>> From the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
>> My name is Nora Krug and I am the paperback's columnist for the Washington Post which is a charter sponsor of this event and I just wanna say, it is because of this writer and actress that I recently found myself frantically googling the question "Where do freckles come from?"
[ Laughter ]
>>After reading this book Freckleface Strawberry to my 4 year old son, he needed answers right away.  I'm still not sure that he has the--that I've adequately explained to him the science of pigmentation but I am very grateful to Ms. Moore for sparking such an intelligent conversation.  Most of you know Julianne Moore as an acclaimed actress who's appeared in films such as Magnolia, Boogie Nights, The End of the Affair, The Big Lebowski, The Kids are All Right, and most recently Crazy, Stupid, Love.  She is also a 4-time Academy Award nominee, a mother of two, and an active supporter of Children's Aid and Literacy Groups.  Today she's here to talk to us about her children series, Freckleface Strawberry.  Loosely based on her own experiences, the books tell the story of a plucky little girl with red hair and freckles, who overcomes playground taunts, dodge balls and perhaps most important, her own self-doubts.  Freckleface has been a bestseller and the inspiration for an off-Broadway musical.  In her latest adventure, Freckleface Strawberry: Best Friends Forever, Freckleface faces down peer pressure over her choice of a best friend, a large boy who like her, has a very funny nickname that I'm not gonna say here.  This is a warm and funny book and like the other stories about Freckleface Strawberry, they show--it shows children how to have confidence to be themselves.  Reading them, one gets the sense that the author herself knows a little bit about what it feels like to be singled out for being just a little bit different.  So please help me in welcoming our author Julianne Moore.
^M00:02:25
[ Applause ]
^M00:02:34
>> Ah I'm in?  Oh.  Thank you so much you guys.  What a lovely welcome, I'm so happy to be here.  I feel really bad about the kids that are sitting on the ground 'cause their pants are gonna get really muddy right?  Your pants muddy yet?  A little bit?  Anyway I'm thrilled to be here and so happy to see all of you and really really flattered and honored that you're here so we'll talk about the books and then I think we're gonna take some questions from people afterwards too so.
>> Just a few minutes, can you hear me?
>> Yeah.
>> Just a few minutes and then we'll--so I'll just start out and ask you.
>> Yeah.
>> You know you're an accomplished actress and a busy mom.
>>Uh hmm.
>> What made you decide to start writing children's books too?
>> I had a friend who actually had worked in the book business and this is--and before he had children--he has a little girl now--he'd said to me "Oh you know what you should do Julie?  You should write down a story about your childhood.  I bet your kids would love that."  And I left and I said "You know children really don't care about what happened to you, they just care about what's going on in their lives."  And at the time, my son was 7, he's 13 now, and he had just, you know, when kids are really little, everything kind of, they don't really know this--the differences between them and other kids but at 7, they start to kind of self--I don't know.  It's like when their teeth, their teeth come in, they say "I don't like my ears, they stick out, my--I don't like my haircut Mommy, or why do I have freckles?" or all these kinds of stuff.  My son become suddenly very self-conscious and it broke my heart because of course, I think you know he's perfect but it hard to tell a 7 year old that and have credibility when you're their mother.  So I remember this nickname I had when I was 7, Freckleface Strawberry, because I have red hair although not today, my hair is chocolate, I'm so sorry [laughs] because I'm right in the middle of making a movie and I had to put a rinse on it.  But it's gonna wash out, they tell me.  But anyway because of my red hair and freckles, at that time I was living in Omaha, Nebraska, and there was a drink mix, it was like Kool-Aid, and the different flavors were called like Root'n Toot'n Raspberry, and Blastin' Blueberry and Freckleface Strawberry, you remember?  So the kids called me Freckleface Strawberry and I thought I was humiliated by it.  So I started to write the book, you know, partially for my son and partially about this character and didn't really expect anything of it and then you miraculously got published and now I'm on my 3rd like, you know, my 3rd volume of it.  That's what happened.
>> So your books have strong messages that are told in a kind of lighthearted way, so I'm wondering is, what is your goal, is it more to tell a story or to send a message or how do you mix the two?
