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Enjoy your exploration. Dude, congratulations on this book, because I mean,
you're really playing my fiddle when when you do something
about Princess died, this is right here. She is the
Queen of empathy still to this day inside my heart,
you know.
Speaker 2: And that's where it's from. I've spoken to you about
these books and now listen, illustrated kids books right for
little kids to give my own kids. I started them
to give them better heroes to look up to, right
to give them heroes who warn't famous on Instagram or
have a million followers, Like that's not a hero. That's
someone who's amos and being a hero is more important.
In the beginning, we started with I'm Amelia Earhart, I
am Abraham Lincoln, I am Rosa Parks, And that's obvious.
You know those are the obvious choices, right, That's who
people would pick if you said pick the best heroes.
You you know, Doctor King and Albert Einstein. But then
when you're thirty books into the series, you start going, well,
who do our kids need these days? And when I
started looking around, I said, wait a minute, we need
to teach our kids about empathy, and how do we
teach empathy? And that's where we did. I am Princess Diana.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I could probably do fifty sixty pages
of all the things that she did that. I sat
there and just got closer and closer and closer, and
I think, I think, and I would love to know
what yours is mine was was the dedication and loyalty
she put in the in the minds that were still
in the ground, and she went to these countries looking
for these minds that could have easily blown up.
Speaker 2: We, off course, we put that in the book as
you saw. I mean, you know that was in fact
how in the book is It's one of her great moments.
And you know what I love about Princess Diana is
that empathy doesn't just start when she's an adult. You know,
one of the things we do in the ordinary people
change the world. Books is we always show you the
hero when they're a kid. So they're drawing like kids.
They look like kids that you know they look like.
The reason kids love our books is because it's like
a Chris Elliopolis. The artist draws each year. He has
a style. It's like Charlie Brown meets Calvin and Hobbes.
They're just lovable. And when you see Diana when she's
a young girl, she's got this rough life. You know,
like her parents get divorced. It's a really wealthy family.
Everyone's like, you know, you grow up at you're rich
and you have a fairy tale life. But her family
didn't need dinner together. Her brother would he would, and
her would he with the nanny and the nursery. Her
parents never hugged her, never said they loved her, and
you know, gets divorced and leave her feeling alone. But
what she has is this grandmother. And her grandmother sweet
and kind and used to visit the people in her
town who were sick or they needed something that they
couldn't afford. And Diana sees that and everyone tells you,
you look like your grandmother. And that's where Diana gets
it from is she gets that empathy by needing it herself.
When she's little, she needs someone to love her, and
that's obviously why we start showing and we can talk
about all the other different things she does from there,
but that's where it comes from.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you one of the things that you
inspired me to do, and I'm sure it's gonna be
other readers as well, is that you brought me to
the question of do I tell my dog or my
family do I tell them I love them too much?
Because I didn't have that either growing up, and it
was like, do I say that too much? In fact,
the story that I that I did today on iHeartRadio
was based on do we tell our dogs we love
them too much? And the answer is yes? And I went, WHOA,
how can this be possible? And they said, because you
can say words, Now put something with it and give
me an activation. Princess Di activated it. She didn't just
say it and that got it from your book, dude.
Speaker 2: No, I love that. I mean that, and listen, that's
what she had to do, right. She when she's in school,
she's not a great student. She actually does poorly, but
every Tuesday and Thursday as a kid, they would go
to a hospital for people who are physically disabled mentally disabled,
and everyone when the doors would open, all these like
sick old people would kind of roll on their wheelchairs
tall the kids, and the kids are freaking out. It looks,
you know, it feels like a zombie movie. And they
used to like the kids would push the you know,
the wheelchairs from behind, and instead she would meet people
where they were. She'd go when there was a dance,
instead of pushing the wheelchair from behind, she would go
around to the front. So would you like to dance together?
And again that's before she meets Charles, And yeah, she
meets them and they get married and have the big
wedding and all that. But you have to understand that
when she takes becomes royalty. Royalty back then they'd have
royal activities, right. They would like go out and you'd
wave to the crowd and the crowd would wave back,
and then your work was done. And they look around
and they're like, where's Diana. And they see that she's
reached down and she's hugging some kid and they're like,
what's she doing with it? And they're like, she's hugging it, sir,
And I know it sounds so obvious, but no one
did that back then. That wasn't all over the world.
