DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a certified or verbatim transcript, but rather represents only the context of the class or meeting, subject to the inherent limitations of real-time captioning. The primary focus of real-time captioning is general communication access and as such this document is not suitable, acceptable, nor is it intended for use in any type of legal proceeding.
Children Chatting Podcast: Discussion between Adam Jay Epstein and the Children Chatting Kids
[Music intro]
DANIELLA: Hello everyone! You're listening to the Children Chatting With Authors Podcast. Today we're here with a special guest Adam Jay Epstein author of the new children's book Snared. Well, Adam why did you want to be an author?
ADAM JAY EPSTEIN: Well ever since I was young I loved reading fantasy books, and when I got to be older, I decided I would still go back and write the kind of books that I liked when I was a fourth-grader a fifth-grader and one of the books that came out of that was Snared.
DANIELLA: Oh, yeah, I always find it interesting I feel like everyone has different reasons as to why they want to be an author, you know?
ADAM JAY EPSTEIN: Absolutely, yeah and you know part of one of the things I love best about being an author is getting the opportunity to speak to kids about the books that I write because I also work in the movie and television business. But when I'm doing that, I don't get the direct contact with my audience that I get when I'm an author, and so that is incredibly rewarding getting fan mail from all over the country and all over the world and getting to have that communication with kids who were enjoying the words that I'm writing.
ZAREK: Okay, okay, my name is Zarek and Adam, what inspired you to write?
ADAM JAY EPSTEIN: Um I think that one of the biggest inspirations for my writing is now having two daughters of my own, and wanting to give them books that would have excited me when I was younger, and now hopefully will make them excited about reading and engaging reading. And one of the things that's interesting about Snared my new book is that Wily Snare is not a very good reader at the start of this book and as he goes through his journey, he'll come to continue to fall in love with reading, and that's going to be something that over the course of the series he'll grow to love more and more.
ZAREK: And how many books do you think you're gonna write?
ADAM JAY EPSTEIN: Well there's going to be three in the Snared series, and I've already written with a, with a writing partner; four books in a series called the Familiars, and two books in a series called Starbounders.
ZAREK: Thank you.
SEBASTIEN: I'm Sebastien. Adam my question is…is Wiley's father going to be important in the next book?
ADAM JAY EPSTEIN: That is a very good question the answer is yes he's going to be very important in the second book and even more important in the third book he's gonna play a major major role but there are still many secrets to be kept, so I don't want to reveal too much at this moment.
EVA: My name is Eva; here's my question. Out of all the books you have written, even the ones that haven't been published, what's your favorite one that you've written?
ADAM JAY EPSTEIN: Well I have to say that’s Snared. This first book is definitely my favorite right now, and you know it changes, you know, with, with time. Like when you watch movies sometimes you feel like this is your favorite this is your baby but right now this one is so close to my heart it is definitely my favorite and I'm so excited for kids all over Los Angeles to get the opportunity to read it.
EVA: Thank you.
LAUREN: Hi Adam, so my name's Lauren, and I'm the children's librarian here at Studio City Library and we're so happy that you joined us tonight. So my question was about Wily Snare, and I wanted to know how he was so empathetic and kind throughout the whole story when he lived underground at a tomb. Where did that come from?
ADAM JAY EPSTEIN: Well I think that Wily, you know, deep down inside of him, he's a good kid and he's had the opportunity to see all these very interesting creatures, you know, because why they live in a tomb with some of the more scary things that you would imagine; spiders and dragons and trolls, but to him they're completely normal so he exists in a very kind of regular, this is his regular world so as far as him being an empathetic character I think he's got a lot of good inside of him. He comes from a really good place, and I think Roveeka is his moral compass while he's down there, and even though his surrogate father Stalag is a really bad guy, I think deep down he's a good kid.
LAUREN: Thank you!
CYRUS: My name is Cyrus, and here's my question. Why does Wily call the sky "the above"?
ADAM JAY EPSTEIN: Well he's lived his entire life underground, so to him, he knows nothing about the world above the dungeon. So he calls everything and he thinks of everything above the dungeon as the above. So it's just because he doesn't know the name of even the world that he lives in. He lives in a land called Panthasos, but he has never been there, so he calls it "the above." It's a great question.
MILES: Thanks for listening to the Children Chatting With Authors Podcast.
[Music outro]
DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a certified or verbatim transcript, but rather represents only the context of the class or meeting, subject to the inherent limitations of real-time captioning. The primary focus of real-time captioning is general communication access and as such this document is not suitable, acceptable, nor is it intended for use in any type of legal proceeding.