Lesléa Newman and Rob Sanders joined Highlights Foundation Social Media Manager Cat Galeano on Instagram Live to talk about how your unique story can make a difference to kids.

Well, I hope that people who take our course realize, or re-realize or discover that their story, whatever story they’re writing, whether it’s history, like Rob often writes, or biography or fiction, or their own story, or verse: whatever it is, it’s important. And the world needs it. In fact, the world is incomplete without your story in it. So there is a special place for your story and we’re all waiting for it and you have the ability to write your story or draw your story. You may need some help from a mentor. We all need help from our friends and teachers, but your story is vital to the well-being of the universe and I can’t wait to hear it.—Lesléa Newman

Watch the conversation below. (Please note: closed captions are being added to the video below. When they are finished, you can see them by hovering over the bottom of the video and choosing the “CC” icon.)

Full Transcript:

Cat:
So a big hello to our Highlights Foundation family. We’re so happy to have you here with us. For those that may not know me, I’m Cat Galeano, my pronouns are she/her, and I’m the Social Media Manager here at the Highlights Foundation, joining you from Westchester, New York on the traditional lands of the Seewanoy people. Apart from all the fun things I get to do at the Highlights Foundation, I am also a reader and a writer myself, who is very, very excited to welcome our friends and faculty Lesléa Newman and Rob Sanders, who will be co-teaching the upcoming, the upcoming Writing With Pride: A Two-Night Mini for Picture Book Writers on May 16.

But before we dive in, I want to remind our viewers that joining in on any Highlights Foundation, uh, Foundaton sessions, to do so with no hate, no harm and no harassment of any kind.

And now let’s get started! My first question for both of you is: one of the reasons we do the work that we do at the Highlights Foundation is to help creatives craft book, books for kids that will make a difference in their lives. Do you have any anecdotes to share about a connection with a reader that has come from one of your books and how it impacted them?

Lesléa:
Well, I have a prop, so I, I have a little card here that says “Sparkle Boy” on the front. And on the back it, it says “I love Sparkle Boy. My favorite part is all of it. Thank you for writing Sparkle Boy. And I just love that! I actually dressed in sparkles to match this little prop. And I get letters like that all the time. I’m sure Rob does too, about books that just really make a difference for kids. Especially who can see themselves in our books and they don’t see themselves a lot of other places.

Rob:
In all honesty, Lesléa: dresses in sparkles 3/4 of the time. But yeah, I’m always amazed at (audio interference here) whether it’s the teenage girl in New York City who literally read, reads Pride in her closet because her parents don’t approve of her queerness. Or if it’s people in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, from the LGBTQIA+ community who have never heard their history and are discovering it in children’s books. Or if it was two of my 4th grade students who–two boys that probably shouldn’t have been reading independently together, but were–and I overheard them say one to the other, as they looked at an illustration of a rainbow flag stretching down the streets of a mile long through New York City, one said to the other: “Do you think they’re all gay?” Meaning the people carrying the flag, and the other guy thought for just a moment–and I was on the edge of my seat, wondering what he was going to say–and he said “No. I think some of them are probably friends and family.” And together they discovered what allyship was, without even realizing it, and without the help of an adult at all. The book helped them do that.

Cat:
Isn’t that special? Isn’t that the power of books? I feel like we don’t talk enough about how moving that is. Like, oh! Thank you so much for sharing that. My second question for both of you is: you’ve both been in this industry for a really long time and you’ve both been teaching for a really long time. The industry has changed so much, and you’ve been a part of that evolution. What’s it like to see people you’ve taught and mentored share their own books in the world.

Rob:
Well, Lesléa has been writing lots longer than me. That’s not an age thing. That’s a career thing. She has been writing since she was in high school. And being published, I guess since college, but I started my journey at the age of 50, writing children’s books. I’d written other things, so I’ve been in the industry about 15 years and it’s always rewarding to see friends and students and mentees publish. It’s rewarding because we know kids need all kinds of stories. So the more of us who are writing our own unique stories, the more opportunities we have to help kids see themselves or their family or their community or their faith represented in books.

Lesléa:
So Rob, while you were talking, I just reached over and found Enemies in the Orchard by my student Dana VanderLugt. I found One Shadow on the Wall by my student, Leah Henderson. And probably my most famous student, The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. So, these are like my grandchildren.

Cat:
Aw, I love that.

Lesléa:
And there are many, many, more on the shelves, and nothing makes me happier then to hear my students’ success stories. I think I get as, if not more, excited when they call or or email or text to tell me that they’ve gotten a book deal. And my philosophy is that when one of us succeeds, all of us succeeds. There’s room for all our stories. There’s a need for all our stories, and the fact that I can play a small part in helping someone bring their stories out of themselves to life on the page and into the hands of readers just brings me a tremendous amount of joy.

Cat:
Oh, that is…thank you for sharing your grandbabies, your grand book babies. That was such an awesome surprise and I just want to kind of harp on what Rob said, like, they’re, all of us have different stories, so it’s important to get them out there. All of us come from different walks of life. We experience the world in different ways and we have to get those stories out–it’s so important because the world is a big and colorful place. So all our stories matter and and deserve to be out there. So for my third and final question, what do you hope that people leave this course with, in their journey to inspire kids through story?

Lesléa:
Well, I hope that people who take our course realize, or re-realize or discover that their story, whatever story they’re writing, whether it’s history, like Rob often writes, or biography or fiction, or their own story, or verse: whatever it is, it’s important. And the world needs it. In fact, the world is incomplete without your story in it. So there is a special place for your story and we’re all waiting for it and you have the ability to write your story or draw your story. You may need some help from a mentor. We all need help from our friends and teachers, but your story is vital to the well-being of the universe and I can’t wait to hear it.

Rob:
Lesléa, you remember that show Name that Tune? I can name this answer in 4 words. I hope that students leave with confidence, excitement, inspiration and knowledge. 

Lesléa:
I love it.

Rob:
And that’s kind of what Lesléa and I do.

Cat:
Well, people, you heard it here first. You gotta make this Mini. It’s just: that’s it, you’ve gotta come. You’ve gotta sign up. There’s going to be a lot of knowledge and a lot of wisdom and a lot of information shared. So I really truly hope you can make it. Is there anything else you’d like to add before we finish?

Rob:
Well, one thing about our class, it’s, we do talk about LGBTQIA+ books with themes and topics and characters, about those subjects. But we want people to realize that includes allies of our community, too. And not every book, even if you’re a queer creator, not every book you write has to have an LGBTQIA theme or character. So while what we will be doing will have broad implications. So we will be talking from our experience of writing for this special market and these special readers.

Cat:
Amazing. Lesléa, anything else?

Lesléa:
I just want to say that first of all, I just love Highlights and I love Rob and I love teaching with Rob and I always learn such a tremendous amount. So if you take this course–and I hope you do–you will not be disappointed.

Cat:
And I hear there’s gonna be lots of sparkles too, so. You know. Gosh, you should just wear sparkles to the class. I think that should be a requirement. I think it’s optional (optional but requirement.) Well, if you’d like to learn more from Rob and Lesléa. Join them on May 14th and May 16th for Writing with Pride: A Two-Night Mini for Picture Wook Writers. You can register on our website highlightsfoundation.org and lastly you can purchase Lesléa and Rob’s books at our vitual bookshop, powered by bookshop.org. Thank you, Lesléa. Thank you, Rob. And we cannot wait to see the both of you and everyone else online on May 14th. Thank you so much.

Rob:
Thank you, Cat.

Lesléa:
Bye.

Rob:
Bye bye.