0:01

Wonder Curiosity Connection

0:03

. Where will your adventures take you

0:05

? I'm Dr Diane , and thank

0:07

you for joining me on today's episode

0:09

of Adventures in Learning . Welcome

0:19

to the Adventures in Learning podcast . I'm your

0:21

host , dr Diane , and today I am

0:23

so excited to welcome Hena

0:25

Khan to the program . She is

0:27

an award-winning author . I fell

0:29

in love with her , I realized many , many years

0:31

ago through her picture books , but

0:34

I also absolutely adore

0:36

Amina's voice and Amina's

0:38

song . I've used them when I've taught

0:40

both middle grade and with my

0:42

college students , and this

0:44

new book that she has out right now

0:47

is absolutely gorgeous . I

0:49

can't wait for you to hear more about drawing Dina

0:51

, and I want to also ask her

0:53

, because she's got a really busy year coming

0:55

up . We're going to talk a little bit about her new books that

0:57

are coming out this year . So , hena

1:00

, welcome to the show , hena Khan .

1:01

Thank you so much . Thank you for that lovely introduction

1:04

. It's so nice to talk with you , dr Diane .

1:06

D'Amico . Well , I am so glad you're here

1:08

. Let's start with the brand new book

1:10

. I have to tell you I gobbled up

1:12

drawing Dina in about

1:15

a day . I couldn't put it down and

1:17

I found for me . As

1:19

I was reading it , I thought of so many

1:21

young girls who I know , who

1:23

suffer from anxiety and

1:25

suffer from . It's almost crippling

1:28

for them and I thought Dina was such a refreshing character

1:31

in terms of the voice and

1:33

the struggles that she has going on . I wondered if you

1:35

could talk a little bit about

1:38

Dina as a character and what

1:40

inspired you to write this book ? Hena Khan .

1:42

Oh , thank you so much , so well

1:44

. Dina , she's sort of a combination

1:46

of different people in my life , including me and

1:49

other young people in my family who either

1:52

have her artistic talent or have

1:54

struggled with anxiety themselves . But

1:58

the idea was really the

2:01

fact that for many children

2:03

who are experiencing anxiety , like Dina

2:05

, they don't know what it is and

2:07

they may not think , or their family

2:10

may not think , that they have any reason to

2:12

be anxious , and so it

2:14

can kind of sneak up in this very subtle

2:17

way at first until it grows

2:20

. And that's what I wanted to

2:22

share , like this journey of her

2:24

dealing with these sort of uncomfortable

2:26

symptoms , but it's not overwhelming her

2:29

to the point where she can't function . She's

2:32

really just going through her life but not

2:34

feeling like it's something worth sharing until

2:36

it gets to a point where she needs to . But

2:39

I think that a lot of times we do confuse

2:41

anxiety for other things in children

2:44

, whether it's gastrointestinal

2:46

or an allergy or just growing

2:48

pains , and so that was something I wanted to

2:50

explore too was the response of

2:53

the people around her in very

2:56

different roles in her life . But more

2:58

than that , a story just about dealing

3:00

with life and changes and interpersonal

3:03

dynamics and family dynamics and this

3:05

love for art and what it means to create

3:07

art and to put yourself into the world

3:09

in a vulnerable position . So all

3:12

of that in one little book .

3:15

You captured all of that and I was

3:17

just thinking , as you were talking , about the response

3:19

of the people around her . That

3:21

was so well done , because we

3:23

don't necessarily know how to respond to

3:26

anxiety in a young person as

3:28

adults . I found myself thinking

3:30

this should be required reading for adults as well

3:32

as for kids .

3:33

Oh , thank you , yeah , but

3:35

, like I said , sometimes we think we can over look

3:38

it very easily . Or mistaken for something

3:40

else , we can very easily think you know

3:42

. Well , you know , wait till you're my age , right , then

3:44

you'll know what stress is like . You're a kid , you're

3:46

12 , what do you have to worry about ? And

3:49

we never . Sometimes you don't even know what it is

3:51

right . As the anxious person , you don't know what

3:53

it is that might be causing that

3:56

. So to me that was important , as well

3:58

as the other side of like the resources that

4:00

are there for kids , especially in

4:02

a public school setting . And Dina is a

4:04

child of immigrants who , you know

4:06

, haven't navigated the public school system , don't

4:08

know exactly . You know what services are available and I

4:10

think , for even for me , who did go to public

4:12

school here , I was surprised to learn about how

4:15

many things are available to kids

4:17

through , you know , counseling

4:19

all the way through school psychologists , to

4:21

really support kids who are struggling with this

4:23

and , especially since that's something that we

4:25

know it's unfortunately afflicting

4:28

more and more kids , that there are , there are

4:30

many avenues for getting them the support

4:32

they need .

