>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington D.C.
>> Carlos Lozada: It is my huge
honor to introduce Andrea Beaty,
the bestselling author
of Rosie Revere Engineer,
Iggy Peck Architect, Attack
of the Fluffy Bunnies,
Hide and Sheep, Artist Ted.
Andrea has received
numerous literary awards,
The Friends of American Writers
Award, the Parents Choice Silver
and Gold Medals, National
Association
of Parenting Publications gold
medals, and the Prairie State Award.
But I think the greatest recognition
is the number of children
who are right here waiting
for me to get off the stage.
Andrea's latest book is Ada Twist
Scientist, a story of a child
who uses science to
understand her world.
Andrea will be signing
books at 2:30,
so bring your books or buy more.
It is my huge pleasure to
introduce Andrea Beaty.
>> Andrea Beaty: Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Oh my gosh.
Thank you and welcome to
the National Book Festival.
Can I tell you, this is my favorite
festival of all the festivals.
And I've been to a few now.
Hooray, let's give them a
massive amount of applause.
[ Applause ]
Okay. We have things to talk about.
So, a couple of years
ago I was here.
Oh yay it works, yay.
I was here, and I got to share with
you my brand new book at the time,
and it was Rosie Revere Engineer.
And the reception for
that book was so great.
And kids loved it so much.
And I just had so much fun with it
that we decided to
write another one.
So today I'm extremely thrilled,
which is redundant but amazing,
to share with you some things
about Ada Twist Scientist,
which is our next book.
And it's out now, and I will be
signing it later as Carlos said.
So, but I want to talk
to you a little bit
about where these books came from.
A long time ago when my
son was about your age,
he loved to build things.
So he builds with blocks and
Legos and all the usual things.
But he also would go to the pantry
and he would pull out the soup cans,
and he would make towers from them.
And I thought that was so cool.
And that inspired me to write about
a kid who wanted to be an architect.
A kid who wanted to build things.
And so I wrote, I'm not
sure where his app is.
There we go.
So I wrote Iggy Peck
Architect about a little kid
who loved to build things.
And Iggy loved building so much,
he would build from anything.
So he even built one time, he
built a tower in just an hour
with nothing but diapers and glue.
And that was cool until
his mother realized
that those diapers weren't clean.
Ooh, good gracious
Ignatius she exclaimed.
That's disgusting and nasty.
It stinks.
But Iggy was gone.
He was out on the lawn using dirt
clods to build the great Sphinx.
Iggy just was absorbed in his work.
He didn't care.
He was busy.
And so Iggy made all kinds of
wonderful, wonderful things.
And one day his class
went on a picnic.
And they crossed this small
trestle to a small island,
nestled in the heart
of a burbling stream.
But they no sooner passed
than the footbridge collapsed,
and Miss Lila Greer
started to scream.
Oh no. And the teacher faints
right there on the island.
And it's up to Iggy and his
friends to make a bridge.
And so Iggy made a
wonderful, wonderful bridge.
And he used all kinds of things.
He used fruit rollups
and strings and all kinds
of things you shouldn't even
mention, like the underwear there
at the top of the bridge.
Don't bring that up.
Don't mention it.
So after we wrote Iggy we thought,
wouldn't it be fun
to have another book.
Because when I wrote Iggy, I sent
just the words to the publisher.
And she found David Roberts, this
amazing illustrator in England.
And he brought back this
beautiful, beautiful class of kids.
And I looked at those kids
and I thought, oh my gosh,
that's some interesting kids.
But you know what?
I look at you guys.
I look at all you kids out here, and
I think you are interesting kids.
You're smart, and you're
funny, and you're creative.
And you're clever.
And you can do amazing things.
So I thought, I should
write some more books
to explore the cool
things that kids can do.
But how could I start?
Where could I even begin
with so many cool kids?
So, I did research.
I have a science background, so
I used it and I did research.
And I went through the book, and
I looked at all the pictures.
And I noticed that every
kid shows up four times.
And so, I noticed this girl.
I noticed this girl with her
hair swooping over her eyes.
