Julia DeVillers, MEET ME AT WONDERLAND
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[0:44]Julia de Villa is the author of Meet Me at Wonderland.
[0:48]She's also a contributor to on being Jewish now.
[0:51]Julia is a best-selling author of Middle Grade and YA Books with millions of copies sold
[0:55]worldwide.
[0:57]One of her books became the Disney Channel movie Read It and WEEP, and she sold a TV pilot
[1:01]to CBS inspired by her life as a children's author, married to a gang prosecutor.
[1:07]She also co-authors books with her identical twin.
[1:10]Most recently, the books for the American Girl Doll Twins from the 1990s, which caused
[1:14]a national viral meltdown that $90 are historical.
[1:19]Julia started her career as a giant New Jersey sewer rat named Chuck E. Jeez.
[1:24]Meet Me at Wonderland is a love letter to that sweet, smelly time.
[1:28]She lives in Columbus, Ohio.
[1:30]Welcome Julia.
[1:31]Thank you so much for coming on totally booked to talk about Meet Me at Wonderland.
[1:36]Congratulations.
[1:37]Thank you.
[1:38]Thanks so much for having me.
[1:39]Oh, it's my pleasure.
[1:40]I feel like I have to start in on the moose jokes, like right away, like this is a moose
[1:45]read.
[1:46]How's that?
[1:47]Perfect.
[1:48]Anyone who likes a good moose pun might enjoy my book.
[1:50]That's right.
[1:51]That's a big selling point.
[1:53]OK, tell listeners what your book is about.
[1:56]So our Meet Me at Wonderland is a tween romcom and it's inspired by my high school job at
[2:02]Chuck E. Jeez at Chuck E. Jeez.
[2:05]So it's rivals to lovers, opposites attract.
[2:09]It's got a you've got male theme and it's about 14 year old Coco Cooper and she's got
[2:14]a summer job as Morty the moose, who is the sweaty, stinky mascot of her family's amusement
[2:21]park, Wonderland.
[2:23]And then in a moose cute, meet cute, she is sweating, she's gross, she's disgusting.
[2:28]She goes to the employee break room to get some pressure, which trust me you need when
[2:34]you're in one of those costumes.
[2:36]And she knocks her antlers on the door and she stumbles into the break room.
[2:41]Her moose head rolls off and that's when she sees the new hire, who is a very cute
[2:46]Henry Forrest, a boy who is not happy about working at the moose park.
[2:51]And who promptly like takes his shirt off and flashes his abs to make even the moose,
[2:56]like look at her on the floor, like totally disheveled half in costume.
[3:00]And she's like, oh my gosh, I can't.
[3:03]Which, oh, sorry, I was going to say all of that actually did happen to me and it's based
[3:06]on a true life story of me and the Chuck E. Jeez.
[3:09]Oh, yes, I went into the break room, sweltering.
[3:13]I start to take my hat off and I saw the cutest boy I ever sitting in front of me, tried
[3:17]to put the hat back on, back to my back into the door, back into my management.
[3:22]And basically that loose cute me cute picture as me in a New Jersey sewer rat costume.
[3:29]And you get the full picture.
[3:31]However, he did not take off his shirt yet anyway, in your real life, you mean, okay.
[3:38]But you eventually got together, then?
[3:40]Yes, I did.
[3:42]So, first impressions really count me as a sweaty moose.
[3:48]Oh my gosh, I felt like, but didn't Chuck E. Jeez, weren't they stationary on the stage?
[3:56]I felt like they were like animatronic.
[3:58]So in my book, there also are those creepy animatronic animals and it's so funny because
[4:05]I set the book in upstate New York and we couldn't go too close to Chuck E. Jeez.
[4:08]So we've got a moose instead of a wrap.
[4:11]We've got different upstate New York, Adirondack animals on stage and their eyes get stuck,
[4:19]they're bleaking here, their heads fall off, the robotics fall apart.
[4:23]So creepy animatronics is definitely a player in this book too.
