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Speaker 1: Talk about being behind the curveball. All my podcasts are

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finally on one site, Ero dot net, Arre dot net,

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seventeen different podcasts to choose from.

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Speaker 2: Hello, nice to hear your voice, How are you fantastic?

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Speaker 1: And always excited to share a conversation with you because

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you totally get it when it comes to reaching into

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a reader's life and giving them the chance to find

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that open door of escape, just just to get inside

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their imagination and allow them to just play. Is that

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wrong to say that about your book? I just want

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to play though.

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Speaker 2: That you have absolutely reached in and touched the heart

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of what I do. So thank you for that.

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Speaker 1: Living artfully means what to you? Because I know what

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living artfully means to me because I'm a daily writer.

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I've been doing it since July of nineteen ninety four.

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I know what's been invested. So I love the idea

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that you're opening up the door saying you can do this,

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and you need to trust it because you're going to

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grow in ways that not doing the artful thing is

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going to keep you away from.

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Speaker 2: Oh one hundred percent and what I The definition for

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me of living artfully is to expand the definition of

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what art means people are living artually every day, and

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once they recognize that, they can expand it and lean

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into it and embrace it. So if you think about

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the word art, you know, so often we have a

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narrow definition of it. It means someone who is trained as

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an opera singer, or who's trained as a landscape painter,

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or a chef who has you know, gone to the

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cordon bleue. For me, art is any way we express ourselves.

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It could be that we tap dance, or we bake

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the best championship cookies and our family, or we like

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to sing a song for our kids before they go

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to sleep at night, uh, you know, or we are

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a poet and we jot down little words and messages

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that that that touch our heart and that touch others

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when they read them. And when someone finds the way

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in which they best express selves, it's often not just

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one way, it's often many ways. But when they say

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and give and validate that that's important to learn and

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to share the best way and the most meaningful way

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we express themselves ourselves, then we're living artfully. And it

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could be any way of self expression, you know, really

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take off all the rules, no right or wrong, just

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what we think is beautiful and what feels great to us.

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Speaker 1: See right away, I'm going how many times have I

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said use your words? Use your words, when I should

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have been saying, what's your art? Let me hear your art?

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What are you feeling, what's your emotion? Let's put it

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in a way where art moves other people.

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Speaker 2: Exactly, and move yourself. You know, how do you feel

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most authentic? How do you feel you and celebrate that.

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And that's where we begin to celebrate differences in the

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most incredible way, because we all express ourselves in unique ways.

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Like when I was a little girl, I realized that

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I couldn't say what was in my heart with words.

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I sound words so difficult. But when I began drawing

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pictures with those words, then I could. I started getting

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closer to what I wanted to say. And you know,

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throughout a lifetime, I just kept practicing and figuring out ways,

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and so I went from just paper and page and

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art and words tout the book like Silly Witch or

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all the books to do with Scholastic have another component.

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They have a novelty component. So there's feet coming off

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the top of the book or ears coming off the

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top of the book. And now I'm combining toys stuffed

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animals with words and images, and there I feel like

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I can speak to kids in a way that I

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really can speak to kids about themes and ideas and

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messages that are different than other authors who have their

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own way, which are equally as wonderful but different than mine.

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Speaker 1: The playfulness and excitement does not end. Coming up next,

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we've got more with Sandra Maximine, the name of the

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book Living Artfully. We're back with author Sandra Maximine. I

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invite listeners as well as readers to reach out to

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you in so many different ways. Because when your first

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book arrived with me, I remember sitting out there in

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the middle of the street with GARYK and Hannah, and

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I read the book to them and then I watched

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them play with the witch at the top of the book.

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But this time around, when I brought this book out,

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Gary got off his bike and he told me, I'm

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going to read it to you this time. And so

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so that's what's happened with this second book with me,

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is that now the little guy across the street is

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turning into a little man.

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Speaker 2: Well, and think about what's happening there. He now has

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some self esteem and some confidence and he wants to

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be the leader. So he's reading, he's reading those jokes,

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he's taking charge. That's what we want with our kids,

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who want them to develop these skills, and this book

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is a tool to help them do that. It is

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fun and their funny jokes, for sure, but the action

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of a child taking that initiative is what we want.

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And that's how why books change lives and books matter

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because it's different than holding a phone in your hand,

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or holding a tablet, you know, or being on a computer.

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Now they have something that they can engage with another

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person with and that's exciting. You know.