And I saw that you never,
ever see both of her eyes.
She's always hiding.
And she's sitting there kind of
shy and trying not to be seen.
And I thought, huh,
what's your story?
Because this is what I know.
I know that shy kids may
not be talking all the time,
but they're always watching.
And they're always listening.
And they're always thinking.
And when they're ready,
oh when they are ready,
a shy kid will tell you the
most interesting creative
and cool things.
So I wanted to see
what she would do.
And this became Rosie
Revere Engineer.
And so Rosie has had
some adventures.
Rosie loves to build things.
So Rosie when she was young,
she made a hotdog dispenser
for her family, for
her uncles and aunts.
And helium pants.
I would like to have
some helium pants.
I'm counting on you young engineers
to please make me some helium pants.
I don't think it's too much to ask.
Is it? It's not.
Rosie also helped her Uncle
Fred, who's a zookeeper.
And Uncle Fred has a snake problem.
He can't keep the snakes
off his head.
He can't keep the snakes
out of his shirt,
and he can't even keep
them in the cage.
He needed some help.
So Rosie made him the cheese hat.
And it works with cheddar
cheese spray
which everyone knows
keeps the pythons away.
And that's true.
Because in nature you will
never see cheese spray
and pythons in the same place.
I'm telling you.
That's very bad science,
but it's still true.
It is bad science.
So Rosie made the cheese
hat, but her uncle laughed.
And he laughed because he loved it.
But she thought he
was laughing at her.
And so she just said she would never
show anybody her inventions again.
Until one day, great-great
Aunt Rose came along.
And great-great Aunt Rose had worked
a long time ago building airplanes
to help out the country.
And she'd done so many cool things.
But she said you know, the only
thing left on my list is to fly,
but I don't think I'll get to.
I don't think I'll ever get to fly
because it's an old lady's dream.
Well guess what, Rosie
got to thinking.
And she thought and she
thought and she thought.
And she came up with
the helio-cheese copter.
And she got in it,
strapped into her cockpit.
She flipped on the switch.
The helio-cheese copter
sputtered and twitched.
It floated a moment and
twirled round and round.
It froze for a heartbeat
and crashed to the ground.
And then Rosie heard
laughter and turned
around to see the old woman
laughing and slapping her knee.
She laughed until she wheezed
and her eyes filled with tears.
All to the horror of Rosie
Revere who thought, oh no,
never not ever again will I try to
build something to sputter or spin
or build with a lever,
a switch or a gear.
And never will I be
a great engineer.
And so Rosie thought she would
never be a great engineer,
but she does end up learning.
She learns from her aunt
that it's okay to fail.
You just have to keep trying.
And so that book ended.
And I thought, I'd like try again.
I'd like to make another story.
So what did I do?
I did some research, didn't I?
And I went back and I looked
at all the kids in the class.
And I looked at them all.
And I went through two books now,
and I looked to see what
all of the kids would do.
And I came to this
picture from Iggy Peck.
And if you notice in this picture,
everyone's busy helping
Iggy make the bridge,
except the one girl who's licking
all the lollipops in the basket
and throwing those on the ground.
I'm not sure what her story
is, but I will find out.
And then I noticed over there
there's a little girl in the red
and white dress, the little
African-American girl.
And she's sitting here,
and she's doing this.
What do you think she's doing?
What is she doing?
She's thinking.
She's thinking.
And I thought okay,
that kid is curious.
That girl is a scientist.
And so I wrote Ada Twist Scientist.
And I'm going to tell a little bit
about the story, and then I'm going
to tell you some really cool
secrets about the books.
Because that's one of
my favorite things here.
So Ada Twist is this kid,
and she is so curious.
And from the time she is born, she
doesn't talk for a long, long time.
But boy when she gets
out of her crib, boom,
she tears through the
house exploring everything.
She wants to know what
everything is about.
She's thinking all the
time, what's going on?
What's new?
How does this work?
What is that?
And when she turns three she climbs
up the top of the grandfather clock,
and her parents yell stop,
as all good parents would.
And Ada's chin quivered,
but she didn't cry.