4:33

And the stigma , I think , is less than

4:36

it was as well when you

4:38

were a child Dina's age , or when I was

4:40

a child Dina's age . You know , I think

4:42

there are more resources and more people who

4:44

are ready to support you , but if

4:46

you don't know how to navigate the system , you

4:48

don't know what to reach out and ask for , Right

4:51

, right .

4:51

And unfortunately , like you know , the stigma is still real

4:54

. Like you know , it is lessening , which is encouraging

4:56

. But I think for many families

4:58

it's this notion of you know , well , this is our

5:01

private life , I mean , we don't need to know

5:03

other people will manage it on our own . And

5:05

and I know many people who feel like , well , if

5:08

you have friends in a supportive , loving family , why

5:10

do you need to talk to a therapist or why

5:12

do you need to involve someone else

5:14

? So you know , of course those things are

5:16

not mutually exclusive and you can very much have

5:18

a supportive community and lovely , lovely

5:20

friends and family , but still need to

5:23

learn how to , how to manage . You know

5:25

something that's very real and manifests

5:28

in very mysterious ways sometimes and

5:30

can can very directly

5:32

be affected by strategies and coping

5:34

skills that you know friends and

5:36

family can't always teach us .

5:39

Absolutely . Now I understand you've got

5:41

a selection from drawing , dina , that

5:43

you're willing to share with us . Would you mind writing

5:45

a little bit ?

