April 30, 2025

Laurel Colless on The Authors Alley with Dori DeCarlo

Laurel Colless on The Authors Alley with Dori DeCarlo
Laurel Colless on The Authors Alley with Dori DeCarlo
Word of Mom Radio
Laurel Colless on The Authors Alley with Dori DeCarlo

Through storytelling, Laurel Colless aims to entertain children with page-turning thrillers while empowering them to take the lead on big world problems like climate change, extreme weather, and plastic pollution.

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Australian-New Zealand, award-winning children’s author Laurel Colless is a literary comparatist by education, but spent 25 years working in sustainable business and journalism across Asia, the US and Europe, before coming back to writing. She is the founder of the Carbon Busters Club, a kids’ climate-science program that combines storytelling with science education. In 2013, Colless became an Al Gore Climate Reality Leader.

Through storytelling, Laurel's aim is to entertain children with page- turning thrillers while empowering them to take the lead on big world problems like climate change, extreme weather, and plastic pollution.

Laurel's new book, "Knights Unite" has a place on the podium as recommended reading for elementary schools as part of the National Green Book Awards.

Join Host Dori DeCarlo on The Authors Alley and connect with Laurel at LaurelColless.com, follow on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and buy Laurel’s Books here.

Please support UnsilencedVoices.org a global 501(c)3 nonprofit that empowers survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. We thank Smith Sisters and the Sunday Drivers for our theme song, "She is You".

Be sure to connect with us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and come tell us your story!

WordofMomRadio.com - sharing the wisdom of women, in business and in life.

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WEBVTT

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She is sure, she is sure, she is strong, she

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is true, is true, she is brave, she is she

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is you, she is you, is you, she is sure,

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she is true, she is strong. She is strong, she

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is true, is true, she is brave, is bray, she

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is she is you.

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Hello, everyone, welcome to today's Word of Mom Radio. Here

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on the Word of Mom Media Network. I'm your host,

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Dori Di Carlo, and you know we are here week

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after week, show after show, breaking those myths that morepreneurs

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and business women, especially those of us building our businesses

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from home, that we're just dabbling in between bake sales

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and getting our nails done. We're not. We are smart,

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we are savvy, and we are sharing the wisdom of

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women in business and in life. And I'm looking forward

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to bringing today's guest into the author's Alley. Australian New

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Zealand or War winning children's author Laurel Kolus is a

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literary comparatist by education, but spent twenty five years working

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in sustainable business and journalism across Asia, the US and

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Europe before coming back to writing. She is the founder

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of the Carbon Busters Club, a kid's climate science program

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that combines storytelling with science education. In twenty thirteen, Laurel

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became an al Gore climate reality leader. Through storytelling, her

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aim is to entertain children with page turning thrillers while

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empowering them to take the lead on big world problems

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like climate change, extreme weather, and plastic pollution. And I

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can go into more and more, but I'd much rather

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bring Laurel in and share her journey. So with that

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being said, Laurel, welcome to Word of Mom Radio.

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Thank you so much, and thank you for having me

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and for that introduction. I really appreciate. I'm happy to

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be here.

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My pleasure. So I would love for you to take

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us on your journey going through the sustainable business practices

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and journalism and everything else that led you to now

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becoming an author.

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So twenty five years, yes, working in business on four

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continents and working in the grown up world, I reached

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a sort of point of crisis or a point of

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inflection about ten years ago, where would I have to say.

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I was working in Washington, DC, and I was working

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on quite a big project at Virginia Tech, and I

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was working with the grownups, and I was getting more

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and more frustrated with the speed at which things were happening.

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And of course I understand for adults working in business,

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we have short term financial concerns always to consider, and

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I think we very often sacrifice long term environmental goals

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that make good business sense for the short term. So

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I was working on a project which was urgent addressing

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energy efficiency and buildings around climate change with climate technologies

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from Virginia Tech, and I was reaching a point where

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people were renegging on promises, dragging their feet, you know,

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not taking action. And I started to think, we don't

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have time for this. Maybe I should be looking more

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to the younger, upcoming generation. I'd already already had sort

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of a grounding in literature and I had just started

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getting going so with storytelling, and I started to think

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I was going to jump into something different, but it

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was actually I don't think I would have made this

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jump if I hadn't had this kind of slightly woo

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woo experience as something that's never happened to me before

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and hasn't happened since. And I wonder if I can

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tell about that.