She looked at her folks,
and she simply said, why?
Why does it tick, and
why does it tock?
And why don't we call it
a granddaughter clock?
Why are there pointy
things stuck to a rose?
Why are there hairs up
inside of your nose?
These are good questions.
They needed answers.
And from that moment on, Ada Twist
was out to find out everything,
and she never stopped
asking questions.
She asked questions about animals.
She asked questions about planets.
She even got to school, and the
experiments went crazy wild.
Here she is doing an experiment
with Miss Greer and the class.
Do you think Miss Greer likes that?
>> Yeah.
>> Andrea Beaty: I don't think
Miss Greer is really happy here.
What about the kids?
Are they having fun?
>> Yes.
>> Andrea Beaty: Sometimes
science is really messy.
And sometimes that's
my favorite part.
And one day she's standing
outside and all of a sudden zowie.
She smells something so stinky,
she doesn't even know what it is.
She's like whoa, what is that smell?
And she decides that she has to go
on a quest to find out what smells.
And she starts doing experiments.
And she does an experiment
with the cat.
She's like oh.
Well first off she starts
with her dad's soup.
Her cabbage soup, his cabbage soup.
And she starts adding curdled
milk and stinky onions.
And all kinds of things.
Yes, ooh, not a good thing to do.
But it wasn't the right smell.
So she takes the cat, and she
says I think it's the perfume.
And so she puts perfume on the cat.
That's not cool.
Oh, she gets in such trouble,
and her parents say, enough.
Enough Ada Marie.
Go sit in the thinking chair and
think about what you've done.
And so she does.
And so Ada sat and she sat
and she sat, and she thought
about science and stew and the cat.
And how her experiments
made such a big mess.
Does it have to be so?
Is that part of success?
Are messes a problem.
And while she was thinking,
what was the source
of that terrible stinking?
Ada Marie did what scientists
do, she asked a small question.
And then she asked two.
And each of those led her
to three questions more.
And some of those questions
resulted in four.
And so she digs in, and
she starts scribbling
on the wall all of her ideas.
And when her parents come back,
they have some things to figure out.
Now, that's all I'm going
to tell you about the book,
and you have to read it to
figure out what's so smelly.
Isn't that terrible?
Don't you hate it when
people do that?
Something stinks.
I won't tell you what it is.
I want to share, take a few
minutes to share some of the things
that I really love
about these books.
So this is a picture
of me over to the left.
And I'm in front of a doughnut shop
in Chicago that's called
We Can Doughnuts.
And I'm there posing
like Rosie Revere.
But the gentleman over to
the right is David Roberts.
And David lives in London.
And we've only been
able to meet one time.
But David gave me the greatest gift
probably anyone's ever given me
in life.
And I've had some, well maybe not
the best, but one of the best gifts.
He created that bunch of kids.
And he created this
world which is so rich.
But David is a smart,
tricky, clever guy,
and he hides things
in the illustrations.
So he created these kids, and in
all the illustrations you'll notice
connections with all the
different books, excuse me,
including Happy Birthday Madame
Chapeau, which we also did together.
So here you'll say Rosie Revere
is there and so is Iggy Peck.
And Rosie has a hotdog.
Oh, Ada Twist has the hotdog,
and she's smelling that.
That's the hotdog from Rosie Revere.
At the end of, in Iggy
Peck, Iggy has a pencil.
At the end of Rosie Revere,
she also has a pencil.
At the end of this book
now, Ada has a pencil.
So he finds ways to tuck
into these illustrations sort
of the progress the kids are making
and just important little details.
So I'm going to just
point out a few.
So Ada Marie Twist is named after
two very, very famous women.
Ada Lovelace, who was the first
computer programmer, and Marie Curie
who was the first woman to win
a Nobel Prize, the first person
to win two prizes in different
topics, and a crazy awesome lady.
In the blocks on the floor,
the blocks spell Lovelace.
And you can see Ada is
reaching up to the mobile.
She's reaching for the stars before
she conks out on top of the dresser.
So Ada is driven by curiosity,
but she's very smart
and she's very logical.
And she's always trying
to figure things out.
