-Up next on Tennessee Writes, we're meeting a mother-daughter writing team from Savannah, Tennessee.

Delaina Meadows and Anna Harbin.

Both have lived in West Tennessee for their entire lives.

Both went to Union University.

Mom, Delaina, studied special education.

Daughter, Anna, studied fine arts.

Mom teaches special education in Savannah, and daughter is a graphic designer in Adamsville.

Their skills came together for a heartwarming and unique children's book that is based on a real child.

What's it like working with your family?

We'll find out next.

Grab a fresh cup of coffee and find your comfy chair because Tennessee Writes starts right now.

[music] -Books about Tennessee.

-Books that come from Tennessee authors.

-Books and stories with a Tennessee twist.

-West Tennessee PBS presents Tennessee Writes.

[music] -Hello, and welcome to Tennessee Writes, the show that goes beyond the book to meet the Tennessee authors like you've never seen them before.

My name is Peter Noll.

We are about to get up close and personal with two Tennessee writers, from their childhood to how they began writing, where their stories come from, to what advice they have for you if you want to write your own book.

Plus, we put them on a stopwatch as they answer questions in the lightning round.

-Today, Tennessee Writes welcomes mother-daughter writing team Delaina Meadows and Anna Harbin.

Both are natives of Savannah, Tennessee, and .. Mom, Delaina, is a special education teacher, and daughter, Anna, is a graphic designer.

Their love of education and children came together for their book of collaboration.

Tennessee Writes welcomes Delaina Meadows and Anna Harbin.

-Thank you, and welcome for coming to Tennessee Writes.

We're excited to have you here.

Tell us, mother-daughter writing team, I don't know if I could write a book with my mom and survive.

How did you guys do it?

-Mainly, she helped me survive through college doing this.. I did illustration for part of my secondary at Union University.

I didn't have a clue about what I was going to do.

I talked to my professor, Mr.

Christopher Nadaskay, and he helped me decide I wanted to do children's book illustration.

I didn't have the words, so I reached out to my mom, and she helped me come up with the words for the book.

-You're a graphic designer is what you studied.

Delaina, your special education, that's been where you were trained and what you've been teaching in.

For how many years now?

-25.

-25 years.

You both went to Union.

How did that come to be?

Did you, like, "Oh, I've got to follow Mom"?

-No.

At first, I was going to go to a different school, but after meeting with the whole art department at Union, I decided that that's the place I wanted to be.

-Now, your sister's there right now.

What is she studying?

-Social work.

Her name is Leah.

-Okay, so in the same thing.

Your husband, who you met at Union, what does he do?

-He's a history teacher.

-In Savannah?

You're both teachers?

-Yes.

-You work at the design team in.. and you do graphic design.

That is great because so many graphic designers I know graduate, and they have a hard time finding work in their chosen field, but you did.

How long have you been there?

-I've been there since September of this year.

I worked as a graphic designer at another place, but then I decided to move and work there.

-You're close to your family.

Do you guys see each other every week?

-Yes, very often.

-Are you collaborating on another book?

-Well, I have one already done.

It's called Maggie's Big Day.

It's about my childhood dog and about all these adventures she goes on.

She goes to Area 51, and she goes to space and all different kinds of places.

We've got that one done.

Then I have another one I want to work on about a little lizard on its first day of school, trying to fit in and find their place in the school.

-Now, you have been teaching special education for decades.

Tell us about the family's connection to that.

What drew you to be that type of educator, and what keeps you in that?

-When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to go into the special education classroom.

I'd always been drawn to it.

I would come up missing in middle school, and they'd find me in the SPED .. I just feel like that's where God had intended me to go my whole life, is to teach that.

When I went to Union, there was an opportunity to get the bachelor's degree in special education and then add on Gen Ed.

When you go now, you have to do it the opposite way.

You have to get a Gen Ed and add on SPED.

That's why I chose special education because I like to see the growth that children with disabilities have and to have high expectations for them when, a lot of times, people don't have high expectations.

-Anna, what drew you to this topic?

-I love them so much.

Being in her classroom, I've worked as a substitute teacher in there multiple times.

I have more fun in her classroom than any other classroom.

I'd rather be with the SPED kids than be with the normal kids.

They're just so fun.

I just love being with them.

I made the book, and I talked to her about it to show other children that it's okay.

They can be included, too.

That's what Xander's Zoo talks about, is being inclusive with those kids.

-Tell me how the perception of children with autism and disabilities has changed over the years.

You've had a front-row seat as an educator.

The philosophy, I remember when I was in high school back in the late '80s, it was about integration.

The kids weren't separated and put in a different building.

They tried to mainstream them with our homerooms, study halls, things like that.

-Well, for years, I've taught special education preschool for years.

Up until three years ago, I was self-contained.

I only taught children with disabilities.

I moved schools, and we have what's called a blended classroom.

I have 50% typical children, 50% children with IEPs.

That has been life-changing.

For me, it has.

I had never taught a typical child before.

What I see is there's not a nickel's difference in a child with a special need and ones that don't.

They both have the same needs.

Both sets of children want to be included.

They want to be taught.

They want to be loved.

The difference is, now, it's the norm as opposed to being something that we're fighting for.

It's just given that the children are going to be included.

-What has drawn you, besides seeing your mom work with these special children?

What has drawn you to this, to where you got to college, to, like, "I want to make this a big project"?

-Well, I did it, part of my junior thesis, where I did the illustrations.

Then, part of my senior thesis, I went back and used more graphic design elements and made T-shirts and cups and other kind of branding.