He moved through the crowds, and you know, then she
sees like people doing charity work. She's in a hospital
and she sees this guy with his dying wife holding
his wife's hand. So she goes over and puts his
hand on, you know, her hand on this guy, and
just says, I'm going to sit with you. And she
realizes when she does these visits that where she sees suffering,
that's where she wants to be. That's where she finally
felt good about herself. And my god, what a lesson
to teach your kids to take care of other people
like that.
Speaker 1: Well, it's if she wanted to hug those that everybody
else ran away from. She was always just present in
their life. Make them feel like you're one of us.
I'm not judging you, you're one of us. You're just
as great and beautiful, just like one of us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and let's talk about that because that's such a
vital part. It's one thing to hug a little kid.
But as she you know, as she gets you know,
more comfortable here, she starts hugging people than no one,
like you said, would hug my brother, right, Like, so
she sees people with leprosy, right, And I remember growing
up as a kid being like leprosy would just scared
the hell out of me, Right, what is that? And
she would go and hug people who had leprosy, she'd
hug people who were homeless, she'd go and see people
who are addicted to drugs. And then let's see camp,
you know, the most important part, arguably his aides.
Speaker 1: I was just gonna bring that up. Oh my god,
I was just gonna bring that up. That's so cool,
you would bring that.
Speaker 2: Up, right, and like that's you know, so age. We
all know now, like thank god they have things and
treatments and think, but not then. And I remember back then,
people were terrified. They didn't know if you if you
hug someone with age, you're gonna get sick if they
call on you to get AIDS. Like no one even
knew in the beginning how you get AIDS. And she's
not wearing any gloves and she's shaking people's hands. And
there's this one visit we include in the book, and
again it's a kid's book, but she says, you know,
during this one visit to see an AIDS patient, she
sees this man start crying when she holds his hands,
and she wants to hug them to make them feel better.
But she doesn't know what to do. No one knows
what to do. And she tells herself, just do it,
just just hug him, and so she reaches out. She
squeezes this man tight. He squeezes her back, laughing with joy,
and she realizes it's amazing what a hug can do.
And hundreds of you know, first hundreds and then thousands
and millions of people see her do this. She goes
around with first Lady Barbara Bush at the time, who
full credit to her, starts doing it like and that's
where people start saying, oh, these aren't lepers, these aren't
people we should forget about. But they're human beans. And
it takes it takes Princess Diana to say, man, we
got to start treating him like that.
Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Brad Meltzer coming
up next. The name of the book. I am Princess Diana.
We are back with Brad Meltzer. I am a firm
believer that this book served as a huge reminder in
my heart. Why that I will walk with with a
blind man through a grocery store and help them shop. Why,
I'll you know, if there's somebody that is mentally challenged,
then I will sit there and I will talk with
them like they are like you and I and and
and then their carekeeper looks at me like I'm strange.
I'm going no, no, no, no, no, do not do
what you're what, don't don't undo what we're doing right now,
because this man, this lady is really getting into being
recognized as a human being.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's the you know, that's the key thing
is is not just you know, like you said, saying it,
but doing it. Yes, And what I what I love.
You know, she her sons are born obviously you know
you have She has these two boys, and what she
starts doing is taking them to serve with her. But
here's the part that I didn't know, even though when
I was researching the book that I found out, I
never knew this part of the story is she used
to go to homeless shelters to feed the poor, but
she didn't bring the cameras. She didn't want her kids
to see. You know, like that there was a performance
art of some sort or some performative action, you know,
when she would tell them like, you know, not having
a home doesn't make you different than anyone else. And
also the most important lesson that the best good deeds
are never seen by anyone, but they're never forgotten. And now, man,
that's what I Am Princess Diana is all about, is
leading with your heart and showing people that rather than
just talking about it, rather than just making it performative.
And I want my daughter to have that lesson. I
want my sons to have that lesson. I want them
to learn empathy. And I am Princess Diana as a
kid's book. That's what it's designed to do, is teach
that empathy.
Speaker 1: What I love about it is that it's coming at
such a perfect time because it may not happen in
your in my lifetime, but our kids and our grandchildren
it's gonna happen in their lifetime. This is William's mom
that you're talking about. And see and King William when
he gets that job, everybody's gonna go, WHOA, who was
his mom? Guess who wrote about it?
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, And I love that. And listen let's just
talk for a moment about about the just because I
don't want to let I can't. It will be a
shamed town to talk about. But what you're talking about
the land mines, yes, is this is after she gets divorced.
