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Speaker 1: Hight hear.

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Speaker 2: Hey, good morning you two. How are you doing great?

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Speaker 1: Pretty good?

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Speaker 2: You guys. You have opened a door for so many

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people that are locked up inside their imaginations because they

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don't want to come out and they don't want to

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talk about their doodles or their cartoon characters they're creating.

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But you this book right here is going to be

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that first conversation with somebody in the room or in

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the school, and they're going to collaborate.

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Speaker 1: Oh please, that's wonderful.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, because we're all doodlers. We all do this. And

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the thing is is that if I would have had

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this book when I was a kid, maybe I wouldn't

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have become an author, but rather a cartoonist.

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Speaker 1: We love to hear that, you know. And one thing

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you mentioned that's really important is like just being yourself

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on paper, just expressing yourself. That takes a certain amount

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of courage. And we want to help give courage to

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all those kids with all those stories in them.

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Speaker 2: And I'm that freak that believes in writing instruments or

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epencils with erasers and things. And what this book does

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it introduces or it gives students or young adults that opportunity.

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It doesn't have to be on the computer. Go draw

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on a piece of paper and if it's ugly, who cares?

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Speaker 1: That's right. That's definitely one of our messages.

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Speaker 2: How do you get people to understand that that artwork

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will be judged, but you don't have to let it

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judge you in the way of injuring you. Because isn't

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that what this kind of this book is In a way,

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it introduces people that you can be a part of

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a group.

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Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean, like you know the value of mistakes.

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I mean that's we explicitly we come out and say it.

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You know, go ahead, make some mistakes, be messy, It's okay.

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And that's what our kids learn, especially like one particular

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kid who's who's very talented, but she worries that, oh

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what if I do it wrong? But yeah, there's no

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one right there's no one right way to tell a

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story or draw a picture.

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Speaker 2: And the thing is is that we all know someone

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like McKay and Howard and Linda and Art. We all

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know them. It's just that we don't talk much about

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them except for what are they doing over there?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we've both been that kid, and I think I've

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seen that kid so many times, and they're so interested

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and curious that they don't necessarily have one someone to

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ask them those questions of. So we created a fictional

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world where each of these kids has different questions and

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they have sort of a magical librarian that they're able

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to tap into, and that really reflects what we consider

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the magic of the library and the magic of the

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people that work there.

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Speaker 1: Those are the people.

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Speaker 3: That you can ask questions of and they can help

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you find the answers. So it gets a little realistic.

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Speaker 1: Magical, myth and meta.

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Speaker 3: As the story goes on and as the kids start

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to learn more and more about this medium that we

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so love, we helped them fall in love with the two.

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So a lot of ourselves are in this book, but

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it's really about this journey that kids, the readers can

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go on to you.

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Speaker 2: There's something that happens inside this book that I call popping.

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And the reason why I call it popping in I'm

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a broadcast instructor, and when a student finally understands that

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they've got something, they popped in other words, they changed

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so in huge letters, I'm a comics pro. That's a

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popping moment. Right there. She knows it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, you know when kids ask us how do

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I break into comics? My first answer is, you know what.

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Take out a piece of paper, fold it twice, draw

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the comic on it, print it. You to go copy

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it on a Xerox machine and sell it to a

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friend for twenty five cents. Congratulations, you're a comics pro.

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It's that close. It's not something that's got to take

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ten years. You just go out do it. Maybe put

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it on social media, but you don't have to wait.

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Don't wait, just make it, share it and see what happens.

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Speaker 2: My good son learned how to read thanks thanks to

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graphic novels such as this. And so when I see

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something like this and I see that, you know that

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you will allow the picture to have its own words.

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And then you put in just just a little bit

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of a word and it tells the story. It's it's

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not like a book that sometimes will just scare the

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heck out of students, But this right here is an invitation.

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Speaker 3: There's a type of kid, and I was that type

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of kid where the words in the pictures together can

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just tell a story in a different way. You really

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retain some of that information differently. And I've seen it

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over and over again where a kid who didn't think

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that they were a writer read the comic book and

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then the next thing, you know, they can't stop writing, right,

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they're just writing comics. Yeah, but it's still a form

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of storytelling, it's still a form of expression. It's so

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many things, and so just encouraging more kids to become

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creatives has just been so rewarding to see.

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Speaker 2: The name of the book, The Cartoonist Club. We'll be

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back with Raina and Scott coming up next. Hey, thanks

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for coming back to my conversation with Raina and Scott.