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By allies yeah experience, Yeah I do too. It's a

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great thing.

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But it was in Washington, d C. It was already

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ten years ago. So my husband then was he's retired now,

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but he was an foreign ambassador in Washington representing Finland,

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and I had a full time job. We had two kids,

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We had a lot of entertainment. It was during Obama's

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first term, so going back a little while while now,

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so I was exhausted and I called in a massage,

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which was very you know, I decided to treat myself

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and get a massage, and the woman actually came to

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the house. Her name was Heather, and she opened up

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her the massage table and I was so happy to

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crawl onto it. And she said to me, now, before

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I start, we're just doing a regular deep tissue massage.

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But before I start, I just want to tell you

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that every now and then when i'm massaging people, stuff

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comes up. And she said, I'm not a psychic, and

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I'm not trying to present myself as a psychic, but

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if I get anything, should I tell you. I'm like,

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are you kidding mere? Of course, please tell me if

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you get something, she said, you know, sometimes it's just

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psychic information, all the things that maybe you might want

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to know. So we were halfway through the massage and

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I remember this so vividly because she was massage in

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the back of my leg, on my calf muscles, and

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she said, Okay, I'm getting something, and it's quite big.

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I mean, at first I thought I was talking about

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my legs, but she said, I'm getting something that you're

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writing something. And I said, oh, yeah, but not seriously.

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You know, she said, for children, right, and I said, yeah,

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but it's not you know, I have a day job

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and I've got so much going on. She said, you

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have to do this. She said, I'm getting that. You

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really have to do this, and it's going to change

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your life. It's going to be a really big thing.

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It's going to be really successful. This is a woman

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I've never met. I met her like thirty five minutes earlier,

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and so by now I'm sitting up and putting on

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my robe and I'm saying, but I haven't told anyone

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about those stories. Had not my husband, not my children,

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none of my friends, which meant that, you know, I

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couldn't just pass it off as oh, you know, you're

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just You've got this from somewhere. And so she said yeah.

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She had tears in her eyes and she said, I

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can see She said everyone's telling you to do it.

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And I said, who's everyone. She said, your guides, they're

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all in the room here. She said, I can see

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an angel on top of your head. I mean, I

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don't know, I'll never know, but you know, she said,

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you have to do this, and so of course I

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didn't start on it right away, but I did. Eventually

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we moved from Washington and I started concentrating on kids

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and on ecoscience, and I you know, the storytelling, I

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found was always the best way to get kids interested,

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to get them curious. We were talking about this earlier

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and Doric kids need to be interested if they're going

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to learn, not bored. So the storytelling was sort of

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the way to start talking about this stuff. And the novels.

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So I'm now on my fourth novel. They're selling all

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around the world, and i'm writing my fifth. Actually i've

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just launched my fourth, which is what i'd love to

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do a shout out about today. Maybe later, But yeah,

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I think there's been times over the last ten years

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where I've thought where I've been failing, as you know,

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or I just haven't been selling books, or it's just

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been too hard, and I've said I think I would

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have definitely quit if it hadn't been for this one

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kind of mystical experience, which I still my mind goes

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back to all the time that somehow I couldn't see anyone.

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I don't know, she might have just been messing with me.

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But anyway, here I am ten years later and I'm

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doing it.

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I think that's awesome and good for you that you

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took that aha moment and really went for it with

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your books. You have that mission of raising awareness about

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the climate crisis and pollution and things like that, and

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you decided to do it through fantasy fiction. So how

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have you balanced those two elements, the fantasy with the facts.

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Yeah, that's a really fair question, because I am doing

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fantasy fiction. Well, when I say, the official genre is

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called realistic science fantasy fiction, but you know that's a mouthful,

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But basically I had to figure out because you know,

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climate change, extreme weather, plastic pollution, these are real of

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these are real urgent problems, right, So it's not the

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world of fantasy we're talking about. So how do you

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depict these in a novel for children in a way

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that speaks truth but also is also accessible to them?

