Latest / Raising Daughters / How to Support Children’s Artistic Abilities

Transcript

How to Support Children’s Artistic Abilities · Raising Daughters

• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Hey, folks, Doctor Tim Jordan back here with you with
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the brand new podcast for Raising Daughters. I really appreciate
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: you guys stopping by every week and listening in now.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: As you know I have, I have lots of topics
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: I cover that have to do with with kids, primarily
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: girls raising girls. What's going on for girls? I just
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: had coffee an hour ago with two young women who
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: are in the middle of college years, and oh gosh,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: there's I'm gonna have them on and one more girl
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: sometime in the next few weeks because it's fascinating to
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: hear what's going on for them. I'm gonna switch gears
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: a bit today. And I have two two women who
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: are going to be my guest today who who wrote
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: a children's book and uh, they contacted me and they
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: their publisher did and they sent to me and I
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: because I don't often do this, but I love the book.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: It's so sweet and I can't wait to use this
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: book at our summer camp this summer. The first week
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: this summer, we'll have some girls who are in fourth
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: to sixth grade and then middle schoolers. And as you
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: all know from listening to my podcast, I love stories
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: and this was a good one. I love the illustrations.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: It's just a really nice book to read. I'm going
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: to take it on vacation next week. I have all
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: five for my grandkids are meeting my wife and I
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: on vacation, so this is going to be a brand
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: new book for me to read to them. So I
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: want to welcome Rebecca A ton of Siva that I
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: say it right, and a Lissa Hanson. Rebecca is the
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: author of the book and Alyssa is the illustrator, and
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: their book is called George the Mouse in a Log
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Pile House. So, first and foremost, thank you all so
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: much for being here today. I really appreciate you coming
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: on and doing this.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having us.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Thanks.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'm curious. I'm curious because all of us
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: have stories. You guys are storytellers, but all of us
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: have stories about how we got to where we're doing
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: what we do. So I'm curious about you all's path
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: to becoming children's book authors and illustrators.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Do you want to go first?
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: I could? I could go first.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: This is Alissa.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Yes, this is Alyssa. When you ask that question, of course,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: I go back to members of childhood and being immersed
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: in beautiful books and just thinking like an artist from
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: a young age and being very curious and drawing, and
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: so over the years that just grew and was very
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: much encouraged in my home, being creative, being an artist,
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: exploring that side of myself. So I studied art in college,
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: and I had always been interested in illustrating a book.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: It just didn't happen.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: There were.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: Almost happened, and then this book came along. I guess
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: at the right time. I had already been following Simon
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: Dell's photography of George the Mouse online and in my
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: spare time for fun, just pure fun, I would sketch
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: some of his photos of mice interacting with adorable miniature
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: props that Simon makes. He has a whole village that
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: he built and wild mice live in it. It's just fun.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: So at one point I shared with him and thanked
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: him for what he's putting out there that brings people joy.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: And we started communicating and collaborating in certain ways too.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: And he wanted a children's book to happen. That was
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: a dream of his, and his humble wish was really
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: for his grandchildren. And sometimes you'll see his grandchildren come
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: to the village and it's too cute. If Oh, that
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: would have been so much fun as a little kid.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: I can't imagine that experience.
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: So having a grandfather who has been an intricate little
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: cottage cottagey village.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: In mice, yes we don't all have, yeah.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: We don't.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: So so I was you know, that project kind of
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: came to me just over time. And then I had
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: known Rebecca through the homeschool community. We're both going to
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: the same co op at the time, and she hadn't
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: told me she was a writer. Apparently she was a writer,
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: and this was a secret from me. So yeah, one
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: day she brought up a project, one of her books
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: that she had been working on, and I'll just let
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: her chime in there.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Well, I started.
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: I was always writing something, and my dad always wrote things,
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: and my grandfather was a magazine editor, so you know,
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: it was always this idea that you know, my dad wanted,
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: was always talking about writing the Great American novel and
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: different things, and he wrote screenplays, and so I just
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: would write things. And I before I realized I was
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: getting like little awards for creative writing.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm not I'm not doing anything exciting.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: I'm just writing down woods in my head and they're like, no,
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: that's the point.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, okay, I guess that's so.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: When my older children were born, I was just so inspired.