[4:27]But at Chuck E. Jeez, they also have people dressed up in costume.
[4:31]And when you start working there, everybody has to get in costume.
[4:35]If you fit the costume, you're in the costume.
[4:37]So not only was I Chuck E. Jeez, but I was a character called Mr. Munch and that's
[4:40]enough said, oh my gosh, but this book really, if you ever wanted to know what it was
[4:46]like to be in Chuck E. Jeez costume, I describe it in full sensory detail, I've never
[4:50]forgotten.
[4:51]I actually was wondering as I read it because I was like, how on earth would she know
[4:56]all this?
[4:57]And thinking did she interview lots of mascot people?
[5:01]How would she find them?
[5:02]Like how do you, I was thinking, did she like go and beg someone to just try it on?
[5:08]This is a way better story that this was actually her life.
[5:12]It's actually real life.
[5:14]And you know when people talk about, oh, what was your, what was your first job?
[5:17]Baby sitting.
[5:18]Baby sitting.
[5:19]Yes, I did babysit.
[5:20]But my first job where I had the paycheck paycheck was Chuck E. Jeez.
[5:24]And actually it was a hotspot to work back in Albany, New York, back in the day.
[5:29]And it was truly fun.
[5:31]Think about it.
[5:32]You've got the ball pit, the arcade, the video games, creepy animatronics, creepy costume
[5:38]is you can run in and free horrible tasting pizza.
[5:41]I mean, what else would a teenager meet back then?
[5:44]I used to beg my grandmother to take me to Chuck E. Jeez anytime I visited her.
[5:48]That was like the main thing because they like didn't have one in Manhattan as far as
[5:51]I know.
[5:52]Or if they did, my parents buried that fact deep somewhere.
[5:54]So I never learned of it.
[5:56]Yes, that was such a, my gosh, the joy of seeing the Chuck E. Jeez sign.
[6:01]But anyway, back to Wonderland.
[6:03]So Coco is actually the daughter of the owner of Wonderland and her mother as having health
[6:09]issues.
[6:10]She is dealing with a lot of stuff herself, talk a little bit about, and her sister is
[6:15]working there.
[6:16]I mean, it's like a whole family to do describe the family relationships and talk about
[6:22]the mother's, you know, illness and your own story and all of that.
[6:26]That was like 10 questions.
[6:27]I'll just kick it.
[6:28]I'll just kick it at this point.
[6:29]You talk.
[6:31]Well, the mother was a character that was close to my heart originally when I wrote
[6:36]this book.
[6:37]Well, I'll tell you the inspiration.
[6:38]I'll give you a little bit of backstory.
[6:40]So the actual idea for this book came as dramatic as it sounds when I was in the ICU for
[6:47]five weeks.
[6:49]I had cancer and the treatment went really awry and my body shut down.
[6:56]So I was brought into the ICU, I mean, a really shut down, like hospice was called,
[7:00]they gave me 48 hours.
[7:02]I told my husband and kids 48 hours and we'll know it could go either way.
[7:07]And when I was in behind and when exactly was this, this was in August of 2022.
[7:13]Okay.
[7:14]So I'm almost at my, this is, this is why my book comes out on May 20th and May 20th was
[7:23]when I got my cancer diagnosis.
[7:24]Oh, my gosh.
[7:26]No, it's so wonderful because it's going to erase that sort of trauma of that date for
[7:31]me and, you know, with a, with a new celebration.
[7:34]So we wait slow down with a story if you don't mind what, what type of cancer and what
[7:39]went so wrong, like what happened.
[7:42]So it's, it's really interesting when the doctor told me I had cancer, which I was really
[7:49]blindsided by, they had told me I had hemorrhoids.
[7:52]So they're so wide gap there.
[7:55]And I'd never had hemorrhoids before.
[7:56]I thought, wow, this is like a really, really dramatic situation now.
[7:58]I feel bad for thinking anyone with hemorrhoids was, you know, over complaining.
