's in
jail and my mom and I are safe now. And
she was telling me this, not not so that she
would have a book for herself. She's saying, some other
(33:54):
kid needs this book. Do you know what I'm saying.
She's offering up her life experiences, going here's why you
should go do some work somewhere else for some other kid.
And in that way, like a whole bunch of things
are happening. Is I watch kids feel empowered. I watch
kids feel validated for their own experiences, right I feel
(34:17):
I watch kids feel not feel so alone right in there.
And you've got kids saying some of the most vulnerable
stuff in front of their the whole student body, because
in some sense, all I've done is shown up and
said it's Okay, Yeah, I've modeled how you can do this,
which is I'm going to share my story very vulnerably.
Y'all can do that back to me, and it's gonna
(34:37):
be okay, and everybody's gonna be awesome. And I'll watch
teachers sort of on the sidelines, not gas white, but
sort of their jaws on the floor, going what happened
to our kids? Like our kids are, they're showing up
in a totally different way.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
That actually that last line, they're showing up in a
totally different way is what I think is so important
in the reality that kids become adults, and we need
adults to show up in a different way if this
world is going to save itself, and that starts with
how they get to be seen as kids. And one
(35:17):
of the things that really scares me, particularly in the
United States, is just the effort that is made to
create adults that don't know how to show up for themselves,
that don't know how to understand, like, they don't know
how to understand themselves because they don't even they're not
even foster. There's no curiosity fostered to understand themselves, let
(35:39):
alone other people right to understand this planet and.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
How we all.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
So I really what I really love about the series
is that it fosters from an early age this concept
that the world is yours. Like all of these experiences, topics,
et cetera are available for you to understand, whether they
happened to you or whether they impact you, but they are.
(36:05):
When I say the world is yours, that's also like
a part of your responsibility to protect.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
And I think that kids see that as like.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Something exciting versus whereas adults see that as obligation.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Like with the masks. I just remember seeing these people,
like the kids don't want to wear the mask.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Kids don't give a goddamn They're like, this is spider
Man on the mask?
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Is Spider Man's on the mask? I'm wearing a mask,
you know.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
But adults are like, no, if I'm wearing a mask,
you're expecting me to be obligated for this other human being.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
It's like, why is there a problem for you?
Speaker 4 (36:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah, So we have some questions from the people. Shamika says,
mister memory, is your work at the local library and
is there a kid's book about puberty?
Speaker 4 (36:53):
Yes? And yes, we've sold over a million books. I
think across five to six years. And we have great
relationships with libraries, with schools, school districts of course, indie
bookstores and big box bookstores, so you can kind of
find the books anywhere, and a kid's book about puberty
(37:14):
is definitely in there.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
There you go. Pauloma says, mister memory. Do you seek
collaboration with professionals or people representing communities that you're discussing?
Speaker 4 (37:24):
Ah, I love this, I love it. It's like a
trap question that I know is actually well intentioned. It
is always about representing those identities from members of those
communities who represent those identities. I've had books pitched to
me by folks who work with folks who help certain folks.
You can imagine this is like whether that's folks who
(37:47):
are deaf or blind, whether that's folks who are houseless,
and they go, ah, I'm an expert at this. You're
not in the nonprofit world. I should write this book.
And I go, ah, but is this a part of
your own experience? Yeah, it's a part of your identity,
is a part of So we always say no on
that front and opt for somebody who is who lives
(38:09):
inside that identity. There's a couple of rare exceptions, and
those are historical books. A kid's book about Israel and
Palestine is a history. It's a history book, So we
found a historian. A kid's book about the Tulsa Race
Master is a history book. We found a historian, right,
And then it's about trying to find the right historian
that we think is going to reflect the story in
(38:29):
a way that's going to be meaningful for kids. And
a conversation starter.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
There you go, guys.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
You was ready for that one. I had to answered
this question several times. Next question, Miss Seals and mister Memory.
I was a kid told, but I was a kid
told by adults to not worry about adult things, which
was devaluing as a kid.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Wie wide questions. These books help both adults and kids.
Thank you, So that was more of a common than
a question.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
I was one of those kids too, though like by
certain adults, my mom didn't do that.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
My mom wouldn't say like I remember, like.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
I've seen way too many movies that I shouldn't have
seen because my mom was just like, we're going to
the movies sometimes, Like I remember when I went to
we went to see pulp fiction and The person at
the door was like, are you sure, and my mom
was like, yeah, give me a ticket.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Wait. Here's here's what I love. And I've seen this
happen over and over again. Is it often takes one
or two safe grown ups who are in close proximity
to us to be to determine who we are able
to become when we are grown ups. Okay, so that time,
more time, it takes one or two safe grown ups
(39:49):
to determine who we can become we're grown ups. Okay.