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And I decided the only way really to do that

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was to approach it through the imagination. So for nine

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to twelve year olds, I mean, there is a scary stuff,

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you know, deforestation. I remember my kids trying themselves to

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sleep when they heard at school about the Amazon rainforest

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areas the size of twenty football fields being fell in

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half an hour, and different things, you know, extreme weather, floods, wildfires,

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you know, people losing their homes. This is real stuff

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and it's quite scary for kids. So what I decided

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was I knew that, and I had some time to

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think about it. I was working with these science education

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clubs that I started in Greece, and I knew climate

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change would have to be the villain. But how do

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I make it a villain in a way that's compelling

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and fair? And you know, there are many ways that

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we can tell the truth to children, and I think

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that fantasy is just sort of another way of approaching,

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you know, the truth about how we treat each other,

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how we treat the world. I did Saloman Rushdi, the

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famous author some of your audience probably are aware of him.

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I did his master class because I needed to get

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back to sort of learning how to write again and

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I still remember vividly one of the things he said

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when he was talking about what kind of story are

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you going to tell? And how is the best way

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to tell it? I mean, just because I'm modeling now

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the stories. So in my books, I want my children

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in the books, the characters. I want them to feel

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like they're in a world that's a lot like our world.

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But I've got this fantastical overlay which is representative of

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climate change in the extreme weather. What I had to

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do was create a monster. So I've created a monster,

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sort of demon class, warrior class, a pantheon of monsters.

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I was living in Greece. I called them anthrogs. I

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took the word anthropost, which comes from the generic Greek

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word for humankind, and I put it together with hog

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as no offense to pigs, but as a sort of

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symbol of over consumption and greediness and the way we

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use and take more than we need. So these anthrogs

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were born. And I got this kind of verification from

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Salman Rushti when he said, sometimes the truth doesn't have

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to sort of come dressed up as facts. It can

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come even on a flying carpet. And he said, you know,

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if you're writing a little book about a boy with

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a lamp, Sometimes you need a flying carpet. So I

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was writing a book about kids in an eco school.

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They come from everywhere. It's the top secret school for

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the most ecodemic kids of the world. So it's this

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secret away school, and I wanted these kids to have

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to face up to these monsters. I wanted monsters that

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were smart, that would you know, they'd have to fight them,

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and they'd have to find ways to come up against them.

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So these monsters are kind of like my flying carpet,

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if that makes sense. I've kind of scuttered around your

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question a bit, but basically I created a monster which

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is berthed out of garbage dumps or berthed out of landfill.

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The current book that I've just launched, it's actually a

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levi And style of monster that grew up in the

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bottom of the sea and was birthed from microplastics. So

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that's a blind monster that comes from the dark depths

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of the sea, and the kid's face up to it

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in very interesting and compelling ways. So, yeah, fantasy fiction.

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But when people say, oh, so you're world building, I

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say I'm not world building. When I build the world

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of my stories. All I have to do is look

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out the window, or read the newspaper or read the

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IPCC report on climate and I've got my world. But

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I've got this fictional overlay, fantastical overlay that helps bring

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it all to life and maybe helps ignite the imagination

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of the readers.

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On that note, I think of what Laurrel just said.

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And we're back here on Word of Mom Radio. We

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are talking with Laurel Callis about her book Nights Unite

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and eco anxiety that so many of us are feeling

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now and the environmental issues, climate change, biodiversity loss, all

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of these different things that are such a growing concern,

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especially among our youth because they're the ones who are

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truly going to suffer the most from it. You have

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found this way to wead this all into this book

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and again looking at the reality and the fantasy. Let's

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talk a little bit about this and what kids are

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facing and what they you see them doing.