[8:02]But it was, you know, scary and traumatic and they told me it was anal cancer.
[8:06]And anal cancer is a really rare kind of cancer.
[8:11]And, you know, it's obviously not taking away the trauma of a cancer diagnosis at all.
[8:19]But as soon as people started asking me what kind of cancer it was and forgive me, I'm
[8:23]Jewish, I'm a writer, you know, so few years of coping mechanism for me too.
[8:27]And now that I'm out of the darkness and also hopefully giving hope to anyone who's going
[8:32]through that journey right now that, you know, here I am with another book out after all
[8:35]of this.
[8:36]You know, I had six weeks of chemo and radiation almost daily and everything.
[8:40]So it was intense.
[8:42]But I still had to tell people the word anal, which really wasn't the word that I said
[8:47]to a daily conversation and then there's sort of a stigma to it.
[8:51]And I remember one of the first people I told was our mutual friend, Sarah Milanowski,
[8:56]like all roads lead to Sarah in publishing world.
[9:00]And she said, oh, anal cancer, that's so rare.
[9:03]You need to write a memoir, you know, about this.
[9:05]And then my other other writer friend called and I said, he said, what kind of cancer
[9:10]is it?
[9:11]I said, oh, this is going to be the worst person to tell.
[9:13]I said, oh, it's anal.
[9:14]And he said, it's a body part, you know, the old sayings, you know, opinions are like
[9:18]butt holes, everyone has one, yours just has cancer up it.
[9:22]And then he does, oh, hey, if you Google it, oh, wow, it pulls up, wow, pulls up some
[9:27]really spicy thing.
[9:29]And then I just knew and I said, all right, just go for it.
[9:32]He said, you know, like a beautiful, but he said, she said anal.
[9:36]So people really helped me through the process of, you know, processing the fact that
[9:41]I cancer anal cancer.
[9:43]So I had, like I said, five days a week of chemo and radiation and the goal was to do
[9:50]it in six weeks.
[9:51]An anal cancer, I don't want to scare anyone, is very treatable.
[9:54]It's a curable form of cancer, but I did my body to not react well.
[10:00]to the treatment and through about two weeks in, I was feeling great, three weeks in, I collapsed
[10:08]and it all kind of fell apart from there. So it was rough, rough, rough times. I'm so sorry.
[10:15]Thank you. It's, you know, it was really traumatic and, but again, I got the idea for this book
[10:21]because, excuse me, got myself a little choked up here thinking about all of this.
[10:26]I'm like, both not out yet. So I'm not used to, you know, really talking about this quite yet.
[10:30]The doctors would like ask me these basic daily questions because, you know, I was pretty
[10:34]medicated and they'd say like, where was I? Who was president? Why was I here? And my husband
[10:40]told me later that I would say things like, you know, Obama's president, Ronald Reagan is president.
[10:46]I'm in JCC day camp. I'm here for a cold and I answered every single question wrong. And then
[10:52]after I'd yell, wait, wait, bring them back. You know, I know the answer now, the president is
[10:57]you just somebody else. But one time they told me that I said I was at Chuck E. Cheese.
[11:03]And my husband said everything was dire and the room was somber, but people burst into laughter.
[11:09]I feel like who are you? I'm like, I'm Chuck E. Cheese. So flash for it. So the next year,
[11:17]you know, I visited my editor at Simon & Schuster. We were talking about some embarrassing
[11:20]teen moments and I kind of told her that story. So Chuck E. Cheese was on my mind.
[11:25]And then I told her about my high school, my own me cute at Chuck E. Cheese. And that was the
[11:30]genesis of the book. So, you know, this thing, this pain, you know, can be useful to you someday.
[11:36]I really really tried to jam all that. Oh my gosh, Julia. Well, tell everybody about your writing
[11:42]career before this, like what had been going on. I know obviously more about it because I know you
[11:49]but explain how you got into writing and the whole American girl thing and all of it.
[11:54]Sure, sure. So I went to college for communications, which was as vague as it gets.