So here in the book as she's doing
any kind of experiment or looking
at something, you guys, you kids
have to look at that and try
to figure out what she's
learning, what she's thinking.
So if you look at that
picture, she's trying to figure
out how many legs the
animals have, her toys have.
So the bird has two.
The dog has four.
The squid has eight.
And the elephant has five.
Is that the correct number?
It's not, but it's logical.
So those kinds of things
are in the book.
So parents I hope, spend some
time and just really dive in,
and you'll just be so impressed.
I know I was.
Oh and also, his blocks
say Ada as well.
David never leaves anything to risk.
All of the gowns by the way, he
studied fashion illustration,
which is why all of the adults in
these books are so cool and styling.
And they're all based on his own
designs, inspired by other people.
So here's Ada, and she's outside
when she smells the
stinky, stinky smell.
And she looks over there, and if
you can see in the background,
there's the sphinx that Iggy Peck
created and the cheese copter.
And so there's clues in these books
that these kids are neighbors.
And it's fun to watch with
kids, like you guys find them.
They're very cool.
Okay, this is my favorite
picture I think in the whole book.
So Ada's family kind of
figures out, you know what,
she is going to be this
kid who is curious,
and she's going to do this stuff.
We're the ones who
have to figure out how
to help her be her awesome self.
And so they get her this
wonderful paper roll
where she does experiments.
And you can see on the
paper, she's trying to figure
out which came first,
the chicken or the egg.
It's a very good question,
one that people debate.
And the other thing she's
drawing is a double-decker bus.
And she's figured out if
the man drives the bottom,
the driver on the bottom, who
is driving the top of the bus?
I don't know.
But my favorite part
in this is the books.
So we all of us involved
in the books, which was me
and Susan Van Metre our editor,
and Chad Beckerman our art
director, and David Roberts.
We all wanted to include some
of the important influences
and scientific discoveries
and people
that we think are really important.
So there are titles there like
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.
There's also some funny ones.
Cosmos is there because I was
a big, big fan of Carl Sagan.
I think, you know, he
changed my world pretty much.
And I hope you guys watch
the new Cosmos show,
which is absolutely brilliant.
But my favorite here is the How's
it Going Cat by Schrodinger.
That's a good one.
And there's a lot of
funny, funny, funny ones.
And, I'm going to tell you guys
a secret, okay, if you can see
up at the top of the
paper, there's a box.
In that box is a cat.
And the cat that's looking out.
That's Iggy Peck's cat.
So there are secrets
hidden in the book.
So when you get home,
you can look at it.
Okay. I think we only
have a few minutes.
I know I'm going to spend like
the next 30 years figuring
out the things here.
When you look at the
initials in there, AB is me,
DR is David Roberts,
SVN is our editor,
Susan Van Metre, CB
is Chad Beckerman.
So there's goofy stuff, and there's
also some actual really great
science in here as well.
Okay, and I think, oh I have
this last thing to tell you.
Two things, one in the
spring we have a fantastic,
fantastic project book coming out.
I just finished the
working it, writing it.
David's finished the art.
It's going to be so much fun.
So you engineers can
make cool, cool things,
just to help you with your ideas.
There'll be one for Iggy too.
And, on Tuesday, this is the coolest
thing in the world, an astronaut,
Astronaut Kate Rubins is going
to read Rosie Revere Engineer
in the International Space Station.
Isn't that cool?
I know. That's what I said.
What? I know.
It's too cool.
And somewhere in a few months.
It's not going to be televised live,
but somewhere in the next few
months, they will download
that video, and it will be online at
a site called Storytimefromspace.org
for all of you guys
to watch and to read.
Now, thank you.
I know we have a few questions.
I'd love to do a few questions
before we run out of time.
So there's a process for that.
Oh there's a microphone here.
Okay.
>> Hi.
>> Andrea Beaty: Hi.
>> So I have a daughter, Lila,
and I have a daughter, Ada.
>> Andrea Beaty: Lila and Ada.
>> And I have a son,
Sam, and he wants to know
when you're going to
put a Sam in a book.