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: I was inspired by all the wonderful discoveries they were making,
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: and I would just sit and and write at my
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: desk and for hours sometimes just capturing just the ordinary
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: moments in their day. That just felt really magical because
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: I was seeing them through their eyes. And so I
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: started writing them and I would send the manuscripts out
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: and I had a few that were almost published, but
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: something would happen, like the small publisher might run out
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: of funding or something like this. The larger publishers were like, oh,
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: we just bought a manuscript on this subject.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: You just missed.
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: So I, you know, I then got busy, you know,
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: parenting and doing you know, the everyday life thing, and
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: just put like all of my manuscripts.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: I mean I had over fifty I think at the time,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: and just kind of set them on the shelf. And then.
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: My older sister, she was, you know, is nearing retirement age,
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: and she'd been a kind of a more serious journalist,
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: and she said, I want to do something in our
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: retirement that's kind of whimsical and fun, and let's get
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: into doing publishing children's books. And she said, do you
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: still have those wonderful books that you wrote? And I
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: still had many of the you know, because this was
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: back in the day when I would like print them off.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: They weren't like on a computer somewhere. I'd like type them,
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: you know.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: And so I said, let me check, and I had
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: most of them.
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: And then I was so inspired again because I had,
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: you know, a younger son at home.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: And just the idea of, oh, this could be.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: A thing now, and I just started writing all over again.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: And then we started publishing them and I won an
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: award and then I was like, you know who, I
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: had this manuscript about a garden, Like, you know who
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: would do the best job. It's Alyssa. Alyssa would make
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: this truly beautiful. And so I'm kind of.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: You know, hesitant. I don't like to approach people or
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: infringe or those things.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: But I was just like, felt this push reach out
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: to her and ask her, and so I didn't. She said,
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: that's so funny, because like three days ago, so I
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: just got this George George the Mouse Project, and we're
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: looking for an author and I said, okay, I have
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: a test m hm, and see if you guys like it.
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: And you know, three plus years later, here we are
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: with our finished book.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: The rest is history. Yes, So we're talking with Rebecca A.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Tatasova and Alyssa Hansen, who are the authors and illustrators
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: of a new children's book called George the Mouse in
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: a Log Pile House. And one of the things I
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: love about both your stories is, first of all, I
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: loved it was about. This was just about passion about
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: who you were. All of you were a creative, your
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: artistic and a lot of kids that gets beaten out
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: of them, or it gets schooled out of them, or
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: sometimes parents don't understand, you know, the artsy kind of kids.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Sometimes the educational system doesn't appreciate them. So I think
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: we lose a lot of artists. And I'm really glad
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: that you guys were encouraged. What before we talk about
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: your book, what's what's the one thing that you think
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: your parents did best that kept you going or encouraged
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: you or supported you.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Oh gosh, I so you make a good point, And
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: I didn't realize that art wasn't encouraged in other people's
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: houses to like just getting older, and maybe I was
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: in college and hearing people say, oh, I would love
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: to have studied art, but my parents said, no, you're not.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: I can't make enough money do it.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: I mean, my mom had wanted to be an art teacher.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: She said she found out she wasn't quite patient enough.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: That could be so, but at home she would draw
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: with me. She would get supplies for us. So I
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: remember a supply cabinet kind of a craft shelf area
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: you can just go in pull stuff out. I think
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: we used a ping pong table as craft area.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Sometimes she would sell I mean, it was just part.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: Of normal life. That Yeah, I didn't really think much
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: about it at the time. And that's what I did
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: with my kids too.
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: I did the same thing, although I'm not, as you know,
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: artistically inclined in that way. I've just tried to give
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: my kids access to as many of these things and
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: these resources and these examples. Read all of the best books, read,
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: you know, show the beautiful illustrations, take them to museums,
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: spend time writing, even before they can write themselves. I
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: would have them tell me a story about this, and
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: I'd write it down for them and we'd like make
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: little books out of them and and you know, do
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: dictations and just kind of encourage whatever they could do
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: where and meet them where they're at.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you're we're both I think we you know, when
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: we were children, but also with our own what we're
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: doing is encouraging curiosity, not saying, Okay, we are going
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: to do this project and this is what it's going
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: to look like. No, No, let's explore, let's get the
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: watercolors out, let's get.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Fabric out and be curious and what does that look like?