>> I really want them, I mean I from my--from vantage point of a--as a reader when I was a kid and then as a reader too by children as an adult.  I wanted them to be told in a child's voice, because I feel like that's the audience, you know I mean, I want the child to feel like their voice is being heard.  But as an adult, I really want them to be funny.  So that was kind of, that's where I wanted the tone to land and I wasn't--I didn't particularly mean to like, say a message, you know 'cause you feel like I don't wanna be like tedious like "it misses the message" but I think--one of the things I noticed is there are things that loom very large in childhood that are not such a big a deal when you're an adult.  But it's very important to take them seriously and to address them with your children and that like that for me the idea of having freckles and when I was growing up, people kept saying "Don't worry.  They're gonna go away, don't worry, don't worry."  And they didn't, you know, so I wanted to write a book that was--wasn't about kind of the ugly duckling story like "Oh you grow up and you became something different."  Really, you grow and you still have freckles and your ears probably still stick out but you don't care anymore because you have a family and you have a job and you have interest and you have friends and so those things just aren't as big a deal.  So for, you know for that, so yes, I did--I don't want the messages to be heavy handed.  I just want them to deal with what the issues are of young children like in their play and in the school yard and all that.
>> So what were you like when you were Freckleface's age what--did you play a lot of dodge ball?
>> I hated dodge ball.  Something else is autobiographical.
>> Did you have a large friend that nobody else liked?
>> I kinda did.  I mean--
>> What were some of the things you liked to do?
>> You know there was, it's interesting because they're--the books are not completely accurate but they do, they are reminiscent of things that I remembered and for one thing, dodge ball was horrible for me.  I was like Freckleface, very small, really thin, and not athletic, and I was terrified of being hit by a ball, absolutely terrified.  And so I would hide in the back and then be the last one out, and then get really thwacked hard and so what I learned was if I just got into the front I could get out right away.  And then I was just sitting in the sidelines so, but I wanted to but I wanted to write a diff--a book about the difference between kids.  Some kids are uncomfortable with imaginative things and not afraid of the dark, not of afraid of scary stories like I was, but then terrified of physical things.  And then you'll--sometimes you find a kid who's like, no, they can jump and run and get and hit a ball, whatever but don't turn out the lights, you know, so and this book was an exploration of that, of like what really scares you, what--what--'cause everybody has something.  You know in my house, I'm the only one who's not afraid of spiders.  That's my job to pick them up very carefully by the little foot and put them outside because everybody else including my husband is screaming.  So, but you know but--but my husband would do all the sporty things that I'm afraid of.  You know so you kind of you trade off, and then in, actually in "Best Friends Forever" the boy that I based it on, I--this is really a big deal for me when I was in second, third or fourth grade and we're living in Lincoln Nebraska, we had--the elementary school I went to was mixed regular elementary and special education, so a lot of the kids in the special education group were physically much larger than we were and initially, it was kind of disarming for us, we were like "Well these kids are different, why are they so big?"  Well, they're big because some of them were 15.
>> Uh hmm.
>> You know but we played together and we did things together and you know eventually you discover that there really aren't any differences.  So that was kind of--he was sort of a model, that little boy that I knew in the playground years ago but everything sort of stretched a little bit.
>> So what do your own children think of the books and do they have freckles and [laughs].
>> My children have very few freckles.  They're--they have those adorable like, you know, 7 freckles on their nose kind of freckles.  They don't have the covered in freckles thing that I do.  When I read for kids, I usually show them my arms right away and say "Have you ever seen so many freckles?"  Usually they say no.  That's okay but they both have shades of red hair and I think they've enjoyed it.  I mean the great thing about knowing somebody who write books, whether it's your mother or not, is that then as a child you can say "This is all it is, you know you write words and you can do the pictures yourself or you can get a partner and they could do the pictures.  You put it together and you have a book."
^M00:10:04
>> And that's what it is and it's not mysterious and by the way, you can do it.  So I talk about it a lot to kids and probably these kids up here, probably in school you've written some books right?  You've ever do that as an assignment?  Do you do your own pictures?  Yes, some people like to do that but I talk about that because it's nice to know that it's not something that just appears by itself on a shelf but that you can do it.  You can write the story and the story could be something that's completely pretend or gonna be something that happened to you and it's nice to make it a kind of a reality of something that's close.