>> Andrea Beaty: Oh, you're not
going to change your name to Iggy?
You wouldn't go for that?
No.
>> He's six.
It's a little late.
>> Andrea Beaty: It's a little late.
That boat's sailed for you.
Well that is a great question.
And now I have to think about that.
I'm going to put on
my thinking face.
Hmmm. Hi.
>> Hi. What was your
favorite book so far?
>> Andrea Beaty: Oh, which
of these is my favorite.
Wow, I don't think I can tell you.
You know what, maybe Rosie because I
love great, great Aunt Rose so much.
And frankly, I look a little
bit like her, don't I?
Yeah. Can I tell you, I
dressed up like great,
great Aunt Rose last Halloween,
and I didn't have to buy anything.
I did make a can with some
silver like rivets but, yeah.
So it may be her because I included
great, great Aunt Rose in this book
as a way to say think you to the
Rosie the Riveters and the men
who fought in World War II.
My aunt is a Rosie the Riveter,
and we have an unpayable debt
to those marvelous people.
So that's probably
that for that reason.
Yes.
>> When did you start writing books?
>> Andrea Beaty: When did
I start writing books?
You know what, I was 30 years
old when I figured it out.
>> That is so cool.
>> Andrea Beaty: That is so
old, yes, that's not as cool.
Oh there's more.
There's people over here.
Hello people over here.
>> What inspired.
>> How did you make them?
>> Andrea Beaty: How
did I make those books?
You know what, I wrote the stories,
and then people helped me make them
because it takes a lot
of people to make a book.
So there's David and the
editors and so many people.
Yes.
>> What inspired you
to write the books?
>> Andrea Beaty: What inspired me?
You know, they really did
start from asking questions.
So I saw my son building these
things, and I thought what if.
And these were as kids, these
are the most powerful words.
Whatever you want to do,
ask yourself, what if.
What if there was a kid who
wanted to be an architect.
What if we wanted to
put a man on the moon?
What if we wanted to cure cancer?
What if, what if, what if.
We can do anything when
we decide to do it.
But those questions
really inspired me.
Yeah. Should we do back and forth?
Yes.
>> What inspired you to write?
>> Andrea Beaty: What inspired me
to write really ideas
come from everywhere.
They come from books I read
and people I meet and
all kinds of things.
Yes.
>> Where did you get the books?
I mean, where do you put the
books so we can get them?
Because [inaudible].
>> Andrea Beaty: That's
a great question.
So where are the books if
you'd like to get them?
There is Politics and
Pros over, where is it,
I don't know where it is physically.
Physically over there.
And I will be signing the books
at 2:30 I believe, 2:30 to 3:30,
so I would love to sign for you.
So I hope you'll come by.
Thank you.
>> Bye.
>> Andrea Beaty: Bye.
Thank you, and I did not pay
him to do that or anything.
Yes.
>> So my name is Ada.
>> Andrea Beaty: Well
Ada, I'm glad to meet you.
>> And I'm glad that
there's a book named Ada.
>> Andrea Beaty: I'm
glad there is too,
and I didn't even know
you then either.
Very cool.
It's a good name.
You should read about Ada Lovelace.
And there's another great
book with the name Ada.
It's called Ada's Ideas,
and it's about Ada Lovelace.
It just came out.
It's brilliant.
>> And I, oh sorry.
>> Andrea Beaty: That's okay.
Yes.
>> How long did it take
you to write one book?
>> Andrea Beaty: Okay, how long
does it take to write one book.
I have no answer for that.
So because, when I wrote
Dr. Ted, I wrote that book
in an hour, and it was done.
When I wrote Hide and
Sheep, it took me ten years.
And it's shorter than the other one.
It took me about five months
to write Ada Twist Scientist
because it took me a long
time to figure out her name,
who I was going to name her after.
Because there are so many,
so many amazing scientists
and so many amazing
women scientists.
And I wanted to name her after them.
But I also had to make the
names work with rhyming.
So it's very difficult.
If a name is too long,
like a scientist named Nebuchdnezzar
Lolakaubooblahs [phonetic] is never
going to get in a book.