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: And luckily children are naturally curious. This is going to
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: sound too harsh, but if we just get out of
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: their way, a lot of times they especially if they're
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: doing it like you guys were allowed to do it.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: You didn't do it for a grade, you didn't do
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: it for an award. You didn't do it because you
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: had to. He did it because you just love to
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: do it. And I think that's when that's when all
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: of our best stuff comes out much less kids.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: And when I I do teach adults and kids how
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: to draw, and when I teach I love and one
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: of my goals is to get that adult back into
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: that state of remembering what it's like to have fun
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: and welcoming mistakes. Let's make messes, let's laugh. If it
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: turns out horribly, why not laugh and just be playful again.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: And to see the joy on people's faces when they
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: haven't done it for years because they were nervous and
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: scared to approach art and then they're having fun and
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: they're playing and they're laughing. That brings me so much joy.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I recorded a podcast, Oh, I guess it was
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: last week. The title is Everything I Really needed to know.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: I learned in a sandbox kind of like what you're saying, saying,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: you know, it wasn't when someone was teaching us. It
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: wasn't necessarily when someone in structured play. Was when more
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: like unstructured times when we were free to choose, We
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: had the autonomy to do our thing, trust our gut,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. And I think that's what
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: you're saying with your with your artwork, but both of you,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: your parents, and I think with your own children, sounds
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: like you're doing the same. You're saying, here's stuff, go
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: for it, create it, leave it.
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: Free, leave it you know the res is available and
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: just watch them create. And they need that time to
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: be kind of bored and not have all the answers
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: given to them and not have to not have something
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: scheduled every minute, not be entertained or not be entertained,
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: because boredom is the place where ideas start to sprout
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: and grow, and they need that chance to be bored
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: and then have things available.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, I can go build a stick forard er, I
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: can go. Do you know. They'll come up with it themselves.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: And they just need the access and the opportunity.
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: And I think, like you said a few minutes ago,
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: sometimes we just need to step back and get out
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: of the way and give them, give them the gift
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: of this unstructured time, this opportunity to figure out themselves.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: I'm talking with Rebecca a Ton of Sova and Alyssa Hansen,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: who are the authors of a new book that would
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: encourage all of you to go and get for your kids.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: It's called George the Mouse in a Log Pile House.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: One of the things I liked most about your book
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: was there a lot of lessons in there that about inclusion, acceptance,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: following your whiskers, and trusting your gut and building community,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: all kinds of things LISTA I got out the book.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Maybe that's just my imagination, but I'm curious about when
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: you started illustrating and writing. Was that your intent that
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: you were going to make this a book to head
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: a lot of important life lessons sort of yes, hidden
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: in a story.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: One hundred percent. I was you've used the word inclusion.
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: One of my jobs I worked in special education and
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: in life skills, and one of my jobs that I
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: had in that arena was called inclusion specialist. And I
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: would partner with kids who maybe needed a little bit
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: of support, and I would you know, in parks and
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: rec situation, after school care, those kinds of things, and
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: I was kind of their encourage, encouragement partner. So I
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: wanted to make sure we built inclusion.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: You're a little.
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: Different, Okay, he's a human, he's a mouse, it doesn't matter.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: You're welcome. You know, we can reach out, we can
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: bridge divides, we can So that was one of the messages.
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: And following your whiskers, following your heart, following your intuition.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: That's kind of what led me into the project with Alyssa.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: That's something that we all need to just be still
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: enough to recognize that sometimes you know you'll find your way,
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: you'll find where you belong.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: You just have to follow, follow your heart. Yeah, and
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: trust yourself, don't That's one thing I I'm just realizing,
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: Like do you get from those experiences we're talking about
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: of letting kids explore, letting them lead in those activities,
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: because they're starting to practice trusting themselves. Oh, I can
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: do this, or at least I can try this, and
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: if I make a mistake, that's fine, I'm going to
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: try it again. So then you do learn to listen, explore,
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: not to be afraid of your own ideas, those little nudges.
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: It reminded me of this other book I wrote called
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: all pencils have erasers because everyone makes mistakes. And I
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: used to say that to my kids all the time.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: My daughter's thirty now, and every once in a while
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: I'll be like, all pencils have what.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: It's okay.
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: We were all we were all in the same situation.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: We've all made mistakes, and that's all right.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: I told my kids, I hope you made mistakes. If
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: you're not, you're not something's not going.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: But one of the one of the quote unquote mistakes
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: I think parents, adults, teachers make, is it. I don't
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: think we've we teach our kids how to check in
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: with themselves, like when that little alarm goes off on
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: the inside, like this says what you mad? You know?