You your mom's lack of fear around uh bringing you
to that movie, around having certain conversations with you, not
batting that those adult thanks. She going, I'm gonna pull
you right in to me. I go that that's who
you are today. Actually she set the feeling much higher
(40:10):
to go, oh yeah, go run aman to go and
for me, you know, huge credit to my mom. No,
no conversation was off off limits, just genuinely, no conversation
was off limits with my mom. That doesn't mean we
always had them, but it wasn't off limits. She never said, oh,
don't worry about that, you're not you're not old enough
for that, and that I think raised that bar and
(40:30):
So the reason why we have a lot of grown
ups to go you can't do that, you can do
that is because that's what their parents did with them.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Well, we love what you are doing with these books
and giving parents the opportunity to do exactly what you
just said, because I really feel like, also if you're
in a single parent home, these books can help fill
a gap that another person physically being there, you know,
(40:59):
would possibly be filling. I know, like in my single
parent home, I feel like these books would have been
really helpful because if my father had been there, it
would have been even less conversation.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
So I just remember my dad trying to talk to
me about sex.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
And we were snowed in in.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
Like he had decided we were going to go skiing.
I don't like skiing, but okay, we're going skiing.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
And we were snowed in and there was a giant
glass of orange juice. He was always giving me, you like,
more portions than I needed, and there was a giant
glass of orange juice.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
And he was like, so, let's talk about the birds
and the bees. And I was like, I don't.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Want to talk about this at all, and he was like, well,
you can either drink that whole glass of orange juice
or talk about this y'all.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
When I tell you, I.
Speaker 4 (41:40):
Was like, how old were you? How old were you? Then?
Speaker 2 (41:49):
I was twelve? Like I had already seen a porno.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
Yeah, well, it's just too late. It's too It's like,
kids know I.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Already know, and I already I don't like you, and
this is already too much.
Speaker 4 (42:02):
And the fact that he was like birds in the
beat and he's just like, why why do we use
this language? Why?
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Doctor?
Speaker 4 (42:09):
Yeah, it's like, what's the malady?
Speaker 3 (42:12):
No, twelve was too late. I saw a point of eight.
Speaker 4 (42:16):
Yeah, that's why I like starting your conversations seems insane
at five, six and seven. The problem is you don't
start him, then they have already been had somewhere else.
Your kid's third grade best friend has had that conversation
with that, Like somewhere else that's happened, and now kids
(42:36):
got the internet. It's like, then why not what's the
risk in actually having it in that safe environment with
you where kids can ask you whatever questions you want
because you're the safe grown up, right. But the moment
you go no, it's too early, kids will just find
that answer.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Somewhere else, Facts on Facts on Facts.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
Do you have any releases coming out soon that.
Speaker 4 (43:01):
My mind is mostly in the books that we're working
on now.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Do you talk about those before they come out?
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Not? Not usually So Penguin Random House and DK bought
the publishing business last summer, So now I run the
kid's book about imprint underneath the big prch umbrella, which
has been awesome and wonderful, and they're really letting me
sort of cook on just the book projects that I
think are really worthwhile. And so as a part of that,
(43:29):
we're bringing in the full backlist of two hundred titles,
which you can see day. I had to make a
special style all two hundred titles into the front list,
and so those are being published in batches of twenty
five until we're done, basically every month of the first
six months of this year. So all of those are
(43:51):
coming out. So they're all getting for reissued by this day,
and sort of a new fun format with all in
nerdy book stuff that I love, you know, just the
colored endsheets and stuff like that. But I know we
have a book about self love by Brandon Farbstein, a
really incredible book. We've got a book on chronic illness
(44:12):
that's coming out through the Lovely Book by Gid Robinson,
uh and and a number of others. I mean, they're
on the Kid's Co website, they're on the PRH website,
they're on the DK website of course, on Amazon and
everywhere else. So shop, shop where you shop, people buy
books where they buy books, and and if you've thought
of the topic, we've probably already done it. And if
(44:33):
we haven't already done it, then maybe reach out. Maybe
maybe you can do.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
That time there you go, well, thank you so much,
and thank you for your service, because this really is
a service. And yeah, you have an email coming from
me shortly by the way.
Speaker 4 (44:52):
All right, all right, finally, all right, thanks.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Mama, thank you. Have a good one.
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