Ever wonder what sparks the imagination of a bestselling children's author? This week, the Daddy Daughter Bookworms have the absolute pleasure of hosting Andy Griffiths, the creative genius behind the "13 Story Treehouse" series. With his latest escapade, the "169-Story Treehouse," hitting the shelves, Andy transports us back to the whimsical days of our youth, recounting the playful mischief that inspired his celebrated books. His storytelling is as infectious as the laughter that his words invoke, taking us on a literary journey that feels both fresh and nostalgically familiar. We explore the evolution of Andy's narrative, along with the hilarious antics of characters Terry, Andy, and Jill, who have become as endeared to us as childhood friends.
Andy shares how his passion for storytelling began with scribbled notes that brought joy to everyone around him. From his early teaching days to recognizing the dearth of humorous tales for children, Andy's life has been a tapestry woven with the threads of humor and the joy of engaging a younger audience. As we bid farewell to the series that has delighted us for years, Andy opens up about the bittersweet feelings of saying goodbye to his characters, and what it's like having young fans who know the ins and outs of his stories better than he does. Tune in for an episode that promises to be not just a conversation, but an experience of rediscovering the boundless creativity that lies in the heart of every grown-up bookworm.
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Speaker 1:
You're listening to the Daddy Daughter Bookworms sponsored by CareFresh Training Group, where we talk about children's books. Hello, Bookworms, we're here with a special guest, Andy Griffiths, and he is done with his US tour of 13-story treehouse and he has his newest book, 169-Story, Treehouse and welcome. Thank you very much, Great to be here. My first question for you is how did you become a writer? How did you start out 13-Story?
Speaker 2:
Treehouse. Well, how did I become a writer? I was always writing something, even as a young child, as soon as I could pick up a pen. I was writing little things that made my parents laugh, or then my my friends at school and the teachers. So just write entertaining things. But it wasn't that I wanted to be a writer. It's just that I loved reading and I wanted to do the thing that I was reading well, imitate the stories, and I knew I could get a reaction from people and it was usually laughter, so it was just a positive thing that I did for many years, until I became an English teacher in my early 30s and started entertaining my students with my stories and realized there was a gap in the market for funny stories, for no other reason than to encourage kids to be readers.
Speaker 1:
So we're here at a book signing and it looks like you love being here with all the kids, and what does it feel like when you've written all these books and they know everything about the book Better than I?
Speaker 2:
do. I love that. I love being tripped up by the complexities of the stories and the absurdities of the stories. I get to experience it again through their questions. Lucy, do you have a question?
Speaker 1:
Yes, what books did you like to read growing up?
Speaker 2:
You can see them on my arms One Fish, two Fish, red Fish, blue Fish by Dr Seuss and all of those type of picture books. Rhyming picture books I loved, especially if they were funny Alice's Adventures in Wonderland I can remember loving from a very early age. Nursery Rhymes, three Blind Mice, wizard of Oz that's the flying monkeys from the film that really creeped me out but really fascinated me. And comics there's an eyeball planet there. So I was mixing up lots of different, but especially a book by Enid Blyton called the Magic Faraway Tree, where kids found a magical tree and had adventures, and I guess I was sort of writing a funny version of that when we came up with the 13-story treehouse.
Speaker 1:
You talk about a lot of adventures. Did you have a lot of adventures as a kid growing up in Australia, and is that where most of the stories come from?
Speaker 2:
Certainly the freedom that we had was my parents moved out of the city to the edge of the bush and that was being developed as a housing estate, but there was still plenty of creeks and trees to climb and we could just go out all day long and mess around with our friends without the parents being there. So reading is like that for me it's like a playground, where there's no rules. Did you have another question?
Speaker 1:
Yes, did you have a treehouse growing up?
Speaker 2:
No, but my cousin David had a platform in a tree, a single-story treehouse in an oak tree, and we would play in that and we'd just spend hours making up imaginary games and that's my job when I'm with Terry and Jill is we're just the same and making up imaginary what if, what if we did this and what if? Then andy would do that and then the sharks bite someone's head and um and we were on the second floor of my, of our townhouse and it felt like I was in a treehouse. So that's kind of where the ideas came together. It's really play and that's what a book is.
Speaker 1:
It's a, an organized form of play now that the series is all over and you've had these characters for so many years, what are you going to miss most about the characters?
Speaker 2:
I got to know them very well so I'd know what any of them would say in any situation. So I know Terry would always. If there was something to be done, terry would be doing something else. Andy would be getting cross but then getting sucked in to the other thing and then jill would have to come and help us out of it. But she would sometimes get sucked in as well. So it was kind of. Yeah, it was quite nice to know each year same setting, same characters, with a with a special guest star in each book and a special guest problem and 13 levels. But it got harder and harder to think up levels that we hadn't already done in some form or another and I didn't want to repeat because I get bored if I feel like an author's just starting to phone it in just coasting. I didn't want to risk that with my readers.
Speaker 1:
Well, I want to thank you for your time. You've done the 13-Store Treaty House with 13 books and it's been amazing. I've been following you on Instagram and you've been literally all over the country dealing with kids and parents and if it's any indication of what it was like here, you're amazing. I just want I know you probably hear this all the time, but the way you work with kids is is amazing what would you, what would you tell parents slash kids that are struggling in reading to get over that hump? I know your books. Books are very. They've got a lot of pictures and they've got a lot of uh, you know words. It's a it's not a picture book, but it's. What do you? What do you tell kids of? Of struggling readers?
Speaker 2:
uh, keep trying, keep trying to find that book that unlocks the secret. And it may be one of my books, but it may be a magazine featuring motorcars or speedboats or or anything. It may not be, it may not look like a proper book, and that's where I would say let the book be the, let the child have the say in what interests them, and don't say, no, don't you read that. That's not a proper book. Because as much I read some great books and I also had some great comics which were not regarded as great literature. There's a lot of great graphic novels. Now, there we're bringing it all together now, yeah, so keep keep trying. There's a book for everyone somewhere out there.
Speaker 1:
thank you so much for giving us a couple of minutes of your time. I know you got to go back on that long journey back home. My name is Alex and I'm Lucy.