Speaker 1: How are you, brother?
Speaker 2: I am doing great, sir, how are you?
Speaker 1: I am good? Because we are going tonight to the
Speaker 1: World Series.
Speaker 3: Okay, Well, isn't it going to be shocking when you
Speaker 3: get there tonight and there's no game going on?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean I'm leaving tonight. I didn't mean like
Speaker 1: this way.
Speaker 4: Whenever I go.
Speaker 2: Wait a minute, So you're going to Toronto for the
Speaker 2: World Series.
Speaker 4: So here's a bit.
Speaker 1: Every year since my son is little, I make a
Speaker 1: bet with him he can pick a team that's in
Speaker 1: the bottom half of the rankings in baseball. Wait a minute,
Speaker 1: I feel like you before I've told you this story.
Speaker 1: I've told you privately. I maybe on the air. But
Speaker 1: and if he pick if that team makes the World Series,
Speaker 1: I'll take him. And it's an impossible bet because you're
Speaker 1: taking like one of the worst teams and trying to
Speaker 1: make it into the best. It never worrid. He's been
Speaker 1: doing it for.
Speaker 4: A dozen years nothing, and two years.
Speaker 1: Ago he picks the Texas Rangers who go to the
Speaker 1: World Series. I'm like, this is the most expensive bet
Speaker 1: I've ever made. Now, and so the game's one and
Speaker 1: two are always during my daughter's parents weekend. So we
Speaker 1: can't go to one and two. I get tickets to
Speaker 1: Game six, but the.
Speaker 4: Rangers win in five.
Speaker 1: Last year, I get tickets to Game six and seven
Speaker 1: and the Dodgers win in five. And so this is
Speaker 1: the third year. I'm trying to complete this bet for
Speaker 1: three years now, and finally there's a game six and
Speaker 1: we are going to Toronto.
Speaker 2: Dude, that is awesome. That is freaking awesome.
Speaker 1: It's so good because my son is like, he's almost
Speaker 1: happy when it keeps going, because he just loves watching
Speaker 1: me being tortured trying to get tickets to Game six
Speaker 1: and seven, the two hardest tickets every year, three years
Speaker 1: in a row.
Speaker 3: Now have you been to I've never been to that
Speaker 3: stadium for a baseball game. And that that entire city
Speaker 3: is going to be nuts tomorrow night.
Speaker 1: Well that's why I was happy that one last night,
Speaker 1: because I'm like, this place is going to explode. It's
Speaker 1: you know, obviously, I'm so excited. We went to We
Speaker 1: went to the Cubs the first time they were in
Speaker 1: the World Series, and even though they lost the first game,
Speaker 1: it regularly when we were there, it was like the
Speaker 1: place it was the best game I've ever seen because
Speaker 1: every pitch was like it was the end of the universe,
Speaker 1: and and I love that atmosphere. It's so fun to
Speaker 1: be a part of.
Speaker 2: Oh dude, oh you got to send pictures. I can't
Speaker 2: imagine what that's going to be.
Speaker 1: Like, yeah, no, no, it's gonna be good. Where and
Speaker 1: and and you know, our our kids all the all
Speaker 1: the animators for our kids TV show based on the books,
Speaker 1: they're all from Toronto, so all like, you know, for
Speaker 1: a month now, they're all freaking out, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: let's let's not get crazy until you guys get there,
Speaker 1: and then you know, after that, you know, nearly twenty
Speaker 1: inning game, I'm like, everybody, calm down.
Speaker 4: And then suddenly they're.
Speaker 1: Like, do not tell us to calm down. You should
Speaker 1: not come down.
Speaker 2: Well, dude, good for you. Oh I'm so excited for you.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: All right, I got a couple of things that I
Speaker 2: need to get into.
Speaker 3: And before I get to Moan Biles, can I start
Speaker 3: with a different im book if you don't mind, please,
Speaker 3: I thought of you, and I can't. It feels like
Speaker 3: it was a week ago. Was probably closer to a
Speaker 3: month ago, but I thought of you when the news
Speaker 3: broke about Jane Goodall, I thought of you immediately.
Speaker 1: Yeah. She was so special, you know, she was the
Speaker 1: first famous person when we were when we started the
Speaker 1: im series. She was the first one that was alive
Speaker 1: that we ever did a hero of. And we wrote
Speaker 1: to her and said, hey, can you help us? And
Speaker 1: again the series was just getting started and she was
Speaker 1: like yep, and we were like what you know? And
Speaker 1: she was so nice And let me tell you one thing.
Speaker 1: You know, she did pictures with with you know, I
Speaker 1: am Jane Goodall, you know, and did all the stuff.
Speaker 4: But what I love, and I've never told.
Speaker 1: This story, is when we were doing the book, there's
Speaker 1: a moment when she was little, she used to love
Speaker 1: putting dressing her dogs up with real clothes. It was
Speaker 1: just fun for her as a little girl. And we
Speaker 1: put that in the book. And then when she was
Speaker 1: proofing the book, she said, can you do me a
Speaker 1: favor though, and take out that part about me dressing
Speaker 1: the dogs in clothes? And I said, wait, but didn't
Speaker 1: you do that? She says, I did, She says, but
Speaker 1: it's not good for the dogs. And I want to
Speaker 1: always do what's best by the animal.
Speaker 4: And I love that, like even ninety.
Speaker 1: Years old, she's still always on message, like never ever.
Speaker 1: It was so nice and I was just like, of course,
Speaker 1: so obviously when she passed away, all of us, you know,
Speaker 1: I was emailing with her whole team and we were
Speaker 1: just like, I mean, she's a legend, the best.
Speaker 2: Now then you know.
Speaker 3: The other thing that I thought was really nice is
Speaker 3: they like when they announced her funeral, it's going to
Speaker 3: take place at the National Cathedral in DC.
