Speaker 1: Arrow dot net is more than just a podcast. It
is a podcast network, twenty different podcasts to choose from.
One of my favorites is Foody Paradise, talking with the
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dot net, r r Oe dot net. Enjoy your exploration. Hello, Hello,
and good morning. How are you doing, Peter, doing so well?
Speaker 2: Doing this so well up here in the frosty Boston.
Speaker 1: Well, come on down to the Carolinas.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: We're a little cold today, but it's gonna be near
eighty on Wednesday, so come on down. We'll sit here
and we'll talk about writing and getting your book out
there and putting you on a big national tour. Oh yeah,
we'll do the authentic thing.
Speaker 2: I love it, I love it.
Speaker 1: I gotta ask you a question, only because I'm so inspired.
They always tell us not to judge a book by
its cover, but by god, I want this as a poster.
I you know, I mean to have this thing framed
and hanging on a wall when you dream big and
then you jump into the story and the illustrations in there,
with the wording and everything. I mean, you have got
something here that is I can't wait to continue to
share this with young adults as well as even younger readers.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. It's funny because I was just sketching
a T shirt idea based on the book, and you
just disparted me to do a print as well. This
book was so much fun to create, and I guess
it's coming true that I had a lot of fun
with this book.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, you can definitely feel it. You can feel it.
One of the things that really inspires me, Peter, is
the fact that the font that you chose to use
looks like handwriting. And I think that to a young
reader right now, in this digital age, I need to
see that font. And I think kids do too, because
the rest of us are still using a pencil or
a pen and we're writing like this. And I just
think that you, whoever put that in the book with
that font, what a brilliant idea because it has to
be in our lives.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I appreciate that you pointed it out. That
is actually my handwriting. I started my very first book
was called The North Star, and I, just because I
didn't have a computer handy, I wrote the whole book
by hand, and the publisher looked at it and said, wow,
we love your handwriting. Can we use it as the
font in the book. So I handwrote. In fact, I
would say probably eighty percent of my books are all
done written by hand. So when you see that font,
that's the Peter A. Truantle owned.
Speaker 1: My god, did you take drafting class, because I mean,
your lettering is spot on, dude, I mean, how did
you get such legible lettering?
Speaker 2: I loved writing. I remember mixing print and cursive together
a teacher saying I would want to do that, and
of course I was a bit of a gentle rebel.
I'm like, well, I actually I sort it was fascinated
with how letters connected, and I did take a calligraphy course,
and I did in college, I took a architectural writing course,
and I found it just fascinating writing by him. I
think you're right, in the agent of AI, everything's being
generated for us and I seeing something hand crafted. I
think it's really important for kids to remind them that
they are capable of that too.
Speaker 1: I want to know how many moms and dads are
going to reach this page, Charlie smiled. Ten toes all
pointing in the right direction. Mom and dad are going
to put the book down for a second and say,
take a look at your toes. What do your toes
look like? Are they all pointed? And I mean because
it's that kind of book. It is such an interaction book.
It is a tool for mom and dad or even
a young reader to go, yeah, Charlie's my hero. I'm
loving me some Charlie, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there are lots of opportunity in the book. As
you're reading. You know, when the teacher says, you know,
you know who wants to share their dreams, hands shoot
up waving wildly. So I asked, kids, you know, raise
my end of the air and wave your arms, and
they're all waving their arms. And you know, in the book,
the teacher posts that big question, you know, what do
you want to be when you grow up? And the kids,
you know, most of the kids are excited. There are
a couple of quiet ones, and there always are. Yeah,
Charlie is that quiet one. It takes her a little while,
and that's The message of the book is you don't
have to know what you want to be, you know specifically,
but you just have to stay positive, keep moving for it,
don't freeze in your tracks, and eventually they'll it will
come to you. And at the end of the book
there's this joyous celebration of all the kids together and
the teacher, and you know, Charlie is finally in step
with the rest of the kids. She's made her big,
colorful wings and she is ready to dream big.
Speaker 1: Well, you must have been sitting at a Starbucks or
at a mall or something, because the subjects that you
can inside this book are so spot on. And I
got to give you kudos here on how you handle
how Charlie was nervous. And it was her school teacher
that said, don't worry if you need more time. This
is a very big question. And the thing about it is, though,
the fact that you even brought up nervous that to
me is in tune with who your listener and your
reader really is, because you show me somebody who isn't
nervous right now, and then you're speaking about it. See,
it's not that big of a problem according to the teacher.
Speaker 2: Right right, kids ain't grown up. I mean we grown up.
You know, we get swam. It's we get overwhelmed. I mean,
there's so much stuff coming at us. There's so many demands.
You know, there's a lot of pressure to you know,
to be correct, to be right and get it right
and you know, have the perfect life and perfect body,
and you know, people are just so much pressure and
you know, being able to say, you know, it's okay,
it's okay to be anxious, and but you know, there
are some there are some tools that we have to
deal with that. And in this book, you know, I say,
wiggle your toes. You can't wiggle your toe, you can
wiggle your fingers. You can just sort of activate your
body in some way. And you know, I tell kids,
you know, like I told the kids who were nervous
about taking a test. Once. I said, the teacher said,
do you have any advice for my kids? They're nervous
about taking this big, you know test, And I said,
tell your kids to take their left shoe off, and
and she wrote back a few weeks later she said
the kids also their left shoe off, and they they
scored the highest of any classroom in their school. And
they credit you for this great technique. But you know,
all I said, I suggested something. It was, you know,
kind of funny, but it turned out that it helped
them with their confidence. And I think that's the big
the key, right, if you're confident, if you're feeling like
you've got this on, your brain works better. See.
