Speaker 1: Hello, and good morning, Sandra.
Speaker 2: How are you doing today, Good morning, I'm great. Thank
you so much for speaking with me.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, you made me feel like a kid.
When this book arrived and I pulled it out of
that box, I'm going, oh my god, it was like
I was revisiting my childhood because we had books like
this as a child, with the boots and the really
super thick pages, and it was like it was like,
oh my god, happy, it's so so amazing. But but
of course, you know, as an adult, I have to
go but it's so short. But to a child, though,
it's got to be a big thick book.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I mean we're yes, because we're looking at
sharing this with with with little ones who are like
two to five years old. So five pages pretty much
is the standard for that. It kind of works and
they don't get bored, and then they can learn these jokes.
You know, it's a little more than that might be
hard for them to remember them.
Speaker 3: I want to know how many young adults and young
children are going to put this this book in their
bed because it is like a stuffed animal with those boots.
Speaker 4: Thank you for realizing that.
Speaker 2: For the last twenty five years I've been working with
Scholastic making board books that have novelty items. So often
we put ears in the town for a little tales,
or reindeer, you know, antlers, you know, all kinds of
fun things because they aren't like stuffed animal. We combined
books with these soft, wonderful, plushy pieces that really give
a child somebody to hold on to and engage in
with the book. And this does exactly the same thing
with the fun little boots leather boots sticking out the
top of the book and Santa's red pants.
Speaker 3: How did you decide on these particular jokes, because I
mean when when I was paging through it. First of all,
I love the fact that the word the answer is
upside down and that that really kind of forced me
to use my own imagination. But it was like, wow,
that was so enjoyable. But how did they do this?
How did how did they get to this point?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I spent a lot of time thinking
about Santa and and why he's so merry and jolly,
and I realized he must be a great joke teller.
So I thought, who would be telling jokes too? Will
you be telling jokes? Is reindeer into the snowmen and
the gingerbread cookies. So we really built it around what
are those special moments with Santa during the holidays and
little ones that they need to be simple words. It
needs to be short joke with a real funny, punny tagline.
So that was what we did. We just built it
around that, and so now we have really fun like
you know, what is Santa's dog's name? Is one of
my favorites, and do you know what Santa's Dog's name is?
Speaker 1: Santa Paus. I should know. I should have known that, right,
you know, like.
Speaker 2: I always kind of dream, how do I see these
kids using this book. I imagine a little one getting the.
Speaker 4: Book, parents' grandparents.
Speaker 2: Reading it to them, and then they're sitting at the
dining room table and they're sharing jokes with the family.
Speaker 4: So they become the.
Speaker 2: Star and they feel proud. And that's really what I
wanted with this book, to get kids this opportunity to
sort of be, you know, the joke teller in the
star of the show. So that makes me.
Speaker 3: Happy, yeah, because I mean, you know, for the past
few years we've had the dad jokes, but I mean,
I think this is the first time that I've really
felt like that, You've said, no, let the kids share
the jokes.
Speaker 1: It's time for them to say something funny.
Speaker 2: Yes, that is exactly the heart of it, you know.
I just them the opportunity to share these jokes but
then make up their own. And I can imagine parents
and grandparents and brothers and sisters sitting around the table
telling other jokes. So then we're creating.
Speaker 4: Meaningful moments, meaningful.
Speaker 2: Memories together during the holidays. And I think that's what
it's all about.
Speaker 1: Well, you know what, that builds up confidence.
Speaker 3: When you can share a joke even though it's bad,
and you laugh about it, it'll build up a person's
confidence in a heartbeat.
Speaker 2: Agency, we want kids to feel good about themselves and
feel like they can use their voice and and this
is just one tool in our two tool chest to
do that.
Speaker 3: It's fascinating that you're working with Scholastic because when I
was a kid way back in the city, Scholastic was
there for us. I mean they made sure that we
had books in our hands. So to see that they're
still doing this today just blows me away.
Speaker 2: Oh, they are still doing it. I mean they are
doing school. You know book programs all over the country.
They are engaged in art contest or kids, encouraging creativity.
Speaker 4: They're supporting young authors and illustrators.
Speaker 2: I mean they are you know, like truly, they had
such a legacy and they're so trusted and it is
an honor to work with them. I work with a
team there that is unbelievable because our books look simple,
but they're complicated and the idea of the engineering and
the innovation and making, you know, working with vendors who
make sure they are safe and sturdy and strong and
the color stays good. And then we have editors and
art directors there who are are just are none, They're
the best in the world. So I am one very
happy camper to call Scolases my family.