Speaker 1: I like that me too. I mean too, I feel
Speaker 1: like I feel like that's you know, there's like a
Speaker 1: she's she's she's on that mount rushmore of like people,
Speaker 1: you know, like not presidents, but just like people who
Speaker 1: truly changed the world.
Speaker 4: I think that's a good thing. I love that. I
Speaker 4: don't know, I actually didn't even know. That's fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like that, and I agree with you.
Speaker 3: It just shows how big she is and how important
Speaker 3: she was that that's where they're holding her funeral. I
Speaker 3: loved when I saw that. Anyway, let me switch gears.
Speaker 3: Let me get to Simone Biles.
Speaker 2: First.
Speaker 3: Remind me I read the book, Brad, But remind me,
Speaker 3: how did we get to Simone Biles?
Speaker 1: So it's a good question. You know. They a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, they said, hey, we want you to
Speaker 1: do Simone Biles. But you know, everyone puts together different things.
Speaker 1: And at the time, I was like, no, her story's
Speaker 1: not done yet. She just walked away from the Olympics.
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, I'm glad she stood up
Speaker 1: for her mental health, but but there's no ending to
Speaker 1: the story yet. She needs an ending. And then when
Speaker 1: she won the gold medal, I was like, well, let
Speaker 1: me look into this. Let me just look into what
Speaker 1: her story is. I really didn't know it very well
Speaker 1: because I thought it was about like, oh, you get
Speaker 1: knocked down and then you get back up right. And
Speaker 1: I was completely wrong. I was just wrong. Like what
Speaker 1: I realized her story was is I wanted to do.
Speaker 1: I knew this I came about as I knew I
Speaker 1: wanted to do a book about mental health. I was
Speaker 1: just looking at my own kids and looking at all
Speaker 1: my friends' kids, and our kids today are suffering. They're suffering, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, it is not the same as when we
Speaker 1: were growing up. You know, social media has wrecked these kids'
Speaker 1: self esteem. If you have a kid today of a
Speaker 1: certain age, there's like anxieties off the charts, and I said,
Speaker 1: who can I do? And it was Simone Biles whose
Speaker 1: name kept coming up. And then that's what the book.
Speaker 1: I said. I don't care about the gold medal. I
Speaker 1: care about this advocate for her mental health. And man,
Speaker 1: do our kids need a mental health kid's book more
Speaker 1: than ever?
Speaker 3: And you know what's interesting, Brad is like you said,
Speaker 3: you didn't know her story. And I feel like Simone
Speaker 3: Biles is so famous and Simone Biles is like such
Speaker 3: a star. And then I realized when I was reading it,
Speaker 3: I don't know her story. I know her as an olympian.
Speaker 3: I know her as the olympian that had to take
Speaker 3: a break from the sport for her mental health. And
Speaker 3: I know her as an olympian or a gymnast. I
Speaker 3: should say who came back and then and then shocked
Speaker 3: the world and did it again. I didn't know her
Speaker 3: story from when she was a kid. I didn't know
Speaker 3: that at what is at three years old? Her mom
Speaker 3: and her dad or her mom rather takes her to
Speaker 3: foster care and she ends up with a foster family
Speaker 3: until her grandparents are able to come get her with
Speaker 3: her and her silly I had.
Speaker 1: No idea, and that you know, we the letters that
Speaker 1: were getting from families already, the book's been out like
Speaker 1: two days from foster families. I'll read you another one
Speaker 1: when we gets to the mental health part. But like
Speaker 1: they're so emotional. And when she goes and lives with
Speaker 1: our grandparents, you know, she's officially adopted at six years old,
Speaker 1: and she goes to her grandmother's like is this I mean,
Speaker 1: I can call you mom and dad now, And she's
Speaker 1: so excited by that possibility that she goes up to
Speaker 1: her room and she just practiced it, you know.
Speaker 4: Say mom and dad, mom and dad. Those words are.
Speaker 1: So meaningful to her. And then she runs back downstairs.
Speaker 1: She's like mom, dad, you know, and they're like yeah,
Speaker 1: and they're like, you know, what's going on to the
Speaker 1: mown and she's like nothing, and she just runs back upstairs.
Speaker 1: And it's like, I call the mom and dad, and
Speaker 1: I know that there are kids that are going to.
Speaker 4: Read this book.
Speaker 1: That that page is the most important page in any
Speaker 1: book I've ever written, by the way they suddenly they're
Speaker 1: not alone.
Speaker 2: I wrote it down. I was like, it's the greatest
Speaker 2: page in the book.
Speaker 3: It is by far that that whole scene where she
Speaker 3: goes downstairs and for the first time she says mom
Speaker 3: and dad and they answer, it's the greatest page in
Speaker 3: the book.
Speaker 2: I mean, listen, the rest of the book is good.
Speaker 3: And there's a lot of good stuff in there, but
Speaker 3: that page is so powerful.
Speaker 1: No, and listen, That's why I gave it its own page.
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, I think you know in
Speaker 1: these biographies, you know, you can be like I'm going
Speaker 1: to give the big page to the gold medal. I'm
Speaker 1: going to give the page where she learns to do
Speaker 1: a flip. When we have those pages is fine, but
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, this is the most important part. Like
Speaker 1: I stretched that part out because I'm like, there are
Speaker 1: kids out there that are just like, where's a book
Speaker 1: where the hero looks like me? And I don't mean
Speaker 1: like skin color, I mean like they have my life.
Speaker 1: I'm a foster child. I was, I don't know who
Speaker 1: my parents are, or I do know who they are,
Speaker 1: and they let me go, and I was like, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: this this is where we're going to help some kid,
Speaker 1: and this is a permanent memory. And I care more
Speaker 1: about that one kid, you know, than all the kids
Speaker 1: are going to buy no offense but for the gold
Speaker 1: medal like that is.