5:46

of a book . You're welcome to thank you

5:48

. So this is , you know , as I mentioned , dina

5:50

is an artist and she's also

5:53

trying to help her mother struggling at

5:55

home with business selling

5:57

clothes . So she's decided to , you

5:59

know , put create a social media account for Mom's

6:01

business , which is called Zee's Threads

6:04

. But she's also , you know , this young artist

6:06

who's being encouraged to share her own work too , and

6:09

this is after her her cousin has posted

6:11

a cartoon that Dina has drawn

6:13

of her , her cousin , prisa . Prisa

6:17

starts to swipe through her phone and then adds

6:19

by the way , you're getting lots of likes

6:21

. Who is , I ask you

6:23

? I mean the drawing you made of me . Prisa

6:26

hands me her phone . I grab the phone

6:28

and take a look . Sure enough , there are lots of

6:30

fire and heart emojis underneath the

6:32

cartoon , along with comments like OMG

6:35

, I love this , me too . I want

6:37

one , make one for me . I'm surprised

6:39

by how it makes my heart swell as I scroll

6:41

through them . Are you okay with her

6:43

posting that ? Lucia whispers looking

6:45

over my shoulder . Yeah , I whisper

6:48

back . She asked me . And it's fine , you

6:51

drew that . Can you make me one too ? Lucia

6:53

continues her voice at a normal volume . Now , of

6:56

course , I say but it's a basic sketch

6:58

. It's not that special Maybe for

7:00

you , but I could never make anything like that

7:02

and I want one . Lucia says Me

7:04

too . Nisha adds I mean playing tennis

7:06

, please . Serving these

7:09

sketches aren't more than doodles , but I'm touched

7:11

that my friends want them . I can't help

7:13

but wonder what it would feel like to have people react

7:15

like that to an actual work of art that

7:17

I made . Are you finally

7:19

going to make an account of your own ? Prisa asks

7:21

as she watches me . I need to

7:23

focus on the one for these threads and

7:26

I need to get my mom some followers . Well

7:28

, you need content . These photos

7:30

are the right start . Prisa says you

7:32

should use hashtags and tag people

7:34

and put up a bio and photos of your mom

7:37

and yourself and photos of us

7:39

. I interrupt . Listening to her is making

7:41

my hand sweat and part of me wants to

7:43

delete it all . It's like when she has

7:45

all those opinions about my hair and my

7:47

nails . I know she's trying to help

7:49

by showing me five different products and giving me

7:51

lots of instructions , but it gets

7:53

overwhelming . Yeah , duh

7:55

. Prisa scoffs . It's called social media

7:58

for a reason . It's about being social

8:00

, is it though ? Lucia

8:03

asks , looking at me , but Prisa ignores

8:05

her . Maybe I'll add that kind of thing

8:07

later . I say , okay , but put

8:09

up more stuff . You have to make it interesting

8:11

and maybe some behind-the-scenes moments , like

8:13

some cool shots at your store and

8:15

videos of your hands drawing the logo or something

8:17

like that . People love that kind of thing . Prisa

8:20

explains . That's not a bad idea

8:22

. People love cats , nisha

8:24

says , and babies . You should add some cats

8:26

and babies or like baby

8:29

cats . They're called kittens

8:31

. Genius , prisa says , which makes Lucia

8:33

snort out the water she's drinking , and then we all laugh

8:36

. I wish I felt as sure of

8:38

myself as Prisa . Life would be

8:40

so different .

8:43

I love that and , as you were reading

8:45

, it reminded me of another thread through the story

8:47

, which is the whole notion of social media

8:50

and whether

8:53

it brings more good than ill

8:55

, especially when we're in those early

8:57

years . What

8:59

drew you to add social media into the mix

9:02

?

9:03

Honestly , the entire book , I will confess

9:05

, is really dealing with things that I

9:07

have been thinking about a lot in

9:09

my life now as an adult

9:12

, and it's so fun to be able to go back

9:14

and reexamine life or examine

9:16

life through the eyes of a

9:18

young person . And for me , social

9:20

media is so tricky . I have such a complicated

9:23

relationship with it

9:25

. All the things I think teens are dealing with

9:27

we're dealing with as adults too , like

9:29

how it affects the way we feel about

9:31

ourselves , the reaction

9:34

to likes , the reaction to comments , all

9:36

of that and it was fun

9:38

to explore that through the eyes of someone who's not supposed

9:40

to be on social media yet . She gets permission

9:43

to do it for the sake of her mom's

9:45

business and then she's

9:47

tempted to use it for herself

9:50

. But she also sees the effects

9:52

of her

9:55

cousin's relationship with it and

9:57

I like that . She's young

9:59

enough and new enough to it that

10:01

she can be a critical observer

10:04

, because she's not full into

10:06

it yet , and I think we can all be like that until

10:08

we're in the throes of ourselves . Let me quickly forget

10:10

. And so she's

10:13

very much at the beginning part where she's very

10:15

observant of what and cognizant

10:17

of every follow , every look , like

10:19

what it means and how the comments

10:22

make her feel , and I wanted to

10:24

introduce that because I know it's something that a

10:26

lot of young people at this age are starting

10:29

to dabble into and

10:31

it's

10:33

a lot to navigate and makes us feel all sorts

10:36

of things , good and bad . And then , of course

10:38

, there's the marketing side , which , as a

10:41

creative person and as a professional , I need

10:43

to do , but it

10:45

makes it really complicated .

10:47

Yeah , no , it is a complicated thing and

10:49

as you were reading that passage I was getting anxious

10:52

as an adult realizing complicated

10:54

relationship with social media

10:56

. Because you're right , as a creator and as a

10:58

business person , we need

11:00

to use it . But then there's that personal

11:02

side of it . Where is it healthy ? Is

11:05

it contributing to real relationships

11:07

with people and where do you sort of

11:09

take that step back ? And I love the idea that

11:11

Dina , as a beginner , can

11:13

look a little more critically and maybe that will

11:15

help other young people who are sort

11:17

of just entering that world have

11:20

a little more to navigate with .

11:22

Yeah , or who may find that they're in it

11:24

but don't like the way it makes them feel , to

11:26

maybe pause

11:28

and think about it and maybe

11:30

take steps to help themselves

11:33

feel better about it . Because

11:35

she's definitely in that new phase where she's

11:37

still figuring it out and I think a lot of us are there

11:39

and even after we've been in it , you know , sometimes

11:42

it's going to take a step back and

11:44

say what is this doing to me ? So

11:47

that was , that was some of the idea behind that .