Speaker 3: So who gets credit for doing the illustration, because that's
a major part of this journey.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, No, I write and illustrate the books. I
also work with my daughter now who's in our studio,
and my sister. So you know, Hannah is really great
on the computer and she's really helped me animate things,
and so it's really a family's there, and that's been
really fun too to grow this business. She's been with
us for about five years, and we're all working together,
you know, to put books in the hands of little ones.
And you know, I say they're all love letters. Every
book we've done is a love letter to children all
over the world. And you know, we want them to
be the best they can be, and we want to
give them the skills and the tools to do that
through through the way that we share stories with kids.
Speaker 3: So are you like the rock stars and the movie
stars when it comes to sharing Christmas stories? You actually
did this in the middle of summer when it was
one hundred and two degrees outside.
Speaker 2: Yeah, last summer.
Speaker 4: You know, it's a long one.
Speaker 2: It's a couple of years to bring a book to market.
It's not like breath on a baby. It takes a
lot longer. But we do call them a book We
call them book babies because they do come to and
this one's having a lovely birth right now.
Speaker 3: So do you use your imagination in the way that
radio people do that It's it's like we're never just talking.
It's just that we always have that that receiver in mind.
And as an author, do you do you see those
young children just staring at your words and pictures?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. That's part of the whole process for me.
I'm trying to see you. I feel like I can
see the child go to the stocking and this is
a perfect stocking stuff for customer side comes, and they're
reading that with their grandparents or or a mom or
a dad, or a sibling. And then I see them
sitting right at the head of the table telling those jokes,
and I love that. That's how I create, you know, like,
how will.
Speaker 4: This book be used? And what I'm always thrown.
Speaker 2: Away with ticket letters and emails from people who say, oh,
but we used it this way, thank you. You know,
our child was in the nick you and you know
we weren't able to read to our child in the
middle of the night, so we use one of your
recordable books so that they could hear a voice throughout
the night. Or or I love you Honey, Bunny has
really rabid ears at the top, and our child was
afraid to go to sleep at night, and they held
the book all night long because the bunny Honey Bunny
with them.
Speaker 4: So it's those kinds.
Speaker 2: Of then I begin to create out of that. I'm like,
oh my goodness. So if that was helpful, what could
we create what might be more helpful in another way.
So those are the that's the way the ideas generate
for me in people's stories and telling me how they
use the books and what the children's love about the
children loves about them. Like I had one family write
to me. We did a book what's plastic called I
Rough You and it has little puppy ears coming off
the top. And they say, we don't say love you anymore.
Our family we also any whenever we say hello or goodbye,
we say I rough you. And so that's the new
way of saying I love you and I love that if.
Speaker 4: I rough that.
Speaker 3: You know what this book does It inspires a young
mind to actually pick up a book and read it.
I mean, I love me some audible, but I think
it makes us a lazy readers. It's like, why should I,
you know, read if I'm going to get the sound?
And this book right here gets them right there at
that age where it's like fall in love with reading
because from reading comes writing, writing reaches other people.
Speaker 2: Yes, that is it is so true, and that's what
we want. We want kids to be excited and engaged,
and you know that's how they become who they're meant
to be, you know, and you know, for little ones
zero to three, reading is essential, Singing is essential, playing
is essential because that's how we build all those little
neurons and from that timetime zero to three, our brains
grow the most that they ever grow in their whole life.
So the more stimulation, the more engagement that we have,
the better. And it's just some little single moments throughout
the day that do that. It's not the big stuff,
it's all the little stuff together that makes a big impact.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: Where can people go to find out more about you
and everything that you have shared with the world.
Speaker 2: Oh, you're so sweet? While you have a website, it's
my name, Sandra mcsammon. We have an Instagram with the
same name. On our website, we have lots of wonderful
activities and coverfaring pages and things that are molding and
play and share with your kids. And the books are
really everywhere books are sold. You can go in your
online retailer, your neighborhood store. You know, if you're at
the mall, the big store is there. It's been really
wonderful to see how far and wide Santa has flown
in our little books. This year. It's been really wonderful.
Speaker 3: Please come back to the show anytime in the future.
The door is always going to be open for you.
Speaker 1: Sandra.
Speaker 2: Thank you, and I'm so grateful for you and really
appreciate the time you're.
Speaker 4: Sharing with me.
Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today? Okay, thank you.
Speaker 4: I appreciate that.
Speaker 2: I'll try