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Is this the right thing? Is it wrong? What am
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: I feeling inside? In order to trust your gut, you
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: have to be able to access your gut or your
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: intuition or whatever you want to call it. I don't
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: think we each kids enough to slow down, get quiet,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: check in. What's it saying?
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: You know?
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: I would agree with that, that's totally right. I mean
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: I talked to my kids about that, that importance of quiet.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: So I had the whole art show a couple of
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: summers ago and the title was Stillness because I want
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: I wanted people to remember that feeling and I find
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: it so necessary. So I'll go outside of my studio
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: in the mornings. I have a couple of chairs. I
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: get up early, and I just want to sit and
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: just be and make space in the early morning to
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: listen to.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Just our whole day can be rushed.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: And yeah, you don't people don't realize. I think that
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: that's missing and that's unfortunate.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's and there's a lot of the natural world
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: quote unquote nature in your book.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: And it's important of both of them. It's really important
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: to both of us.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: I just grew up running around my yard in northern
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: Missouri and going out and the pond was, you know,
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: a magical place, and the strawberry patch, and you know,
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: all of these things get woven into to what we
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: do and how we see the world. And I think
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: we need that time to just be out in nature
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: to make discoveries so the next generation of dreamers and
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: thinkers can develop. If we're all always consuming other people's content,
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: we're not thinking and creating for ourself. And I think
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: that we need to strengthen those muscles of you know,
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: coming up with our own ideas and being out in
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: nature is a great inspiration and it's very calming and
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: very grounding and beautiful and interesting and worth the time.
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: And you don't have to do anything grand. It's not
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: like some you don't have to spend a lot of money.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: It doesn't have to be grand. It's just a way
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: of looking at the world and you could take seconds
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: or minutes or and I think that's something we can
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: cultivate in children is how to just step outside, walk
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: to the grocery store. You're looking at the squirrels and
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: the nests and the you know, encourage that wonder, encourage
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: that curiosity.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: And so we have to slow down and teach kids
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: and ourselves to savor the moments, to notice the moments.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: I think that's another place where we're also busy, and
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: we have our phones out and all those things we
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: hear about so much, But it's true. I think I
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: think a lot of us aren't in the present moment
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: enough with our kids, especially out in the in the
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: natural world. We're talking about George the mouse in a
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: log pile house, and there's a lot of natural stuff,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: and there's also a farmer who has who says some
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: really really important things about inclusion, about making room for
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: everyone and everyone is welcome. Talk about why that was
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: important to you to have that in the book.
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: I just sometimes people feel like they don't fit in,
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: or kids don't don't have like friendships, or they aren't
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: sure where they belong, or even grown ups like maybe
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: they don't feel so connected with their family or have
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: a place where they feel like it's home. And you
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: can create that for yourself. And I think it's important
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: to recognize people have those feelings and to make sure
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: they feel welcome. And that's why we put the little
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: welcome sign on the village, you know, where kindness grows
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: and everyone's welcome, because.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: That's the kind of world we want to see. So
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: we made it.
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: We made the kind of world that we want to
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: live in that we want to see that we want
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: to encourage in children to be a participant in.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: And I think about too, with social media, people seeing
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: I don't know, maybe they're looking for connections outside of
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: their community, like I'm worthy if this or that. And
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: I want to show too that your value can be
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: in being a really good friend, a good neighbor. That's
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: very important and I want those I was to say
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: human connections. I mean they're mice mostly in the book,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: but I want to show those are valuable, meaningful.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. We're talking to Rebecca Atanasova and Alyssa Hansen,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: who are the authors of a new children's book called
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: George the Mouse in a Log Pile House. I'm just
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: one of the things I like the most about your
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: book is that I love all the lessons, but they're
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: not like lessons like in school where you don't know.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: It's like they're hidden in there, like you wouldn't know
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: that they're there, but they're that. It flows all those
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: things about inclusion and valuing each person and including everybody
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: and following your whiskers, all that is just sort of
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: woven into a very sweet story. And I like the
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: fact that you're not being them over there with it.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you that I tried really hard to.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: Just make it, like you say, weave it in there
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: so that it's there for the picking and not super obvious,
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: but it can touch your heart and maybe you know,
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: sink into your mind a little bit, like you say,
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: without being get over the head with it.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: Yes, I think it reflects Simon his nature and he
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: in the book is called mister Potographer, yeah because mice
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: can't seem.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: To pronounce photographer.
