Latest / Parent's Talk with Francine Juhlin / Episode 2: Mystic India for Kids Series _ Connecting Children to Their Roots _ Author Interview

Transcript

Episode 2: Mystic India for Kids Series _ Connecting Children to Their Roots _ Author Interview · Parent's Talk with Francine Juhlin

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: My books, like though they are grounded in mythology and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Indian mythology, I also like basically use it as a
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: medium of teaching children that one, being connected to your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: own roots and it helps you be more grounded, more
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: understand where you come from, but also helps you understand
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: that no matter which culture or where you come from,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the values or the value system, the things like respect
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and kindness and sharing, it's common, doesn't matter where you
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: come from and you're all part of the same value
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: system that way.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Hello, welcome to Parents Talk. Today I am with Preeti.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: who is a member of Children's Authors Unite, the children's
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: book authors group that I founded.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: And we have come together and.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: We did eight hours of live programming on YouTube, on Facebook,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: on LinkedIn, and I think we may have even been
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: on X. We stream to every channel we could possibly
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: stream to. Catch the replay. But for now, I want
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: to introduce you to Preeti and who, avoid butchering her
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: last name, I'm going to let her introduce herself.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: Preeti.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Francine. So I'm Preeti Balasubramanian, and I basically
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: came into writing children's books quite recently, only about a
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: year or so since I've been writing children's books.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: And my.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Current series, which is called The Mystic India for Kids,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: is based on Indian Hindu mythology. And they are stories
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: I grew up listening from my own parents and grandparents
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: growing up. And I initially started telling these stories verbally
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to my own daughter as bedtime stories. And from there,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: when she wanted to see how some of these characters
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: looked or how did this person look or things, that's
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: when I created them and wrote and created pictures on
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Canva and drew out some of them and It was
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: initially a PDF book that I printed out for her.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: And from there, some of her friends and my friends
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: saw it and liked it. And that's when it became
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a book that got published. And so now I have
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: about six books in the series. And the initial few
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: books are more retelling of the mythology, but also with
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: reflection questions and points that parents and teachers can ask
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the children to relate to their current world, modern world scenarios.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: And then the next set of three or the last
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: two or three books are more. They have two versions
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: of the story. One is the original story retold, but
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: also another parallel story where they use the values or
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: use the skills that they've learned from the mythology story,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: but then how a particular kid is using it in
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the classroom or in the park kind of a scenario.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: So it makes it more relatable to them.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: So your stories are all about Indian culture and I
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: love learning about different cultures.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: So can you.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Tell us, for those of us who really don't know
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: a lot about Indian culture and about your mythology, can
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: you tell us a little bit about the first story
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: you wrote about for your daughter?
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: Or was it your son? My daughter. Your daughter. Okay,
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: your daughter.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I met your son because your son is also an
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: author in his own right. And he's a member of
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Children's Authors Unite. You could catch him on the replay too,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: mother and son together. But the story you wrote for
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: your daughter, can you give us a little taste of
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: what that story is like for the people who have
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: no idea what Indian mythology is all about?
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: The initial book, the first one was based on like
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Lord Krishna. So that's a Hindu God. And he's known
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: to be a God who is, like a child God,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: a little kid. And then like through the story, he
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: grows up and like he's a very mischievous kind of kid.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, through his mischief and things,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: he also helps other people, shows kindness, like brings the
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: whole community together and things like that. That's what that
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: God as a kid does. And so those things are
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: like very relatable to kids these days also, because it
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: also includes like a small kid playing pranks with other
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: kids or like and though it's playing pranks but then
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: they also then learn how to you know teamwork do
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: something together with other kids and also sometimes it's pranks
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: but then A prank to help somebody, somebody, somebody with
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: something or things like that. So and also he's kind
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: of a cowherd boy. So he also teaches about like
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: being friendly with animals. And so it has a lot
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: of different aspects, a lot of different aspects. values uh
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: in the story and most of my other stories are
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: also like that so that was one and then there's
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: another one about ganesha which is the elephant-faced god so
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: i think from there also like there is um another
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: small offshoot story that i did write as part of
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: another anthology which is about ganesha is also his even
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: among gods, a god with an elephant face was not
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: a normal thing, right? So he was that different kid.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Like today kids know, like sometimes they feel like, oh,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: I am the odd one in the class. So he
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: was that different kid among the group of gods. But
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: then how he used his difference to actually help people
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: and support them. And he used his elephant trunk, his strength,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: his big ears to listen better, things like that. And today,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: like Ganesha is for Hindus, Ganesha is the God who
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: is seen as a rumor of obstacles and not as
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: somebody who's different. Right. So it's like how you use
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: your uniqueness, your difference as a strength instead of looking
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: at it as a drawback. So there are like small
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: value lessons like that and. There's this other book, which
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: is more about the nine different forms of Shakti or
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Shakti basically means courage. So nine different gods, different forms
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: of goddess Shakti. And that is more also like for
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: I would say like for little girls, it's more like
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: female empowerment because each of those forms is one is kindness,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: one is strength, one is standing up for what's right.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: So each form is. that picks up certain value or
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: a certain strength. And that again, like I have the
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: original story and a story, parallel story where a girl
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: actually uses it to say, stand up to a bully
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: in class or support another friend in the playground. So
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: that's kind of how my stories have come about.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: I think I was channeling the Hindu gods when I
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: wrote my Camp Confidence series.
