WEBVTT - Did (Everyone's Favorite Frenchman) Lafayette Really Save America?

0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:05.120
<v Speaker 1>I guess what will What's So? Did you know that

0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:08.680
<v Speaker 1>Lafayette started wearing a wig at age thirteen? You know,

0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:11.639
<v Speaker 1>I have a list of when everyone starts wearing their wigs,

0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:14.880
<v Speaker 1>but Lafayette's not on there for some reason. I also

0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:16.720
<v Speaker 1>didn't know that kids used to make fun of him

0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:19.880
<v Speaker 1>for riding his horse like a goose, because he apparently

0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.040
<v Speaker 1>he was a goose rider. But I only know this

0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:25.400
<v Speaker 1>because my son is obsessed with these history books called

0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.560
<v Speaker 1>Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, and he keeps quizzing me on

0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.640
<v Speaker 1>all this trivia about historical figures, and I kind of

0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:33.800
<v Speaker 1>love it. I mean, it is kind of in the

0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:36.400
<v Speaker 1>family business, if you want to be honest about it. Yeah.

0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:38.440
<v Speaker 1>But you know, for a long time, Henry was not

0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:40.760
<v Speaker 1>a reader, and it kind of stunned me because Lizzie

0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.880
<v Speaker 1>and I both read a ton and he just wasn't

0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.440
<v Speaker 1>excited by reading. But then his aunt gave him this

0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:48.919
<v Speaker 1>Nathan Hale series, and it was almost like it unlocked

0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:51.160
<v Speaker 1>a new part of his personality, Like he just started

0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:55.960
<v Speaker 1>devouring nonfiction and graphic novels and reading all sorts of

0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:59.040
<v Speaker 1>other books and then telling me about French boys and

0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:01.480
<v Speaker 1>powdered wigs. But you know the books he keeps going

0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:05.000
<v Speaker 1>back to and rereading is this Nathan Hale series. Alright,

0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:06.560
<v Speaker 1>so so why don't you tell us what are the

0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:09.880
<v Speaker 1>books all about? I mean everything from history, for like,

0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:14.240
<v Speaker 1>Harriet Tubman is one. He got really into ironclads, those ships.

0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:16.880
<v Speaker 1>He started talking about World War one and two. But

0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.240
<v Speaker 1>the character he's completely obsessed with right now is Lafayette.

0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:22.480
<v Speaker 1>But you know, since we haven't had an author on

0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:24.160
<v Speaker 1>in a while, I thought be really fun to invite

0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:27.720
<v Speaker 1>Nathan Hale on to talk about how he draws these books,

0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.399
<v Speaker 1>how he can relate grim history in just such a

0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.399
<v Speaker 1>funny way, and also to thank them for keeping my

0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:35.440
<v Speaker 1>son occupied for long swaths of time so I don't

0:01:35.480 --> 0:02:01.080
<v Speaker 1>have to parent as much. But let's dive in their podcast. Listeners,

0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.480
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson, and as

0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:06.520
<v Speaker 1>always I'm joined by my good friend Manguesh Ticketer and

0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.799
<v Speaker 1>sitting behind the soundproof glass wearing a tri corner hat

0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.680
<v Speaker 1>that he made from paper mache mangle by hand. Is

0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:14.880
<v Speaker 1>the fun, impressive and I think he's actually doing a

0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.920
<v Speaker 1>celebritory minuet. Is that right? Tristan it's impressive. That's our

0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.040
<v Speaker 1>friend and producer Tristan McNeil. So today we're just going

0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.480
<v Speaker 1>to dive right in because we've got the best selling

0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:27.760
<v Speaker 1>author of the kids graphic novel history series, Nathan Hale's

0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:31.040
<v Speaker 1>Hazardous Tales, on the line with us today. Nathan Hale,

0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:33.680
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Part Time Genius. Well, hello, I'm happy to

0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.520
<v Speaker 1>be here. So we want to talk to you about

0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.679
<v Speaker 1>your latest book in your series. It's Lafayette. So I'm

0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:42.000
<v Speaker 1>excited about that one. It just came out last fall,

0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.320
<v Speaker 1>and it's been interesting to see because of the eighth