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Speaker 1: What I call that, I call it mine. And what

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I mean by that is is that when we used

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to order those scholastic books from school and the teacher

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would bring them in on that Thursday or Friday so

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we could take it home for the weekend because we

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purchased it. I would sit there and hold a book,

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going mine, this is mine, and see that's what your

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books do. It provides that mine moment.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, And it's agency, you know, I mean it

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really is. This is I'm developing what I like, I'm

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putting a library of interests together, which really forms who

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I'm going to become, and who I'm becoming I'll never

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forget when I was a little girl. I grew up

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in Maryland and really hot summer, really human summers. But

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the bookmobile would come to our school and our mom

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would let yes, right, and so my mom would let

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us ride our bikes. Number one big deal. I had

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freedom and agency all of a sudden, I could ride

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my bike alone to get to the school. And then

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when I got there, it was an air conditioned bookmobile

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in the middle of summer, and I just fell in

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love with books and reading, and I discovered things I

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didn't know existed. I went, you know, like into a

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land of magic, and books are that. And I think

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you know from very early ages that we can can

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give books to children, read with them, share our enthusiasm.

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They will be readers for life, and that enriches a

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life in no way anything else could ever ever ever

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come close to.

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Speaker 1: Don't you think that the new bookmobile are the community

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little libraries? I mean, I mean, we have just in

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within my walking distance in this forest, we've got three libraries.

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But what's missing from these libraries are the kids books.

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It's all adult adult So if a child is walking

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by with their parents, oh, there's nothing in there for you.

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We'll go to the store and get yourself. And it's like,

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don't forget about the little ones.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I think you know. I'm fortunate enough to

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live in a village in Vermont where our library every

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Saturday morning at eleven o'clock in story times, children are

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walking with their parents and every Saturday morning to go

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in there and hear a story read. And it's a

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great children's library section. And I was in Baltimore recently

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for the Baltimore Books Fair, and there was this incredible

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woman who started her own bookmobile with kids for kids,

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and she goes all over the city on the weekends

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and kids can come in and borrow books, and it's

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changing lives all over the city. So I can't you know,

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shout loud enough how important it is to get books

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in the hands of our little ones.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, don't you think that, being the art therapist that

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you are, that the journey of reading actually starts with

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activating the imagination. And that's why a book such as yours,

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with that book cover, what it does is it does

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something to we're very inquisitive as human beings, and as

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long as we get to that first page, we're on

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our way exactly.

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Speaker 2: And children are born this way, you know, I mean,

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that's their innate nature to be curious, to be creative,

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to to you know, seek things out. And the more

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we can continue to encourage that and not stop it,

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it will grow naturally. But getting all these getting these

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tools and of books in front of kids is the

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way that we just encourage it.

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Speaker 1: But when am I going to see you at a

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comedy zone or a comedy club, because I mean, I

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love your corny, quirky jokes, and yes I do know

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what happens to a skeleton at a dance, but I'm

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not going to spoil it. But yet, when these little

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ones get in there to find out what's going on,

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do you hear their laughter as you're writing these stories?

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Because in radio, I do, I hear people talking, Oh

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my god.

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Speaker 2: Yes. And I go to schools and read, and I

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go to bookstores and read, and it gives me so

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much pleasure to hear their laughter. I said to I

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was with some of my scholastic friends the other day,

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and I said, I would love to put together a

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group of kids, like on a mock stage, like they're

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the little comedians, of having them tell these jokes, because

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I think they would love it, and I know the

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audience would love it too, because they're just there's a

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sense of joy that a child that stills are faith

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when they tell the punchline because they're so proud of themselves.

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And proud is really good, you know, And I think

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that's what we want for our kids, to want them

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to feel proud. And you know, we've come out of

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you know, the pandemic, and kids are getting back to

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school and there's still sense of isolation, and here a

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joke can really connect one heart to another, and that's

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what we want right now.

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Speaker 1: All right, So you've covered Christmas, You've got Halloween. What

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is the next holiday that you're going to be covering?

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So that I can get Garrick and Hannah all excited

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and fired up?

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Speaker 2: Oh in the Silly Witch in the Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you've got a series going on here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah we do. I can't tell you. I've been that secretly, sorry, Charlie.

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Speaker 1: You've got the ingredients inside the Witches brew, then you

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can't tell me what's inside there?

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yes, like you know, this is like Harry

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Potter Top Secret.

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Speaker 1: Well, what is the website where people can go to

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find out more about you? Because I want them to

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know your entire journey, not just this one book. There

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is a series of many, multiple layers here when it

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comes to you.

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Speaker 2: Yes, well, of course, my website is Centramangsalmon dot com.

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Scholastic has a wonderful website and I'm featured on that.

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I have an Instagram also, my name CenTra mag Salmon.

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And you know, please join us, come join the party.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: I love people write to me. I write them back,

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you know, happy to touch base. I love it, love it,

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love it.

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Speaker 1: Well, you've got to come back to this show any

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time in the future. You know that door is always open.

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Speaker 2: You're here today, Well, thank you so much, and it's

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just such a pleasure and joy to speak with you.

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I love your heart in your spirit. Is it's my day?

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Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today?

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Speaker 2: Okay, thank you and you have a beautiful day.