[12:01]And that was intentional. I thought, am I, should I be in broadcasting? I knew I liked to write
[12:07]what should I do advertising. Graduated with that and thought, what do you do with the communications
[12:12]to create? So I went to grad school, of course. I did like school. I was always the kid in
[12:18]elementary school and middle school who, you know, I was one of the writers. I had an identical
[12:22]to an sister, Jennifer. Jennifer Roy. And Jennifer and I were kind of always battling it out for
[12:27]who would win the summer reading challenge, you know, who would read the most books or who would get
[12:33]picked for, you know, to kind of a to get the writing in the school paper. So we were a little bit
[12:38]of the readers and writers. I was always a bookperson. I went to grad school for journalism and I went
[12:44]to Ohio State. I was from upstate New York, but I moved out here to Columbus. And I signed up for
[12:51]magazine journalism because I thought, my goal was to write for teen people. I thought I would be
[12:55]great. We interviewing celebrities. You know, I'd worked with teens and I started the program
[13:00]and the day we walked in, there was really sad news, the professor of the program I passed away.
[13:06]So they folded us into the hard-hitting journalism program where you had to, you couldn't even
[13:11]apply if you didn't have five years at the Wall Street Journal or one on the crime beat. Very intense.
[13:16]And I was tossed into that world. So I thought, um, I don't know if I'm completely in place
[13:23]here. I tried. So I started taking classes in children's literature in the graduate department,
[13:29]through department of education. And honestly, the professors weren't thrilled. They were looking
[13:36]down on it. And I ended up doing my thesis in conjunction with the children's literature department
[13:42]because once I went in, my professors would talk about a book and I would answer back and they said,
[13:46]well, I haven't assigned it yet. And I thought, didn't everyone read that. I grew up as such a reader.
[13:50]So that's where I've really found my place in children's literature and took it from there.
[13:55]And let's see. The first I wrote a nonfiction book called Girlwise. And that was advice book for
[14:01]teens and that kicked me off. And then my first novel was called how my private personal journal
[14:07]became a bestseller, which was bought out by Disney Channel and became a Disney Channel movie called
[14:13]Read It in Week, which was a highlight of my career. That was wonderful. And then I kept writing
[14:20]for this age group all the way through. And most recently, before the whole cancer situation,
[14:27]my twin and I wrote the books for the American Girl Historical Twins. And when American Girl
[14:36]called us and said, oh, we're writing about twins and your identical twin authors, would you write
[14:43]for our historical line? And we said, great, you know, I'm thinking, is it going to be felicity
[14:48]from the 1700s? Are you ready from the 1800s? Who was it going to be? And they said it was the 1990s
[14:53]and that clause kind of behind me came out. And people said, American Girl says you're old,
[15:01]the 90s is now historical. But that was super fun. We wrote books and we have dolls and I have a
[15:07]doll that looks like me. So, you know, it's been a good career. Oh my gosh, that was just amazing.
[15:14]So what made you go back to writing this book? Like when you said you even went in and met
[15:20]with your editor, how did you get to that point? How did you get from telling your family that you
[15:25]had 48 hours left to being in a big deal published or meeting in New York City? Hopefully that gives
[15:30]people hope and inspiration. There was a little step in between that that I think is really,
[15:37]really meaningful. And I'm getting a little teary about to tell you this. But when I came out of
[15:43]the hospital, and again, I was there for six weeks, you know, I was still a mess. And honestly,
[15:49]I had no emotions. And I was really worried. I didn't feel joy. I wasn't laughing. I didn't feel
[15:56]sadness. It was, I was really flat. And I remembered what Sarah Malinowski said that you should
[16:02]write a memoir. So I looked online and I thought, you know, writing is supposed to be cathartic. And
[16:07]it's always been my job and it's always been a joy. But I don't want to write anymore. You know,
[16:11]what do I have to give? I was really, you know, down and having some PTSD. Well,
[16:16]I actually took a class. And it was the first time I've ever taken a class like this. It was
[16:20]called personal essays and memoir. And it was offered by Zibi workshops, the Zibi classes. Oh my gosh,
[16:28]I never written a person. I don't write about myself. Like obviously my, I come through in my
[16:33]fictional characters. But I never really written anything from my own point of view. And I sat
[16:38]in class. It was, I think it was six, I was six weeks for five weeks. And I offered support
[16:43]and encouragement and vice to everyone else reading. And I thought, my brain, I've chemo brain. I'm
[16:47]not very yet. And then week five, the instructor said, you know, if anyone else still wants to go
[16:53]and the good student in me said, oh gosh, I have to step up here. I do my homework. I wrote an essay
[16:58]and it poured out of me in two days. And I wrote this essay. I read it to the class. And it was
[17:03]about my experience, everything from the stigma of having anal cancer to, you know, being on my
[17:08]deaf been and how, you know, I got through it. And the James Cancer Hospital got me through it.