0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.240
<v Speaker 1>in the series. And when I meet with readers with

0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:50.079
<v Speaker 1>kids to read the books, I always asked them what

0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.200
<v Speaker 1>their favorite is, and lately I've been getting a lot

0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:55.560
<v Speaker 1>of kids in his favorite one. It's weird how much

0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:57.720
<v Speaker 1>they've taken off because I did not expect them to

0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:02.120
<v Speaker 1>be popular. And in children's publishing. The two thousand five

0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:05.320
<v Speaker 1>is my fourteen year and children's publishing, and I've had

0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:08.120
<v Speaker 1>a lot of kind of dead ends, and it was

0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:10.120
<v Speaker 1>shocking when I thought, you know, I'm not going to

0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:12.200
<v Speaker 1>chase trends anymore. I'm just gonna do my own thing,

0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.079
<v Speaker 1>and I'm interested in history. I'm just gonna try. It's

0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:16.200
<v Speaker 1>going to fail, but I'm gonna try it. And then

0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:19.400
<v Speaker 1>seeing kids just light up and get into American history,

0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:25.760
<v Speaker 1>that's that's never happened, but it's been fun. And do

0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:28.520
<v Speaker 1>you do you enjoy the writing word the drawing? Um?

0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:33.440
<v Speaker 1>There are two such different things. The research so fascinating,

0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:35.640
<v Speaker 1>and it's hard to kind of take all of these

0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:38.520
<v Speaker 1>little stories and then have to decide which ones you

0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.120
<v Speaker 1>have to cut to make it all fit. And then

0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.200
<v Speaker 1>since the books are all dialogue, it's not only how

0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:46.160
<v Speaker 1>do we cut it, but how do we show it

0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:49.080
<v Speaker 1>and tell it in just dialogue? So the writing is

0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.680
<v Speaker 1>pretty nerve racking, but the drawing takes forever. So it's

0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:54.560
<v Speaker 1>kind of a toss up. You know, they're both awful

0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:58.080
<v Speaker 1>and they're a little fun in their way, but they're

0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:02.640
<v Speaker 1>both awful in the Yeah, be awesome. So did having

0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:04.480
<v Speaker 1>the name Nathan Hale get you into history as a

0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:06.840
<v Speaker 1>kid or was that just kind of a convenient way

0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:11.320
<v Speaker 1>in You know how every every day at the first

0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:13.920
<v Speaker 1>day of school, when the teacher you're meeting your new teacher,

0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:17.359
<v Speaker 1>My teacher would always be like, oh, we have a

0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:22.760
<v Speaker 1>famous patriot in our class. And Hale and say, oh

0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.160
<v Speaker 1>what you said, give me liberty or give me death?

0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:28.760
<v Speaker 1>And I'd be like, no, that was Patrick Henry. I said,

0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.040
<v Speaker 1>I regret that I had but one life to give

0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:36.839
<v Speaker 1>for my country every every year. Maybe that's uh, maybe

0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:39.000
<v Speaker 1>that's where you developed your sense of humor. You know,

0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:41.799
<v Speaker 1>it's it's it's fun saying that these books are literally

0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.240
<v Speaker 1>gallows humor, and they're you know, narrated by Nathan Hale

0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:48.000
<v Speaker 1>trying to procrastinate his death and telling all these great

0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:50.760
<v Speaker 1>history stories. And I was just curious, how did that

0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.360
<v Speaker 1>come about. The funny thing is I had a feel

0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:56.600
<v Speaker 1>in place for a history series before we came up

0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.160
<v Speaker 1>with the conceit of the spine. Nathan Hale being are

0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:03.719
<v Speaker 1>kind of omnipotent narrator, but my editor insist that we

0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:06.800
<v Speaker 1>have a narrator. So I was brainstorming on ideas for

0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:09.360
<v Speaker 1>what kind of narrator would be good, and then we

0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.919
<v Speaker 1>were going back and forth on cover elements, and I

0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:15.279
<v Speaker 1>was like, can we cut one of those things if

0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.560
<v Speaker 1>we combined the opera name into the series title? And

0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.400
<v Speaker 1>then I was like, hang on, hang on, what if

0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:24.080
<v Speaker 1>you know there was this Spineynhale from British and he

0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:26.359
<v Speaker 1>was executed by the British. Hang On, hang on, And

0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:28.000
<v Speaker 1>my editor was like, I don't know what you're talking about,

0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:29.240
<v Speaker 1>but I like the sound of it. Hang up and

0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:31.920
<v Speaker 1>write this now. And that Hangman character is so funny,

0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.320
<v Speaker 1>like and and just breaks up the story really nicely.