11:57

Are you tired of same old , same

11:59

old professional development experiences

12:01

? Check out what recent workshop

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participants have to say about doing

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a workshop with Dr Diane's Adventures in

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Learning Great hands on

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session that included real ideas to incorporate

12:12

in the classroom . Wonderful

12:14

, lots of great ideas and fun

12:16

science experiments . It was great

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to be able to see how to make connections

12:21

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12:23

. If you are looking to raise your game

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programs can be tailored to your specific

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needs , so find out what

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audiences across the country have

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been experiencing . Check out Dr

12:57

Diane's Adventures in Learning at wwwdrdianadventurescom

13:01

. We hope to be in your school

13:04

soon . I

13:20

, just like I said , I loved this book

13:22

and it felt to me almost like Dina

13:24

could easily be a natural

13:26

cousin and friend for Amina and

13:28

the two prior books , like I could have seen

13:31

them becoming friends at school . Oh

13:33

, I love that . I could see that

13:35

too , and so I was going to ask you

13:37

write these beautiful heroines

13:40

who are coming from an immigrant

13:42

world or of immigrant

13:44

parents . What's the inspiration

13:46

behind these characters who are so relatable

13:48

?

13:49

So I draw a lot from my own

13:52

experience . I steal

13:54

things out of my kids' lives but also the

13:56

families I know and the kids I love

13:58

around me . And

14:00

in Dina's case I know a family a lot

14:02

like hers , with hardworking

14:05

immigrant parents who are really maybe

14:07

struggling to make ends meet but doing

14:09

everything they can to succeed in

14:13

pushing their kids to do the same . And

14:16

so Dina's mom was a really important

14:18

character for me because of her homegrown business

14:21

and I really wanted to focus

14:23

on that mother-daughter relationship a bit

14:25

in this book and initially intended

14:27

it to be a bit more contentious than it is

14:29

because I just couldn't the loyal daughter and me couldn't

14:31

do it . But there is

14:33

some tension there and

14:36

maybe not at least in the first part

14:38

of the book not a clear understanding

14:40

. I like that Dina throughout the

14:42

book begins to appreciate everything her mom is

14:44

and see her in a different way and

14:47

, as an artist herself , to start to appreciate

14:49

her mom's artistry and designing

14:52

and making beautiful clothes and

14:54

seeing the fact that sometimes

14:56

the people who we think we know the best

14:59

in the world , we might put them in a

15:01

box or think they're incapable of changing like they're done

15:03

. They're fully formed

15:05

, especially elders , but

15:07

they're capable of changing and

15:10

evolution

15:12

as much as we are . So

15:15

that was important to me , this whole sense of the

15:17

entire family , sort of growing together and

15:19

figuring out life together , which of

15:22

course happens in all families . But

15:24

especially when there's immigrant

15:26

parents , sometimes the kids , the

15:29

kids , may have to advocate that for themselves a little

15:31

bit more . They may have to help the parents

15:33

, help them sometimes , because

15:35

it's just the nature of them not being as familiar

15:38

with the way things work here sometimes .

15:43

Now one of the questions I like to ask

15:45

people is to tell us a little bit about

15:48

your adventures and learning , and

15:50

yours in particular are really interesting

15:52

to me , because so many authors sort

15:54

of have a lane . They

15:56

write middle grade or they write picture

15:58

books or they write nonfiction , and you

16:00

are so prolific . You cross

16:02

over all of these different genres

16:05

, different audiences . How

16:07

did you get to that point ?

16:09

Wow , thank you . Well

16:11

, I think it might have something to do with the fact of how

16:14

I started . So I started off as

16:16

a writer for hire with Scholastic Continuities

16:19

Department , where they used to have Book of the Month

16:21

clubs that they would ship to kids .

16:23

I remember those .

16:24

Yeah , they were so fun to work on

16:26

. It was a variety of series

16:29

and it forced me to

16:31

think in different ways and

16:33

accept the challenge of writing something

16:36

I may know nothing about , like the

16:38

International Space Station or whatever

16:40

it was , and I think

16:42

it made me think a lot about the

16:45

reader on the other side and wanting to reach

16:47

them . And so I had young

16:49

kids when I first started

16:51

actually , one young child when I wrote

16:53

my first picture book , which was Night of the Moon . That

16:56

came out in 2008 . But I think as

16:58

my son was growing , I started thinking more about middle

17:00

grade and then Amina's voice came along

17:02

, but some of it was reader

17:05

driven . Where they would parents would say something

17:07

for my in between age child

17:09

between picture book and middle grade , or

17:12

me just wanting to push

17:14

different , stretch different

17:16

writing muscles and try new things

17:18

. So I love to pick your path Adventure

17:20

books as a kid . That's why I tried that . I

17:23

know how much kids love graphic novels

17:25

, so that's why I'm working on those now and

17:28

hopefully just different ways to reach different readers and

17:30

keep myself challenged too .