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: They're just very, very similar. Ganesha, is that the name
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: of the elephant?
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Ganesha.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: I have that statue in my bathroom. I love it.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: And Ganesha is probably my spirit animal or my spirit god.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: And that is what.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Let Your Sparkle Shine is all about. Let Your Sparkle
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Shine is celebrates what's different with each child at Camp Confidence.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: It's like the elephant face makes her different, and she
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: learns how to celebrate her.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: Differences as strengths.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: That's exactly what happens in Let Your Sparkle Shine. Each
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: child learns that what makes them different is what makes
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: them sparkle. So can you give us some examples about
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: how that lesson is taught?
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's the book, The Ganesh Hour.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh. I'm going to have to buy this book.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: Is it on Amazon?
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Yes, it is. It's on Amazon. It's on Barnes & Noble. Awesome.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: I just, like I said, I collect elephants.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: This is coming into my collection.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: So actually, I don't know if you know, but there's
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: a story behind how he even got his help and head.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Because so basically, Ganesha was created or born with a
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: normal looking head like a human. So he was tasked
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: by his mother to protect the house, guard her place
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: when she wanted to go in and take a bath
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: and didn't want anybody disturbing her or anybody walking in.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: So he was there guarding the entrance and Lord Shiva,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: his father. The way Ganesha was created is Parvati, his mother,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: creates him out as a part of her spirit, as
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: a part of her soul. So when Shiva comes, he
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: doesn't still know that this is his son. and he
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: doesn't know this is his dad so he tries to
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: stop him from entering the house because he wants to
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: protect his mother because that's what she's asked him to
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: do So, and in the process of that, Shiva gets angry,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: they get into a quarrel, and he actually beheads him,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: because he thinks there's somebody who's stopping him from entering
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: his own house. And like, and then like, when the
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: all the commotion, like, the mother Parvati, she walks out,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: and then she realizes what happened. And she's all heartbroken.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: And then Shiva realizes what he's done, the mistake he's done.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: And that's when they are like, okay, so we have
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: to do something, we have to bring this kid back
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: to life. And that's how they look for and the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: elephant is the first animal they come across. So they
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: get that elephant's head, put it on this boy's body form,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: and then re-give him life so that's kind of how
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: he gets his elephant head so even that very first
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: way why he becomes Ganesha or the one with the
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: elephant head like even though that is like sadness and
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: a kind of you may think a bad start to
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: a story but then that even that gives you a
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: lesson that also that like even when things go wrong
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: even when something is bad there can be new beginnings
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: and new good things that come out.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: Of it I love that lesson probably more than anything.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: That's actually the first story in this.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: That lesson is just so important because a lot of
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: people think when things go wrong, they fail.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: You don't fail, you learn. Yes.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and this also has small puzzles that they can solve.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: Oh, how cool.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: And has like coloring pages that they can color that's
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: my daughter she's colored some of it yeah this is
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: her copy of the book so there are like coloring
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: pages that they can color.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: That just shows that your own daughter likes your.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Book no and like small small things right like so
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: the mouse mouse is uh uh supposed to be ganesha's
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: vehicle or his mode of communication transportation is the mouse
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: and there again it's like something as small as a
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: mouse you may wonder like how can it lift somebody
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: with an elephant face and an elephant right so there
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: again there's like this story that it doesn't matter like
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: how big or small you are that doesn't determine your
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: strength your true strength is what is within you i'm i'm.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: On amazon right now trying to find the book.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: This is the shakti book i told you about.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: All right, I just bought your book.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you. And this is the Shakti book I told
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: you about. The other one, which is, like, talks about
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: the nine forms of the goddess. And this is, like.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: This has... So, basically, this one, like, the first one
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: is being, like, steadfast, determined if you have a particular
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: ambition or goal or something, you're passionate to it, like, how...