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Yeah, sure, I mean this is quite a subbering subject

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because eco anxiety, it's real and it's all around us,

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and it's something that many kids are feeling deeply. And

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I know in the US. I'm not living in the

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US now, but I have lived there, and there's lots

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of there are a lot of data points that are

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quite disturbing about how many kids really are suffering. I mean,

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I'm not a psychologist, but one of the things that

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I've sort of learned from researching and talking to children

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is that the sadness comes from the disconnect or the

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gap that children often feel between the kind of things

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they might learn at school, or they might learn from

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watching television or reading books about the climate crisis, for example,

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or about the dire state of the oceans. You know,

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by twenty fifty, we may have more plastic than fish

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in the Atlantic Ocean if we carry on the way

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we're going. So they hear these things, and they read

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these things, and then they look, they go home, they

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and they see, you know, what the adults are doing

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or not doing about it. I think this is I'm

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oversimplifying it, of course, but they feel a sense of

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powerlessness if they see that the leaders, their parents, even

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you know, adults in their communities, in their churches or

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in their after school clubs. If they see that those

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grown ups are not taking action, they feel a really

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overwhelming sense of powerlessness in some cases. So I guess

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I want to with my stories and also talking to

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you now remind the moms out there that there's lots

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of ways that we can help with channeling these feelings

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of despair into action and hope, and they can be

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done really simply. If you're I don't see it depends

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where you're in terms of your listeners, where they have

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their own agency. There are mums who, for example, have

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after school programs with kids, or maybe teaching at Scouts

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or doing something with the church, or where you're maybe

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coaching a sports team. You can find different ways to

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put a sort of echo overlay onto your events. Make

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a zero net emissions a game, or just everyone car

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pools or ride your bikes, or find a way to

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get a solar light on the side of the field.

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Do something just fun and a bit innovative so the

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kids start to get there, get inspired and feel like

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they're part of the solution. Or have a clothing swap.

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Find ways to go circular with things, you know, with

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items that you're buying or selling or recycling, you know,

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just do it together with the kids and make them

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feel empowered. These small things can actually make a huge difference.

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And then on a more sort of high level. I

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don't know if you've noticed, Dottie, but there's been quite

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a few lawsuits in the last five six years, particularly

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with the US taking the lead. I mean, I love this,

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you have these kids who are taking the lead. The

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most famous one that I've read a bit about that

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you probably know something about too, was called Juliana versus

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the US, and that was children led and it went

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all the way to the Supreme Court, trying to hold

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leaders accountable for decision that they're making around fossil fuel investment.

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For example, there was one in Montana which was finally

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resolved in December twenty twenty four, where actually the court,

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the Supreme Court in Montana upheld on behalf of the children.

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These are children like nine to eighteen in class actions

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accusing governments of investing in fossil fuels without taking into

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account their right to a clean and healthful environment in

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the future. There was another one in Hawaii. There are

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a lot in Australia, some really high profile ones in

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Australia too, where kids are taking corporations top court looking

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at their sustainability reports and holding them accountable for promises,

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mostly around pollution and fossil fuels. But this kind of

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thing can be really empowering, and I have tried to

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weave it into my tales. I mean, the last book

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that has just come out in December last year has

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one of my characters. She's quite timid, and she's suffering

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from the ego sadness, and in a very unusual and

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kind of well I think, surprising way, she takes on

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one of the monsters and she has a big impact

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on the outcome of the story, and at the end

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she's feeling much better, and she says helping helped. So

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the fact that she could be part of the solution

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and stand up and take action really helped deal with

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this sense of disempowerment that I was talking about earlier.

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It's kind of remarkable to me because kids are so

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aware and you were saying about watching adults and ment.

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You mentioned church, and I will never forget being at

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a church lunch and we cook for a homeless shelter.

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And here we.

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Are having this lunch and I went in, I was

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helping clean up, and they got ready to scrape all

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the food into the garbage that was left overnight. I

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just was like, excuse me, did we not just cook

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for the homeless. We had all of these containers. I

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00:20:09.720 --> 00:20:12.920
packaged up every bit of the food good on you

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fixed families of four, families of two, and people who

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00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:19.200
are single to be able to take home. I just

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00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:22.000
looked and I'm thinking to myself, I can't even think

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of how many times we have luncheons and you guys

350
00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:28.839
just throw this food away. It's to me so hypocritical

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to be talking about one thing and then in this

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same breath throwing stuff away. Oh my gosh. And our

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kids do see this.

