November 10, 2025 • 12 mins
In THE HAT DIARIES: Escape From the Adventure, Nadine Haruni culminates her action-packed trilogy with a story reflecting the power of friendship and the interconnectedness of family across generations. Book three opens with Ryan and Shadow in Aachen, Germany, on October 13, 1944. Despite repeated warnings from Merlo, Ryan made the terrible mistake of overstaying the 60-minute timeframe allotted to complete each Adventure. Right after Violet stepped through the Portal to return home, he dropped his diary, a precious written record of all his Adventures. He thought he’d have enough time to grab it before the countdown timer shrieked. Instead, as he picked up his diary, Ryan watched in horror as the massive red Portal door shut, leaving him stranded amidst the turmoil and danger of battle during World War II. THE HAT DIARIES: Escape From the Adventure is told from the perspective of three different narrators: Ryan, Merlo, and Violet. As the tension mounts, the story reveals a secret Merlo has been carrying for most of his adult life, one that is weighed down by guilt. As Sergeant Hank and Ryan set out on a journey fraught with danger, navigating through war-torn landscapes, Escape From the Adventure raises intriguing questions: Is it possible to prevent a tragic event from happening again? And if the course of history can be altered, at what cost? Through it all, readers will continue to root for Ryan Rigbee, a relatable and remarkable teen. While THE HAT DIARIES: Escape From the Adventure marks the end of the trilogy, Ryan and his magical Adventures will live on.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning. This is Nadine Heroni.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hi Nadine, how are you doing? I'm good?
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Absolutely fantastic. Excited to talk about teen Read Week because.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Boy, we need this.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I mean, I realize they're reading, but are we doing
it as a as a solid connection or community and
then sharing it with others. It seems to be such
a personal thing these days.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm reading a book. What are you reading about? I
don't know. I'll get back to you.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
How do we get people more involved in something like this?
And that's the way I would like to start this
off is I want people to understand that that teen
Read Week is very real and that it really is
one of those things that inspires people to start digging
in and find something that you enjoy reading. It's not
a popular game. Just make it happen in your own way.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Exactly. I think it's really finding what makes you, something
that interests you, maybe in another world you want to
step into, maybe you want to learn about something else,
learn about something new, and keeping a book by your
bed at night is a really great way to It
helps you kind of get into like a rhythm of
reading before you go to sleep.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Well, look at what you do with the Hat Diaries
in the way when you speak of learning, Oh, they're
going to walk away with a history lesson here, but
it's not one that's going to be driven into their head.
They're going to experience something and then grow with it.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I hope. So, yes, I do hope.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
So So what was it like to put a project
like this together, because I mean that involves a lot
of research, which a lot of people, you know, they
hit chat GPT and they think that's research, and that's
just not the.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Answer, right, So yeah, it's you do do you do?
You do need to do research when you're writing a book,
and especially if you're if you're it's somewhat historical fiction,
especially the third book, The Escape from the Adventure. But
it's it's really kind of it's it's there's a lot
(01:58):
involved in putting the books together. And the Hat Diary
series is composed of three books, and each book has
its own little sort of twist on things happening. But
for each of the three books, I did have to
do research, which I think is an author is really
important to do if you're writing about something that's not
(02:20):
in your immediate world. To make it more credible in
the minds of the reader. You need to know what
you're talking about. So if you're talking about history, you're
talking about a particular job. In the first book, I
talk about Brian puts on these magical hats and he
transforms into the role of the hat wearer, and he
becomes a surgeon, and he becomes a doctor, excuse me,
a surgeon. He becomes a firefighter, he becomes a police officer.