0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:39.560
<v Speaker 1>I am not actually into military history, like I I

0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.240
<v Speaker 1>love history, but some of the military stuff has just

0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:44.719
<v Speaker 1>never really been that appealing to me. But it's fine

0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.440
<v Speaker 1>to see my kids just spouting all these facts about

0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:50.360
<v Speaker 1>various wars and and be so into like iron clads

0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:53.279
<v Speaker 1>and whatever. And and you know, I am curious, like,

0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:55.679
<v Speaker 1>how do you choose what stories to turn into books?

0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:57.680
<v Speaker 1>And how do you balance humor with some of these

0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:03.360
<v Speaker 1>very serious topics. I never super interested in military specific

0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:06.919
<v Speaker 1>history either, But every time I find a story that

0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:10.200
<v Speaker 1>I'm excited about, I go, oh, this is the military story.

0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.440
<v Speaker 1>And it's funny because I've I've been to some schools,

0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.000
<v Speaker 1>whether the parents are like, we love all of your books.

0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:19.320
<v Speaker 1>We're a couple of hippies and our children are still

0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:23.800
<v Speaker 1>militants about this World War One stuff. I don't know

0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.279
<v Speaker 1>if it's terrifying or exciting that so many third and

0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:30.440
<v Speaker 1>fourth and fifth graders kind of love the structure of

0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:32.479
<v Speaker 1>a military story. I don't know what it is, and

0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.240
<v Speaker 1>I won't say that our lay that book has anything

0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:38.240
<v Speaker 1>to do with a certain musical, but that may have

0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.440
<v Speaker 1>come into plant. Well. Actually that that was my My

0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:43.720
<v Speaker 1>next question was because I do want to focus on

0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.800
<v Speaker 1>the Lafayette story, which is fascinating, but I guess like

0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:49.800
<v Speaker 1>he's one of these characters we kind of know about

0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.359
<v Speaker 1>as as a hero of the Revolutionary War, but his really,

0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.599
<v Speaker 1>his full story isn't that well known. When I started

0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:57.560
<v Speaker 1>this book, I was a little nervous about it because

0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:01.120
<v Speaker 1>Lafayette could not be a more privileged person. I mean,

0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:05.080
<v Speaker 1>he was aristocracy, and you know, the stories people are

0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:07.839
<v Speaker 1>interested in right now are not stories about the world's wealthiest.

0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:12.200
<v Speaker 1>The most privileged people are certainly not. But Lafayette himself

0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:17.080
<v Speaker 1>was in aristocratic French family that went back to the Crusades,

0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:20.280
<v Speaker 1>back to geordal Vark. He was friends with Marie Antoinette,

0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.240
<v Speaker 1>his friends with all of the wealthiest people in France.

0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:28.040
<v Speaker 1>But at heart he was like a country kids who

0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:30.840
<v Speaker 1>liked exploring, and he liked adventures, and more than anything else,

0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:34.280
<v Speaker 1>he wanted to be part of his family's the leftest

0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:38.920
<v Speaker 1>line of you know, warriors, and when he saw that

0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.600
<v Speaker 1>the Americans were fighting the British, he was like, well,

0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:45.520
<v Speaker 1>maybe I'll go over there. And when he watches up

0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.760
<v Speaker 1>in America because of his back, Barnman as well bumps

0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.320
<v Speaker 1>straight up in the George Washington's company because everybody was like,

0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:53.880
<v Speaker 1>we don't know anything about this kid, but he is

0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:59.160
<v Speaker 1>richer than anyone in this country. Maybe we can manipulate that.

