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Speaker 1: Hi, Hey, good morning you too. How are you doing

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doing good? How are you absolutely excited to share a

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conversation with you? Because this is it.

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Speaker 2: Man.

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Speaker 1: You actually made me feel like it's a kid again,

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I meanly adult who picked up Oh my god, I've

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got to do these books.

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Speaker 3: That's the best. Puzzles are awesome. Man.

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Speaker 1: Well, you guys are doing something though that which which

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really inspires me in the way that I believe that

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the human brain needs puzzles, and you guys are really

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bringing that forward because we need to exercise that muscle.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. It's so good for your brain to take

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a break like that and challenge it.

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Speaker 1: So now what led to this connection with you know,

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with National Puzzle Day.

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Speaker 2: Well, Jody started National Puzzle Day many years ago, and

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Highlights has been doing puzzles in their books and magazines

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for almost eighty years now, So this collaboration just made sense.

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We know kids love puzzles at Highlights, we know from firsthand,

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and we know how good they are kids' brains, so

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that's why we're passionate about puzzles, and Jody's passion for

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puzzles is contagious. So it just made sense for us

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to do something really cool for a National Puzzle Day.

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Speaker 1: So now do you do? You think it's one of

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those things that will put us in a different place

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when it comes to the mindset, because I'm always sitting

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here watching people in the way that they always seem confused, lost, torn,

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And it's like a book like this puts focus on

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what is right now.

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Speaker 3: That's true.

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Speaker 2: It forces you to, you know, take a break from

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worrying about things and all the other things you have

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to do with your day and just focus on the

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challenge in front of you. And then once you've solved

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the puzzle, you get that satisfaction of solving the puzzle.

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It's like a little boost for your brain.

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Speaker 1: But you know what, what in having all three of

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these books here in front of me, the one thing

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that I worry about is that when I get to

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the end of the third book, it's like, Okay, what's next?

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Will this be a continuation?

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, there's so much more. We have so many

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more books more in the works. We are always thinking

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of new and more challenging ways to do our puzzles,

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so we have many ideas coming. We also have an

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all puzzle magazine, so you could every other month, get

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a book of puzzles in your mailbox, new ones that

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we've come up with or that have been suggested to

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us by kids. So yeah, we're always thinking of new stuff.

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Don't worry, there's more to come.

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Speaker 1: You just brought up the kids, But in a way,

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are you also thinking about those adults too?

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Speaker 2: Secretly, we have put little nods to other generations in

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our brain playbooks. If you look through the puzzles, you'll

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probably notice.

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Speaker 3: We know that grown ups.

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Speaker 2: Are also stealing these books and doing the puzzles themselves,

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and we encourage that, but there's no shame in it.

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So you might notice throughout those little references to retro

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toys and things, and we hope that grown ups see

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that little nod. See.

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Speaker 1: One of the things that inspires me as a broadcaster

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as well as an educator is the fact that you

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help classrooms develop plans so that they can jump on board.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, yeah, there's a You know, there's so much

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benefit to puzzling, even in the classroom.

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Speaker 1: And that to me is what keeps them engaged. And

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and today's society doesn't matter if we're talking about generation

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alpha or beta. I mean, those those young kids need

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to have something to grow with, and I think puzzles

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exercise that opportunity.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a it's you know, you're exercising your brain

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in a fun package. And Jody knows this. She's been

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actually doing school visits all months. So how have your

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interactions with the students been going it?

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Speaker 3: They have been so excited. Yeah, you find out you

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have a puzzle in your backpack, They're like, let's get started.

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Speaker 2: Ye.

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Speaker 3: The thing about puzzles is that we all love them,

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some different levels than others. But when you bring it together,

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you get enthusiastic. You want to share it with your friends.

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It's an opportunity to really engage yourself and your community.

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And that's why Puzzle Day is so very fun.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, and the Highighlight's little motto, it's fun with

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a purpose. We always say that the fun comes first,

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and that's the nice thing about puzzles is like, yes,

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you're learning or using your brand, but they are just fun. Also,

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the fun comes first.

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Speaker 1: One of the things that I love to do with

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puzzles is the fact that I love to what being

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at the grocery store is that I love to have kids,

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do you know put things in the in the bags

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as well the paper bags, because it challenges them to

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put different shapes in different areas and to see their

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smiles when they have filled up a bag just blows

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me away.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's actually you know. One thing we joke about

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it highlights among the staff is that we just see

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puzzles everywhere.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: We spend so much time thinking up new puzzles that

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we're like, oh, that highway system looks like it could

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be a maze, or like you said, putting the groceries

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in the bag is almost like a lotch of puzzles.