(02:43):
And I familiarized myself with the different medical jargon or
the cop lingo or the firefighter fighter expressions and stuff
like that. So you need to sort of do your
research when you're writing a book to make sure that
you're using the proper terms. And when I was. In
the third book, Escape from the Adventure, Ryan is able
(03:04):
to travel through this magical and in the second book,
Discover the Portal, He's able to travel through this magical
portal where he steps into he can step back into
history into various historical events, and I've described the historical
events and what he's seeing and what he's feeling and
stuff like that. So again I needed to do research
about what was happening during those different time eras to
(03:27):
make the reader be able to visualize it and to
make it more believable.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, but you do something here that I can relate
with as a daily writer, because I've had it as
a subject so many times. The diary is dropped near
the portal. Now, no, No, I've always been afraid of
is there going to be something I'm going to drop
that I should not have dropped? And what did I
learn in doing so? And what did I lose by
not picking it up? I mean, I just think that
that is such a powerful statement in this when it
(03:53):
is dropped.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yes, and we kind of also learned that sort of
history repeated itself because Ryan's grandfather did the same thing
before he left the portal, because this was this portal
and the hat diaries and all of the magic that's
(04:17):
happening from this Halt factory spanned the generations. So yes,
it's a very pivotal moment in the book and history
sort of repeating itself.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
But you know what's so interesting about the way that
you write, Nadine, And I'd love to see the research
on this. How many adults they don't necessarily see that
it's a YA book series or anything like that, they'll
read a book that's a great book. I mean, they
don't care. People want to read a great book, and
especially when it comes to.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
History, right, I guess yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I mean it's kind of I say. My stories are
nothing like the Harry Potter series, but it's the same genre,
which is technically YA or middle grade fantasy adventure. And
just like the Harry Potter series, my readers span from
age eight through adult and I think my books, the
lessons sort of woven into each of the stories are
(05:11):
universal no matter what your age, and they're meant to
sort of take you out of your head and take
you to another place.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So they do, so.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I think it is I do. I do write the
books so that they're g rated enough to be appropriate
for younger children, but also interesting enough to keep adults attention.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Please do not move. There's more with Nadine Harony coming
up next. The name of the book series, The Hat Diaries.
We are back with the author, Nadine Haroney. How did
you deal with the three different narrators? Because I mean
that right there in my writing heart is that's three
different personalities.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
This book, the new book, Escape from the Adventure, was
definitely the most challenging to write, because that is the
first book that I did have more than one narrator
that wasn't just Ryan Rigby. And it's when you're writing
a book, you do kind of just like you hear
sometimes method actors when they're in films, they kind of
become whatever role that they're playing. Certain actors are famous
(06:17):
for doing stuff like that, like Jaque in Phoenix, I think,
and Lee DiCaprio. And when you're writing a story, it's
kind of similar in that you sort of start. I
started when I was writing the first book, The Hat Diaries.
I was constantly thinking about what would Ryan Rigby be saying, thinking, doing,
And you really do sort of step into the shoes
(06:38):
of your character. So in this situation where I had
three different narrators, it was definitely a bit of a challenge,
and it was the first time I ever wrote a
story like that, So I had to kind of change
my style for each of the chapters where they'd be speaking,
because Ryan would certainly not say the same thing, say
things the same way the Violet, his girlfriend would say things,
(07:00):
and Merlow, who's an older man, he would he would
certainly use expressions like whipper snack for Duggeries or things
that people from margin kids from this generation wouldn't use.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
So, you know, but the thing that I think one
of the attractions of your stories is the one where
it's set in Germany in nineteen forty four. And my
wife asked me, she says, what do you think is
your reasons for.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Being connected to this?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
And I think it's because my mother was from that
era and I don't have anything really to kind of
showcase what she may have gone through as that child,
and so I depend on books such as this, and
I want them simple because I want my mother to
come from a simple life, maybe challenge. But you don't
understand when I'm coming from on this, right.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
No, I'm sure, I'm sure that you're not. And right,
I mean, these books are the stories in the third
book are meant to give a little bit of a
glimpse into history and to what was happening in the
world at that time. So it's meant to have the
reader sort of step into Ryan's shoes and sort of
(08:05):
visualize and feel like they were there.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
How do you think the reader is envisioning Ryan? Because
and maybe I'm sick like that because I always sit
there and I try to inside my imagination, try to
figure out who the narrator is, what they're wearing today.
Are they sipping on coffee or is it a soft drink?