0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:01.600
<v Speaker 1>And then the crazy Blue kids. He turned out to

0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:05.440
<v Speaker 1>be pretty talented at battle. Nathan Hale I love hearing

0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:23.320
<v Speaker 1>about Lafayette. But first a quick ad break. Welcome back

0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:25.880
<v Speaker 1>to part time Jeeves. We were talking with author Nathan

0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:29.120
<v Speaker 1>Hale about his book Lafayette and just about writing graphic

0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:33.360
<v Speaker 1>novels in general. You know, the stories that you tell here,

0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:35.240
<v Speaker 1>there's some some pretty wild ones. You know. You've got

0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.600
<v Speaker 1>this story about Lafayette falling on his face on the

0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:40.640
<v Speaker 1>dance floor and one about him writing a kid's book

0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:43.120
<v Speaker 1>with Ben Franklin. I'm just curious, you know, in the

0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:47.200
<v Speaker 1>writing process, how do you find and then fact check

0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:50.200
<v Speaker 1>stories like those? I read and read and read. I's

0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:51.760
<v Speaker 1>try to get my hands on as many kind of

0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.679
<v Speaker 1>primary stories as possible. I read a lot of contemporary

0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:58.360
<v Speaker 1>books and articles on these people, and I'm always just

0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.000
<v Speaker 1>kind of combing over it for the big picture of

0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:04.280
<v Speaker 1>the history store, but also for the wacky stuff. The

0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:08.360
<v Speaker 1>fact that he did team up with Benjamin Franklin to

0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.880
<v Speaker 1>write a story of a picture book for children about

0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:14.880
<v Speaker 1>how evil the British were. That that's something they talked.

0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.200
<v Speaker 1>They never pulled it off, but they did talk about it.

0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.480
<v Speaker 1>I do as careful of research as I can, and

0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:25.160
<v Speaker 1>then when I send it into the publisher, before I

0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.480
<v Speaker 1>do any drawings, basically write the whole manuscripts, and I

0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:31.520
<v Speaker 1>spend the manuscripts into the publisher, and they do you know,

0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:33.880
<v Speaker 1>they take it through proop reading and editorial, and then

0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:37.280
<v Speaker 1>they kick it over to the publisher's fact checkers. And

0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.559
<v Speaker 1>even with their really excellent fact stecting and all of

0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:43.600
<v Speaker 1>the research that I do, I'll still run into a

0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:45.959
<v Speaker 1>third grade if it's like, hey, you got this wrong,

0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:48.480
<v Speaker 1>and then they'll point it out and I'll find it

0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:55.320
<v Speaker 1>and be like, you've got kids. Yeah. One of the

0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:57.960
<v Speaker 1>things I really liked was that story of his being

0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:03.679
<v Speaker 1>an orphan really plays into it. Of his admiration for Washington, right, Yeah, So, Um,

0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.360
<v Speaker 1>one of the interesting things about his relations they were

0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:11.120
<v Speaker 1>very very close. Washington had this this thing. There's a

0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.920
<v Speaker 1>page in the book that I really enjoyed. Um, after

0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:16.000
<v Speaker 1>one of the longest battles of the Revolutes, they would

0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:19.880
<v Speaker 1>have been all day, nobody could find Lafanta, Like, where's Laffant,

0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.520
<v Speaker 1>where's the general? Where where George Washington couldn't find either

0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:24.880
<v Speaker 1>one of them. And they found them in a little

0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.400
<v Speaker 1>clearing and they had just been fighting and racing them

0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:29.480
<v Speaker 1>back and forth and doing all this stuff all day.

0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:31.680
<v Speaker 1>And George Washington had spread his cloaks down on the

0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:35.360
<v Speaker 1>ground and just znked out and fell asleep, and Laffatte

0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:37.040
<v Speaker 1>was right there with them, just the two of them,

0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:39.559
<v Speaker 1>just sleeping with all of the battle gear on. So,

0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:43.480
<v Speaker 1>and it's incredibly close relationship. I think a lot of

0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:45.320
<v Speaker 1>people have read into the fact that Lafayette was kind

0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:47.560
<v Speaker 1>of looking for a father's figure since he didn't have one,

0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:51.119
<v Speaker 1>and you know, he saw George Washington is powerful, charismatic

0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:55.680
<v Speaker 1>military leader and probably saw you know, a father's figure there,

0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:59.800
<v Speaker 1>and then, um, Washington has lost children of his own.