>> Right.
>> Yeah.
>> I was gonna ask you how--about your creative process and you have these wonderful illustrations with your book and I'm wondering, do you work with the illustrator and what is the creative process like a little bit?
>> It's been interesting because when I did the first book, when I submitted it to Bloomsbury, they--what people do and is they send you all these different illustrators in their work.  They suggest people and I looked at all these different picture books and the one that kept popping was LeUyen Pham and she was the only one I wanted and it's a little bit like a blind date because then they send your--I said "Please, you know I'd really love her, I love her, I love her."  So they send your manuscript to the illustrator without your name on it.  So they just have to respond to the text and then you get a message back saying whether they like you or not and luckily, Yen really liked the text and wanted to do the pictures and I, you know you get kinda nervous 'cause you don't actually talk to the illustrator but they send the images back to you and I was shocked because she's drew so much of what I saw and actually even the initial drawings of Freckleface, Strawberry look very much like my daughter Liv and I was delighted.  So it's been kind of a really wonderful wordless pro--and we're friends now but the process is wordless and often it's just--yeah she just can really see what I'm writing and I feel very lucky to be collaborating with her.
>> Can you give us any hint about what Freckleface might be up to next?  [Laughs]
>> I think she's gonna move.
>> She's gonna move?
>> Yes, serious, right?  I have my--you know one of the people I worked with my acting career, my manager, goes "You're just gonna go from one childhood trauma to the next?"
[ Laughter ]
>> There might be a time when she gets glasses too 'cause that happened to me.
[ Laughter ]
>> But I feel like you know when you grow up what do you remember?  You think like, oh okay, like I can remember, I remember coming home from the eye doctor with my glasses and seeing all the leaves on the trees and being shocked you know.  So I  feel like I really wanna write stories about where kids are at certain periods of time and what happens to them and.
>> So do you have any advice for kids and their parents out there?  Your books deal a lot with obviously childhood traumas in a light way.
>> Yes.
>> And for what, how to deal with you know, bullying and dealing with some other issues that you deal within your book, you have any words?
>> Well, it's interesting because the bullying, you know, the funny about Windy Pants Patrick is that he's kind of misunderstood you know he's a boy that appears to be scary because he's big and he's different and he's, you know, a master at dodge ball, but then once you get to know him you realized that he's the one who can't--who's afraid of monsters and she has to tell him you know, "I was just pretending.  It's not real.  I'm sorry."  You know, so I wanted it to be a book about underst--you know kids understanding each other's strengths and weaknesses and also, you know, I think for the most part you know you realize we send our children to school and they spend a majority of the day in social situations solving their own problems.  So you think, how do you empower a child to say you know, I wanna play this game or I don't wanna play this game or I like to use my imagination or this doesn't make me comfortable or whatever.  You know, it's sort of about what you know, what life are they living at school, I guess.
>> Just a couple more things and then were gonna open it up to this very long line.  So as a child, what really did you do to try to remove those freckles?  Did you wear a ski mask and--
>> Well, that came from, I, it's really--it's really it's real--any, there're probably a red--redheads in the audience who'll understand this that when I wear a hat, people walk right by me.  They just didn't, they were like "Now where is Julie?" you know because peo--I was so identified by this--by this hair color so that was kind of where the ski mask I think came from.  But yeah, I tried lemon juice.  I tried, you know I still sort of stay out of the sun and stuff and would generally sort of cover myself up and then and I guess that they don't, you know, they don't go away.  I'm still shocked when I see them because I don't remember how many there are, but yeah, but you know what, as I say in the book, I grew up, I still have freckles, I still, if I go into an event and I have to wear something strapless, I'm like "Oh no."  But I have a great life.  I have a wonderful family, I have a job that I like and so it's way at the bottom of the list of the things that I care about.  And that's really all.
>> That's all right with you.  I think were gonna--we have such a long line of questions, we're gonna open it up to you guys, if that's alright.
^M00:15:28
[ Applause ]
^M00:15:37
>> Over here?
>> Here you go.
>> Does this work?
>> I think.
>> You have a red head.
>> Here, oh here.
>> Hi.
>> By the way, thank you for clarifying that it's for a movie 'cause I was "Where is her redhead?"
>> I know, I know it's really--
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> It really is like Hershey's Chocolate right?
>> Yeah it is, it is.  But first of all, thank you for writing this book because I completely identify and I also, I wore hats and my parents--
>> Yeah.
>> Where is she?  Come here.
>> I'm right here.  That's right.
>> Yes.  Now my question is, your, I think the first book--
>>Yeah.
>>It was adapted off-Broadway.
>> Uh huh.
>> I wanted to see it but it was sold out.  Is it coming back and--
>> It is coming back.
>> And how was the process to get from book to stage?
>> To stage?  Well it was an interesting process.  Yes, it is coming back.  It's coming back at a theater on the West, like West 60th Street. I think they open November 8th, so you'll be able to find it in the paper but it's an adorable musical and what happened was it was another mom who happens to run this theater.  It's a dance and theater school for children and she picked up the books, she has 2 little boys and really liked it and said "Would you mind if I adapt it to a musical?" and I'm like "Knock yourself out," never thinking it would happen.
>> Right.
>> Because people you know option things all the time but they did.  They've developed it, initially to do just with children and then they liked the music so Marci [phonetic] did it with a young adult cast and it's been very successful and it was really wild to see something like that off-Broadway in New York City.
>> Well congratulations.
>> Thank you very much.  Thanks.  [Pause]  Hi. What grade are you in?  Can you tell me?
>> Kindergarten.
[ Laughter ]
>> That's fantastic.  Do you like your teacher?
>> Yes.
>> Oh I'm so glad.  Do you have best friend in your class yet?
>> Yes.
>> Oh my goodness. What's her name?
>> Maria.
>> Maria.  Congratulations.  That's a great thing to have a best friend in kindergarten this start of school like that.  Do you have a question about Freckleface Strawberry or about writing books or anything?
>> What's your favorite book?
>> Oh that's a big question.  That's a really big big question.  My favorite kids' books or my favorite grown-up book?
>> Grown-up book.
>> Grown-up book?
^M00:18:06
[ Laughter ]
^M00:18:12
>> Are you familiar with Theodor Geisel?
[ Laughter ]
>> Okay.  He wrote a book called "Sister Carrie" that I like very much.  But kids' books, you know what I think you should read when you're bigger and I tell every little girl this and I tell my little girl this but she doesn't always listen to me I think you should read "Little Women."
[ Applause ]
>> That's my favorite kids' book, yeah.  [Laughs]  Thank you for your question.  That was great.  Hi buddy.  You have all three of my books, I saw you in the audience.
[ Laughter ]
>> Yeah, I see him.  Did you read them yet?  Yeah, you got--I'm gonna wait 'til you finish that cracker.
[ Laughter ]
>> Well, do you--do you have a favorite of the three books?  Which one?  Tell me.
>> Tell her right here.  Tell her in the microphone okay?  So she can hear you.
>> It takes a long time to finish a cracker.  Yeah, here he goes.
^M00:19:26
[ Noise ]
^M00:19:32
[ Laughter ]
^M00:19:40
>> Which one is your favorite book?
>> Which one is your favorite?  Are you gonna hold it up for me?
>> This one.
>> Oh those two.  "Best Friends Forever" is that your favorite? And the first one too?
>> Because my Mommy read them all for me.
>> Your Mom read them to you?  That's fantastic.  Do you think it's possible for a girl and a boy to be best friends?
^M00:20:05
>> Yeah.
>> Yes.  And you know what it's called?  Marriage.
[ Laughter ]
>> The big boy is called Windy Pants.
>> That's--do you know why he's called the Windy Pants Patrick?
>> Because--
>> Yeah, because come on up and tell me.  Here we go.  Come here.  Come here because do you wanna--can you read it?  Can you read why?  Oops, why he's called Windy Pants Patrick.  You look on the page.  Here we go. [Inaudible remark]
>> Freckleface loves him and they're best friends forever.