Speaker 2: And then you know the other thing.
Speaker 3: And I tell you this, I always love at these
Speaker 3: moments of trying to go through the book and trying
Speaker 3: to figure out if that didn't happen, would we get blank?
Speaker 2: And like when when? When?
Speaker 3: When she's really really young, like I think like four
Speaker 3: or five or whatever, if that trampoline and listen, she's hiding,
Speaker 3: She's all over the place and she's like running around
Speaker 3: and if that trampoline isn't in the backyard, do we
Speaker 3: get some moan biles?
Speaker 1: I mean, the thing is, I think we like, let's
Speaker 1: just talk about it, right.
Speaker 4: So she goes to live.
Speaker 1: In this new home and in the backyard is a
Speaker 1: full trampoline and she's like, you know, they're like you
Speaker 1: want to try it? She's like, are you kidding? Runs
Speaker 1: Chris Elliopolis draws one of the most beautiful pictures I've
Speaker 1: ever seen him draw, which is her, you know, in
Speaker 1: the air, her braids just all you know, like a
Speaker 1: rainbow around her, and obviously that's where she starts figuring
Speaker 1: out what she loves. I do think we still get
Speaker 1: it because there's and I didn't make up any moment
Speaker 1: in this book. You know, you can see her on
Speaker 1: her bunk beds. When she'd be on the bottom, she
Speaker 1: would grab the slats on the top and then use
Speaker 1: them as monkey bars. Right like she is, she's doing gymnastics.
Speaker 1: I don't care if there's a trampoline. Gymnastics will be
Speaker 1: done in this house. And and you know, obviously she
Speaker 1: event I think the bigger moment is even when she
Speaker 1: walks into that gymnastics place.
Speaker 3: But oh that tumbling john the tumbling gym where the
Speaker 3: person's like, you got a membership. She's six years old.
Speaker 3: She's six years old inside the tumbling gym, and the
Speaker 3: director of it is like, uh, you could just stay here,
Speaker 3: like you do whatever you want here, Like she was
Speaker 3: amazing what she was doing in there.
Speaker 1: Well, what they do is they have like one of
Speaker 1: those big one of the giant ropes that come down
Speaker 1: from the ceiling and they're like, listen, if you want
Speaker 1: to climb the rope using just your arms, put your
Speaker 1: legs straight out, give it a shot. You probably won't
Speaker 1: get far. Button She's like but and she's all the
Speaker 1: way to the top and they're like what And you know,
Speaker 1: They're like, six year olds are not supposed to be
Speaker 1: able to do that. And the coach is like, who's
Speaker 1: that and they're like, that's the one I'm telling you about.
Speaker 1: And yeah.
Speaker 4: Then they're like, you have a membership.
Speaker 1: Here's the blockbuster card, come back every day.
Speaker 3: But like, I was so glad to read that stuff,
Speaker 3: because again, I know of Simone Biles when she became famous.
Speaker 3: I don't know her upbringing, but that gets me too.
Speaker 3: There's another part here, Brad where and this is the
Speaker 3: other place, like as impactful and as important to me
Speaker 3: as that foster fan or calling her her grandparents mom
Speaker 3: and dad. Is where she says, at the age of nine,
Speaker 3: she was diagnosed with anxiety and ADHD at the age
Speaker 3: of nine. How great. I mean, listen when I say
Speaker 3: how great is that? Not that not that she has
Speaker 3: anxiety in ADHD, but that she was she had parents
Speaker 3: that were interested that.
Speaker 2: That took notice and then got her diagnosed.
Speaker 1: We know ADHD very well in my family, and it
Speaker 1: was obviously I did not know that about her when
Speaker 1: I started writing the book, and of course I was like, no,
Speaker 1: this is it, and I'm going to read you this
Speaker 1: is a letter. It's actually going up on our social
Speaker 1: media later tonight. But this is this is the first
Speaker 1: letter I got when the book came out the day
Speaker 1: came out, and it said this. It was like, dear Brad,
Speaker 1: not sure this will reach you, but just want to
Speaker 1: say a wonderful I Amsmo bilesis and this is what
Speaker 1: it says. It says, we had a rough week over
Speaker 1: here with my daughter who's in third grade, being laughed
Speaker 1: at on the bus in tears. But when she saw
Speaker 1: that Simone had ADHD like her, she let up and
Speaker 1: she said, thank you for writing this book.
Speaker 4: We needed it.
Speaker 1: We have all your books, but this is definitely our favorite.
Speaker 1: And again those moments where a kid can see themselves
Speaker 1: that ADHD moment again, you can see what I you know,
Speaker 1: what I did there is. I'm like, you get your
Speaker 1: own page for this. This is not something we mentioned
Speaker 1: in the timeline, you know, And she says, you know,
Speaker 1: looking if you look at that page I have sometimes
Speaker 1: Simone Biles will break the fourth wall and talk to
Speaker 1: you directly as the reader, right, And it says on
Speaker 1: that page to be your best, you need to feel
Speaker 1: good about yourself. And that is what kids who are
Speaker 1: going through that stuff don't understand at that young age.
Speaker 1: And here's Simonbiles breaking the fourth wall and saying, you're okay,
Speaker 1: exactly as you are. You know, you have worth and
Speaker 1: you're worthy of being loved. And I don't care if
Speaker 1: you're you know, in third grade or you're, you know,
Speaker 1: fifty years old. We all need that message.
Speaker 3: Hey, you talk about like certain moments in the book
Speaker 3: getting their own page and not just being part of
Speaker 3: a timeline or just kind of telling the story when
Speaker 3: you talk about her withdrawing from the Olympics. Right, so
Speaker 3: now fast forward that we're we're Olympian Simone Biles and
Speaker 3: she withdraws from the Olympics, and it talks about the
Speaker 3: public reaction.