0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:01.880
<v Speaker 1>There's a story I didn't get to use in the

0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.840
<v Speaker 1>book that I really liked. I guess Washington was like

0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:09.520
<v Speaker 1>that he did not like physical contact. And one of

0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:12.960
<v Speaker 1>one of his generals was talking and I was like,

0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:16.360
<v Speaker 1>I will bet you everybody in this room, I'll buy

0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:19.040
<v Speaker 1>you all a drink. Yes, Washington comes in and I

0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:23.400
<v Speaker 1>touched him on the shoulder and Washington doesn't care. But

0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:25.640
<v Speaker 1>Washington came in and you know, he touched him on

0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:29.000
<v Speaker 1>the shoulder. In Washington jet like gave him just the

0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:32.839
<v Speaker 1>meanest cold of stare ever been to drink. And then

0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.520
<v Speaker 1>Lafayette comes into the room and you know, throws his

0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.160
<v Speaker 1>arms around and kisses him on both cheeks and nothing,

0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:43.440
<v Speaker 1>you know, no problem. They definitely had a that's that's uh,

0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:45.400
<v Speaker 1>that's pretty interesting. You know. One of the things that

0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:47.760
<v Speaker 1>struck me about Lafaette's character in the book is that

0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.920
<v Speaker 1>he kind of comes across his both this military genius,

0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.960
<v Speaker 1>you know, being very brave and wily, but it also

0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:58.280
<v Speaker 1>comes across a like completely trusting and innocent. And I'm curious,

0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:01.880
<v Speaker 1>is that how you see him as well? Yeah? I um.

0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:04.360
<v Speaker 1>One of the cool things about Lafayette is when you

0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:06.320
<v Speaker 1>have a lot of his letters that he wrote in

0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.280
<v Speaker 1>English that he was learning English as fast as he

0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:11.319
<v Speaker 1>could when he got to the States, but he did

0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:15.040
<v Speaker 1>not arrive with great English. But we have letters that

0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:17.560
<v Speaker 1>he wrote, so you can read his actual letters, and

0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:19.000
<v Speaker 1>I don't know if it's just because he didn't have

0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:22.000
<v Speaker 1>a grasp on the language, but he comes across as

0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.400
<v Speaker 1>really kind of sweet and almost I don't a little

0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:28.319
<v Speaker 1>bit silly, because you know, he's kind of grabbing it

0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:31.040
<v Speaker 1>that language, and he's just he's one of these people

0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:34.079
<v Speaker 1>that when you read his actual letters to people, that

0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.520
<v Speaker 1>personality just comes shining through. And you know, I could

0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:39.400
<v Speaker 1>have a totally wrong but to me, he just seemed

0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.120
<v Speaker 1>like just like a fun guy, like a fun and

0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:47.480
<v Speaker 1>silly but brave and crazy the sweetheart. You know. But

0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.559
<v Speaker 1>maybe maybe that's the wrong read. Maybe he's stut with

0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:52.680
<v Speaker 1>language and that's way sings across that way, but he

0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:56.360
<v Speaker 1>just kind of bubbly and enthusiastic and a little bit goofy.

0:12:56.960 --> 0:13:00.679
<v Speaker 1>I was surprised by um and and really came away

0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:04.040
<v Speaker 1>admiring how many times he ends up going into battle

0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:08.079
<v Speaker 1>just being so incredibly brave. I was curious when does

0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:11.720
<v Speaker 1>Lafayette actually become a star in France, because I know

0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:13.960
<v Speaker 1>that's a part of this story too, write like when

0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:16.440
<v Speaker 1>does news of his bravery end up coming back home

0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:19.920
<v Speaker 1>and he gets celebrated there. So the slow news going

0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.760
<v Speaker 1>back and forth, you know, traveling by ship, but of

0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:25.839
<v Speaker 1>course when the news gets to France, they're making a

0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:29.800
<v Speaker 1>way bigger deal out of it. You know. The by

0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:31.720
<v Speaker 1>the time the stories getting to f him, you know,

0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:36.480
<v Speaker 1>he's practically leading the enemies and he's the biggest deal ever. Um.

