Grim Grimmer, Grimmest with award winning children's author Adam Gidwitz

Adam Gidwitz is a prominent young adult writer. He has an upcoming Netflix show debuting in October. His books sell well all over the world. So why be a children's author rather than an author who writes for adults? Adam writes for young adults and children because he hopes to influence them to live healthy, productive, community-centered lives. He uses modern interpretations of fairytales to accomplish this goal. Adam knows the young people are open to good ideas. However, fairytales teach children to draw their own conclusions, stand up for what they believe in, and throw their shoulders behind more significant causes the world and their generation face. Adam also understands that once adults develop a set of core beliefs, it is almost impossible to get those adults to change their minds. A fair amount of psychological and sociological research back this up. You can test this right now. Think about your core negative beliefs. What would it take for someone to get you to change your core beliefs? Please understand I am a big fan of my core beliefs. I imagine you feel the same way about your core beliefs. I vote for the good core beliefs like "do unto others as you would want them to do onto you." I vote against the core destructive beliefs. For example, con artists believe all people are greedy, so they deserve to be conned and tricked. You can easily see how these two examples would fit nicely into a modern fairytale that might point a child in a productive direction. In this terrific conversation with Adam, you will quickly sense his enthusiasm for his career as a children's author. He is also a fantastic teacher and a storyteller who has spent many hours in classrooms worldwide telling fairytales to students. He also has a podcast called Grim, Grimmer, and Grimmest. Finally, toward the end of this conversation, you will discover that Adam is also a political activist. He focuses on how to organize and implement good voting practices on a state level. I'll leave it up to you to determine how Adam combines his career as a writer and his commitment to the political process into his fascinating Brooklyn New York life. Enjoy the show: