Dandelion Magic And The Power Of Words

A dandelion wish sounds small until it spins into a full-blown adventure. From the NCRA floor in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, we sit down with children’s author Darren Farrell to hear how Dandelion Magic turns a simple idea into a story kids want to follow all the way home.

Website: spotlight4success.com

Transcript

Why Darren Farrell Is Here

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book Company. I am Devin Pintozi, your host. We are here at NCRA. Very excited to be here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And we are here with our very special guest, uh Darren Farrell. Uh, Darren, thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having me. Yeah. Tell us a bit about what brings you here to NCRA.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

I'm here to take part in the author luncheon tomorrow. I'm gonna be sharing a little bit about my book Dandelion Magic. Um, just talking about where the idea comes from, and we're gonna have a good discussion tomorrow.

How He Became A Writer

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Oh, okay, great. What got you into writing?

Who Dandelion Magic Is For

SPEAKER_01 0:48

So I would say I have always been a huge fan of words. Okay. As a baby, my mom and my grandmother used to be able to hold me and just read the dictionary. Oh, there you go. And I would stop crying. So I've always loved words. When I was when I was younger, I wanted to be I wanted to be like a rapper, a hip hop, hip-hop artist. And then that kind of morphed into like journalism school, uh finding my way into advertising, and then um just starting out with picture books. I've always loved these simple, clever ideas behind picture books. Um, and then I lived in New York City and I thought, let me try to write one of my own. And it was a long process. Um, this is my I'm on my eighth book right now. Oh wow, look at that. Uh it's been a journey. Um, but uh I think words have always just been a part of my life. Drawing comics. Um that's great.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

And uh so what what grade levels are is this book uh suited for?

SPEAKER_01 1:54

This is um Dandelion Magic is great for pre-K, kindergarten, first grade, you know, second and third grade. It's fun to do a read aloud with this book. Um as they get second, third, fourth. It's really interesting to take this book and have them create their own story, starting with the dandelion making a wish, and then how that wish could go awry, and where that adventure might take them, and then how how that crazy adventure kind of like turns into like a happy ending. And um, so that that the story of this book is sort of like a wish starts out, starts out positive, and then kind of goes off on a crazy tangent that sends the main character on an adventure and kind of like that story of how he makes it home safe in the evening.

Where To Find The Books

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Yeah, that's great. And uh, how can people find out more about your books?

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Uh yeah, anywhere books are sold. Quail Ridge Books is uh my hometown bookstore. It's a great bookshop if you want to order this book, but you can find it literally anywhere. If you're part of the Imagination Library, it also uh is part of the Imagination Library. I think when your child turns three, they'll receive this book in the mail in March.

New Release Lion In Bed

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Oh wow, look at that. That's very nice. Is that the one with uh Dolly Parton? I want to say Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. It's a good one. Wow, that's awesome! That's great. Wow. Um, is there anything else you'd like to share with the NCRA community?

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Um I have a new book that just came out this year called Lion in Bed. So if you want a cuddly, snuggly book about a lion who won't get out of bed, maybe you have a child who uh has a hard time waking up in the morning. It's a really cute story, really cuddly ending. I won't spoil it.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Oh, okay. That sounds really good. All right, once again, this is Darren Farrell uh joining us from NCRA. Um uh if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to him and uh uh have a good day. Bye bye.