0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:38.680
<v Speaker 1>And so you know when he came to the United

0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:40.920
<v Speaker 1>thanks be in the United States for years at the time,

0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:44.680
<v Speaker 1>he did go home for period during the Revolutionary War

0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:47.600
<v Speaker 1>because they were like, sure, he's great, we like him here,

0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.160
<v Speaker 1>but he'd be more valuable to us if he was

0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:54.079
<v Speaker 1>talking up um he was getting at that French money,

0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:57.480
<v Speaker 1>getting the French alliance put together. I mean, the story

0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:00.760
<v Speaker 1>is just constantly him wanting to fight and be in

0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:06.439
<v Speaker 1>the battles, but Washington and everybody else wanting France's armies

0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:08.080
<v Speaker 1>to come and help, you know. So it's just a

0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:10.079
<v Speaker 1>lot of back and forth and they you know, when

0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:13.280
<v Speaker 1>the French armies and ships finally show up, you know,

0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.760
<v Speaker 1>sometimes it pans out, sometimes it doesn't, but it's you know,

0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:19.400
<v Speaker 1>I think one thing that's interesting that kids when they

0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:22.080
<v Speaker 1>read it, it's just seeing how many other, how many

0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:24.560
<v Speaker 1>of these huge plans put together by Washington, which just

0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.440
<v Speaker 1>kind of belly flop. You know, France would send a

0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:29.160
<v Speaker 1>whole bunch of troops but they're all too sick to

0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:31.560
<v Speaker 1>get off the ship, or you know, they just one.

0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:34.480
<v Speaker 1>You know, they finally get finally get a French navy

0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:36.360
<v Speaker 1>to come and help, and then a big storm comes

0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:39.720
<v Speaker 1>up and you know breaks them all down. Just so

0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:42.560
<v Speaker 1>many failed attempts, over and over. In fact, I was

0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:44.320
<v Speaker 1>worried when I wrote the book. I'm like, no, man,

0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.040
<v Speaker 1>so many of these things that they try to just colossal.

0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.840
<v Speaker 1>To go here more with Nathan Hailer. Right after this break,

0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:06.480
<v Speaker 1>welcome back to part time, James. We were talking with

0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.720
<v Speaker 1>my kid's favorite author, Nathan him. So, Nathan, I love

0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.400
<v Speaker 1>how you slip in Benedict Arnold's story and as well,

0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:15.240
<v Speaker 1>like as this kind of like an extended sidebar. But

0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:18.360
<v Speaker 1>you know, he's actually a much more sympathetic character than

0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:20.880
<v Speaker 1>than I feel like i'd remembered from history class and

0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.760
<v Speaker 1>and never quite gets his due right. He is super

0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.960
<v Speaker 1>interesting and when I put him into the book, um,

0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:29.840
<v Speaker 1>he actually appears in the first book in the series,

0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:34.360
<v Speaker 1>one that's by as a hero because he was really

0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:40.400
<v Speaker 1>amazing hero in the American Revolution. For the first several

0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.160
<v Speaker 1>years of it, he was just great. But you know,

0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:48.560
<v Speaker 1>through like military jealousy, ees and a long injury that

0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.720
<v Speaker 1>kind of worn down and a feeling of not being

0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:55.480
<v Speaker 1>thanked enough for what he did, he was kind of

0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:57.560
<v Speaker 1>put into a position where he was just like, you

0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:01.960
<v Speaker 1>know what, I'm stick of being was treated by Washington's arty,

0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:04.840
<v Speaker 1>and he saw a way out and he he took

0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:09.720
<v Speaker 1>it and he you know, Americans have not liked the

0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:14.720
<v Speaker 1>name Benedict and felt Benedict Cumberbatch came aloy and we

0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:18.560
<v Speaker 1>love it. So my son Henry wrote a list of

0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.240
<v Speaker 1>questions for me to prep me for this interview. He

0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:23.520
<v Speaker 1>was just so excited that I was going to get