Speaker 1: I can still relate with that because I mean, I mean,
I'm one of those people. I will take my right
shoe off. If you see me somewhere and I've got
my right shoe off to me, that should be a
signal that I'm trying to find my focus and I'm
confident about taking you know, something that is so uncertain,
but I'm going to make sure that I learned from it.
But man, that's got to be a thing that stretches
across this nation about taking the shoe.
Speaker 2: Off, right, Yeah, well that might I think that might
be my next book. I wrote story down, so I
have to find that one and share that. I've got
sony book ideas. Arrow's counted about four hundred book ideas
and they and they keep coming at me every day,
So I love it. My brain is popping like.
Speaker 1: Puffcorn and see, and that should be a lesson for
these young adults too, and these readers. And the reason
why I say that is because everybody I talked to,
I got into writing because of an author that I
had when I was young in my life. You see
what I mean. You're setting up their future by saying, hey, look, yes,
if you just take the time to write stuff down,
then you will have future projects you can work on
as well. If you've got four hundred on the way. God, dang,
I'm proud of you, dude. That's exactly how it happens
to a creative mind.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I do feel like my books are conversations.
I feel like I'm having a conversation with that reader
and if I can be there to cheer them on
and say, you've got this, you know, keep going, don't stop,
keep going, don't stop. You know. I feel like i've
you know, I've had a pretty good life, you know,
encouraging people around the world.
Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Peter H. Reynolds
coming up next. The name of his book, and it
really is for everybody. When you dream big. We are
back with author Peter H. Reynolds. If I were sitting
here with my grandchild, but they're up in their twenties now,
but I mean if they were eighty biddies in front
of me right now, I would put folks on Charlie
waking up. And over here to the right is the
word paris that is done in cursive writing. I would
put focus on that. And that's what I love about
your illustrations. Your illustrations are just as important as the
paragraphs because in cursive writing, that's exactly what that word says.
It says paris. But I want a young mind to
know cursive writing is so important in your chapters.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, Well, the picture books are lovely that you
can keep reading them and seeing more and more and
more detail. And I do pack a lot of in
this particular one. You know, there's a whole classroom, so
I had, you know, twenty twenty five chances to show
a different kind of kid. And you also a little
peak at their dreams. You see them working on their
dreams on their desks. So there's a lot of there's
just a lot packed into this book. So it'll take
a long time to probably notice all the details, but
have fun doing it. Well.
Speaker 1: And here's some of those details as well, dude, And
that is the fact that Charlie is sitting on her hands.
I want you show me somebody who does not sit
on one hand or both hands when they're confronted with
a situation where they don't want to be chosen, they're
going to go to Hazel instead.
Speaker 2: Right. I think we all can experience that in school,
right when the teachers like, all right, I need someone
to you know, read their poems, and it's like, oh,
please don't pick me, Please don't pick me. And I
wanted to have that that capture that angst, and I thought,
what better way than Charlie actually sitting on her hands.
There's no way she's going to raise her hand and participate.
But unfortunately she has a great teacher who does notice
that she's she's having a little she's having an issue there,
and she gives Charlie permission to relax, you know, and
I do I do like that that what she says,
you know that take your time. You know, this is
a really big question. Your future is that's pretty big.
Speaker 1: Well. And the fact is that I'm not going to
spoil the book, and that is is that when when
Charlie finally admits to something in class, and it's it's
the page with the angel wings. But I don't want
to spoil it because I want mothers and fathers with
the readers to sit there and go through with what
her answer is. But once again, this book is so
in touch with the reality of what is right now
and it just it just blows me away. How you're well,
you said it, you write in conversational form. It's beautiful.
It's beautiful.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I love that you are so affusive about
this book because I am super excited about this book.
I can't wait for it to reach We'll reach everybody,
but I think that they are going to be particular
people who who this book is the exact right book
at the right time. The kids, you know, kids and
as I say, grown up too, who are struggling a
little bit and need need that little encouragement. So I
hope that when You Dream Big inspires people to to
to do that, to dream big.
Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more aboutout you?
Speaker 2: Well, you can go to PETERH. Reynolds dot com. Don't
forget the h H stands for Hamilton. I'm based on
a hip Broadway musical, so Periods dot com and you
could order books autograph books from there, but I also
encourage people to combine my books that anywhere to find.
Books are sold online as well as if you're lucky
enough to have an independent bookstore like I actually own
my own independent books burgess outside of Boston, Massachusetts, called
the Blue Bunny. So if you're in Boston, hop on
down to my bookshop celebrate in twenty three years this year.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you are such the inspiration and the influence,
because that's it's full circle for you. Dude.
Speaker 2: It is well Era naxt time you're in Boston, come
come over. We have a coffee shop too, will I
will take your cappuccino and we will we will sit
there and we will talk more because I feel like
we have. We have hours and hours the book about
all of these things.
Speaker 1: You're so right, So you got to come back to
the show anytime in the future. The door is always
going to be open for you, Peter.
Speaker 2: I love that the door is always open. That might
be my new.
Speaker 1: Book, Carol will be brilliant today.
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you you too.
Speaker 1: Thank you