What are they doing are they are they anxious to
get outside with the dog and play. That's the kind
of person I am. I want to know who that
narrator is and what are they doing.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
So when I wrote the book, I wrote the books
in for the very first book, my agent when she
was pitching me to various publishers, she wanted me to
say who I envisioned playing the role of the different
major characters. Yes, And that was because eventually the goal
is for this series to become a screenplay or a
(08:53):
mini series.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
And I don't.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Recall the name of the actors who I had given
her as a because I didn't really know many young
actors for the Ryan character. But I envisioned visually like
sort of like a Harry Patter looking type of kid,
sort of nerdy with glasses. And a few of the
other characters I do have that I had to tell her,
which were for the baseball dad, who I describe in
(09:21):
the first book, I had Bradley Cooper in mind.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Yeah, because I want to meet Bradley Cooper like you
know anyone else, and Jessica Chastain I have envisioned as
the mom because she's supposed to be sort of a
Yogi natural looking I described as strawberry blond hair.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
And for Marlowe, I've envisioning a Dustin Hoffman with a
white right leg.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yes, yeah, wow.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I got to admit to you I've been with Bradley Cooper,
and I mean it was it was one of those
things where my sole job that day was to make
sure that he got from the Ritz car in to
the Charlotte Motor Speedway to promote a movie. And so
therefore when I met him at the at the hotel
elevator and he stepped off and he was a giant
(10:09):
of a man, and all he wanted to do was
talk about football and baseball. And it was like he says,
come on over here, let's let's just sit down and talk.
Let's just sit down and talk. I he won me over.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
You.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
You need to put it in the universe to meet
this man, because you will see that he's.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Just one of us. He's just a guy and he
loves storytelling.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Well, Bradley Cooper, if you are listening you are hired.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Oh my god, you gotta get me in there. Man,
let you Okay, everybody put it in the universe.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
It can't hurt, right.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Where can people go to find out more about you
and what you're doing with words? Because your words allow
people to try their own words on paper, and even
though they crumple it up and throw it away, it
doesn't matter. You moved them to write.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Thank you. That's my That's definitely my goal. So if
they go to my website, which is Nadineharni dot com.
That's Na d I n E h A r u
ni dot com, or on my Instagram and Facebook, I'm
at Adine Harony Books And on my website I have
(11:19):
book trailers for I have the Hat Diary series, I
have my children's series Free to the Frog, and I
also have links for author events if people want me to.
I like going to schools and talking to kids and
getting them excited about reading.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Oh gosh, I love where your heart is. Oh my god,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Well, You've got to come back to this show anytime
in the future. The door is always going to be open.
You were every bit the reason why I created the
YA Author's Channel on iHeartRadio and man, people come to
that because they want to know what you are like
in real life.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for having me as
a guest and I appreciate you you having me on.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
You'd be brilliant today.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Okay, thank you you two
Good morning. This is Nadine Heroni.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hi Nadine, how are you doing? I'm good?
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Absolutely fantastic. Excited to talk about teen Read Week because.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Boy, we need this.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I mean, I realize they're reading, but are we doing
it as a as a solid connection or community and
then sharing it with others. It seems to be such
a personal thing these days.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm reading a book. What are you reading about? I
don't know. I'll get back to you.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
How do we get people more involved in something like this?
And that's the way I would like to start this
off is I want people to understand that that teen
Read Week is very real and that it really is
one of those things that inspires people to start digging
in and find something that you enjoy reading. It's not
a popular game. Just make it happen in your own way.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Exactly. I think it's really finding what makes you, something
that interests you, maybe in another world you want to
step into, maybe you want to learn about something else,
learn about something new, and keeping a book by your
bed at night is a really great way to It
helps you kind of get into like a rhythm of
reading before you go to sleep.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Well, look at what you do with the Hat Diaries
in the way when you speak of learning, Oh, they're
going to walk away with a history lesson here, but
it's not one that's going to be driven into their head.
They're going to experience something and then grow with it.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I hope. So, yes, I do hope.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
So So what was it like to put a project
like this together, because I mean that involves a lot
of research, which a lot of people, you know, they
hit chat GPT and they think that's research, and that's
just not the.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Answer, right, So yeah, it's you do do you do?