Speaker 2: That page is pretty heavy, dude.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is the one that we were like, you
Speaker 1: should see.
Speaker 4: It was heavier.
Speaker 1: Like what she says about her time is she feels
Speaker 1: like all the words that everyone calls her publicly are
Speaker 1: on her face. So failure, quitter, loser, terrible, embarrassment. And
Speaker 1: so we had we did exactly what she says when
Speaker 1: she talked about it publicly, is we put all those
Speaker 1: words on her face and it was devastating.
Speaker 4: I was like, we were like we.
Speaker 1: Can't do it, and Chris then very smartly put those
Speaker 1: words all over the page and she's just, you know,
Speaker 1: has a peer coming down and she's crying as you
Speaker 1: feel it, and I think, you know, you cannot understand
Speaker 1: what she comes back from until you understand what she's
Speaker 1: been through. And that is a you know, sometimes the
Speaker 1: internet's really fun and funny.
Speaker 4: We can make a good joke, and.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it is the ruless most you know, and we
Speaker 1: are as a society ruthless, and we were ruthless with her,
Speaker 1: and when no one understood even at the time, because
Speaker 1: they were like, oh, you're a quitter, you quit the Olympics,
Speaker 1: and then you forget that that story came out about
Speaker 1: sexual abuse for all these gymnasts. Yeah, right, and then
Speaker 1: you forget that Wait a minute, she went through that too,
Speaker 1: and we don't we don't talk about that part, right
Speaker 1: like we obviously in a book we make a mention
Speaker 1: of she had some coaches that were bad, and we
Speaker 1: make it so it's age appropriate, so you can, you know,
Speaker 1: if you need to tell that story with your kid,
Speaker 1: you know what page it's on.
Speaker 4: But as a as a.
Speaker 1: As a society, we we didn't we didn't mention that
Speaker 1: we just went after her throat because we didn't win
Speaker 1: the she didn't win the goal for us, like she
Speaker 1: owed us something. And I again, and that page to
Speaker 1: me is that's when you realize, man, we put her
Speaker 1: through the ringer.
Speaker 4: That was rough.
Speaker 3: And by the way, Brad, where you mentioned and you're right,
Speaker 3: like it references that she had some coaches that were bad.
Speaker 3: And like you said, depending on who's reading the book,
Speaker 3: they may not be ready for that.
Speaker 2: And would be up to parents. But I will give
Speaker 2: a ton of credit to Chris.
Speaker 3: Eliopolist that little frame where it says that she had
Speaker 3: the coaches that are really bad. I mean for trying
Speaker 3: to send a message without saying the message that artwork
Speaker 3: is great.
Speaker 1: Now, I mean, listen, the secret weapon of these books
Speaker 1: is Chris, right. I mean, he has this art style
Speaker 1: that's like Calvin and Hobbes meets Charlie Brown and that's
Speaker 1: all adorable and kids love it. But like there's a
Speaker 1: reason why there have been, you know, thousands of books
Speaker 1: written about Rosa Parks or Amelia Earhart or Abraham Lincoln
Speaker 1: or the Beatles. But kids gravitate to arts and it's
Speaker 1: no offense to me, it's not my writing. It's Chris's
Speaker 1: beautiful art. He makes you you know, anyone can do cute, right,
Speaker 1: Chris has cute arsa. But what Chris can do, he
Speaker 1: can do heart. He can make you feel. And on
Speaker 1: that page it says, you know, and one coach was
Speaker 1: very bad for me. You know, I had coaches who
Speaker 1: were intents and coaches who were good, but one coach
Speaker 1: was very bad. And it's Simone in the shadows, just
Speaker 1: looking down. Now you have a little kid whatever. They
Speaker 1: just think you have a bad coach, but you have
Speaker 1: a kid who needs that story, and you have an
Speaker 1: opportunity now to change their life. And it's all thanks
Speaker 1: to Chris's art.
Speaker 3: Hey, Brett, I hesitate to ask what I'm going to
Speaker 3: like you would? You had mentioned when we were talking
Speaker 3: about Jane good all about how she was involved and
Speaker 3: her people were involved. Has were some most people involved
Speaker 3: in the in the at least the reading of the
Speaker 3: book and going through it.
Speaker 1: So I know she's read the book. The funny part
Speaker 1: was when we were proofing it, and it's just the
Speaker 1: time and of how it worked. She finally went on
Speaker 1: her honeymoon. So we've been talking to all of her people.
Speaker 1: But They're like, she's on her honeymoon. I'm like, I
Speaker 1: can't bother her on her honeymoon to check our books,
Speaker 1: Like there's only so much, like you know, like I'm
Speaker 1: pretty shameless about asking people for papers, but I was like,
Speaker 1: I can't. Like the woman has been like done nothing
Speaker 1: but try to win stuff for the country her whole
Speaker 1: life and has finally taken the you know, a six
Speaker 1: month period where she truly escaped and left and was
Speaker 1: like I need to live my own life now. And
Speaker 1: I'd be like, what about our book though, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm like, we really really could use your helper.
Speaker 4: So I know she's read it.
Speaker 1: They said, we sent it to her, and obviously we
Speaker 1: sent it to her Jim and to her parents and
Speaker 1: and and the people that she works with have been
Speaker 1: really really nice to us. But yeah, I even I
Speaker 1: couldn't do that one.
Speaker 3: And so she also hasn't commented on the picture you
Speaker 3: posted of you in tights.
Speaker 1: I mean, can I let's talk about that for a moment.
Speaker 1: Of all the pictures I've ever posted on my Instagram, whatever,
Speaker 1: Twitter or whatever that all, you know, all the things,
Speaker 1: nothing has horrified my daughter more than this photo like,
Speaker 1: I sent it to Lilah. My daughter is now twenty
Speaker 1: years old, so I sent her two pictures that Chris
Speaker 1: Aliofice did where it's a it's a picture of Stephen
Speaker 1: the awesome gymnasts, who you know would go asses, who
Speaker 1: you know is the heart throb, and they put my
Speaker 1: head on his body and my and my daughter literally
Speaker 1: wrote back and said I'm terrified.