17:32

Well , and you've had some really fun collaborations

17:35

too . I'm thinking about , like the Unicorn

17:37

Rescue Society with Adam Gidwitz , which

17:39

is a totally different voice than you normally

17:41

write in . It was a

17:43

lot of fun to read as well .

17:45

Oh , thank you . And so fun to write . And

17:49

I think that , going back to the series

17:51

, and that it forced me to

17:53

to find the voice of

17:56

that particular product , so if it was joking

17:59

and fun or if it was a series and

18:01

academic and most of the warrants to a series , but

18:04

it would change and

18:06

so it was so fun to be a part of that series where

18:08

the characters and the world

18:10

building was already done , the voices were very

18:12

strongly established , and then I had to just go in

18:14

there and try to make Adam laugh . So

18:17

we would pass the manuscript back and forth and

18:19

write a few chapters each and that

18:21

was my goal . I was like , how do I make this funny ? How

18:24

do I impress him ? Because he's so hilarious

18:27

. And I love that . It was

18:29

this adventure-filled story where you're

18:31

not necessarily looking for a

18:33

Muslim character but

18:36

you get to meet these really interesting

18:38

Muslim people in the mountainous area

18:41

of Pakistan of all places . And

18:43

I love that . It's not a book about identity

18:46

or it's

18:48

this adventure and

18:50

these characters are just part of it . And

18:53

I had a similar experience with Best Wishes

18:55

Book 4 with Sarah Malinowski

18:57

, which comes out this November . It's

19:00

called Like a Boss and

19:03

like writing with Adam . I mean , it was just such

19:05

a joy to

19:07

write this very funny , action-packed

19:10

story and

19:12

same thing going back and forth and just leaving it

19:14

as much humor and absurdity

19:17

as we could

19:19

. It was just a great

19:22

premise of a magic bracelet that grants a wish

19:24

and doesn't necessarily

19:27

realize where

19:29

the wish will take her until it's too late . So

19:32

a lot of unexpected happenings .

19:34

Well , and I love the fact that you have

19:36

, with the body of your work

19:38

, you've managed to create Muslim

19:40

characters and center them in

19:43

every genre , but in a way

19:46

that it provides a window and mirror

19:48

for kids who may not have exposure to

19:50

the religion or to the culture

19:52

, while again providing

19:54

mirrors for those who need

19:57

to see themselves reflected back as well . I

19:59

think that that's powerful , and it does so

20:01

much to break down barriers in the classroom

20:03

.

20:04

Oh , I hope so , and for me that

20:06

was always my intended audience . I

20:09

definitely thought of the classroom

20:11

and the kid who maybe

20:13

is represented and how

20:16

they would feel , and

20:18

I always wanted them to feel proud . That's

20:21

always been my underlying goal that

20:23

even though my characters may struggle

20:26

with confidence or anxiety

20:28

or wanting to

20:30

make a team or whatever it is , their challenge

20:32

is their identity

20:36

and their race , their religion , their heritage . That

20:38

is never their struggle . It's always something

20:41

else and

20:43

for me that comes from wanting

20:46

that child to feel , like I said , feel proud of who

20:48

they are and proud to be seen

20:50

by their peers . Because , like

20:52

you said , I think it's equally important for

20:54

the mirror , for the child who

20:56

hasn't been represented , but also for

20:58

others to say , oh OK , you're

21:01

just like me in these ways and your family

21:03

is different from mine but also really

21:06

similar to mine .

21:07

Exactly , and it builds empathy

21:09

and compassion , because the issues you're

21:11

writing about are common middle grade

21:14

issues .

21:16

Right and for me it's that's , and I think

21:18

it's important to have books

21:20

that deal

21:22

with Islamophobia head on or bullying or

21:24

things like that . But I feel like I

21:27

want to write stories where kids also feel joy

21:30

and connection in a different way , where , like

21:33

you said , they just get to be the character and

21:35

go on this adventure and have very relatable challenges

21:38

that your peers can also have

21:40

experienced .