You do need to do research when you're writing a book,
and especially if you're if you're it's somewhat historical fiction,
especially the third book, The Escape from the Adventure. But
it's it's really kind of it's it's there's a lot
(01:58):
involved in putting the books together. And the Hat Diary
series is composed of three books, and each book has
its own little sort of twist on things happening. But
for each of the three books, I did have to
do research, which I think is an author is really
important to do if you're writing about something that's not
(02:20):
in your immediate world. To make it more credible in
the minds of the reader. You need to know what
you're talking about. So if you're talking about history, you're
talking about a particular job. In the first book, I
talk about Brian puts on these magical hats and he
transforms into the role of the hat wearer, and he
becomes a surgeon, and he becomes a doctor, excuse me,
a surgeon. He becomes a firefighter, he becomes a police officer.
(02:43):
And I familiarized myself with the different medical jargon or
the cop lingo or the firefighter fighter expressions and stuff
like that. So you need to sort of do your
research when you're writing a book to make sure that
you're using the proper terms. And when I was. In
the third book, Escape from the Adventure, Ryan is able
(03:04):
to travel through this magical and in the second book,
Discover the Portal, He's able to travel through this magical
portal where he steps into he can step back into
history into various historical events, and I've described the historical
events and what he's seeing and what he's feeling and
stuff like that. So again I needed to do research
about what was happening during those different time eras to
(03:27):
make the reader be able to visualize it and to
make it more believable.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, but you do something here that I can relate
with as a daily writer, because I've had it as
a subject so many times. The diary is dropped near
the portal. Now, no, No, I've always been afraid of
is there going to be something I'm going to drop
that I should not have dropped? And what did I
learn in doing so? And what did I lose by
not picking it up? I mean, I just think that
that is such a powerful statement in this when it
(03:53):
is dropped.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yes, and we kind of also learned that sort of
history repeated itself because Ryan's grandfather did the same thing
before he left the portal, because this was this portal
and the hat diaries and all of the magic that's
(04:17):
happening from this Halt factory spanned the generations. So yes,
it's a very pivotal moment in the book and history
sort of repeating itself.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
But you know what's so interesting about the way that
you write, Nadine, And I'd love to see the research
on this. How many adults they don't necessarily see that
it's a YA book series or anything like that, they'll
read a book that's a great book. I mean, they
don't care. People want to read a great book, and
especially when it comes to.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
History, right, I guess yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I mean it's kind of I say. My stories are
nothing like the Harry Potter series, but it's the same genre,
which is technically YA or middle grade fantasy adventure. And
just like the Harry Potter series, my readers span from
age eight through adult and I think my books, the
lessons sort of woven into each of the stories are
(05:11):
universal no matter what your age, and they're meant to
sort of take you out of your head and take
you to another place.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So they do, so.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I think it is I do. I do write the
books so that they're g rated enough to be appropriate
for younger children, but also interesting enough to keep adults attention.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Please do not move. There's more with Nadine Harony coming
up next. The name of the book series, The Hat Diaries.
We are back with the author, Nadine Haroney. How did
you deal with the three different narrators? Because I mean
that right there in my writing heart is that's three
different personalities.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
This book, the new book, Escape from the Adventure, was
definitely the most challenging to write, because that is the
first book that I did have more than one narrator
that wasn't just Ryan Rigby. And it's when you're writing
a book, you do kind of just like you hear
sometimes method actors when they're in films, they kind of
become whatever role that they're playing. Certain actors are famous
(06:17):
for doing stuff like that, like Jaque in Phoenix, I think,
and Lee DiCaprio. And when you're writing a story, it's
kind of similar in that you sort of start. I
started when I was writing the first book, The Hat Diaries.