Speaker 4: I'm horrified.
Speaker 1: I was the only response. I'm like, so you're saying
Speaker 1: you love this. She's like, do not post those?
Speaker 4: And so of course I posted it, and.
Speaker 1: She and yesterday it's two days later, and yesterday she
Speaker 1: says to me, why did you post that?
Speaker 4: I told you not to.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, because she told me Nazi. Of course
Speaker 1: that's why I posted it, exactly why I posted it.
Speaker 1: But we did text Simone Biles and and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't think she's going to be sharing this one,
Speaker 1: but whatever it's it's going to bother my daughter, so
Speaker 1: it's got to be worth it.
Speaker 2: And then let me switch to something else because I
Speaker 2: don't know. I don't want to run out of time
Speaker 2: with you.
Speaker 3: So that that book is out, I am some mo Biles, uh,
Speaker 3: that is out and it's available.
Speaker 2: It's fantastic. It's awesome. Did I did?
Speaker 4: I thank you.
Speaker 2: I was reading about it and I love this.
Speaker 3: Also, you took the Nazi Conspiracy and you made it
Speaker 3: a kid's book.
Speaker 1: We did, you know, because you know kids love Nazis,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean?
Speaker 4: And again.
Speaker 1: The thing is when you say is the kids book,
Speaker 1: it's me it's like for your three year old? I mean,
Speaker 1: we did do im m frank, we did do a
Speaker 1: kid's book.
Speaker 3: For like like ails book.
Speaker 2: Yes, no, no, but it's we did it. It's for
Speaker 2: I don't even know what age, young adults, young adults.
Speaker 3: But Brad, how long have I been telling you that
Speaker 3: I wish like all your conspiracy books. How long have
Speaker 3: I been telling you that's how history books should be written.
Speaker 3: They should be written like novels in a way that
Speaker 3: read where it's interesting and it tells the story and
Speaker 3: it puts you in it. I love that they actually
Speaker 3: that you actually did it. And now it's a it's
Speaker 3: a history book for for for young adults.
Speaker 1: Yeah no, no, listen, we it's for nine, you know,
Speaker 1: nine to twelve year olds, because older than that you
Speaker 1: could just read the real book.
Speaker 4: But we had all these kids.
Speaker 1: That were that were exactly what you just said that
Speaker 1: all these parents were like, we want this since we
Speaker 1: did a first conspiracy book for young readers. But the
Speaker 1: Nazi conspiracy book, you know, a secret plot to kill Fdr.
Speaker 1: Stalin In Churchill at the height of World War Two.
Speaker 1: It's this amazing story of them against the Nazis. And
Speaker 1: we had all the teacher's writing to us saying, hey,
Speaker 1: can you do a young adult version, so we can
Speaker 1: you know, assign it to you know, our nine year olds, ten, eleven,
Speaker 1: twelve year olds, and and it worked, it actually works.
Speaker 1: Scholastic was like, we want to do this with you.
Speaker 1: So we went through the book. You pull out the
Speaker 1: most graphic stuff, you pull out obviously the language stuff
Speaker 1: that doesn't work for that young age group. But the
Speaker 1: funny thing was is my son in his in his
Speaker 1: school last year, got assigned one of our conspiracy books
Speaker 1: that was on the list of books you can pick.
Speaker 1: So the first Conspiracy was about a secret plot to
Speaker 1: kill George Washington at the height of the of the
Speaker 1: revolution is one of them. And my son, of course
Speaker 1: is not picking my book, but all of his friends
Speaker 1: picked the book because they were like whatever we can
Speaker 1: ask Brad if he don't, you know, if we get
Speaker 1: stuck on something. And my again, my son is like,
Speaker 1: they picked your book, and I'm actually getting worried. And
Speaker 1: then my son says to me with a shock, like
Speaker 1: true shock, they liked it, like well thanks for that?
Speaker 1: What like I mean truly as if it was like
Speaker 1: an impossible dream, like how could that possibly be? You know,
Speaker 1: happened that they would like this book? And and that's
Speaker 1: and the not to Conspiracy to me is an even
Speaker 1: better book for you know, those kids who are reluctant
Speaker 1: readers who are in you know, kind of want to
Speaker 1: find something that they would love in history.
Speaker 4: You're not alone, dude.
Speaker 1: Is Scholastic was like, we're doing it, and I love
Speaker 1: the fact they did. I want to do it with
Speaker 1: all the all of our conspiracy books.
Speaker 3: Well I'm just going to ask you will, like, well,
Speaker 3: will you end up doing it with all of them?
Speaker 2: You should? They should? Scholastic should, yeah.
Speaker 1: Bliss and people buy the books and they'll do another
Speaker 1: one with us. It's all about, you know, is this
Speaker 1: gonna work or not? Like and and you know they
Speaker 1: they don't know, we've never done.
Speaker 4: A book together before. So obviously that came out.
Speaker 1: You know, this has been a busy week for us,
Speaker 1: but yeah, we have nots conspiracy coming out at this
Speaker 1: you know, same time. But it's a I love the
Speaker 1: fact that these And the thing is is, you know,
Speaker 1: at my book signs, those kids come and find me,
Speaker 1: like if you're a history nerd like me when I
Speaker 1: was well, like when I was I don't know where
Speaker 1: to go. But those kids when I go to events,
Speaker 1: like when I'm coming in January for the new thriller there,
Speaker 1: like you'll look, you'll pick them out in line. There
Speaker 1: are these really smart, shy kids who just look like
Speaker 1: me when I was little, and they come up to
Speaker 1: me and they'll tell me like and they'll tell me.