21:42

Well and that joy and connection leaps off the

21:44

page . I was also thinking about more

21:47

to the story , where you reimagined

21:49

little women and I loved

21:52

the way you brought it into sort of a contemporary

21:54

life and centered

21:56

different characters but showed that the

21:58

story itself translates over the

22:00

years . Oh , thank you .

22:03

You know , it's funny because that book came about

22:05

because I adored

22:07

little women as a kid . It was a book I read incessantly

22:11

, to the point where my family was irritated by me

22:13

. I too .

22:14

And I could never decide which March sister . I

22:16

was Like I would go through different

22:18

things and I'd be Joe and then I'd be Beth

22:20

. I generally avoided Amy , but now

22:22

I really like .

22:23

Amy Me too , you

22:25

know well a little fun . Fact is that

22:27

this book drawing Dina originally

22:29

I pitched as a companion to more to the

22:32

story and Dina was supposed

22:34

to be Elisa , my Amy character

22:36

, and that's where the artist

22:38

idea came from initially . And

22:40

then when I was talking to my editor she was like what

22:42

about a standalone ? And we talked about the

22:44

pros and cons of that and I decided to try . But

22:47

then I had to go back and come up with this

22:49

new family and then your premise for the story . But

22:52

some of it I had already thought of in the context of

22:54

the more to the story world . But

22:57

the reason I found that story I realized

22:59

as an adult that the

23:01

reason I found more to the story sorry little women

23:04

so relatable might have

23:06

had something to do with the fact that I had no representation

23:09

in literature as a kid and I

23:11

found something very comforting about this

23:13

family set in like the mid-1800s

23:16

and some other social norms were

23:19

very familiar to me , more so than

23:21

watching contemporary television

23:24

where , oh , you can talk back

23:26

to your parents Like that's not something I

23:28

could ever ever do , or

23:31

even some of the gender norms and some of the rules

23:33

around dating and marriage and all that I was

23:35

like yep , that's what it is

23:37

now for me . So

23:40

it was really fun to go back and sort of write what

23:42

I consider a love letter to little

23:44

women and pull some of my favorite themes

23:46

and moments from that book into a new story

23:48

.

23:49

Well , it was Wonderful

23:54

. Hey

24:00

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24:02

and librarians , are you looking for ways

24:04

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24:09

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24:11

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24:59

get started on your own . Beyond Ever After

25:01

experience and

25:07

you've got an incredibly busy year . You've

25:11

got the door is open . Behind

25:14

my door is the story of the world's oldest library

25:16

and we are big time coming out . And

25:18

you said there's at least one more Can

25:20

you tell us a little bit about your new books this year

25:23

. Talk about your new books this year .

25:26

Thank you . Well , yeah

25:28

, it's really exciting because , like

25:30

you mentioned earlier , they're all different , so different

25:32

genres . I have

25:35

an anthology , the Door is Open , which

25:37

I edited , which features amazing

25:40

South Asian writers . It's

25:43

middle grade , it's all set in a community center

25:45

and the stories are linked , where you get

25:47

to meet characters from different

25:49

stories as you continue to read and

25:52

it all builds to a bigger story as well . So

25:55

I love anthologies and I love short stories , but

25:57

this one , I think , is extra special because

26:00

they are connected in this way and

26:02

just some of my favorite writers . So that was a

26:04

pleasure and just a huge honor

26:06

to work on and help create

26:08

. The picture book behind

26:11

my doors is the story of the oldest library

26:13

in Fez , morocco , which

26:15

was a place I visited and a story

26:17

that I always wanted to tell . And

26:20

then my debut graphic novel is we Are Big Time

26:22

, which comes out this summer , and

26:27

that was a new type of writing for me

26:29

, but a story I really , really wanted

26:31

to tell , based on the true story

26:33

of an all-head job wearing girls

26:35

basketball team in

26:37

Milwaukee , wisconsin , and it's

26:40

this turnaround sports story

26:42

with a little twist

26:44

, unexpected twist , and

26:47

it's a really fun way to explore sports

26:49

and the

26:52

way we sometimes are hard on ourselves in ways we

26:54

don't need to be the power

26:56

of a team . So many themes

26:58

that are special to me and

27:00

this very beautiful visual format , which the

27:03

lines are incredible

27:05

and the artist did an amazing job just bringing

27:07

that to life . So that was like magic

27:09

seeing that . And

27:12

then the best wishes book was there that I just mentioned at

27:14

the end of the year . So we'll

27:16

be super busy over the next

27:19

few months but hopefully

27:21

very exciting too .