[17:15]And I just poured it all on the page. And I said, oh, that's out. And the instructor said,
[17:19]which, you know, you should submit this. I've a friend who's an editor at Newsweek. So I said,
[17:24]sure, send it over, not thinking we go anywhere. The next week it was published.
[17:28]I had no time to process. I hadn't had time to think, is this TMI? Because when you have anal
[17:33]cancer, you know, there's a lot of bodily fluids and bodily parts you talk about with the symptoms
[17:41]and the treatment. And the news we published it. And it was really meaningful, but it really
[17:47]made me realize, okay, I'm back. My brain is back. My emotions are back. I can write again.
[17:52]So when I went to New York, I live in Ohio. When I went to visit New York, I, you know,
[17:58]said to my old editors and my agent and people on back, I'm here. You know, I'm back traveling,
[18:03]I'm back at it. And my editor said, come in. And she said, I think we have a space for you
[18:10]in upper middle grade romcom. And all of the joy that I've been missing for the past,
[18:19]you know, eight months or so since all of this happens to me just came flooding back. And I
[18:23]thought, yeah, this is what I want to do. So what a gift. Oh, my gosh. And you can feel the sense of
[18:31]joy, the sense of humor and your writing, your voice is so amazing. Like, I just, I'm trying to
[18:37]think of like good writerly examples, but like when you have a sentence and like between each word,
[18:42]you put a period, like what is going on or it wasn't that, but it was something like that. And
[18:47]just the way with you use italics for emphasis. And like, you're just, it just feels like you can
[18:53]absolutely hear someone telling you the story. And the someone is actually this young girl who I don't
[19:00]know. And all of a sudden, I'm like transported back in time. So how do you nail this voice? Because
[19:06]you just really do. Thank you for saying that. I'm smiling ear to ear. Again, the book's not out.
[19:11]So, you know, a lot of people haven't read it yet. And there's that nerve from, oh, I hope people
[19:16]respond to it. So it's good. You don't know. I love the, I know I'm finding from the people who
[19:24]blerped it that it's a, it's an nostalgia read for adults too. Like, it's fun for teens, but it
[19:29]really brings you back to those emotions of, you know, your first crush and your first job and
[19:34]all of those. And it ends. And it's a very sweet romance not to give too many spoilers, but it may
[19:39]end in a kiss. So that's the space that we wrote for. I'm an authentic voice. It's always
[19:46]really, really important for this age group. And I love that I do, I feel like I can tap into
[19:54]that voice and the joy, but also, you know, the trauma and the drama of being
[20:00]a tween and teen.
[20:02]It was my editor's ideas to do a dual point of view,
[20:05]which I've done with my twin sister before,
[20:07]taking turns, but I've never written a boy character
[20:09]from a boy perspective and I thought,
[20:10]oh boy, I have to get into it, you know, a teen boy's head.
[20:13]I had the best teen focus group you can imagine.
[20:18]My author friends, whose kids were Coco and Henry's age,
[20:22]other people volunteered from my childhood,
[20:26]through friends I have now.