Speaker 1: The best part is they'll tell me what I get wrong.
Speaker 1: Like they'll tell me like you TYPEOED FDR's birthday, you
Speaker 1: got it off by a digit, like because you typed
Speaker 1: the eighteens instead of the nineteenth. And I'm like, they
Speaker 1: find everything like they and I'm like, they should be
Speaker 1: my proof readers, not the ones I.
Speaker 2: Got nerd you're at a book signing.
Speaker 1: No, But the best part is the kids, the younger
Speaker 1: ones who like are still like they you know, Chris
Speaker 1: hides me in every single I am right, so I'm
Speaker 1: always hidden in the background. And so I had these
Speaker 1: It was like these two brothers and they came up
Speaker 1: to me and one is probably like ten years old,
Speaker 1: and the younger brother's like seven years old, maybe even
Speaker 1: a little younger. And the younger one is like, wait,
Speaker 1: you know, I saw you and I am Rosa Parks
Speaker 1: and I saw you and you know we are the
Speaker 1: Beatles and I saw you on this and They're like,
Speaker 1: I have a question for you. And I'm like yeah,
Speaker 1: They're like, are you a time traveler? And I thought
Speaker 1: that was really adorable and then the older brother, the
Speaker 1: older brother says like angry at the younger brother says
Speaker 1: he's not a time traveler, idiot, and he says he's
Speaker 1: a vampire.
Speaker 4: Look at him.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, look at me? What is that part?
Speaker 1: Like I know, I'm like not the Tannis guy around.
Speaker 1: But I was like, so kids can come and like
Speaker 1: ask him questions about your history stuff, but like they
Speaker 1: are fantastic.
Speaker 2: Hey. Two other things about the conspiracy books.
Speaker 3: Number one and not not to get all heavy and stuff,
Speaker 3: but with the Nazi conspiracy, dude with the amount of
Speaker 3: anti Semitism that's out there and running around right now,
Speaker 3: great timing for this to be out.
Speaker 1: And listen, when we wrote that book, we thought we
Speaker 1: were at the height of anti semitism, right, Josh mentioned
Speaker 1: I put that book out a couple of years ago.
Speaker 4: We did not know it was going to be even worse.
Speaker 1: And that I love you for saying that, because that's
Speaker 1: what Scholastic love too, if they were like, you need
Speaker 1: a book that you can teach your kids, you know,
Speaker 1: and to me, when what the Nazi Conspiracy is as
Speaker 1: a kid's book and as an adult book, you know, yes,
Speaker 1: it's cool to say we have a secret plot to
Speaker 1: kill Fdr Stalin in Churchill and that's titilating and all that.
Speaker 1: But the key thing about that book is that authoritarianism
Speaker 1: has a roadmap, and it always has had a roadmap.
Speaker 1: And if you look at it, you know, you have
Speaker 1: this charismatic leader who basically is like, finds these you know,
Speaker 1: these these poor and struggling economically, you know, white Germans,
Speaker 1: and then he says those magic words, right, those magic
Speaker 1: words are those people. Those people are the cause of
Speaker 1: your pain. And for decades, you know, that's a code word, right, right,
Speaker 1: And in World War Two it's a code word, you know,
Speaker 1: Hitler's saying it about. In Adolf Hitler's case, it's it's
Speaker 1: the Jewish people, right, But it eventually has become the
Speaker 1: black community, it becomes a gay community, becomes the immigrant community,
Speaker 1: and we forget that. To me, you know, the Holocaust
Speaker 1: doesn't start with death camps. It starts with slogans and
Speaker 1: propaganda and rallies and book bands. And to me, the
Speaker 1: American dream is not about, you know, money. The American
Speaker 1: dream is that when you see a bully and you
Speaker 1: see someone being picked on, you use your voice and
Speaker 1: you say enough enough already. And man, we're fighting Nazis
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five. Still they're still here. And you know,
Speaker 1: and I'm not talking about like just calling anyone in
Speaker 1: a different political party not say there are really we're
Speaker 1: fighting Nazis, right like there are people who are happy
Speaker 1: to watch the Jewish people be wiped off the planet.
Speaker 1: And as someone who's Jewish, that matters to me a
Speaker 1: great deal. So yeah, you know, when we want people's
Speaker 1: kids to learn these lessons, because it's hard to change
Speaker 1: the minds of adults. Eliot, as you know, but for
Speaker 1: decades now, we've been arming the next generation of kids
Speaker 1: with these lessons of kindness and generosity and compassion. And
Speaker 1: I'll take that battle any day.
Speaker 2: Hey, Is there gonna be another conspiracy book?
Speaker 3: Like obviously, and we'll we'll circle back to the I
Speaker 3: Am books and I'm definitely gonna get to the to
Speaker 3: the novel.
Speaker 2: Is there gonna be another conspiracy book?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, working on it.
Speaker 1: Now. You're gonna You're gonna love this one. You're gonna
Speaker 1: love this one. I'll tell I'll text you when we're done,
Speaker 1: or unless you tell you don't you.
Speaker 3: Know, because then I'll just I'll come back here and go, Hey, Brad,
Speaker 3: text it.
Speaker 2: I know what it is. I'm horrible with secret. Yeah,
Speaker 2: if normally I love a secret, but I'll blow it.
Speaker 2: I'll blow it.
Speaker 1: You're gonna like it. It's good, all right?
Speaker 4: Tell me I'm not Yeah, no, go ahead, no, go ahead, no.
Speaker 1: No, no, I got all the time in the world. I
Speaker 1: got it.
Speaker 4: Wherever you want to go?
Speaker 2: Oh, I was gonna say I mentioned the novel, dude.
Speaker 2: We got a date for the novel?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh yeah, I'm coming to town.
Speaker 3: January sixth, just in time for Christmas, the.
