Building Bridges: The Power of Inclusivity in Children's Literature

Just in time for Veterans Day, meet a mother-daughter writing team focused on publishing books that help children understand freedom, sacrifice, and the challenges of deployment. In the latest episode of Adventures in Learning, Dr. Diane interviews Beverly and Alyssa Samuel, a mother-daughter writing team behind the children's series Make New Friends. With an emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion, the books encourage children to embrace differences and form connections. 

Their latest book, Make New Friends: Red, White, & Blue, is a perfect read aloud for Veteran's Day with its focus on military families and the value of teamwork. The interview delves into the authors' backgrounds and inspirations, uncovering personal stories that shaped the narrative. As they promote acceptance and empathy, the Samuels emphasize the importance of teaching young generations to appreciate varied cultures and abilities. 

Chapters:

01:03:Fostering Inclusion Through Children's Books 

16:56:Empowering Children and Teaching Empathy Through Inclusive Stories 

18:03:Insights into the co-writing and self-publishing process

25:00:Power of Hope

Links:

Visit Beverly and Alyssa's Website for More Information

Purchase Make New Friends, Make New Friends: Red, White, & Blue

Follow @makenewfriendsbook on Instagram

Explore our previous episodes for more insights on education, empathy, diversity, and inclusivity.

Join us in celebrating the magic of children's literature and its power to create a more empathetic and inclusive world. Don't miss out on this inspiring conversation!

Transcript

[00:02] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: Welcome to the Adventures in Learning podcast.

[00:05] I have a mother daughter writing team with us today.

[00:09] Beverly and Alyssa Samuel have written a beautiful book called Make New Friends, and there is a companion book that I can't wait for you to get your hands on.

[00:18] I am so excited to welcome them to the adventures and learning podcast,

[00:23] Wonder Curiosity Connection.

[00:25] Where will your adventures take you? I'm Dr. Diane, and thank you for joining me on today's episode of Adventures in Learning.

[00:36] Welcome.

[00:37] Beverly Samuel: Thank you.

[00:38] Alyssa Samuel: Thank you.

[00:39] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: Be here.

[00:40] So I'm wondering, before we dive into the book and your companion one,

[00:45] could we get to know you all a little bit better? I got to meet you at a conference earlier this spring, and I would love for our audience to get to know your adventures because you're both incredibly interesting women,

[00:58] you've had careers outside of writing for children,

[01:01] and I'd love to know sort of how you came to writing and what brought you here.

[01:06] Beverly Samuel: Well, I'll start by saying that I worked for Virginia Cooperative Extension for more than 25 years. I did a lot of community outreach and training,

[01:18] and from there I went to United States Department of Agriculture, working with as a national program leaders with colleges and universities.

[01:27] But one of the things that I did while at the federal level was I served on a diversity, equity and inclusion task force.

[01:34] And so that was kind of the background of how I started to think about this book, make New Friends, to frame it, to encourage children to get to know different people.

[01:47] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: How about you, Alyssa?

[01:49] Alyssa Samuel: I graduated from the University of Virginia. I majored in sociology and minored in media studies. I always enjoyed writing in my spare time is always one of my passions, and worked in the media industry for a few years right after college as well.

[02:04] So, yeah,

[02:06] always a part of me always wanted to be I work in federal government contracting right now, but a part of me always wanted to be a writer and maybe a journalist.

[02:14] I did. I wrote for the Cavalier Daily when I was at the University of Virginia. So I've always had that passion.

[02:20] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: That's wonderful. And I know that diversity, equity, inclusion are incredibly important today, and they're also getting a terrible rap from certain sectors of society.

[02:31] How do we move past that to help people understand why it's so important to talk about making new friends and being welcoming and accepting and empathetic towards all people?

[02:44] Beverly Samuel: Well, within our book,

[02:45] the words diversity, equity and inclusion are never mentioned. It's more of an underlying principle.

[02:52] And we talk about the importance of treating others as you want to be treated. So one of the first things in the book, the main character sees on the board is this poster about the Golden Rule.

[03:04] So within the book,

[03:06] the children are embracing each other because they find that they have things in common and also differences.

[03:13] And so that's how we have approached it. But not to be preachy or to try to have children have anything that would be.

[03:27] We wanted to have children accept others, have empathy for others, as well as be able to form new friendships.