>> Yeah, they really are, they're together but they get--oh. Can you read that?
>> Hello my--hello.  My name is Windy Pants 'cause of the--oh never mind.
>> Yeah my name is Windy Pants because of the wind in my--never mind.
[ Laughter ]
>> And my, her--she says "My name is Helen but they call me Freckleface Strawberry because of my hair and all these freckles" right?  Yeah.
[ Inaudible Remark ]
>> Yeah, that's in the first book.  I just--I wanna tell everybody.  This gentleman has his Mother's phone number on his arm.
[ Laughter ]
>> It's a Virginia area code.
[ Laughter ]
>> I have to say that's a phenomenal idea, Mom. [Laughs]  What about this one?  This is the first one right?  Yeah, yeah.  What part do like in that?
>> Freckleface Strawberry.
>> That's my favorite picture here.
>> Here comes the strawberry.
[Inaudible Remark]
>> Get out of the bathtub.  You smell funny.
>> Somebody [inaudible].
[ Inaudible Remark ]
[ Laughter ]
>> Should we take another--
>> I think we should take ano--
>> I'm in make-up.
>> I know, I'm gonna take another question okay?
>> Do you wanna go--
>> I'm just gonna [inaudible] and give you a high five.
>> There you go.
>> Would that be okay?  No?
[ Applause ]
>> You were excellent.  Okay.
>> Alright.
>> Do you have another question?
>> We will have the next.
>> Yeah, I know.
>>Hi. You have glasses just like me.  Yeah and move up to the microphone so I can hear your question okay?
>> What's your favorite book that you written?
>> Oh, that's really hard.  Since I've only written three, you know, what's funny because dodge ball is something that hap--that I wrote really fast because I remembered so much about what happened when I played dodge ball because I was so scared so I like that 'cause it kind of just like poured out of me right away.  Do you like dodge ball?
>> I like couple of sports like, I like dribbling--
>> Good one.
>> Basketball.
>> Yeah.
>> But sometimes everyone's [inaudible] playing dodge ball.
>> Yeah, I'm afraid of balls.  All balls 'cause I'm pretty sure they're gonna hit me in the face when they come near me.  Or I'm gonna break my fingers when I catch them.  It's not very rational but that's how it is.  You want to say anything else?
>> I like this sport.  I like to do karate.
>> Yeah.
>> I like swimming and bowling too.
>> So you're very sporty like Windy Pants Patrick right?
>> Yup.
>>But do you like reading books too?
>> Uh huh.
>> Then that's a really great combination.  Good for you.
>> Thanks.
>> Nice questions.  Thank you.
[ Inaudible Remark ]
>> Hello.
>> What's your favorite children's book?
>> Hmm, well I did say "Little Women" for older kids like when you are, I bet you are 8?
>> Uh huh.
>> Oh yes.  I'm so good.  So when you're older I think "Little Women" is great.  For your age right now have you read, the Little House books?  You've read "Little House in the Big Woods" yet?
>> No, not yet.
>> Those books are great.  "Little House in the Big Woods" is the first one, then "Little House in the Prairie" and there's a whole bunch of them.  Those are really good books.  When I was really little, my first picture book that I loved was a book called "Anne likes Red" and it was out of print for a while and then my publishers actually found it for me as a present and it turned out--this is amazing--that it was written as a primer for first grade students and there were so many people my age who love that book, and she was a first grade teacher too that they reissued it, and there was a letter from the teacher saying thank you to all the kids who loved her book so "Anne likes Red" is a good picture book for little little kids.
>> So I'm guessing your favorite color is red?
[ Laughter ]
>> It was when I was little.  Yeah, 'cause her Mom keeps trying to buy her brown shoes and she like "No, red shoes" and then she says tan dress, she goes "No, red dress."  Do you like black hats?  She was "No, red hat."  Anne likes Reds.  So it's about getting to choose all your own clothes for the first day of school.  Thank you so much for that question.  Hi.  How are you?
>> Good.
>> Do you have a question?  Yeah?