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00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:40.839
Yeah they do. But maybe these you know, your colleagues

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or the people at the church, they just weren't thinking.

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They were just taking that had already done their bit.

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But yeah, kids can really hold us accountable too, con't they.

358
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You know what, I'm serious, and it's important.

359
00:20:54.160 --> 00:20:54.359
You know.

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00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:56.759
My grandson always joked with me, Mimi, it takes you

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a whole month to have a bag of garbage, and

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I said, yeah, it does, because I compost this and

363
00:21:02.440 --> 00:21:05.200
this was some insight on you. Is this and that's that?

364
00:21:05.640 --> 00:21:05.799
Then?

365
00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:07.559
So it would it would take me a whole month

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00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:10.519
to just have one bag of garbage to finally throw away.

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And I'm a throw it away or half a bag

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00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:14.839
of garbage because no food, isn't it, nothing's gonna smell.

369
00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:18.240
But we do. Kids learn by what they see, and

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00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:22.680
we were talking about children's literacy and the importance of reading,

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00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:26.160
and again the things that you are addressing with your book,

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because kids learned by what they see.

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So it's rough and in fact, literacy is a kind

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of foundational theme for me. I mean, obviously I'm writing books,

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and you know, my own children, they started moving away

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from books, spending so much time on their phones and

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00:21:42.519 --> 00:21:45.960
it's really disturbing. And actually, before I came on today,

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I had a quick look at some statistics from last

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00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:52.599
year in the US on kids reading, and it's quite sobering.

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00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:55.440
I have to say. This is the study from your

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00:21:55.720 --> 00:21:59.920
National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is kind of like

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00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:03.000
what you call in the US the nation's report card,

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00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:06.559
And the number that jumped out at me is forty

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00:22:06.599 --> 00:22:10.920
percent of fourth graders are now scoring below basic reading

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proficiency fourth graders. How old is a fourth grader? It's

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someone should be right, probably ten. Yeah, my target audience,

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I'm targeting nine to twelve year olds, partly because the

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nine to twelve year olds they still love the storytelling

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and they still feel the magic of nature. But anyway,

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forty percent. So then another troubling number was this, thirty

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00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:40.160
nine percent of nine year olds and only seventeen percent

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00:22:40.200 --> 00:22:43.359
of thirteen year olds say that they read for enjoyment

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00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:47.960
or they read almost every day. So that and it's

394
00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:51.759
the boys that are falling away faster as well. And

395
00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:55.200
that's so sad because well, I mean, I don't want

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00:22:55.240 --> 00:22:57.119
to I don't want to start preaching. But we were

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00:22:57.160 --> 00:23:01.200
talking earlier that something really special had when a child

398
00:23:01.240 --> 00:23:05.119
opens a book. Yeah, compared with looking at streaming, I

399
00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:07.359
think that streaming still can be great, you know, for

400
00:23:07.400 --> 00:23:10.839
the imagination and some great stories out there on you know,

401
00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:13.680
I'm not dissing that. I'm just saying, when you open

402
00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:16.079
a book, the brain has to work, as we all

403
00:23:16.119 --> 00:23:18.599
know this with the brain has to work much harder.

404
00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:21.680
The child has to really go in deeper. The brain

405
00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:26.880
has to create the characters, visualize them, imagine their voices.

406
00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:31.720
It's so much better for developing your creativity and your

407
00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:35.000
imagination to be reading a book. And also when you

408
00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:37.880
read a book for children, I think it's so important,

409
00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:39.920
at least for me when I was eleven, I can

410
00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:42.279
still remember closing the door and getting into my bed

411
00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:46.079
with my jamies and opening a book and being had

412
00:23:46.119 --> 00:23:50.839
this feeling of being somewhere else, being inside someone else's mind,

413
00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:54.279
or being inside other characters' minds, and it was very

414
00:23:54.359 --> 00:23:56.759
important when I found a character that was like me.