[03:39] Alyssa Samuel: And then our tagline in the book is, everyone is different. Don't be shy and have no fear. Make new friends this school year so children see those differences and others starting very young, you know, three, four years old, and just understanding, you know, that those differences are fine and you know,

[03:53] bullying starts really young and even those that prejudice among really young children that they might have learned from their parents. So we wanted to start to teaching them at a young age that you may be different for whatever reason, you may look different, you may speak a different language or eat different foods,

[04:09] just different cultural differences.

[04:13] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: So, Alyssa, can you tell us a little bit about how the book helps support the ideas of tolerance and inclusion with children?

[04:24] Alyssa Samuel: Our tagline in our book is everyone is different. Don't be shy and have no fear. Make new friends this school year.

[04:30] So we wanted to teach children to accept people that are different. And children that are really young can see that children are different by the way they look or their height or, you know, the hair color or that they speak a different language.

[04:42] And so we wanted children at that age to not be, you know, bullying each other and to feel accepted within,

[04:49] within any space that they're in.

[04:51] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: I love that. Would you guys want to by any chance read a little bit of the book to us?

[04:57] Beverly Samuel: Certainly I can read an excerpt from the book.

[05:02] Ava is the main character and she starts at a brand new school and she's learning a little bit about her classmates. But I'll read an excerpt,

[05:17] a couple of pages and you can decide what you want to keep skipping happily into the classroom. I said hello to my teacher.

[05:24] I was so excited about my first day at a brand new school.

[05:28] I looked around and saw a colorful poster that read, treat others as you want to be treated. The Golden Rule.

[05:35] I remember what my parents taught me.

[05:37] Everyone is different.

[05:39] Don't be shy and have no fear.

[05:41] Make new friends this school year.

[05:44] I searched the name tags to find my desk. My teacher instructed us to introduce ourselves to our group.

[05:51] I smiled and said, hi, I'm Ava. A fun fact about me is my favorite food is chicken noodle soup.

[05:57] I looked around the classroom and did not see any familiar faces.

[06:02] No one was the same.

[06:04] Some had light,

[06:05] dark, straight or curly hair.

[06:07] Some were taller or shorter or had a rainbow of skin colors. I wanted to make new friends so we would play, laugh and share.

[06:16] Everyone is different.

[06:18] Don't be shy and have no fear.

[06:20] Make new friends this school year.

[06:23] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: I love that. And the illustrations in the book are really bright and beautiful. Who did the illustrations for you?

[06:31] Beverly Samuel: We hired a illustrator through Upwork and we contracted with him to do the illustrations. Alyssa had a lot of ideas about what the characters would look like and did mockups and then the illustrator worked with her to actually come to the characters that you see in the book.

[06:51] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: That's wonderful. And you all have been doing a lot of like school visits and programs with kids in the community.

[06:57] Can you tell us a little bit about what you do when you go out and you talk to kids and what the response has been?

[07:03] Beverly Samuel: We have been very fortunate just recently to get a grant through Amazon Northern Virginia Community Fund and that supports book readings in the school as well as donation of books.

[07:14] So we've had the opportunity to read books to students in schools as well as provide the donated books to place in the school library and kindergarten, first through second grade classes.

[07:29] And we also have a children's discussion guide that accompanies the book.

[07:34] We've not always had the opportunity to have all of that done in one program,

[07:40] but there are discussion questions that we have used in some school settings, summer camp settings with students,

[07:47] and it's simple questions about the story that help bring highlight some of the main points in the book.

[07:55] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: Great.

[07:56] I'm wondering,

[07:57] as you're talking, I'm sort of thinking about the ways that this book could be used in summer camps, libraries and classrooms. And I'm wondering how if you could give some examples of ways that you could envision a teacher or a parent or a camp counselor introducing the book.

[08:19] Beverly Samuel: Would you like to talk about that, Alyssa?

[08:21] Alyssa Samuel: Well, we do have our discussion guide as well as activities as well to accompany the book, including singing the song Make New Friends that a lot of children sing with girls or Boy Scouts.

[08:34] We also have a pass the ball and say something about yourself. So really getting children to socialize and talk to other children and build those skills as well as my mother was saying the discussion questions to kind of hone in on the reading comprehension from the book and really understanding the lessons that we want them to glean from the storyline.

[08:55] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: Awesome.

[08:56] Beverly Samuel: And the discussion guide has an activity like draw a picture of something special, special about you and so that opens it up for students to be able to share something that they feel is special about them.

[09:07] It might be something as simple as the color of their hair or their eyes.

[09:12] We have a question about what languages have you heard different people speak?

[09:17] Because in our area,

[09:19] there are a lot of diversity of languages, and in public places, you often hear people speaking different languages.

[09:26] And we asked the question, why was it important for Ava to invite more of her friends to her birthday party? Because in the end, she's met all of these classmates, and her parents say, you have to limit it to three of your new friends.

[09:41] And she reminds them of the golden rule to treat others as you want to be treated. And then everybody's invited to the party. But we give the children the opportunity to share their ideas about why they think everybody should be included.

[09:56] And so it's a lesson in inclusion.

[09:58] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: Also,

[09:59] I love that. Now,

[10:01] the mother daughter angle, the fact that you two are writing together,

[10:05] I'm wondering how much of this was based on experiences that you two might have shared growing up or being or raising a daughter. Because some of what you're describing reminds me of my own relationship with my mom and things that she taught and shared with me as I was going to school.

[10:22] And I'm just wondering, did that inform some of your writing?

[10:26] Beverly Samuel: Definitely.

[10:27] Some of the excerpts in the book actually relate to circumstances that happen.

[10:33] The little girl in the book, the African American girl,

[10:36] is in the classroom with Ava, and she asked her,

[10:40] can you fix. Can your mom fix my hair like that? And she has Afro puffs. And so it's. It was a teachable moment for me to be able to explain to her classmates because our daughter was the only African American child in the class that, you know, our hair textures are different.

[10:58] And so it was a teachable moment.

[11:00] Also, one of the children in the book is in a wheelchair, and my oldest daughter had a friend in a wheelchair all through high school. So we wanted to show various abilities as well.

[11:11] So that was informed from our own personal life experience as well as our. My daughters, both of them had very diverse friendships. They had.

[11:23] My daughter had a Chinese person in her wedding. He was her friend from pharmacy school.

[11:28] Alyssa had very diverse friends all through high school and college.

[11:33] So we just had such rich experiences as a result of our children having different friends from different cultures and different backgrounds.

[11:44] So a lot of what's in the book was informed by our life experiences.

[11:50] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: Can I ask you to tell me a little bit about the new book that's coming out? Because that's exciting. That you have a second book. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

[11:58] Alyssa Samuel: So, yeah, a new book coming out is Make New Friends Red, White and Blue and it's highlighting a little boy named Ethan and his father is in the military and he is deployed and he is going to a summer military camp where he learns about the branches of the military and of course he meets new friends while he's there.

[12:17] And then we are highlighting our lesson of teamwork in the book.

[12:21] So yeah,

[12:23] we kind of wanted to go along with our series Make New Friends as well as always have a key lesson for the book.

[12:29] Beverly Samuel: So and the characters from the first book also carried over to the new book with some additional friends that he meets at the summer camp.

[12:38] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: What inspired this sort of the second book in the series?

[12:43] Beverly Samuel: Well, we wanted to honor our troops and our veterans and we thought this was a way to do that.

[12:50] We also wanted to honor them because they protect our freedoms in our country and if we can start to teach our children a little bit more about,

[13:03] you know, the sacrifices they make. Because in, in the book the Ethan's father is deplored in another country.

[13:10] So he understands what it's like to have his family miss his dad or to miss having a member of the family because he's making that sacrifice for his country.

[13:21] So also, Alyssa attended a summer military camp in high school and I'll let tell you about that.

[13:31] Alyssa Samuel: Yes, I consider going to West Point Military,

[13:36] the Army Military Academy in New York. And in high school I went to a week long summer camp there.

[13:43] And I certain elements that happened in the book were based off of that.

[13:47] In the story we have a. Just different competitions and an obstacle course as well. So certain things that I did at the camp or that I was inspired and I really saw, I remember a panel discussion at the camp with people who had been deployed several times to Afghanistan.

[14:06] And at that age I really understood just the type of sacrifice. I mean, these men and women were in their 20s and had been, you know, deployed three and four times and they're talking about,

[14:16] you know, just their experiences. And I was like, you know, this is truly a way to honor them and to teach young children about the branches. And especially for people who have people in their family who are in the military or who have served at some.