0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:25.400
<v Speaker 1>to chat with you. But you know, most of the

0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:28.280
<v Speaker 1>questions he had were things like what is One Trick

0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:31.760
<v Speaker 1>Pony about? Or what is Alamo All Stars about? Like

0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:33.560
<v Speaker 1>all the books he hasn't read, he wanted you to

0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:38.280
<v Speaker 1>summarize for him. But one question I liked was who

0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.200
<v Speaker 1>is your favorite side character from this book? And who

0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:45.920
<v Speaker 1>do you identify with most? My favorite side character from

0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:49.400
<v Speaker 1>Lafaye yet Um Lafayett. That was one of my favorite

0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.200
<v Speaker 1>kind of lesser known American history characters. A guy named

0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:55.760
<v Speaker 1>Henry Knock who was a big kienda being one of

0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:58.440
<v Speaker 1>the big kind of He's a major general by the

0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:00.920
<v Speaker 1>time we get to Lafayett. This guy, Henry Knox was

0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:05.480
<v Speaker 1>a Boston bookstore owner in his twenties and all his

0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:08.240
<v Speaker 1>life he's been fascinated with guns and he just read

0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.119
<v Speaker 1>books about them, read books about cannons and artillery. He

0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:13.560
<v Speaker 1>was so into guns that he blew his fingers off

0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:16.000
<v Speaker 1>when he was a kid with a shotgun. But he

0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:19.440
<v Speaker 1>was just fascinated by them and a lot of bookstore

0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:23.040
<v Speaker 1>And when the Revolution broke out, he's like, I'm putting

0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.120
<v Speaker 1>the clothes sign on the bookstore and I'm gonna go

0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.440
<v Speaker 1>help Washington's army. And he actually does one of these

0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:32.560
<v Speaker 1>the crazier things of the Revolutionary War when he gets

0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.040
<v Speaker 1>these guns from Fort Tecton Drug and he's maybe maybe

0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:37.920
<v Speaker 1>a term at thendfore Tychon run and he marches them

0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.080
<v Speaker 1>just through the impossible odds across frozen rivers and everything

0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:43.560
<v Speaker 1>to get these guns in place. And he's got a

0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:48.480
<v Speaker 1>couple of little cameos in Las Him a lot there are.

0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:53.600
<v Speaker 1>There's Baron von Steuben, another um for a national who

0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:58.040
<v Speaker 1>came into help, who's an amazing drill sergeant who does

0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:01.440
<v Speaker 1>in school stuff. The British con Act was beating the

0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:04.640
<v Speaker 1>Benedict Donald's traitors wide back to the British guy named

0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.600
<v Speaker 1>John andre It was a really cool guy. And when

0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:10.840
<v Speaker 1>they caught him and executed him, he put the noose

0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:14.600
<v Speaker 1>over his own neck. That's how much of a serious

0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.920
<v Speaker 1>soldier this guy was. Um. There's lots of lots of

0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:22.600
<v Speaker 1>really good, juicy characters in this story. Yeah. I love

0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:25.760
<v Speaker 1>the way you depict Barren von Steuben in this book,

0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:29.400
<v Speaker 1>where he's just but not only super efficient, but he's

0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:31.840
<v Speaker 1>got this dog with him and he's cursing, and the

0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:33.800
<v Speaker 1>way the curses are shown in the book is just

0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:38.280
<v Speaker 1>so funny. It's really very sweet. But I do want

0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:40.399
<v Speaker 1>to thank you so much for being here today, Nathan,

0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:42.919
<v Speaker 1>and thank you for writing these books and bringing so

0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:45.720
<v Speaker 1>much joy to my kiddo. The books are Nathan Hale's

0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:48.639
<v Speaker 1>adventurous tales. His most recent book is Lafayette and you

0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:51.800
<v Speaker 1>can find them everywhere. Thanks for having me this was

0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:54.160
<v Speaker 1>a lot of fun. Well that's it for today's show

0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:56.520
<v Speaker 1>from Gabe, Tristan, Mango, and me. Thanks so much for

0:18:56.560 --> 0:19:09.760
<v Speaker 1>listening to the l