27:22

Well , that's very exciting . I'm

27:25

hoping for your readers . And

27:27

if you were talking to students because

27:29

I know you do a lot of school visits and

27:32

somebody wanted to emulate the path that you

27:34

followed , what would you tell them to do ?

27:38

Well , in terms of writing , one thing I always tell kids

27:40

is that I never believed myself

27:42

and I didn't consider

27:45

myself a writer . I had trouble calling myself

27:47

a writer or an author , even after

27:49

I had several books published . I had deep

27:51

imposter syndrome and

27:54

I think a lot of it really stems

27:56

from that the belief that you can do it

27:58

and hopefully meeting

28:00

authors , seeing diverse authors

28:02

helps kids realize that , even

28:04

if they aren't the mainstream

28:07

, that it's possible for them , but

28:09

also the idea that anybody

28:12

who wants to write can absolutely

28:14

write . There's no test to take

28:16

, there's no certificate you need or a special degree

28:18

. You just have to start doing it and

28:21

overcome that self-doubt

28:24

and fear and just do

28:26

it . And I also tell

28:28

kids about how I

28:30

didn't feel comfortable sharing a lot of things

28:32

about my life and what made me different

28:34

when I was a kid . I kind of hid those things

28:37

away and just wanted to blend in , like

28:39

many of us do . And now those things

28:41

are the things I highlight in all of my stories

28:44

and it's nice

28:46

to be able to celebrate

28:48

the things about my background , my culture

28:50

, my family and even some of the things

28:52

that annoyed me when I was a kid . And I get to write

28:55

now in a very sometimes

28:57

like a funny way and

29:00

change things . I didn't like to work out the way

29:02

I would have hoped and things like that . So

29:04

I really hope the kids will look to their own lives too

29:07

and not shy away from what makes them different

29:09

and maybe explore

29:12

those things , because you know it better than anybody

29:14

else and who else can write it but you

29:16

?

29:16

Exactly , and so last question for today

29:18

. I like to always finish with people

29:21

with this question what brings you hope ?

29:24

Oh , wow , you know , honestly , it's

29:26

kids like so many

29:28

of us and seeing how

29:30

just how honest

29:35

they are , how fair they

29:38

are , how eager they are to

29:40

write the things that we haven't

29:43

gotten right yet in the world , I

29:46

meet young readers who are

29:48

so perceptive and pick up on things

29:50

that I didn't even know were in my books

29:53

or added a whole layer , and I'm like

29:55

, oh yeah , sure , yeah , yeah , that's what I meant . I

29:57

like totally didn't mean that and

30:00

just questions from you

30:02

know , I went to a school in DC

30:05

that was , you know , one of the

30:08

lowest resource schools I've

30:10

been to , and the

30:12

kids there just asked

30:14

me the most powerful questions . And

30:17

, you know , I think we have

30:19

to give them the tools and

30:21

they're going to fix this world because

30:24

they just they're

30:27

not jaded and they're

30:30

open and , like I

30:32

said , this inherent sense of fairness and

30:34

justice . That just makes me hopeful , because

30:36

sometimes those grownups we mess

30:38

things up , but they'll

30:42

fix it . I

30:44

know it's a cliche answer to say , like the children have the

30:46

future , but they really are .

30:48

Absolutely Well , and you bring me hope

30:51

as well . Your beautiful writing

30:53

is definitely hopeful

30:55

and joy filled . Hena Khan , thank

30:57

you for coming on to the Adventures in

30:59

Learning podcast this week

31:01

. Folks go get Drawing Dina . It's

31:04

out this month and it is such a beautiful

31:06

book and I will drop links

31:08

to your website in the show notes as well .

31:11

Thank you so much , such a pleasure to chat with you

31:13

.

31:26

You've been listening to the Adventures in Learning podcast

31:28

with your host , dr Diane . If you

31:30

like what you're hearing , please subscribe

31:32

, download and let us know what you think , and

31:35

please tell a friend . If you want

31:37

the full show notes and the pictures , please

31:39

go to DrDianeAdventurescom

31:42

. We look forward to you joining us on

31:44

our next adventure .