[14:28] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: Point,

[14:29] you know, and it feels a little bit like you are taking the concept of friendship and you're now layering in levels of civic education.

[14:37] You know, I heard Beverly say the word freedoms and I know you were talking about sacrifice just now. Alyssa I'm wondering, since you both have worked for the government at one point or another or worked tangentially with the government,

[14:50] have you noticed, or do you feel that we should be refocusing in on civic education in terms of what our rights and freedoms mean and how to teach those?

[15:00] And I'm just wondering if that's a direction that the books are taking or if that's just something that maybe colored your take on this particular book.

[15:09] Beverly Samuel: I think it may be for our focus on this particular book because each of the other characters that we will write a book on will have a different focus.

[15:19] So this was an opportunity to have a little focus there. But the whole series will have different focus points for the different characters.

[15:30] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: So it sounds like that I'm just guessing that you're taking Ava and her friends and each book is picking a different one of them to sort of be the main focus.

[15:39] Is that right?

[15:40] Beverly Samuel: Yes.

[15:40] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: Yes.

[15:41] So can I ask for a sneak peek about where we think we're going with some of the others,

[15:46] or how many books you're thinking will be in the series?

[15:49] Beverly Samuel: Well, we have the next book written, and it's about Rosa,

[15:53] who is in the wheelchair. And Alyssa was the lead writer on this. I'd like to give her the opportunity to talk about it.

[16:03] Alyssa Samuel: Yeah. So Rosa is in a wheelchair, and we wanted to highlight her doing something physical.

[16:07] So in the book, she is racing other children who are also in wheelchairs. So we wanted to show that she can still get out and have fun and be active and.

[16:17] And then the lead up to the end of the story is her competing in a race.

[16:21] And so throughout the story, she's practicing. And we wanted to show,

[16:25] you know, working hard and practicing and, you know, whether you win or not,

[16:30] that it's still you, you, as long as you. You did your best at the end.

[16:34] So that's kind of the goal of that book.

[16:37] Beverly Samuel: Great.

[16:38] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: So a question for you all. Cause I'm thinking some of our listeners may be wondering,

[16:42] in terms of the process of putting together a book, because you guys are mapping out a whole series,

[16:47] what steps go into that, and how do you divide that between the two of you?

[16:52] Beverly Samuel: A lot of energy goes into the writing and the concept.

[16:59] With the first book, Make New Friends, I had the concept for about two years.

[17:04] I wanted to put this book into print.

[17:09] I had the concept of what I wanted the characters to do.

[17:14] My daughter Alyssa, who loves writing,

[17:16] was able to help me bring that to fruition.

[17:20] And we have within our books rhyming schemes. And I think that that's probably the most difficult part, is to be able to tell a story and also integrate how you want to rhyme within the book and still have the story flow.

[17:37] And also the process of being able to take the text and bring it to life with pictures and illustrations to actually show what you're trying to communicate is a process within itself.

[17:54] I think that the, the teamwork with us.

[17:58] Alyssa is a strong writer. She's always written,

[18:01] even from elementary school and middle schools. I had encouraged her to write a book even before I came up with the concept of this Make New Friends series was definitely an asset that she has.

[18:16] I'm really good at editing and changing and sometimes we have to compromise on what we're going to keep and what needs to go.

[18:27] And so that's a process that we have learned to work through as a mother and daughter and team. And also I've had to learn to respect her equally as my peer,

[18:41] you know, rather than mother and your daughter. And I know more than you know.

[18:47] She knows just as much as I do. And so as a peer,

[18:51] working with her,

[18:53] it's been,

[18:54] it's been a learning process for me.

[18:56] Alyssa Samuel: Yeah,

[18:57] yeah, I definitely think it's been a learning process for both of us. And even finding the illustrator and creating the mockups for the illustrations because you have the idea in your head, but then conveying that to someone else to, you know, get that down on paper and have it look the way that we want it to look,

[19:13] I think was also a process too. And then printing it as well, finding the right printer.

[19:18] Uh, we did self publish and we are, you know,

[19:20] continuing to self publish.

[19:22] So yeah, we're also to print too.

[19:25] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: And that means you're also your own marketing department and scheduler for school visits as well. So in addition to having your own jobs, you're running a business as well, which I think is really cool.