I was constantly thinking about what would Ryan Rigby be saying, thinking, doing,
And you really do sort of step into the shoes
(06:38):
of your character. So in this situation where I had
three different narrators, it was definitely a bit of a challenge,
and it was the first time I ever wrote a
story like that, So I had to kind of change
my style for each of the chapters where they'd be speaking,
because Ryan would certainly not say the same thing, say
things the same way the Violet, his girlfriend would say things,
(07:00):
and Merlow, who's an older man, he would he would
certainly use expressions like whipper snack for Duggeries or things
that people from margin kids from this generation wouldn't use.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
So, you know, but the thing that I think one
of the attractions of your stories is the one where
it's set in Germany in nineteen forty four. And my
wife asked me, she says, what do you think is
your reasons for.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Being connected to this?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
And I think it's because my mother was from that
era and I don't have anything really to kind of
showcase what she may have gone through as that child,
and so I depend on books such as this, and
I want them simple because I want my mother to
come from a simple life, maybe challenge. But you don't
understand when I'm coming from on this, right.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
No, I'm sure, I'm sure that you're not. And right,
I mean, these books are the stories in the third
book are meant to give a little bit of a
glimpse into history and to what was happening in the
world at that time. So it's meant to have the
reader sort of step into Ryan's shoes and sort of
(08:05):
visualize and feel like they were there.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
How do you think the reader is envisioning Ryan? Because
and maybe I'm sick like that because I always sit
there and I try to inside my imagination, try to
figure out who the narrator is, what they're wearing today.
Are they sipping on coffee or is it a soft drink?
What are they doing are they are they anxious to
get outside with the dog and play. That's the kind
of person I am. I want to know who that
narrator is and what are they doing.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
So when I wrote the book, I wrote the books
in for the very first book, my agent when she
was pitching me to various publishers, she wanted me to
say who I envisioned playing the role of the different
major characters. Yes, And that was because eventually the goal
is for this series to become a screenplay or a
(08:53):
mini series.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
And I don't.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Recall the name of the actors who I had given
her as a because I didn't really know many young
actors for the Ryan character. But I envisioned visually like
sort of like a Harry Patter looking type of kid,
sort of nerdy with glasses. And a few of the
other characters I do have that I had to tell her,
which were for the baseball dad, who I describe in
(09:21):
the first book, I had Bradley Cooper in mind.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Yeah, because I want to meet Bradley Cooper like you
know anyone else, and Jessica Chastain I have envisioned as
the mom because she's supposed to be sort of a
Yogi natural looking I described as strawberry blond hair.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
And for Marlowe, I've envisioning a Dustin Hoffman with a
white right leg.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yes, yeah, wow.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I got to admit to you I've been with Bradley Cooper,
and I mean it was it was one of those
things where my sole job that day was to make
sure that he got from the Ritz car in to
the Charlotte Motor Speedway to promote a movie. And so
therefore when I met him at the at the hotel
elevator and he stepped off and he was a giant
(10:09):
of a man, and all he wanted to do was
talk about football and baseball. And it was like he says,
come on over here, let's let's just sit down and talk.
Let's just sit down and talk. I he won me over.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
You.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
You need to put it in the universe to meet
this man, because you will see that he's.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Just one of us. He's just a guy and he
loves storytelling.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Well, Bradley Cooper, if you are listening you are hired.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Oh my god, you gotta get me in there. Man,
let you Okay, everybody put it in the universe.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
It can't hurt, right.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Where can people go to find out more about you
and what you're doing with words? Because your words allow
people to try their own words on paper, and even
though they crumple it up and throw it away, it
doesn't matter. You moved them to write.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Thank you. That's my That's definitely my goal. So if
they go to my website, which is Nadineharni dot com.
That's Na d I n E h A r u
ni dot com, or on my Instagram and Facebook, I'm
at Adine Harony Books And on my website I have
(11:19):
book trailers for I have the Hat Diary series, I
have my children's series Free to the Frog, and I
also have links for author events if people want me to.
I like going to schools and talking to kids and
getting them excited about reading.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Oh gosh, I love where your heart is. Oh my god,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Well, You've got to come back to this show anytime
in the future. The door is always going to be open.
You were every bit the reason why I created the
YA Author's Channel on iHeartRadio and man, people come to
that because they want to know what you are like
in real life.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for having me as
a guest and I appreciate you you having me on.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
You'd be brilliant today.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Okay, thank you you two
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