>> What's your favorite genre?
>> My favorite what?
>> Genre.
>> Drama.
[ Laughter ]
>> Do you mean Drama or Comedy?  [Laughs]  Do you mean in terms of reading books?  I'm trying to think, I think I like when I was growing up, when I was around your age, I'm gonna guess that you're 9.  No, I was wrong.  How old are you?
>> 8.
>> How old?  8?  You're tall.  You're tall for 8.  That's why I guessed 9.  So I like the most stories about girls, I also love Anne of Green Gables.  That's a really good book, so I like--yeah, yes.  Let's hear it for Anne of Green Gables.  There are--but I--you know what?  I think you would like right now, did you--have you read any of the Percy Jackson books?  Yes.  They are great and they are great--they're great, kind of fantasy genres for kids your age and I find that all the kids that read Percy Jackson wanna read one after another so, I also--yeah I like fantasy too and I liked it when I was a kid, another book I like that you're gonna be ready for really soon too is a "A Wrinkle in Time" and that's got like time travel and witches and it's very very good.
>> I watched the movie.
>> You watched the movie?  You should read the book too 'cause then it'll be even more exciting, okay?  Thank you.  That's a great question.
[ Applause ]
>> Hi.  How are you?
>> Good.
>> Somebody's gotta bring that mic down for you, right?
>> Yeah.
>> Hi.  Have you lost any teeth yet?
>> 5?
>> Wow.  Are you in first grade?
>> Kindergarten.
>> Kindergarten?  You've lost 5 teeth?  Oh my goodness, wow.  Anything loose?
>> No.
>> No?  So that's a lot of teeth.
>> I know.
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> And I've got, and I've already got 4 coming in.
>> Oh my goodness.
>> Top, 2 in the top and 2 in the bottom.
>> Yeah.  Freckleface Strawberry is missing a tooth.  Did you know that?
>> No.
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> How many freckles do you have?
>> How many freckles do I have?  [Laughter]  One hundred million thousand trillion.
>> That's a lot.
>> That's made up.  I have a lot of freckles.  I have so many freckles that some of them mush together.  And all the things that people said in Freckleface Strawberry, the kids say like "You know you look like a giraffe, or you're dotter, or you're dirty or if you got--all came together be one big freckly [inaudible]".  Those are true things that kids said to me because some people think freckle are really unusual depending on where you live.  And I was living somewhere of the time in the Midwest where people didn't have a whole lot of freckles, but I have, I think there's only maybe one or two people in the world I've met and they've been in Ireland who are as freckly as me.  Do you have another question?
>> No.
>> No?  That was a really good question.  Don't loose any teeth.  Make sure you leave them for the tooth fairy.
[ Inaudible Remark]
>> Your Mom says what?
>> My Mom asked me to give my teeth to her.
>> Oh.  She keeps your teeth?  No.
>> Yeah, I'm giving them to the tooth fairy.
>> I can't hear you, hang on.
>> I'm giving them to--I'm giving my teeth to the tooth fairy, tooth fairy instead of my Mom.
>> That's exactly what happens in my house.  What a coincidence.  That's a good idea, okay.  Do you have any other questions?  Anybody?  No?  Grown-ups can ask a question too, it's really okay.  No?  Alright.
>> Otherwise we're stuck in--do you wanna read or do you want me to ask you another question?
>> I don't know.  I can read the book to you guys if you want or we can keep asking questions or, oh wait.  Oh here's somebody.  Hi.
^M00:30:06
>> How is it acting, being a parent and writing books?  How do you do it all?
>> I'm exhausted.  [Laughter]  That's a really good question.  Because it's true you know, when you--when you grow up, you have a whole lot of different responsibilities but I think that--and if you talk to any adult, and the best piece of advice, probably your Mom and Dad or your aunts or uncles or grandparents give you is it when you grow and to try to find a job, find a job that you really love doing because that way you will feel like every time you do it "Oh gosh.  I love this.  I love being here."  I mean that's really how I--it's so lucky for me to be able to come to a book fair and talk to people and I really enjoy it and I love writing these books and I really like acting and I love being a parent so even though you get tired, I'm not doing anything that I don't wanna do.  And that's the key because if you find yourself getting up in the morning thinking I really don't wanna do this, then it's a drag.  Do you have any idea what you wanna be when you grow up?
