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Hello There, Sunshine. It's the first ever picture book from the New York Times bestselling author and Emmy Award winning host of the kid's YouTube original series tab Time. Of course, I'm talking about Tabitha Brown.
Can I tell you something that's on my mind? I can very good when we listen to our friends. We can learn new things, like I just learned that my friend Ivy is a fruit and not a vegetable.
It's tab Can I ask you a question?
You can ask me anything.
Are you a fruit or vegetable?
Ivy?
I am a person, a person that doesn't sound like a broccoli or a blueberry. Is that why you don't have a pit like mine that can do this?
It sure is, and thank you for asking.
We're both pretty good listeners, aren't we miss Tabit?
Yes we are.
Hello There, Sunshine follows young Tabitha, who wakes up ready to greet the sun, but gets a little worried when she realizes it's missing. From there, Tabitha embarks on an adventure through her own neighborhood, asking everyone if they've seen the sun. Hello. Their Sunshine is available everywhere beginning Tuesday, March eleventh, and its author Tabitha Brown joins me right now on the show.
Ms.
Brown is nice to speak to you this evening. How are you.
I'm doing good, honey, how are you?
I am wonderful When I see you in your various forms of work, I'm reminded of the many personal and professional struggles you've endured to get to this point. You wear many hats and use all sorts of talents and skills. What do you enjoy most? Acting, stand up comedy, writing, culinary arts, clothing design, motherhood, maybe something else?
You know what? I think I enjoy just being myself the most right. I think that's the biggest thing, Like being a wife, being a mom, being a daughter, like those are. That's what makes me who I am, being a woman, and then I get to do all the other things. That's the bonus.
Talk to me about writing for children. Yes, we were all children once upon a time, some of us even became parents, But I would argue that communicating with them, writing for them is a special gift. What is it you do or use in creating this connection with children? In a media space.
You know what. I love children. Of course I'm a mama and I work with children, you know, with my children show tab time and writing for children. I think the biggest lesson is listening to children, but also going back into your own childhood in the childlike mindset and feelings inside. And so this book is all about my real childhood and my experience with my mama because she also listened to me, but she would also talk to me, and so I wanted to share that in book form.
With just teaching children how they have light inside of them, which is like a superpower, right, we can transform someone's day, including our own. So taking that very simple technique of talking to children in a way that they understand, and we put that on paper. So still just telling the story.
Hello, Their Sunshine available March eleventh. The sun has gone missing and young Tabitha sets out to find it. Take it from there.
Yes, so this is based on my childhood. In my hometown in North Carolina and e North Carolina, there was a little neighborhood I lived in called River Being And so I wake up one morning I don't see the sun shining outside, and so I think, what's going to happen if we don't have the sun shining, it's a cloudy day. And I go on this journey to find the sun. And I'm in my neighborhood. I'm helping my neighbors, I'm helping my friends do things, I'm playing, I'm bringing
joy and happiness to people in the neighborhood. But yet I still never find the sun. And at the end of the day, I go back to my mama and I said, She asked me, did you ever find the sun? And I said no, I still didn't find the sunshine today. And she says, well, what do you do today? And I tell her all the things that I did in the neighborhood with my friends and with the neighbors, and how I helped people and made people feel good and happy, and she said, well, it sounds like you did find
the sun. And in that moment, it's a light bulb moment where I realized that I am the sun. I was the sunshine in people's life that day. And so kindness is sunshine. Love and joy is also sunshine. And being able to spread that we all have the power to do so. And so that's hello, their sunshine.
What has working in this children's space taught you about children, their minds, and their dreams. Now, this story Hello Their Sunshine may be semi autobiograph, if you will, but I'm quite sure you've learned something about children more generally. Right.
Oh, absolutely, children are so much smarter than we realize.
Right.
I think that if we listen, we can always learn from children. Most children, until a certain age, have no fear. Fear is talk. They have big imaginations. They're big dreamers. They're so curious. And I think as we get older and we become adults, our fears, you know, start to take over. Our imagination shrinks. We start to conform into this world the people project on us and we believe it. But children are not like that. They believe things that
are what they are. They also have a big imagination to believe them to be different and even better sometimes. And so I think the purity of children is the most sacred thing, and to be able to learn from them is an honor for me. I love learning from children every day, every day.
My time has grown short with you, Ms Tabitha Brown. But I know that since Hello Their Sunshine is going to be available on March eleventh, you might be doing some appearances in support of this children's book, and I understand you might be in the LA area sometime soon. Can you tell me about that.
Yes, I'm gonna be That's what next Saturday. So I'll be at Pierce College and it's partnering with Malik Books and LAUSD So it's a big family day. We're giving away a thousand books. It's a free event. I'm going to do a meet and greet. Look, it is free, but you still have to go online and register ticket. It is free, but yeah, I hope that people come out and take pictures and share some sunshine with me.
I gotta say, people can't see you, but I can see the vibrancy, the joy, the I will say, the glow that you have. Where does that enthusiasm come from? For what you do? Very quickly?
You know what I think is God's gift right that he allows me to be a joyful spirit. And honey, I'm alive and I'm happy about.
So yeah, hello there. Sunshine is available everywhere beginning Tuesday, March eleventh. Tabitha Brown has been enjoyed to talk to you and follow you for quite some time. But it's nice to be able to dialogue with you. I wish you nothing but the best.
Thank you so much, bo I appreciate you, hon.
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