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: But he is this gentle kind, humble soul who has
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: created this beautiful little universe to share and bring joy,
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: and it makes it just makes him feel special when
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: his fans will reach out and say how much. Maybe
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: they're having a bad day and seeing his photos just
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: made the day a little better, And that means so
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: much to him, and we've both thankfully been able to
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: go to England and meet him.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: And see the village.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's just he's a wonderful, wonderful person.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: I would love to I'd love to have my grandkids visit.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: The inspiration for everything.
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: And the way we could, we could write about it
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: because it exists. He is this person and this village
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: is a place. And then we worked in a few,
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: you know, coordinating lessons and some whimsy and this is
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: beautiful illustrations.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: So I wouldn't I wouldn't be doing my due deligence
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: unless before we leave today to ask you what's next.
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: Well, if if George the Mouse in a Log Pile
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: House is well received, I've already written the next eight
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: books and.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: A series for it.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah, So that'll keep Alyssa busy for a while, as
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: it will. And we have a mouse newspaper that I've
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: written that Alyssa makes look like a real tiny newspaper,
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: and we share sometimes. I prepared over one hundred they
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: call them treatments of stories and Adventures of George the
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: Mouse in a Log Pile House, with these kinds of lessons,
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: and I actually think it would make a really beautiful
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: and meaningful animated series if the right person were to,
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: you know, partner with us. So, I mean, we have
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: big dreams, big ideas, and we'll just see how it unfolds.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds like Alyssa's ping pong tables not gonna
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: be able to be used for ping pong for a while.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: Well that ping pong table is long gone from my childhood.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I have a nice dirty desk I will
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: work on in my studio for all of these illustrations.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you both for coming on today. I really appreciate, didn't.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: I hope people will go out to the store or
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: look online for the book George the Mouse in a.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Log Pile House, and online if they go to George
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: themousebooks dot com, that will talk it talks about the book,
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: it shows photos of the real village. It's a great
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: resource to start with, and then you can buy the
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: book online. But we are also encouraging inviting people to
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: go to their favorite local bookstore and ask if they
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: would carry it for them.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Well I would. I'm not just saying this because you're
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: on my show, but I would buy the physical book
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: because the pictures are so beautiful. I think I don't
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: think it'd be the same as if you see it online.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: May maybe I share it?
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, thank you.
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: Definitely the and the hardback is even more beautiful than
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: the paperback. I mean, they're both beautiful, but there's something
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: nice about holding.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: A hard come.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, you know that that feeling. But they're both.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: They're both beautiful, and.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: The site would be George theomousebooks dot com, Yes, dot com. Okay,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: I'll put them by the way people were listening, I
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: will put that in in my show notes because some
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: of you are probably driving or walking and don't have
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: the ability to write that down so you don't have
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: to pull the car over. Thank you so much for
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: coming on uh raising dollars. I really appreciate your time
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: and also in what you're doing.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you again.
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: You having us and and and your work seems very
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: valuable and an important service to to to youth of today.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Yes, I agree, Okay, well that was fun. I really
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: I really do like the book. I didn't just say
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: that because I was talking to them and they were
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: on but so it's a George the Mouse and log
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Pile House. It's always good in my mind to have
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: books like that to read to your kids or your grandkids.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Were besides it being a fun cute book, because it
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: also has some lessons that you can then ask your
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: kids about after after you've done after you're done reading it,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: and then to refer back to as well. I will
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: put a link to their site that they gave gave
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: me a little bit ago on my show notes. So
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: just go to www dot d r Tim Jordan dot
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: com uh and and look look up onto the podcasts
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: and then look on this podcast which is George the
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Mouse Podcast and then you'll find those links. I appreciate
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: you stopping by. I do I really would encourage you
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: to get like the physical book that the drawings, the
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: illustrations are beautiful, that they really look natural and they're
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: really awesome, so I think it'd be worth it. If
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: you don't believe me, then go to the library and
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: check out the book. But I would I would encourage
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: you to get like the real live book instead of
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: a digital one. I will be back here as always
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: in a week with a brand new podcast, and thanks
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: so much as always, firstpping but
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: O