Speaker 1: As usual marketing team that brought you January fifth, January seventh,
Speaker 1: January eighth.
Speaker 3: So the new novel is The Viper, a Zig and
Speaker 3: Nola novel.
Speaker 2: Hey remind me? So, so back up a little bit.
Speaker 3: When was the last When was the last Zig and
Speaker 3: Nola novel?
Speaker 1: It's going to be by that January four years. I
Speaker 1: mean it's a long time. I I mean I used
Speaker 1: to write a book every two years, but when I
Speaker 1: started doing the kids books and all the other stuff
Speaker 1: we do, I was like, I just, you know, whatever,
Speaker 1: something has to give somewhere. So it's four years, people,
Speaker 1: I mean even my wife is like, I don't remember
Speaker 1: what happened anymore. I'm like, don't worry. We reset everything,
Speaker 1: like I can't you know? I and so what you don't?
Speaker 1: You know? We got a really nice blurb from you
Speaker 1: know some of these you send your books out to,
Speaker 1: like famous people to blurb them. And one of the
Speaker 1: blurbs came back and said, this is the perfect place
Speaker 1: to start. You don't have to know anything about Zig
Speaker 1: and Nola, but you can read The Viper and just
Speaker 1: read a good story.
Speaker 4: And that's how I treat it.
Speaker 1: I treat it as like, whenever you pick it up,
Speaker 1: it could be your first book.
Speaker 4: And you can go from there. So I but I love.
Speaker 1: This book and there is one thing in this book
Speaker 1: I know you're gonna love and I can't you're gonna
Speaker 1: get I don't know if they did they send you
Speaker 1: a copy.
Speaker 2: Yet, No, no, I don't. I don't have a copy
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 3: I did get an early copy, if I am Simone Biles,
Speaker 3: though you did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you always get it. But you're you're about to
Speaker 1: get the viper. The viper is you know it is.
Speaker 4: Don't do not.
Speaker 1: Turn your back on the viper. It's a it's a
Speaker 1: I love this book.
Speaker 4: And so yeah, we're coming to DC.
Speaker 1: We're doing like Baltimore, we're doing outside other part of Maryland.
Speaker 1: And then we're going back to Tyson's Corner which has
Speaker 1: opened up again. The Warn't Noble there, so we're going
Speaker 1: to be there as well. Wait hold on, we'll be
Speaker 1: there in January.
Speaker 2: Wait hold on, Brad, Yes, Tyler, Brad, are you waiting
Speaker 2: on Elliott's blurb.
Speaker 1: That's the blurb we were waiting for, the blurb that says,
Speaker 1: great job putting it out in January.
Speaker 4: We can get that.
Speaker 3: But no, but I'm glad. I'm glad number one. I
Speaker 3: think like your wife, but I thought the same thing.
Speaker 3: Is like when I was reading that it's coming out
Speaker 3: in January, is like, that's awesome.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad it's coming out.
Speaker 3: I don't remember how the other one ended, And in
Speaker 3: my head, I was like, is there like is there
Speaker 3: going to be a prequel book or something?
Speaker 2: Or do I just have to go back and read it.
Speaker 3: But I'm glad to hear that if I wanted to start,
Speaker 3: I could just start there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, Lessen, I mean I remember when I was.
Speaker 1: I know it's a silly comparison, but like when you
Speaker 1: read Harry Potter, you forget those books came out and
Speaker 1: she was, you know, she really did whatever you think
Speaker 1: about those books, Like she resets the table, right, You've
Speaker 1: got to reset the table for everyone because I can't.
Speaker 4: Remember what happened.
Speaker 1: And that's where I'm a middle aged guy, like my
Speaker 1: brain is not you know, all of our brains have
Speaker 1: been fried by social media. We can't remember anything. So
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm going to just reset it. And
Speaker 1: the funny part is this one scene in the book
Speaker 1: that was in like my friend said to me because
Speaker 1: he was proofing it for me who I always go to,
Speaker 1: and he's like, this is my favorite scene. Man, you
Speaker 1: kill this scene. I'm like, yeah, that scene is in
Speaker 1: the previous two books, like it's in there two other times.
Speaker 1: And he had no and I'm like, dude, you're my
Speaker 1: best friend and you don't remember what I did, so
Speaker 1: I have no hope for any Like, so I knew
Speaker 1: and that's why I put it in there because I'm like,
Speaker 1: you're never going to remember this scene. It's so vital.
Speaker 1: So I we tell it again. We make sure you
Speaker 1: get it again. We're not We're not crazy, all right,
Speaker 1: good cy.
Speaker 3: The biper will be out on January sixth. Like you said,
Speaker 3: you're coming to town. Last couple of things.
Speaker 2: What is the action figure thing that you got from
Speaker 2: comic Con? Oh?
Speaker 4: This is the best. Oh, I gotta get one for you.
Speaker 4: It's so good.
Speaker 1: So I walk up to I take my kids to
Speaker 1: San Diego Comic Con this year. My boys wanted to
Speaker 1: go and they said to me, can we go? And
Speaker 1: I'm like, I've been waiting my whole life for you
Speaker 1: to say those words.
Speaker 4: Let's go.
Speaker 1: And as we walk up, there is a beautiful stunning
Speaker 1: woman dressed as Linda Carter Wonder Woman, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: it's a sign from God. It's the first cosplay I see,
Speaker 1: so immediately I go up. I say, hey, can we
Speaker 1: take a picture together? And and she I basically tell her.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I know Linda Carter, She's gonna love your outfit.