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: You have to be like steadfast and work towards it.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: There is this other goddess, the second one, which is
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: all about being patient, patience and devotion. The third one
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: is about standing up to your own fears kind of thing.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: And the next one is about kindness and bringing smiles
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: and joy to everybody. And then there is one which
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: is more like the motherly love and affection, the protection
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: kind of thing that comes from a mother's love. Then
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: there is another one where she's a warrior who stands
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: up for justice, like anything bad happening to people, so
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: she stands up for them. And then there is one
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: which talks about the radiance of peace, being at peace,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: being at peace with yourself. And then there is this
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: god of wisdom, so all the learnings and wisdom and knowledge.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: And so these are like the nine days. And this
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: usually is celebrated as Navratri during the month of October
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: or November every year. And this is nine days where
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: you celebrate the nine different forms of the goddess. And
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: on the 10th day, you have like a bigger celebration,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: which culminates with all the learnings from all the nine days.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: And it's basically a day of triumph for all knowledge
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: and wisdom. And for like little kids, right? Like the
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: first time they start learning to write or read. So
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: that 10th day is called Vijaya Dashami or the day
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: of victory. And generally the very first time, it's on
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: that day we have the kids sitting on our lap,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: hold their hand and make them write. So that's the
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: first day they start learning to read and write. Wow.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: So not only is it just, The stories on how
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: to live your life, but then there's actual learning.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: How to write. Yeah.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I don't know any other culture that has that in
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: a religious setting.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: No.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: So like actually every year, this these nine days are observed.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: And for even adults like so for me, I would
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: like leave one of my storybooks or my computer, which
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: I basically use for my work or my trade. And
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: then same with my husband and then the children, they
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: would have like they are. that your school books or
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: like my son is also a pianist or maybe his
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: piano or music books. So we would keep them all
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: in the in front of God, do like a small
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: prayer and then take those books back as a blessing
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: from God. And then so that's kind of saying that.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: You're like renewing your blessings, renewing your knowledge and wisdom
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: with the blessings of God for the rest of the year,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: and then you focus more on your education kind of thing.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: And if there is a kid who is very small
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: and who's just starting the learning reading process, that's the
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: day they sit on their dad's lap or mom's lap
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: and hold their hand and they write for the first time.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: I see.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: So this is for the whole family to celebrate learning.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: I think I'm going to adopt this part of your culture.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: I love that. I love it.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Then again, I think it should be done every day.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: So as authors, and I just bought your book, and
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: of course, I'm going to give you a review. Public
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: service announcement. All authors love reviews. So everybody, please go
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: check out Preeti's books. And I just saw they're on
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Kindle too. So you don't have to spend a lot
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: of money. Get a 99 cent Kindle copy. and then
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: let her know what you think of the story. What
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: is your favorite story of.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: All of all? My favorite story, I would say like
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: I do like the Shakti stories because they are all
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: more female driven also, all female characters. And one is like,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: though there is more goddesses and things like this, I
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: generally feel like with more of the Western folklore or
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: the fairy tale like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and all
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: those kind of stories that we've grown up with, most
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: of those stories talk about a prince or somebody else
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: or a godmother coming and saving you and it Yes,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: they have their own values and they have their own systems.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: But then I also feel like that is not empowering
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: girls or empowering the little girls because it's not teaching
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: them to stand up for themselves or like them doing
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: something themselves to get out of a problem. It's always
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: like you're waiting for somebody to come and save you.