>> A writer.
>> Writer.  Cool.  That's great.  [Applause]  That's great.  That's amazing and the thing about that is that it's so personal.  It's so much about you and it's so much about revealing to the world who you are and the kind of stories you tell that you'll always fell glad to do it, I think. That's--good luck.  That's a really great thing.
>> Thank you.
>> Thanks.  Thanks.  Hi.
>> Hi.  My question for you is have you ever thought about writing any other types of book and what are your kind of future plans for writing?
>> You know I saw this documentary on Maurice Sendak who I love, you know, worship and I met him and he's such a wonderful guy, such a nut, kind of a crank and funny and then in this documentary somebody said to him "Why won't you write another stuff?" and he was very cranky and he looks at the camera and he goes "It comes out how it comes out" and really I was like "Wow" because I didn't really mean to start writing picture books.  You know, I never in a million years thought that I would have a way to say something in that format but it just sort of popped out that way so sometimes I do think about writing other things like--Sarah Dessen is here who writes young adult fiction and writes it beautifully and everybody loves her.  She's so great and she talked about her discovery.  I was in a panel with her, her discover of writing YA and how suddenly it's just that--that was just how it all went.  It came out of her so I think you have to kinda just follow your instincts.  I mean, I am trying to write, I tried to adapt a short to make into a little screenplay.  I'm trying to do that, it's slow going but yeah, I think about sometimes.  I sort of feel like if it happens, it'll just sort of happen of its own accord.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you.  That's a great question.  Hi.
>> My question is what advice do you have for kids who want to write a book?
>> Kids who want to write a book?  Write it.  Just write it.  You know a lot of grown-ups ask me that question too.  It's interesting especially with picture books they say "I have this idea for a picture book, right?  This idea for a book."  And I say "Have you written it?"  They go "No, not yet" and I'm like "Well, write it down you know you could just, just write it, write as much of it as you can and then when you have a manuscript you can submit it".  You know there's lot of places to submit and see whether you're get published or not and there are certainly lots of different venues now because there is--there is all this online publishing, they're self-publishing and their publishing houses and stuff but are you writing something right now?
>> Yes.
>> That's great.  Are you finished with it?
>> No.
>> No.
>> I actually started in the summer.
>> You started in September or December?
>> No, this summer.
>> Oh great.  So we'll I'd say write it.   Give it to your friends to read and get some notes on it, finish it and when it's in a place that you really want it to be then you can submit it.  You really can.
>> What if--how would kids get their books published?
>> You send them to a publisher.
>> Okay.
>> That's the hard part.  But you know there are lots of publishing houses and basically you know, you send it in and people, people read them and there are famous stories about manuscripts getting rejected hundreds and hundreds of time too.  Nora probably knows more about this than I do, actually.
>> I do.
>> Do you have anything to add to that actually?  You probably--
>> No.  I mean I would say don't be intimidated just 'cause you're young.  I mean there are children who have written children's books.
>> Yeah.
>> And they've been, Chris somebody, I can't think of his name
>>Yeah.
>> But they've written you know wonderful children's books that have been best sellers so just because you're a child, it doesn't mean you can't have it published so just do.
>> Yeah.  Good luck with it.  I hope I get to read to your books soon.  Hi.
>> What made you think of being an author?
>> A friend.  It was my friend.  He may--It never even occurred to me but was my friend who worked and had work in the book business and he used to be in the magazine business and I knew him, he'd interviewed me a couple of times and he was the one that give me the idea and I scoffed the idea initially 'cause I like "Oh I'm not a writer."  But because the idea stuck with me, then I did it.  So it's kind of, it's sort of amazing when you realize people would give you suggestions.  You probably had teachers that might give you suggestions.  A teacher suggested to me that I'd be an actor and I was 17 years old and I wasn't planning on being an actor.  I didn't know any actors and she said "You know you can be an actor."  And that idea stuck with me and I ended up doing that, the same thing with the reading so I think if people suggest something to you like that they can help you they can give you the idea to something.  Thank you, thank you.  Hi.
