Jonathan Simcoe, author and illustrator of A Little Book About Curiosity, talks about how being healthy opens us up to asking questions, learning, and staying engaged with our curiosity.
Jonathan Simcoe, author and illustrator of A Little Book About Curiosity, talks about how being healthy opens us up to asking questions, learning, and staying engaged with our curiosity.
A Little Book About Curiosity (view book)
Full Book Description:
Curiosity is the path to endless discovery. This little book is just the first step to unlocking the magic of wonder and give kids the courage to ask—what’s on the other side of the door?
About the Author:
Jonathan Simcoe is endlessly curious! By day, he explores creativity through technology, and by night, he discovers the world’s mysteries with his wife and kids through books, adventure, and life.
*If you want to be on a future episode of A Kids Book About: The Podcast or if you have a question you’d like us to consider, have a grownup email us at listen@akidspodcastabout.com and we’ll send you the details.
A Kids Book About: The Podcast
S1 E028, Jonathan Talks About Curiosity
[INTRODUCTION]
Matthew: What does it look like to be curious?
Jonathan: I think being curious to me is about being open. It's about being willing to explore new things, ask more questions, and it's also about being ready to change our mind about ourselves
As we learn things about ourselves, we need to be willing to change our perspective. And also it's been willing to change. Our mind about the world around us and, and other people. Um, because sometimes we get things wrong. Sometimes we think we understand something and we don't. And so that openness, that being willing to change, I think a fundamental part of curiosity and what it means to be curious.
Matthew: Welcome to A Kids Book About: The Podcast! I’m Matthew. I’m a teacher, a librarian, and I’m your host.
Today we’re wrapping up our special series of episodes with the authors and illustrators of our A Little Book About series. And while this series is intended for kids ages 0-4, we know that many, many of you are the ones who read to those young learners.
The topics we cover in the series are universal, which means they are things that anyone, no matter the age, can connect to. Things like bravery and fear and family.
So today, as we talk about the big things going on in your world, we’re doing so with an author illustrator from our A Little Book About series.
[MEET OUR GUEST]
Jonathan: Hi. My name is Jonathan Simcoe. I am endlessly curious. I'm also a husband, a father to five children and a designer and writer.
I'm the author of A Little Book About Curiosity.
[TOPIC EXPLORATION]
Matthew: I love that. Well, Jonathan, I'm so glad to have you on the podcast today to talk about curiosity, because I think it's really at the heart of being a child and often as an adult, it's the thing that we tend to lose. We forget to tap into that curiosity as we grow. So why don't I start off by asking you, what does it feel like to you to be curious?
Jonathan: Yeah. Um, well, for me, first off, curiosity is just fun. You know, it's really fun. To explore new things and it's it's, I liken it to an adventure where you never know what you might discover next. And I think that to me is a big part of it. I think one way I was thinking about that this is a word that comes to mind, um, is mystery.
Um, I love good mystery stories I always have, or any movie that has a mystery component to it is fascinating to me. And especially like, as clues are revealed, um, and pieces start to fall into place. But it always seems like with a good Nestor, even when those pieces are falling into place, you never really know.
I know where it's going to go until the last minute and that, that twist and that turn. And I think, um, good mysteries leave us guessing until the very end. And I think curiosity is a little bit like that where we don't quite know what we're, what we're going to discover next. We don't know when we're going to have a breakthrough.
We don't know when we're going to, um, change our mind. And I think that being on the edge of that newness is really exciting.
Matthew: I think being able to delight in the uncomfortableness of not knowing like when, like in a good mystery, I don't know how this is going to go, but that's part of the reason why I'm sticking with it. There's something there. Hey Jonathan, is everyone curious? Is there a time when, when in life we are more curious or not, or I don't know, in circumstances we're more curious or not. What's your reflection on curiosity?
Jonathan: Yeah, that's a great question. So having watched each of my own and a lot of nieces and nephews, I can say, anecdotally, I can confirm that most kids that I've observed are naturally curious.