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So their puzzles are everywhere.

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Speaker 1: Now, Jody, what are you experiencing in the schools in

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the way of you know, you know, like like I

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just said about how kids are enlightened and how they

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feel like that they've accomplished something. I mean that's going

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to make you feel fantas I think about what you've

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done here.

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Speaker 3: You know, I am so delighted and humbled about Puzzle

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Day and what it does for the kids. The thing

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that we see as adults is we see analog hobbies

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coming to be a trend. That really is something you

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see in those classrooms where the pen hits the paper

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the pencil hits the paper, and these kids are like,

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oh my goodness, let's try this, let's look for this.

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When I was at my last school presentation, we were

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all looking for a frying pan from one of us

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activity things because we couldn't find it anywhere, and we

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finally found this, thankfully, because we couldn't leave without that.

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But what was so great was is they were engaged,

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they were excited, and they got a chance to be

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smarter without even recognizing that they're learning, that they're being

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provided knowledge, and they're smiling. And I think that combination,

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while you know, you can use all sorts of fancy words,

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it's just amazing. It really brings out the best puzzles are.

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And if you don't like one puzzle, let's say a

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child doesn't like one puzzle, there's nine hundred more to try,

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so you can actually challenge a child, challenge a community

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with different puzzles, and puzzles have gone two point zero.

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I mean, let's be honest. We have puzzle competitions everywhere,

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and those are the ways that we're bringing new people

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to the puzzle world. And of course you think to yourself, okay,

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well we have all these different puzzles. I'm not much

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of a puzzle person, or I'm too much of a

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puzzle person. There's just no such thing. Puzzles are Puzzles

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are puzzles, and they touch all of us, whether that's

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the LA traffic and we're trying to get around on

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the freeway, or if we're walking and we're trying to

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get into a building and we have to go around

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a fence and a this and a that, and it's amaze.

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So it really is part of our life. And I

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can't be more excited to see that on puzzle Day,

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the kids just light up. It's so amazing.

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Speaker 1: I would love to put this on a coffee table

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and see how many adults pick it up like they

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used to do when we would run to the dentist

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or the doctor's office, because it is an automatic magnet

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to go to a book like this.

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Speaker 3: That's not true.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we encourage that. Absolutely no shame in picking up

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up Kids magazine and doing the puzzles.

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Speaker 1: So now is it a puzzle to create puzzles?

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Speaker 2: Uh? Yes, it is a puzzle to create puzzles too.

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I'm lucky. I mean, Jody is an amazing puzzle writer.

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I'm lucky that I have other editors that I work

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with because we all have our strength. It's very difficult

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for me to write mass puzzles. For example, I'm more

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of a word person, so you know, we it is

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a puzzle putting together puzzles.

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Speaker 1: But it's got to be inspiring for you guys to

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see that people are putting their hands on a physical

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book instead of something that is sitting inside a smartphone.

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Speaker 3: Yes, definitely, I think that's so amazing. You know. One

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of the things that we see is people come to

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me all the time that whether they take a book

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or a jigsaw puzzle, and they go, hey, we're taking

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a puzzle on vacation, and it goes in the table.

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And so when we come back, the kids can play

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before they go to bed, or they can play when

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we get up. I think it's really become a family

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and a community thing where it's just togetherness. It's just

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how having fun. There's just no reason not to compulsive

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in a way right out.

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Speaker 2: And you have to be in the moment. Yeah, yeah,

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an analog activity like that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know it might be my age, but

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it's one of those things where it's like I want

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two of each one of these books. And the reason

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why is because I want one to actually write in

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and one that I don't touch because they're so beautiful.

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I mean, you've got nearly impossible puzzles, you've got trickiest puzzles,

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you've got funniest puzzles. I mean you give every imagination

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an opportunity to say, hey, test me, take me out

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for the day.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm so glad I said that because my favorite

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thing about the Brain play books is the artwork.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: But it is just like really fresh and funky design

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and also a touch of humor in the pages. It

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is some of those pages I want to rip up

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and frame and put in my office because they're really,

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really beautiful.

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Speaker 1: Well, you guys have got to come back to this

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show anytime in the future. The door is always going

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to be open for you. Oh, thank you, will you'd

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be brilliant today. Okay, thank you to Puzzle Day.

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Speaker 3: Ok