>> Hi. This is a follow-up question actually.
>> Yeah.
>> Do you think of yourself as a writer or an actor and where does your identity fit in, which do you prefer or how do they make you feel?
>> Right well that's a good question.  I mean, I think probably I think of myself as an actor first and foremost because I've--that's how I spent the bulk of my career.  I've been doing it since I graduated from college and that's definitely so that--but the author thing is really--listen, I write picture books.  I'm not a novelist, so it's not like I'm you know, Jonathan Franzen, or something like that, Theodor Geisel for that matter.  So I think, you know, I feel--I feel really great about my books and I love participating in the world that means a lot to me personally and for me reading was the key to everything.  You know, I was a kid that loved to read and loved to--I think I said earlier I felt like when I can hear the voices in the books, so acting was an extension of reading and the writing was really that as well because I was reading so many books to my kids and thinking about what kind of stories I like and responding to great picture books authors like Mo Willems and Kevin Henkes and the things that my kids love and that sort of you know gave the inspiration for that too.  But it all really comes out of my love of language and reading and so and because of that, it all feels good.  I really like it.  Thank you.  Thanks.  Hi.
>> Hi.  So, you know, over your career you've worked on very diverse forms of art and forms and different age groups.
>> Uh huh.
>> How do you find yourself switching gears and like what are your little tricks of the trade to do that?
>> Right.  It's not so hard surprisingly.  You know I'm, because of my chocolate hair as I said, I'm in the middle of the movie right and then I came here last night with my daughter and this is a different, it's a different audience and it's a different thing and for me especially, I think speaking to children.  They don't know my movies because they are for grown-ups.  They shouldn't know my movies.  [Laughter]  So it's kind of nice.  It's nice because I have compl--it's a completely different world for me and a different viewpoint and so it's easy that I talk about books and talk about kids and I talk about you know this all, and so it's actually easier to go back and forth than you think.  Thank you.  Thanks.
>> I think we only have one more.  We have one more question.  They're giving us a warning.
>> How lucky am I.  Hi. 
>> Hi.
>> I'm a counselor in 2 elementary schools so I end up reading a lot of books to kids to help them.
>> Great.
>>And I confess I haven't read yours yet but I will because I like what you're writing and I guess I feel so privileged to have access to so many kids all the time.
>> Yeah.
>> And I know how powerful just having that access is in their life and my question to you, I heard what you said when you were 17 a teacher said to you but in elementary school, did you have an experience where a teacher was inspirational to you in terms of what they said or their behavior and just share a little bit about that.
>> Gosh, so many.  I mean just the fact that I'm as old as I am and I can remember Mrs. Bevins [phonetic] and Mr. Vellit [phonetic] and Ms. Cunningham [phonetic] and you know, the fact that I can remember the teachers and their names and where I sat in the class and what we did you know, all of it was inspirational.  So much of it was about being recognized as a human being when you're a child and having your intelligence and your emotions and all that stuff validated and that's, I think, what I'm--most interested in doing with my books too and I hope, I really hope that they're used in schools.  In "Best Friends Forever" it's the third of a series.  It's sort of dropped in there but Windy Pants Patrick has two moms and it's very, it's just it's said it's very matter of fact.  They just talked about their families and they both have a family and Freckleface Strawberry has a Mom and a Dad and a brother and a sister and Windy Pants Patrick has 2 Moms, a brother and dog and that's kind of how I want it represented and I want it there for a reason.
^M00:40:04
>> I want it there like, these are all these different families and this is what they're comprised of and this is what's regular and normal so.
>> Thanks.  I need more material.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> I just have one quick announcement after we say thank you.  Thank you very much.
>> Thanks.
[ Applause ]
>> She's gonna be doing, signing books at 12:30 so this is--you have another shot to say hi.
>> Thank you so much.  You guys are so wonderful.  I really appreciate being here.  Thank you.  You wanna say something?
>> Thank you.
>> Thanks.
>> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress.  Visit at loc.gov