[20:27]And the boys really, really brought it.
[20:30]They shared their secrets.
[20:32]They shared their, you know, everything
[20:35]from what their favorite sneaker is today
[20:37]to, nor they'd say, oh, no, we wouldn't say this.
[20:40]They would read, you know, parts of my book.
[20:42]So I think that really helped with the authenticity too,
[20:46]you know, talking to these teenagers
[20:48]and they're all thanked in the back of my book
[20:50]because I'm really grateful to them.
[20:53]I love that.
[20:53]Well, you know, what's Henry is pictured on the cover
[20:56]with the soccer ball, but he shows up at the place
[20:58]because he's actually has an injury
[21:00]and like can't play soccer anymore.
[21:02]And it's like worried about disappointing his father.
[21:03]Like you have so many different themes in the story.
[21:06]And he doesn't even like rollercoasters.
[21:08]And yet, I mean, not to give things away,
[21:10]but he just might be on a rollercoaster at the end.
[21:13]So whatever, I'm not saying anything,
[21:15]but we all have growth experiences over our summers.
[21:18]What should we learn from how the two of them
[21:21]in particular kind of grew over this one summer?
[21:25]I wanted them both to come in with, you know,
[21:27]they have some family angst going on.
[21:29]They have, you know, this new experience of a job,
[21:32]which is stressful.
[21:33]And you know, when we look back and, you know,
[21:35]your teen years adolescents are not always idyllic at all.
[21:39]So I wanted them both to come in
[21:41]in that uncomfortable space.
[21:42]Coco doesn't feel like she fits in.
[21:44]She had friend drama in school.
[21:46]And she's putting a lot of pressure on herself
[21:48]that this is going to be the best summer of her life
[21:50]because it's her family's amusement park.
[21:51]And then she finds out the amusement park is in trouble.
[21:54]We bring in Henry who was planning to go to Europe
[21:56]with his boarding school soccer team.
[21:59]And that's how he was going to spend this summer.
[22:01]And suddenly he's got an ankle injury
[22:03]that may or may not have been a bit of his own doing.
[22:07]And he's got to work at a moose park.
[22:10]So they come in with that.
[22:12]But by one of my main goals of the book
[22:15]was to show a healthy relationship.
[22:17]I didn't want it to be a toxic relationship.
[22:20]You know, for these two characters,
[22:22]they banter their rivals at first,
[22:25]but they're workplace rivals, you know,
[22:26]they're both trying to one up each other.
[22:28]And the banter is strong.
[22:30]And I have to say their coworkers
[22:32]who become friends and family to them,
[22:34]you know, start seeing the vibes between them
[22:36]before maybe they see them and themselves.
[22:40]So they've established a strong friendship,
[22:42]a bantering, fun, smart relationship, you know,
[22:45]that blossoms into more, it's a wrong comment.
[22:48]I don't think that's a spoiler.
[22:50]And it never veers into anything too toxic.
[22:54]So I want my readers to read what I think is a pretty healthy
[22:58]and aspirational relationship.
[22:59]Have these a lot of aspirational life?
[23:02]You might or may not have been based on, you know,
[23:03]some of the boys I dated that in.
[23:05]Oh, not at all.
[23:09]I just remember that.
[23:10]I mean, it doesn't feel like that long ago
[23:12]when all this happened.
[23:13]Like the fact that my kids are going through it now,
[23:15]I'm like, wait, how?
[23:16]How is that a degeneration best, essentially?
[23:19]I don't even know.
[23:20]Oh, my gosh.
[23:21]And Julia, you were so kind to contribute to
[23:24]I'm being Jewish now, the anthology.
[23:26]And so it's been so fun getting to know you
[23:29]in that context and everything.
[23:31]Do you want to share why you decided to say yes
[23:33]and anything about that?
[23:35]That book is, it's such a blessing.
[23:40]Yes, you know, as you well know,
[23:42]it's been on the USA today,
[23:43]but a settling list for an extraordinary length of time
[23:46]because it's really resonating with people.