415
00:23:57.279 --> 00:23:59.359
That was a really important thing. And I try to

416
00:23:59.400 --> 00:24:01.519
do this in books. I have, you know, a lot

417
00:24:01.559 --> 00:24:05.519
of diversity, kids from everywhere. They all look different. It's

418
00:24:05.559 --> 00:24:09.640
like an international school meets a secret academy kind of thing.

419
00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:12.960
I also think it's very important when a child what

420
00:24:13.079 --> 00:24:17.640
comes across characters who think very differently, that's so much.

421
00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:22.000
It's so important for expanding our minds and for developing

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00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:26.079
critical thinking and getting access to other ways of thinking,

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00:24:26.599 --> 00:24:29.880
other opinions, and also just having a load of fun

424
00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:32.920
getting out of yourself and out of your bedroom and

425
00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:36.160
getting somewhere else and having fun and going on adventure.

426
00:24:36.359 --> 00:24:38.160
And that's so good for the brain, and it's so

427
00:24:38.279 --> 00:24:41.839
good for just developing and growing as a human being,

428
00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:44.200
in my opinion, So for all the moms out there,

429
00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:47.559
you know, our mission has to be to get our

430
00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:50.680
kids reading more. It's not easy, though. I don't think

431
00:24:50.839 --> 00:24:53.720
we're competing with so many other devices. I don't know

432
00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:57.559
if you've heard of any tips. Some I've heard of

433
00:24:57.640 --> 00:24:59.759
mothers paying their children to read a novel.

434
00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:03.519
It's funny. My daughter, like her mommy was an avid reader.

435
00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:07.720
My son's not so much. So you know what, I

436
00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:10.599
got magazines that I knew they'd love to read sports.

437
00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:14.720
I didn't care what they were reading, as long as.

438
00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:15.480
They were reading.

439
00:25:16.039 --> 00:25:19.640
And then my oldest read this book I want to say,

440
00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:22.319
White Fan, but I could be wrong. And it was

441
00:25:22.359 --> 00:25:24.440
something he had to read for school. And I went

442
00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:26.799
to say good night to him and he was still reading,

443
00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:28.480
and I said, damn, it's time to go to sleep.

444
00:25:28.519 --> 00:25:31.359
He goes, no, I can't put this book down. I

445
00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:34.960
have twenty pages. I have to finish reading this. He said,

446
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.720
now I understand how you get lost in a book.

447
00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:43.039
Oh my gosh. I walked out like on fairy Ways.

448
00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:49.759
We're so excited that he finally understood. And then I

449
00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:53.440
bought them kindles. My daughter wanted the books, but I've

450
00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:56.640
got them for my sons. My middle son still has

451
00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:58.720
the same kindle. I said, don't you want to know?

452
00:25:58.839 --> 00:26:00.799
And he goes, works great, but I get to have

453
00:26:00.839 --> 00:26:02.240
a book with me anywhere.

454
00:26:02.279 --> 00:26:04.799
I go, oh, well done, you you.

455
00:26:04.759 --> 00:26:07.279
Know what, Well done them though, I mean I tried

456
00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:10.599
to model, but you can't force helimate.

457
00:26:10.519 --> 00:26:13.240
But you help them develop the heabit. Yeah, yeah, that's

458
00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:14.200
a lifetime heit.

459
00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:17.240
It is a lifetime habit. And it's so funny because

460
00:26:17.240 --> 00:26:20.039
my daughter's a world traveler and would have her case

461
00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:23.359
of books that she would pack as she traveled, and

462
00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:26.440
last year she said, Mom, I broke down. You know,

463
00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:28.680
I had to get in my try. She said, I

464
00:26:28.759 --> 00:26:31.359
have my books. I ship them home because when I'm home,

465
00:26:31.400 --> 00:26:33.359
I want to read a book. And I'm like, good

466
00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:36.720
for you, it's about time that you did that. That's

467
00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:39.400
why I asked my guests because I'm always going to

468
00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:41.400
read your book. I'm going to talk to you about

469
00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:43.519
your book if I haven't read your book. But I

470
00:26:43.559 --> 00:26:45.319
asked people to send me a PDF or an e

471
00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:49.039
book or whatever, because I might read eight books a

472
00:26:49.079 --> 00:26:49.960
month depending.

473
00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:52.039
Okay, well, i'd love you to read my book. The

474
00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:55.839
target you'd have to write, you're eleven year old self. Yeah, no, no.

475
00:26:55.880 --> 00:26:57.839
You know what, Hey, it was a good book. It

476
00:26:57.880 --> 00:27:00.160
was a good book. It's a good story, and it's

477
00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:04.200
something I'm that I find really important and so you

478
00:27:04.279 --> 00:27:07.160
have this whole Peter Blue series. As we're wrapping up,

479
00:27:07.799 --> 00:27:10.119
let people know where they can reach out to you

480
00:27:10.200 --> 00:27:12.240
to get them. We will have links to them on

481
00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:14.359
ward of mom Radio. And what do you want to

482
00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:15.880
leave our listeners with, Laurel?

483
00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:20.279
Well, Okay, I really would love you to go to

484
00:27:20.839 --> 00:27:23.680
my website. I think that's the easiest way, or the

485
00:27:23.720 --> 00:27:27.119
books that are certainly available anyway you get your online books,

486
00:27:27.480 --> 00:27:31.240
so obviously the Amazon platform, Buns and Noble, but pretty

487
00:27:31.319 --> 00:27:36.599
much anywhere. And what I was saying to Tadari earlier

488
00:27:36.680 --> 00:27:38.839
is I feel a little bit of an imposter when

489
00:27:38.839 --> 00:27:42.799
I'm writing about over consumption and then I'm saying bye

490
00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:46.920
bye bye my books. So if you're interested in what

491
00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:50.319
I've got to say, and you are interested in going

492
00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:52.839
to either a bookstore and getting them to order them

493
00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:56.240
or a library so that you can jump into the

494
00:27:56.240 --> 00:28:00.359
circular economy and you have the books shared, I would

495
00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:03.039
love that too, especially if your kids could go to

496
00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:07.440
their elementary school library and have the librarian order a

497
00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:10.079
copee so that more than one child could read in

498
00:28:10.119 --> 00:28:12.680
one sitting. Or if you do buy it, I'd be

499
00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:15.559
thrilled if you passed it on to someone so we

500
00:28:15.720 --> 00:28:22.079
keep over consumption in mind and just basically I can

501
00:28:22.119 --> 00:28:26.119
practice what I'm preaching. But thank you in advance. I

502
00:28:26.119 --> 00:28:28.599
would love people to pick up the book and jump

503
00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:31.599
into the stories, and I'd love also to hear what

504
00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:35.920
your child thought about them with Amazon reviews or any

505
00:28:35.960 --> 00:28:38.920
of our good Reads reviews. Would also be even just

506
00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:41.720
two or three lines. And even if you didn't like it,

507
00:28:41.799 --> 00:28:44.559
I think it's still a data point. I was reading

508
00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:48.799
somewhere yesterday that rejection is not a verdict, It's a

509
00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:51.359
data point. Don't you love that?

510
00:28:51.880 --> 00:28:56.079
Yes? I do so, even if you didn't know what

511
00:28:56.119 --> 00:28:57.319
your website is.

512
00:28:57.480 --> 00:29:02.079
So the website is my name, which is Laurel Pollis

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00:29:02.519 --> 00:29:07.440
la U I re l co l l e SS

514
00:29:07.480 --> 00:29:10.759
dot com. It's Laurel Colis dot com. Or if you

515
00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:14.319
want to ping me on LinkedIn or on Instagram or Facebook,

516
00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:16.839
I'd love to have a conversation as well, and we

517
00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:19.720
can get those links maybe into the chat notes as well.

518
00:29:20.039 --> 00:29:23.720
Absolutely all of them will be on wordommradio dot com.