There's not enough letters.
So, it varies.
I never know when I start.
Yes.
>> How did you become a writer?
>> Andrea Beaty: How
did I become a write.
You know what, I studied biology
and computer science
when I was in college.
And I love science, and I love
math, and I love literature,
and I love all kinds of things.
So I just follow things that
are really interesting to me.
And when I got out
of college I worked
in the computer industry
for a while.
And then when I had kids, I
was staying home with them,
and I started reading picture books
that I hadn't really read
picture books since I was a kid.
And they were so much better
than when I was a kid.
I had a few good ones,
but I'm telling you now,
the quality of picture
books for kids is insane.
And I started getting ideas.
And once I got ideas, that
was it, started writing.
Hi.
>> What did you use to make
the pictures of the book?
>> Andrea Beaty: What did
I use to make the pictures?
You know, David Roberts,
who lives in London,
I'm not sure if I did that.
David Roberts, who lives in
London makes the pictures.
And I think he uses ink pens and
paper, a special kind of paper.
And he uses watercolor.
And when he does the art,
he does it actually to size,
so he doesn't make it bigger
or smaller or change it.
He makes it exactly
the size you see.
And sometimes those illustrations
are very, very intricate,
and there's so many details.
So it's pretty remarkable.
Yes.
[ Inaudible ]
>> Hello.
>> Andrea Beaty: Hi.
>> Say hello.
>> Hello.
>> Hi, how are you?
>> How do you make the words rhyme?
>> Andrea Beaty: Oh, how
do I make the words rhyme?
Sometimes with great
difficulty I will say.
You know what, I used some special
tools when I do rhyming books.
So what I do is I have a very
special dictionary called The
Flip Dictionary.
So it helps me find whenever
I have like a bridge.
I knew that I wanted Iggy Peck to
cross over some sort of bridge,
but the word bridge wasn't
rhyming with anything.
So I thought ah, a trestle is a
kind of bridge, so I could look
up all the things related
with structures you could
build in The Flip Dictionary.
And I said trestle, a
small island nestled
in the heart of a burbling stream.
And I have a rhyming dictionary
which helps me find
words that sound alike.
And sometimes I have to
jumble my sentences up
and rework the whole
thing to make it work.
And sometimes, it just doesn't.
Yes.
>> What inspired you to
make The Hidden Secrets?
>> Andrea Beaty: Oh, what inspired
me to make The Hidden Secrets?
Well that's the marvelous
thing is I didn't.
So I get to enjoy them
the same way you do.
So David Roberts works
from the words in the book.
And I never put details, I
never say can you do this?
Can you make Ada's dress
red and white polka-dotted?
Can you make Rosie have bangs?
I never do any of those things.
But David creates all those things.
The only time I've ever suggested
anything for the books is I asked
if the Sphinx could
be in the background.
And David did that.
And it showed that we had,
that they were neighbors.
I think we have time for
maybe one more question.
Yes. Hi.
>> Do you think the backgrounds
and the secret stuff
is really cool to have?
>> Andrea Beaty: Do I?
Yes, I do.
I do. I think it's so cool.
And I'll tell you why
I think it's cool.
I think it's cool because it's fun.
Because I know that
when I was your age,
I loved to read books like that.
Like Go Dog Go is my favorite book.
And I have spent I'm sure
actual months of my life looking
at the picture of the
picnic at the end
of that book saying,
ooh, what would I do.
Would I go on the swing,
or maybe I'd have the cake
or be shot out of the cannon?
And I know how much
that was important to me
to be pulled into the books.
But also because I think,
and I think this is one
of the reasons the books
connect with kids so much is
that I think David showed the
ultimate sign of respect to kids,
because he knows you guys
can find secret things.
That you're smart and cool
and you pay attention in a way
that adults never even
see these kind of details.
So I think that's why.
And I love that he did that.
I think that I have to go, ah.
But I love your questions.
Thank you all so much.
Thank you.
And I'll be signing at
2:30 at where they do that.
Thank you, and have
a great festival.
>> This has been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at loc.gov.