[23:48]My dad was a Holocaust survivor as a child.
[23:52]And he came over when he was 13.
[23:55]His father was taken away in the middle of the night
[23:58]and we have no idea what happened to him.
[24:00]So I grew up surrounded by a lot of Holocaust survivors,
[24:04]you know, in the trauma that comes with that,
[24:06]but also the joy, you know, of survival
[24:08]and, you know, that community can bring.
[24:11]And when the opportunity to join the group,
[24:15]artists against antisemitism came,
[24:17]I thought yes, of course, I'll do that.
[24:20]And then when we heard that you were writing,
[24:25]you know, you were going to work on this book
[24:27]on being Jewish now, I thought, wow,
[24:31]I wish I could be a part of that.
[24:33]When I heard that you were turning it around
[24:35]in record time that has basically never been seen
[24:38]in much of publishing a little high quality book,
[24:41]I was really shocked and I said,
[24:43]I must be a part of this.
[24:45]So I was very, very honored to be included
[24:49]in the anthology and it's beautiful.
[24:51]And we're going to have our first
[24:52]on being Jewish now event coming up in Columbus soon
[24:56]and we've really become close.
[24:59]And I've met so many other collaborators
[25:01]and contributors.
[25:02]It's, I've been, what a thing.
[25:04]I don't even know what other, I'm a writer.
[25:06]I'm a philosopher words.
[25:07]It's been, I make up that you have a recipe
[25:09]from Ali Rosen.
[25:10]Did I get that wrong?
[25:11]I have a, so, and I met Ali Rosen
[25:14]at one of your events that I attended in New York
[25:19]and Ali contributed a recipe to meet me at Wonderland
[25:24]is not a bonus in a middle grade book.
[25:26]So if you're on the fence of whether you want to,
[25:28]you know, get it from the library or buy it,
[25:30]you're getting a recipe for chocolate moose moose.
[25:34]And it's so great.
[25:37]When I saw that in the back, I like smiled.
[25:39]I was like, I bet they met through the book,
[25:41]that is how I met.
[25:42]It's all through all, all brod's point to Zivi
[25:45]and those stuff.
[25:46]He's, it's true.
[25:48]I've got to give facts or facts.
[25:51]Anyway, well Julia, I'm so excited for you.
[25:54]This book is great.
[25:55]I read parts of it out loud to my son
[25:57]and now I'm gonna give it to my daughter
[25:59]and he loved it so congrats.
[26:01]He's a tough critic, kind of deep in the Wings of Fire series.
[26:05]So maybe not his typical jam, but he, he was a fan
[26:08]and my daughter's gonna eat it up.
[26:10]So I didn't let her take it till I could finish it myself.
[26:14]I have to share one of the highlights of my career
[26:16]was the author of Wings of Fire,
[26:19]too, we started one saying, oh, my kid loves your book.
[26:22]Oh, my gosh.
[26:23]That's what everybody's kid loves, loves her book.
[26:26]So that's a good choice.
[26:27]Solid choice.
[26:28]Solid choice.
[26:30]Well, thank you so much and congrats.
[26:32]Thanks for sharing so openly about your own experience.
[26:34]Sorry for delving deep right away.
[26:36]So I'm sorry, but thank you so much.
[26:39]Never apologize.
[26:41]I'm always happy now to share, hopefully,
[26:43]give people hope, educate, and also, you know,
[26:47]a couple of recommendations from being in the hospital.
[26:49]So thank you so much.
[26:51]Thank you.
[26:51]Thank you.
[26:53]I see you soon.
[26:54]Bye.
[26:55]Thank you for listening to Totally Booked with Zibi,
[26:57]formerly momstone have time to read books.
[27:00]If you loved the show, tell a friend, leave a review,
[27:03]follow me on Instagram at Zibi Owens,
[27:06]and spread the word.
[27:07]Thanks so much.
[27:08]Oh, and bye the books.