However, we often have these narratives that we tell to ourselves, or we tell the kids, we say curiosity killed the cat. That's one of the ones that we hear a lot. And, and I've pondered that phrase as I've worked on this book, just kind of, why don't we tell kids that like.
Matthew: Doesn’t it seem awful? Curiosity killed the cat. I'm sorry? It did? Curiosity killed childhood is what you mean to say.
Jonathan: Totally. Um, absolutely. Or we often will say, um, stop asking so many questions, you know, or why do you have to ask so many questions? And so I think those things can work out against our natural instincts to be curious, and then we can grow and to be adults, but I've also found myself.
That when I'm struggling with depression or anxiety or dealing with larger amounts of stress, I tend to close off from the world around me. I tend to kind of a world shrinks. I get smaller and curiosity for me, it starts to wither. Um, and so the opposite of that to me is that openness that I I've mentioned earlier is that when we're we're health and we're open, we're open to asking questions. We're open to learning. We're open to engage in our curiosity. And for me, that's actually helped me in my own journey. Just challenge myself when I'm closed off. Um, and also keep searching for a way back to asking those why questions again and being curious. And so I think, I think there are times where it ebbs and flows and it's a good way for us to um, pay attention.
Matthew: I love that. Jonathan, are there things that you're curious about?
Jonathan: Oh man. There's all kinds of things I'm curious about. Yeah.
Matthew: Name some of your top-of-mind ones right now.
Jonathan: Yeah. So for me, I'm curious about culture and the past few years, culture, anthropology, theology, and all we're saying is these are, these ones might be nearby.
Matthew: We know what science is, but culture, anthropology, can you tell us just a little bit about what, what that is?
Jonathan: Yeah. Anthropology and culture is just the study of people and how people work together. Yeah. So it's not. It's not a scary word.
Matthew: I say it's a fancy word for things that we observe all the time. We might just not know that that's the name for it.
Jonathan: Right, right. Yep. And you know, I've also, I've, I've found in the past several years, I've really loved science and science fiction. So just anything that's related to black holes or strange other dimensions or, um, strange scientific things that we can't explain. I, I find those things fascinating. It's amazing.
Matthew: Jonathan, I learned today on a podcast that I was listening to, that there are, this is, there's a kind of fish that scientists have discovered in Arctic waters that the fish don't have blood because the water is cold enough that it sustains enough oxygen, that the fish can get the oxygen from the water and they don't need blood to have Oxy.
Isn't it? That is crazy. I just been curious about like, even in, in the animal kingdom, So many things that we just don't know yet. It's amazing. Hey, so I'm curious not to have a pun on words, but I'm curious about what it was like for you to create a book for our very youngest readers. Can you tell me about that?
Jonathan: Yeah. Um, I can, it was actually, it was actually a really hard, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Um, so, you know, I've, I've written things before and I've designed things before, but it was actually, um, It was challenging. So I first started out with the basic words, the base, that kind of, um, structure.
Um, and I knew the rough idea of what I wanted to say. So I worked on that and revise that. Um, and then I really, but I really struggled to find a metaphor. Uh, and again, that's a big word for just, um, how to explain something. How do we explain what's a visual way or, uh, a concept that we can use to explain curiosity.
And so I was actually really bummed out in the middle of the, of the process and was sitting in my room and it was just trying to work through those emotions of feeling like I'm failing at this. And I looked up at the door in my room. And then this light bulb went off and I was like, oh, that's it. And I realized it was like the perfect picture or image or, um, concept to use, to display or to show curiosity.
And so then I I went to work going, okay, how could these, this concept of a door, um, in someone opening a door, be like curiosity, and what's behind the door and then w how do we convey that? And so that, that really drove the, the rest of the book. And from that point, it was like all that energy started to build and there were still ups and downs in the process.
But I think that was, that was a big part of it for me, was getting to that point of how can I, how can I get this across?
Matthew: I think it's a fantastic metaphor to have a closed door and ask what's on the other side, because that's, that is, that is an experience that I feel like so many encounter constantly.