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: Whereas some of these stories are more female driven and
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: it's like you're standing up for yourself or how a
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: woman is.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Like helping other people or doing those things and me
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: as a lady myself and having a daughter I feel
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: like more of these stories should be heard by little
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: girls and they should know that yeah they are not
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: like damsels in distress where somebody else has to come
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: save them but they can save themselves they can do
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: things for themselves.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes. And in Let Your Sparkle Shine, one
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: of the little girls hides her knowledge. She uses big
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: words because she reads a lot and she studies and
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: she's afraid of the kids making fun of her because
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: she's smart. No, girls, let everyone know. Let your sparkle shine.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Yes, definitely.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: But your stories uh resonate with the boys too can
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: you tell us how your son connected with a story
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: or two Yeah.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: So like I said, it's just that one book which
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: is more female driven. But then all these other books,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: the lead character or the main god that is, is
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: our boy. So the Krishna one, as I said, it's
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: all little boys kind of thing. So that is that. Yeah,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Krishna is like a little mischievous boy who does things.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: So that's more on the boy's front. And like all
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: the other books, they're all like, this is also about
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: a prince. So they're all, like I said, because it
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: basically talks about kindness, basically talks about standing up for yourself,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: standing up for somebody else who is weaker than you
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: or standing up for what's right. And it's, being respectful,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: accepting how you are or doesn't matter. Like you said,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: like your differences are what makes you unique, what makes
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: you special. So accepting those things, these things are like,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter what gender you are, a boy or a girl,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: these things apply to everybody. And like some of them
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: apply to you and us as adults.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: I think it does. It applies to everybody. Adults, Children
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: of all ages is what I like to call us.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: Children of all ages.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: True.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: And I honestly believe if parents read our books to
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: their children, they will get as much out of it
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: as we do or as the kids do.
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I do have some reviews and things
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: also which talk about, like, oh, I read this book
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: to my child, but then I also learned something out
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: of it.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, with the Magic Library, that's an introduction to meditation.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: And I had a parent come to me during a
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: networking event and say, you know, I read your book
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: to my son, and now we both take naps together.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: He takes better naps because he learned how to quiet
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: his mind. And then mom gets to take a nap too.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: How great is that.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: For a mother?
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Very true.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Another way, we talked about finding Preeti's books on Amazon
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: and Barnes & Noble. You can also find them on childrensauthorsunite.com.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Check out our website and you can find all of
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: Preeti's books and my books and, well, 16 other children's
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: authors who have all come together to spread the word
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: of children's literacy, positive messaging, and spending time with your kids,
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: positive time where the whole family can learn and grow together.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: So, Preeti. Is there any last words you want to say?
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: So from a little bit of extension of what you
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: just said about spending quality time with children. And that's
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: also another thing I would like to say. And I
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: do say in a few other forums also is like.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: getting children early on interested in reading, getting them hooked
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: to reading is like really good for them in two aspects. One,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: a lot of different books. So they learn a lot
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: of different topics and genres and things like that. But
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: also the more they are glued to books, they are
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: so much staying away from screens, which is a great
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: thing because screens, yes, also does give them information and
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: knowledge sometimes, but then it cuts off their creativity. When
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: they're reading books, they are picturing those things, whatever they're reading,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: they're kind of picturizing how it is or how a
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: character looks or how the scenario looks. And that develops
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: their creativity, their communication. And that's really useful, like not
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: just for reading books, having fun, but then even for
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: them academically, having that creativity, being able to think and
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: create scenes and create imaginary people in their mind is
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: really useful.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: And like I said, everybody else, Preeti's son is also
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: an author. And you know what I'm going to do?
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: I still have Preeti's video. I am going to attach
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: the live event where we showed Preeti and her son
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: in the video. So you can check out Preeti and
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: her son during our live event. And while you're there,
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: check out the other authors who were there that day.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: So that will be attached to this video on YouTube.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: If you're catching this on one of the other many channels,
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: this podcast is aired. You could go to Francine Julien
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: on YouTube and find the live event replay on of
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Children's Authors Unite Book Fair. Preeti, thank you so much
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: for coming today. And I can't wait to get my book.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: I'm going to have an opening and make a video
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: of it and share it.
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: With everybody when I get it. Thank you. Thank you, everybody.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: Come back for more Parents Talk.