Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors.

Hi, folks.

How you doing?

You're listening to the story behind the story, Laughter and Learning.

I'm pleased to introduce you to our youngest grandson, Cooper.

Cooper is the inspiration and a contributor behind the story Laughter and Learning and is the narrator of the audiobook, Laughter and Learning.

Because our stories take place in the fictional town of Big Head in the Rocky Mountains, Cooper picked an animal that is natural to the area.

His character in our story is a red fox.

Hello, Cooper.

Hi.

Thanks for joining us on this segment of our audiobook, Laughter and Learning.

Did you enjoy being the narrator of the audiobook?

Very much.

And what did you like about it?

I liked how I could voice act, and I've never done something like that ever in my life.

Yeah, you did an awesome job.

That was fantastic.

And you had some really good inflections and some laughter and all of that kind of neat stuff, right?

Yeah.

So can you tell me why did you pick a red fox to be your character?

I just saw it and I thought it was really cool.

And foxes is, like, one of my favorite animals.

One of your favorite animals.

And they're smart, right?

Very smart animal.

Yes, definitely.

Now, did you see things or when you were going through the story, narrating, did you notice things in the story that reflected something about your life and what's happening in your life?

Yes.

So what were some of those things that you saw or heard?

On my first day, I think my sister waited for me and she actually picked me up and she actually asked those exact words.

Those exact.

So Cooper's talking about his sister Bailey.

Bailey has been one of the narrators of some of the stories in the Adventures of Caboose, the Rocky Mountain Bear.

So with that in mind, Cooper, you started a new school year.

Just started a new school year.

So what.

What are you liking about school so far?

I'm thinking that we can do more gym activities, and later on in the year, we can do electronics, so we can build things like reboot a calculator with no battery, or you can build.

A calculator with no batteries?

Yeah, but that's later on once we learn electricians.

That sounds pretty darn exciting.

And is there any other new things that you're learning about this year that you've never done before at school?

Not really yet.

Not yet.

Yeah.

So just until you get to that new electronic session, right?

Yeah.

That's neat.

And so.

And are there new kids at school that you're becoming friends with?

Yeah.

You're making new friends or you have most of the same friends you had from last year?

Most are the same friends, but think I have a new friend.

His name is Justin.

Oh, her name is Justin.

Cool.

And is Justin new to the school?

No.

No, you just.

He's finally in your class.

Yeah.

Okay, I get it.

And is there anything you're doing that's a challenge this year?

Not really yet.

It's hard.

And now you started basketball this year?

I did.

And my first practice was on Monday.

Was on Monday.

And that's something that's outside of school.

Why you're not.

You don't have basketball?

I have basketball outside school, but if we can do free time or like a basketball lesson, then I can play basketball during gym.

Where you are.

Right on school.

And you used to have a gym in your daycare, right?

Yeah.

Was there any desk wall hoops there?

There was, but we'd rarely go down into the gym.

Oh, okay.

So you really didn't play much basketball at daycare?

No.

And you know what?

In the story, Cooper is a red fox in this story, right?

Yeah.

And he has a good sense of humor and uses his sense of humor to make friends and get his teachers to take a liking to him.

Yep.

Just like me.

Just like what?

Me just like you.

I thought so.

Do you see yourself in the character Koopa the Red Fox?

Yep.

And what are some of the similarities between you and Koopa the Red Fox?

How he has fun humor and how he makes a lot of friends really easily.

Do you see Using humor can help you in difficult situations and make them a little easier to deal with.

Yeah.

Can you think of times that's happened to you?

Once, me and my best friend, we had a fight, but it all worked out because I started telling really funny jokes.

Ah.

So who started telling the funny jokes?

I did.

You did.

And he started laughing.

And so that kind of made the whole bad situation into a good situation.

And you guys weren't mad at each other after that.

Now, is there anything else you want to add about this experience as a storyteller?

No.

You never thought of yourself as a storyteller?

No.

You never thought of yourself as a narrator of a book, an audio book?

Nope.

So it was a pretty cool experience Happened, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And is there any lessons learned as we went through the reading of the story and the recording of the story that sticks with you?

If you're kind, helpful, or have a good personality, Huber will be your friend.

Right on.

And that's one of bad qualities to have.

Right.

Thank you, Cooper.

I appreciate your time today.

Thanks for inviting me.

All right, see you, folks.