Speaker 1: And she's like, you really know her. I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: she's a good friend of ours, Like we just didn't
Speaker 1: that we didn't event with her in Virginia, like for
Speaker 1: the for the I Am wonder Woman book. And so
Speaker 1: she dms me on Instagram. I mean when I say, like,
Speaker 1: you just look look up the picture of me and
Speaker 1: Wonder Woman, you'll see like, and she dms me and says,
Speaker 1: come buy my booth I have. I'm entertaining at some
Speaker 1: booth or I'm dressing. And I don't even know what
Speaker 1: she's talking about. Like I don't even pay much attention
Speaker 1: because san Die is so big, but I get all.
Speaker 1: I send a picture of the text of me and
Speaker 1: Wonder Woman to Linda Carter and then Linda texts me
Speaker 1: back and and writes back like how amazing the woman's
Speaker 1: costume is. And as I turn the corner with that
Speaker 1: text in my hand, I run into the woman at
Speaker 1: this booth and her booth is a booth that she's
Speaker 1: you know, entertaining to draw people. In is where they
Speaker 1: make your own action figure of you. They scan your
Speaker 1: body and they make you into an action figure.
Speaker 4: And so I'm like, oh my gosh, that's you.
Speaker 1: You're You're wonder when you're here. Here's here's the text
Speaker 1: Linda Carter.
Speaker 4: And she loves it.
Speaker 1: She goes, I'm going to have them make a free
Speaker 1: action figure of you. And again I'm like, I'm waiting
Speaker 1: my whole life for this. And so they they get
Speaker 1: I mean, they put you in a little like laser
Speaker 1: thing and it's truly out of like you know, Minority
Speaker 1: Report or something, and it scans around you and they're like,
Speaker 1: you know, in two months, we're going to send you
Speaker 1: an action figure. And I open up this box and
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my gosh, it's me. And the funniest
Speaker 1: part is my daughter when she sees it, she's like, Dad,
Speaker 1: because I have a little mole on the top of
Speaker 1: my head. She's like, they didn't get the mole, and
Speaker 1: she took a sharpie and put it in for me.
Speaker 1: She literally sharpied my mole in.
Speaker 3: By the way, Tyler found the picture. That woman is
Speaker 3: amazing looking.
Speaker 1: She's and she's the nicest person of all time, truly
Speaker 1: one of the nice pupils. She's become a good friend.
Speaker 1: And I love the fact that she was so excited
Speaker 1: to see that. Linda Carter like thinks that she has
Speaker 1: the longest legs on the planet.
Speaker 2: She is very tall. I mean she dwarfs you, that's
Speaker 2: for sure.
Speaker 1: Oh it's not. One, it's not hard, but two, yes
Speaker 1: she does. I mean she's gigantic. And I'm like, even
Speaker 1: without the boots, she's like, you know, six whatever. It's great.
Speaker 1: But she's a perfect Linder Carter wonder woman.
Speaker 2: Hey, what is the otis spunk Meyer chocolate chip cookie story.
Speaker 1: Someone's been going through my instagram. So so I go
Speaker 1: to do it. This is this is how my life works, right.
Speaker 1: So I go to do this speech at this like
Speaker 1: corporate event. And you know when you go to these
Speaker 1: corporate events, they always have like pre food outside whatever.
Speaker 1: They'll be like, you know, like salads or something, or
Speaker 1: coffee stations or whatever. At this particular one, it was
Speaker 1: a food service one. They have Hershey bars and Otis
Speaker 1: spunk Meyer Cookies, which is crazy to me. So my
Speaker 1: first thought is, well, I'm stealing all this, and so
Speaker 1: I just load up on Spunkmeyer Cookies and Hershey Bars
Speaker 1: because it's like full sized Hershe bars. And as I
Speaker 1: give the speech, I'm like, listen, I have this line
Speaker 1: in the speech says, when you leave here, when you
Speaker 1: go back home, but I added the line just imprompt
Speaker 1: I said, when you leave here and you're done stealing
Speaker 1: all the Hershey bars and Otis spunk Meyer cookies like
Speaker 1: you blah blah blah. And at the end of the speech,
Speaker 1: these two people come up to me looking really serious.
Speaker 4: I'm I go, oh, this is bad.
Speaker 1: And they're representatives from the Hershey Corporation and from Otis
Speaker 1: spunk Meyer Cookies. And both of them say the same
Speaker 1: thing to me, that was so nice. Where So because
Speaker 1: I said, and I said, by the way, I totally
Speaker 1: stole them myself.
Speaker 4: I admitted to the audience.
Speaker 1: I sold myself. And I said, they said, thank you
Speaker 1: for that shout out, give us your address. You're about
Speaker 1: to get the best care packages in the world. And
Speaker 1: I get an entire thing of Hershey bars that will
Speaker 1: last me, you know, forever. And then Otis spunk Meyer
Speaker 1: Cookies sends me like a year's worth of frozen cookies.
Speaker 1: It's like, I can't tell you, like the picture doesn't
Speaker 1: do it justice. It is like you need another refrigerator, freezer.
Speaker 1: It is like pounds and pounds and pounds of giant cookies.
Speaker 1: We eat them every weekend. I still am not halfway done.
Speaker 2: It's awesome, all right.
Speaker 1: So, by the way, my sons, my son's friends come
Speaker 1: over and they're like, you got cookies. I'm like, I
Speaker 1: got cookies for everybody. Let go.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 3: So the Nazi Conspiracy for the young adult that's out.
Speaker 3: More importantly, I am Simone Biles, part of the ordinary
Speaker 3: People Change the World collection that is out and available.
Speaker 3: Bred That book is great. That book is so so good.
Speaker 3: And then we'll see you in January for Viper.
Speaker 1: I can't wait. I'll see you face to face and
Speaker 1: miss you, guys. I appreciate all the kindness and love
Speaker 1: for Simone Biles, because man, I think there are some
Speaker 1: kids who need that mental health love right now.
Speaker 2: Amen, And by the way, have fun at the World
Speaker 2: Series tomorrow night.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you. I'll send you a picture, all right.
Speaker 2: Good deal? Thanks Brad,