She doesn't have to do anything anymore. She's not the
royal anything. It's all dumb. And she finds out in Angola,
Africa that there are seven kids who've been killed by
land mines. All right. The soldiers had dug them buried
him during the war, and the kids were playing soccer
in a field that should have been clear to minds,
but the minds were still there. And they basically have
an event for her there and they're like, listen, we
should cancel the event and she's like, no, I'm not canceling.
We need to make sure this won't happen to anyone else.
And they tell her, don't you know this isn't safe,
and they put body armor on her, give her advisor
and she's like, if I go, then the world will
see what's happening. So the minefield at that point is
only half cleared, and they're like, please be careful, and
they and some people said it was dangerous, and she's like,
and she takes off and starts walking through this minefield,
and all these people and all these most important leaders
see it, and basically the UN after her visit, one
hundred and twenty two governments signed the Ottawa Tree to
stop using minds that can hurt innocent people. And you know,
it goes like this, like and this is what it
says in the book, Like, you know, it can be
hard or even scary to see someone suffering, and sometimes
you want to turn away, but don't turn away. Offer
a smile, a hand, or even a hug. And when
you do, it'll be your crowning achievement. And man, I
love the fact that I get to give that to kids.
I love the fact that they get to take these
books and find this story and find that lesson.
Speaker 1: She's the one that taught me the mantra of if
people aren't happy to see me, they're happy that I
see them. And I took from that and I believe
that so heartedly. It's like, don't don't make them think
that they're coming to see you. I'm coming to see them.
Speaker 2: I love that idea. I'm going to steal that. That's
a beautiful idea. Yeah, no, it's and listen. The final
pages of the book literally say this is what I'm
going to you know, from I'm Princess Anna. It says,
it's your turn now. The world needs more kindness, and
it certainly needs more empathy. Compassion is a sign of strength.
Every person you meet is going through something that you
can't see. You won't be able to solve every problem,
but when you open your arms and listen with love,
you can make sure no one feels alone and says,
I am Princess Diana. I lead from the heart.
Speaker 1: Your dedication doesn't your dedication also kind of symbolize that.
I mean, because look at that circle that you created
with the dedication inside the book.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's talk about that. I love you for noticing that.
So you know, whenever we get to the end, we've
done again. This is a book I think thirty six
in the series. So I've dedicated a lot of books
to a lot of people, but this one I dedicated
to my mother and my daughter because they're strong women
who are unapologetically themselves. That's what Princess Dinna is to me,
Like and I was. I've done other books to my mom,
I've done other books to my daughter. But do you
know my daughter in her in her college dorm room
had a Diana poster. And I'll tell you something, my
daughter now loves Prince Anna so much that at the
end of the book. I always I'm hidden in every book.
Chris always draws me like as a hidden cartoon character,
like it's like Baldwere's Waldo in every book. But he
also puts my three kids in there. And you can
see if you flip through and flip back a couple
of pages in the big crowd shot, you'll see these
three kids. And always puts one of my kids in
a forty two jersey because he loves Jackie Robinson. And
in this book, I said, draw my daughter make a
wearing the black dress that she loves so much, and
she's wearing Princess Diana's dress. And I just I want
my daughter to know that you should only just be
unapologetically yourself. That's Diana's great superpower. Wow.
Speaker 1: Now, let me ask this question about the card or
maybe I might be wrong on this. Did I see
a card that people can add to their personal lives
and share those cards forward?
Speaker 2: Share which cards? Well?
Speaker 1: I okay, then I am reading the pictures wrong then,
because I swear it was like a greeting card of
some sort and I and I took it as, oh,
it's a Princess for the Day card, and it's and
and it's and it's it's it's Princess di as a
young child, but it's it's it's. I took it that
your marketing cards to go with the book.
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, no, I think they just said they
must have sent you a nice picture of it. No, yeah,
we just uh, we we've made Oh you're talking about
my social media.
Speaker 1: Everywhere that I went to find out about this book
because you could.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: It's like every time that I thought I had enough,
I wanted more. That's that's the thing about this book
is that you make us do you create action and reaction,
but you always do with your books.
Speaker 2: No, I appreciate it. And listen, I love doing these books.
You know that. And let's talk about for a moment.
The next book we're doing is going to be again.
I was like, what else do kids need? So we
saw that kids needed, you know, I was like, mental
health issues are huge. Now we did I am Simone Biles.
I wanted to show America's just split in two right now.