So you have your start. That was a big aha moment to use that image to start the book. But do you have a favorite spread from the book?
Jonathan: Oh man, I have. I've kind of two. My favorite visual spread is the very end ending page where there's a key hole and that, that light shining through, because to me, it's that tease of like what's behind it.
Let's, let's open the door and let's, let's discover. So I visually love that one, but the one that my kids laugh at the most. Is the, the spread about ice cream. So, um, it, you know, it goes, why do people want ice cream? Or why do people on Iceland love ice cream so much? Or do they, and that, especially when I read that last or do they are my, my kids just crack up every time and it's really fun to read to them.
Matthew: I love that. Mine is the spread that follows right after that, because I find it so beautifully perplexing. What makes the sky blue? And there's a blue sky, a blue background, and the clouds are pink. And I feel like, Ooh, you're kind of telling us why the sky is blue by making us ask about why the clouds are not white in your picture.
I just thought that was fantastic. Jonathan, very, very meta in that way, operating on a, on a level that wasn't just outright saying what it was. I thought that was great.
Jonathan: Thanks.
Matthew: Well, I can't wait for those young readers. To read this book and especially for our listeners to read the books with those young readers and, and see what they'll experience too.
I think curiosity is something that, that ideally is something that we stay tapped into our whole life. So I want to close with you by asking if there's a message about curiosity that you'd like to leave with those listeners, but those readers.
Jonathan: Yeah. That's thanks for that, Matthew. That, yeah, I actually.
There is a message that I wanted to share about curiosity and I think the biggest driver for me, yeah. From this book, um, especially given all that of the turmoil that our world has experienced over the past year and a half, um, it's just been watching people misunderstand each other and for me, as I thought about curiosity, I thought about the moral aspect of it or the, you know, that curiosity is a value that I want to instill in my children.
And I also want to. That value with a tons of other children and families. And I think we often misunderstand each other because we're not listening. We're not actually taking the time to be curious about them, about why, why did they vote the way they did? Why did they act the way they did toward each other and all those things?
That lead into conflict and hurt, there's a reality behind it, of if we took the time to understand each other, we may not all all end up agreeing in the end because we're not going to agree on everything, but we could at least develop empathy and work together. And I think for me, that's what I've really wanted to see happen with, with curiosity.
I want to see kids, um, not being afraid to learn about people that are different than themselves, or even to learn why they are the way they are, because a lot of times we can carry a shame for being a certain way and my message to them would be, be curious, you know, try to understand your upbringing, try to understand what happened to you and try to understand the world around you.
Cause it's going to make you, um, a better person full of empathy and love.
[FULL READ THROUGH]
Matthew: And now, read to you in its entirety, here is A Little Book About Curiosity by Jonathan Simcoe.
Jonathan: A Little Book About Curiosity by Jonathan Simcoe.
Curiosity is all about opening doors. A door is like a portal taking us to someplace unknown. With every door comes a journey to discover something new about ourselves, about other people, and about the world around us.
Now, how can we start opening these doors to exciting new places? We start by asking why, why do I love to eat nachos so much? Why do I get freckles every summer? What is it like to walk in someone else's shoes? Why do people in Iceland love ice cream so much, or do they, what makes the sky blue? What exactly is a black hole anyway?
Without curiosity, think of all the things we wouldn't have. Art, love, food, faith, bikes, books, friends, computers.
So start discovering something new every day. Be endlessly curious. And always ask why.
[CLOSING]
Matthew: Thank you to Jonathan Simcoe, author and illustrator of A Little Book About Curiosity, for joining us today. You can learn more about this book and others like it by visiting akidsco.com.
A Kids Book About: The Podcast is written, edited, and produced by me, Matthew Winner, with help from Chad Michael Snavely and the team at Sound On Studios. Our executive producer is Jelani Memory. And this show was brought to you by A Kids Podcast About.
Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever podcasts are found, and if you liked this episode, consider sharing it with a friend, teacher, or grownup.
Join us next week for a conversation about Failure with A Kids Book About author Dr. Laymon Hicks.