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The Cartoonist Club. You put focus on time and and

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and that's that's very important because a lot of people

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think that if it doesn't happen in five minutes, well

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then I must be a failure. But I mean, you

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you really do. There's a there's a box here that

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really puts focus on connecting with each and every moment.

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People don't understand that, but they will.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And the way that comics handles moments is

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like no other art form. You know, like when you

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put two pictures next to each other and you're you're

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actually telling the reader This is not just two pictures separately.

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This is this is one moment and then the next moment.

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And what's really magical is that in the course of

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the story, the kids actually learn about comics. As they're

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in a comic, they become aware that they're in a comic,

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and they're able to comment on that stuff. And yet

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you never break the spell that these are real people.

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And that's that's I think something that kids especially are

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in tuned to the idea that they can know that

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they're drawings but also see them as people all at

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the same time.

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Speaker 2: Did either of you have the same moment let that

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Linda did in the way that she likes the story

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and she likes the art, but she feels kind of frumpy.

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She's not really confident in that moment.

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Speaker 3: I was that kid once upon a time. I loved

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to draw and I love to write, but I didn't

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want to share my stories with other people because I

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didn't think they were good enough. And I was just

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waiting for that magical moment to occur. And suddenly I.

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Speaker 1: Had the confidence.

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Speaker 3: But all I had to do was show people what

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I was doing, and they'd go, Wow, you're really good

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at art, and i'd be like, oh okay. So as

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I opened up and let people in, it was that

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kind of transformation where I felt more confident in myself

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and more secure about letting people see my work. So

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that's a journey I'm real familiar with.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, just being yourself takes courage. Being yourself on paper

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takes courage too. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I can still relate with that because I wrote a

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book in the eleventh grade and people thought I was

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just a freak and I was doing it just to

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stay in school. And the thing is though, it was

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finally published thirty two years later because I got the

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confidence to take it from out of the box and

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make it work.

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Speaker 1: Wow, that's a victory. Yeah, congratulations.

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Speaker 2: So with a book like this, how do you take

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it to the students and now let's teach them. Do

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you go to the art student, do you go to

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the English teacher, the creative writing teacher? How do we

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activate this book?

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Speaker 3: Now? We actually have a companion to the book that

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is online. It's like a digital kit that you can

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download that has activities and it has suggestions for if

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you want to create your own cartoonists club at your

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school or library or just at home. You can we

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want this to be sort of a starter. The book

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is a starter, and then the kit is the second

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piece of that puzzle. But I think the final piece

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of the puzzle is when our readers make stories themselves. Yes, yeah,

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and so it's it's part of a journey.

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Speaker 1: And I got to say, or you know, like the

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energy is out there. Yeah, like this is not like

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this is you can't push a string. You know, these

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kids already they are so close for telling their stories.

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There there are so many kids friends who are so

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close to forming a club and doing it together. All

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we're doing is just where It's like all we need

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is a pilot light, you know, and this and this

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whole scene is just going to go from all over

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the country.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. My wife has used it as a tutoring tool

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when she's with her young students. What she does is

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she lets them read a few pages and then she says,

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now you be one of their friends, and you add

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your part to being a cartoonist and so and so

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you should see them once again. Another moment of popping.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I love that bing Wow.

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Speaker 2: So where can people go to find out more about

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everything that you guys are involved in?

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Speaker 3: There's a few places Golastic dot com, slash Read with Reina,

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that where you can find the downloadable kit, which is free.

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It's where you can see our tour schedule, where you

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can buy some of my books, and also pretty much

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anywhere online. My Webitchoorina dot com just my first name

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with the word go in front of it, and I'm

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on all social media, so yeah, you can kind of

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follow us everywhere.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and you can find me on scottmcloud dot com

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and also I'm Scott McLeod on Blue Sky as well.

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Speaker 2: I got to tell you. You mentioned the word Scholastic, and

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right away I'm going, oh my god. Those were the

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books that we dreamed about when I was in elementary

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school because the quality is always there. This is a

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book that you're going to hold onto forever, we sure hope.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, yes, indeed, although we hope it'll be nice

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and damage from all the time. Your Breddit, we like

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it when the spine is splitting.

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Speaker 3: That's our favorite.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, a pristine book just doesn't do it for me.

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I've got to have something that you've you've put your

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fingerprints somehow, maybe you hadn't mustard on your finger or something.

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It's like, yeah, there's some history. Well, please come back

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to this show anytime in the future. The door is

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always going to be open for you.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much.

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Speaker 2: Will you guys be brilliant today?

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Speaker 1: Okay you Cao, thank you, you too.