[19:37] Beverly Samuel: And I'm retired now, so there are some things that I do the day to day management of.

[19:45] You're trying to.

[19:46] If we have an engagement to go out to a school, then I will accept those invitations and try to work on marketing and doing those types of daily routines. And we have our conference calls where we talk about what's important, what needs to be done and what our vision is going forward.

[20:05] And we've been very fortunate to get two grants that have supported our concept. So we see ourselves going to be able to have broader horizons to help more children.

[20:19] So we're really excited about that.

[20:21] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: That's wonderful. So I get this sense of strong Commitment to kids and wanting to help kids do better, be better, be able to make friends from the two of you.

[20:33] What sort of drives that commitment? Because it radiates off of the two of you. Like your passion for making a difference comes through,

[20:41] and I'm just wondering where it comes from.

[20:44] Beverly Samuel: I think mine comes from working with extension and working some with 4Hers, which is the youth organization,

[20:53] and then also as a youth director in my church. I served in that capacity for more than a decade working with children.

[21:00] So I wanted to be able to make a difference, to reach more children and. And just getting the book in the hands of children all over this country.

[21:11] I know that our message is resonating with children. And even when I go out to events, and I've just recently a young man and his father came and said, oh, I heard you read the book at my school.

[21:24] It made me feel really good to know that, you know, that person remembered me and sought me out at that community event to let me know he'd remembered my book,

[21:34] our book.

[21:35] And so I know that getting the book in the hands of children will make a difference. Our message does resonate.

[21:45] I think that the message about everyone is different. Don't be shy, have no fear, make new friends. The school year,

[21:52] it resonates with children,

[21:54] and they remember that. And even adults, when they have the opportunity to meet new people and take the time to get to know someone different than who they are.

[22:05] Oftentimes you'll learn you have things in common. You might share common values. And sometimes friendships are formed as a result of just taking the time to get to know someone different.

[22:16] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: Alyssa, what drives you to do this work?

[22:20] Alyssa Samuel: I love seeing the smile on children's faces when,

[22:24] like, at fairs when they've read our book and they say, oh, I love it. I want to read it tonight for my bedtime story.

[22:31] And it's really instilling that love for reading at a young age as well, as well as our message of, of course, making new friends and embracing others.

[22:38] Because reading is just, you know, so important to gaining knowledge and, you know, just learning throughout school and doing well academically. So I love seeing just a smile on their faces and the.

[22:47] And the excitement that the children have.

[22:49] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: Wonderful. So if people want to get your books, where do they go? What's the website?

[22:55] Beverly Samuel: We have our website on Square.

[22:58] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: I will absolutely drop it into the show notes because I want you all to go out and get the books and be able to reach out and if you're in the Northern Virginia area, invite them to Come to your school as well, or your library or your camp program.

[23:11] Last question for today. It's one I'd like to finish every podcast with. What currently brings you hope?

[23:18] Beverly Samuel: What brings me hope is the hope of a world that's united and people working together,

[23:27] coexisting together,

[23:29] showing love to each other,

[23:32] supporting each other as neighbors, as friends and within the community, and certainly giving back in ways that supports making our world a better place.

[23:43] That's what gives me hope.

[23:46] Alyssa Samuel: And similarly, what gives me hope is that change is inevitable and,

[23:52] you know, whatever circumstance is going on currently,

[23:55] that there's always hope for the future and that the children are the future and that they are here today, and that whatever we ingrain in them, that will impact everyone, you know, across the globe in, you know, 20 years or less.

[24:09] So I think that's what gives me hope is that change is always occurring.

[24:13] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: Thank you for planting those seeds of hope.

[24:16] I know I had read recently the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. And what you all are doing is planting those seeds for the future.

[24:25] And that's a really noble and powerful thing you're doing. So thank you so much for doing that.

[24:31] Beverly Samuel: Thank you. Thank you for having us.

[24:34] Dr Diane Jackson Schnoor: Bye.

[24:38] You've been listening to the Adventures in Learning podcast with your host, Dr. Diane. If you like what you're hearing, please subscribe, download and let us know what you think. And please tell a friend.

[24:48] If you want the full show notes and the pictures, please go to drdianadventures. Com. We look forward to you joining us on our next adventure.