I was like, how do we teach people to come together,
that there's strength and being together, that we bring different
strengths to each thing. We did, we are the Beatles
right like. But the next one that we're doing, which
is coming out in a couple of months, is we're
doing I Am Teddy Roosevelt because I really wanted Teddy Roosevelt,
one of my favorite presidents of all time, and I
wanted to show the kids what real leadership looks like
and what Teddy Roosevelt. When he was little, his dad
said to him, Listen, we have lots of money, but
that doesn't make you great, like it doesn't make you powerful.
Even what it does, it gives you a responsibility, is
what his father told him. And you have to take
care of other people, especially those who don't take care
of themselves and can't. So see those orphans, whould tell
Teddy Rossel, we got to take care of them and
get them off the street. You see these people who
are being treated badly in factories, fight for them. You
see these giant waterfalls and these beautiful dams, and you know,
things like this that people want to want to plow
over so they can open a factory. No, we have
to take care and have a responsibility to help our environment.
And that's why Teddy Roosevelt starts the National park system.
That's why we have Yellowstone, That's why we have Yosemite,
That's why we have these national parks because Teddy Roosevelt
was like, we need to protect these for the next generation.
And I love the fact that we get to use
the IM books, whether it's IM Princess Diana, I am,
Teddy Roosevelt, or anyone we've spoken about today. I love
the fact that we get to give these kids and
people use our books to build libraries of real heroes
for their kids and their grandkids, their nieces and nephews.
Speaker 1: One of these days, you've got to do a video
of the process of the entire thing and somehow some
ways share it with those that have stood beside you
the entire way, because it would be so interesting to
see your process in the way of inspiring a next
generation of writers as well as illustrators.
Speaker 2: Well, I love you saying that you know we get
I can't tell you how often we get a boy.
We have all these kids who are writing, they write
the next hero for us. So I have a whole
stack on my desk. Got to you know that our
books that kids have written, and they've written Iron Ruthy Bridges,
they've written Iron Brad Meltzer, they've written I Am you
name the hero, and they're all like clearly gunning for
our jobs. I said, Chris and I are. Really we
got to worry now. But I love the fact that
kids have realized that they have the power to tell
these stories. And you know, the books have now been around,
I think almost twelve years, and it's the first time
when I went to speak at colleges people came up
to me and said, oh, I grew up on those books. Yep.
And that's the thing, Because here's the thing. I can't
change the minds of adults. It's too hard. But for
the past over a decade now, I've been arming a
generation of young kids with lessons of compassion and kindness
and how to be a good person. And I will
take that fight any day. So I love that the
iambooks that the ordinary People Change the World books have
had that impact on some of those kids out there.
Speaker 1: Wow, where can people go to find out more about
everything that you're doing? This isn't just one book, like
you said, this is your this is a catalog. When
they talked about Prince having a catalog or Michael Jackson
having a catalog, You've got a catalog.
Speaker 2: You're a sweetheart. Yeah. And you can buy them at Amazon.
You can buy them at your local independent bookstore. You
can buy them at at bookshop dot org. You can
buy them anywhere books are sold. The imbooks are there
and you all recognize them because you'll see the sit
in that same artwork, that beautiful, colorful artwork. And I
love the fact that so many people, you know, you
can even subscribe to them on our website. You go
to Ordinary People, Change the World dot com. You can
have a book every month's ship to kid in your life,
and every month they'll get a new hero. And I'll
keep going in and we give all the profits. It
always runs through an independent bookstore by us. But again
you can go on Amazon or anywhere else and find
all the books.
Speaker 1: I love what you're doing with your art. You are
you are working it the way that it's meant to be,
and that is to move people.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you, brother, listen, and the same thing with you,
I mean, you know you and I. You you've had
me on the show for and we've spoken about the
thrillers like The Viper, about the nonfiction books that I've done,
about the kids books and whatever genre I'm in. You
and I are speaking, and so I don't get to
do these kids books without you being there for the
first one. So thank you for unlocking to me, you know,
and not just with me, but with all your guests,
for your listeners. The most valuable thing in the world,
which is powerful as ideas. That's what you put in
the world and ideas, and every time you do a show,
you you unlock those kinds of ideas and I love
you for it.
Speaker 1: Wow. Well, we've got to be back together again in
two months when that next book comes out. We've got
to continue this because this is a journey that just
opens up imaginations. Thank you, brother, Will you'd be brilliant today. Okay,
mister Brad, thank you, sir.
Speaker 2: Appreciate it. Can't wait