519
00:29:23.880 --> 00:29:26.960
I encourage you get the book. It's a great book

520
00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:31.400
to share with your kids, and it really does make

521
00:29:31.480 --> 00:29:37.839
a great combination of fantasy fiction addressing very serious real

522
00:29:38.359 --> 00:29:42.440
crisis and elements going on in our world that we

523
00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:46.359
have to take responsibility for as the adults. I was

524
00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:50.480
a little kid. Robert Kennedy back in nineteen sixty five

525
00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:54.920
was talking about if we didn't stop polluting our air

526
00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:00.000
in our water, our grandchildren were going to suffer the consequences,

527
00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:02.559
and he was right. It's our going to be our

528
00:30:02.599 --> 00:30:06.519
grandchildren and our great grandchildren who are going to fight

529
00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:10.319
what these past generations have done. Give them the ability

530
00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:14.400
and encourage them. It's their world and they have the

531
00:30:14.519 --> 00:30:18.240
right to a good, clean world. So Laurel, thank you

532
00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:21.559
for sharing your journey with us. Thank you for sharing

533
00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:24.759
your book. And again all of her links are going

534
00:30:24.839 --> 00:30:27.359
to be live, so I really appreciate you taking the

535
00:30:27.400 --> 00:30:30.079
time to share with us. Today I'm Word of Mom Radio.

536
00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:32.039
Thank you, Dora, thank you so much.

537
00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:34.880
It's been my pleasure. And for all of you tuning in,

538
00:30:35.319 --> 00:30:37.440
thanks so much for being here. We're going to close

539
00:30:37.480 --> 00:30:41.200
out with our fabulous theme song from Smith's Sisters and

540
00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:44.359
the Sunday Drivers. So till next time, this is Dori

541
00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:47.559
di Carlo saying, go out and create a marvelous you.

542
00:30:48.119 --> 00:30:48.880
Bye for now.

543
00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:55.279
She is sure, she is sure, she is strang is straw,

544
00:30:55.400 --> 00:31:00.319
she is true, is true, she is brase, bray, she

545
00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:04.400
is bold, she she is you, she is, she is,

546
00:31:04.920 --> 00:31:08.039
she is sure, she is she is strong, is strong,

547
00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:13.640
she is true, is true, she is brave, she is bold,

548
00:31:13.640 --> 00:31:18.240
she she is you, she is she is she sure

549
00:31:18.279 --> 00:31:22.519
of herself. Yes, she takes care of it. Powerful and strong, Yes,

550
00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:26.680
she knows who she is, has integrity, woman, strong and true.

551
00:31:27.240 --> 00:31:29.799
You know her by name. See this woman is you.

552
00:31:30.119 --> 00:31:34.039
She is sure, she is strong, is strong, she is true,

553
00:31:34.319 --> 00:31:39.680
is true, she is braise, she is bold, she she

554
00:31:39.960 --> 00:31:44.359
is you, she is she is, she is sure, she

555
00:31:44.599 --> 00:31:49.400
is strong, is strong, she is true, is true, she

556
00:31:49.480 --> 00:31:52.960
is braive, she is bold, she is she is you,

557
00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:57.799
she is she is adds value and hope. Has proved

558
00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:00.960
to be brave. See it's never too late, never time

559
00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:05.720
to behave Reaching for dreams doesn't matter. The age believes

560
00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:09.119
in herself, unleashed from her cage. She is sure, she

561
00:32:09.240 --> 00:32:12.160
is sure, she is strong, is strong, she is true,

562
00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:17.880
is true, she is brave, is brave, she is she

563
00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:22.839
is you, she is she is sure, she is she

564
00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:25.880
is strong, she is strong, she is true, is true,

565
00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:31.319
she is brave, she is she is you.
Laurel Colless Profile Photo

Australian-New Zealand award-winning children’s author Laurel Colless is a literary-comparatist by education, but spent 25 years working in sustainable business and journalism in Asia, the US and Europe, before coming back to writing. She is the founder of the Carbon Busters Club, a kids’ climate-science program that combines storytelling with science education. In 2013, Laurel Colless became an Al Gore Climate Reality Leader. Through storytelling Laurel Colless wants to entertain children with page-turning thrillers while empowering them to take the lead on big world problems like climate change, extreme weather, and plastic pollution.

Laurel's new book, "Knights Unite" has a place on the podium as recommended reading for elementary schools as part of the National Green Book Awards.