It was called Embrace.

It had a little heart.

They were hugging and embracing others with disabilities, because I think we should all be together and include everybody.

-There's been a lot of the national focus on awareness, and finding treatments and cures for autism has been in the national headlines.

What do you think about all that?

-I don't think there's anything to cure.

-Yes, me either.

-God makes everyone individual.

Saying that you want to cure someone, I think it's just downgrading them because every child has their unique abilities.

Autism does not mean non-intelligent.

Some of the most intelligent people I've come across have a diagnosis of autism.

Trying to cure that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth because they are the most loving kids.

The little boy that we wrote the book about, he is, in ways, non-verbal, but that does not mean that he's non-intelligent or non-communicative.

He can communicate very well, and he is very, very intelligent.

Trying to say we're going to cure him just because there's really nothing wrong with him.

He may not communicate the way I communicate to you, but he communicates.

I think that we should say, "We want to open doors for communication rather than cure," because, to me, there's nothing to cure, but we do need to focus more on providing ways to develop their language skills and develop their ability to integrate with everyone.

Sometimes the way they want to communicate is not necessarily the wrong way.

The way we communicate with them is the wrong way.

They're a lot smarter than us at times.

-Great perspective.

[laughter] [music] -Let's focus in on Xander's Zoo.

This started as a class project?

-Yes.

-How did it make the leap from class project to this book sitting here today I can buy on Amazon?

-Well, my professor, Mr.

Christopher Nadaskay, he really pushed for me to get it where people could buy it, and it would be in every classroom in America.

That's when we tried to publish it.

I tried to find people to get the book up and running, but then I decided to just put it on Amazon because I really don't care about making money off of it.

I really just care about showing other young students, because it's meant for pre-K children, and showing them that they're just like you, and they communicate a little bit different.

In the end, they just want a friend.

You can love them, and have fun with them as well.

-Anna, tell our viewers how easy it is to get something put on Amazon.

We had a couple of authors, twin brothers, who walked me through the process of getting a book on Amazon.

It's like you pick the price, if you want hardcover, softcover, all of that.

Tell us about the process.

-Well, I think this was back about a year and a half ago, maybe even two years when I started putting on Amazon, but I just used KDP, Kindle Direct Publishing, through the Amazon website.

You have to have a minimum number of pages, but you just upload your PDF through there.

They pretty much take it from there.

You choose your publication date, you click it, and then it goes.

If you want to put it live, then you put it live then.

I chose to do it later on when my senior show was.

It's pretty simple on there.

Not too hard.

-The photos or the drawings are beautiful.

Did you go, "Hey, Mom, I've got these great pictures that I'v.. but I need some help putting the right words to it"?

-Yes, we did it drawing by drawing.

The original drawings are actually 20 x 30, and they're done with alcohol markers and watercolor and ink pen.

-What's an alcohol marker?

-It's like a Sharpie, but very potent.

That's why I tried to get those bright colors.

That also helped me with showing that this was a child's perspective with the bright colors.

I intentionally left the marker strokes to show that throughout the book, that is Xander explaining love and inclusiveness through the childlike illustrations through there.

We did it page by page, and then she helped me with the wo.. -Who is this book intended for?

-Well, it's intended for regular children to read and learn about a non-verbal autistic kid for the first time.

As you go through the book, it's not really Xander speaking, but it's Xander's stuffed animal, Arthur, who's speaking through the book.

He takes you through meeting all different kinds of animals.

There's one with all different kinds of birds and how they hang out.

Even though they're different, they can hang out together.

-The lions and the monkeys are in an enclosure together, which wouldn't happen.

A flamingo and an alligator in an enclosure together, that wouldn't happen.

We came up with that by watching Xander.

We didn't say, "We're going to put these two animals together."

He did.

He was playing, and I watched him in class.

His mother's a great friend of mine.

Using him, we had permission to use him and to observe him.

I'd call her and say, "Xander had an alligator and the flamingo in the enclosure together, and they were playing."

That's how we got the different scenes in the book.

-It's a great story, and it's a reminder that there really is.

It's based on a real kid, Xander.

That was even more fun to go back .. after I read that again.

I was like, "This is a real kid in Hardin County."

-Yes.

-That's fun.

[music] -Anna, Delaina, now is the time for the Tennessee Writes Lightning Round.

Don't get scared, but this is where we ask our authors a series of quick questions with a literary theme.

If you can't think of an answer, just say pass, but the key is to answer as many questions as you can within two minutes.

The clock will start after I ask my first question.

Are you sure you want to play?

-Sure.

[laughter] -Okay.

Two minutes is on the clock.

What's your favorite movie based on a book?

-Gone with the Wind.

-How often do you check your Amazon book reviews and ratings?

-Every week.

-What animal best represents your book?

-Gorilla.

-Gorilla.

-Last time you checked out a book from a public library?

-Last week.

-How many books do you hope to write before you die?

-10.

-What celebrity would you most like to co-author a book with?

-Matthew McConaughey.

-How many hours a week on average do you spend reading books?

-Six.

-Do you prefer to write with pens or pencils?

-Pens.

-How many words are in your book?

-Less than 50.

-Where is your favorite place to read books?

-On the porch.

-Where is your least favorite place to read books?

-In the car.

-If you were stranded on an island with only one book, what would it be?

-The Bible.

-Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction books?

-Fiction.

-What is the first book that made you cry?

-Someone Else's Children by Torey Hayden.

-The first book you can remember reading as a child?

-The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

-Who did you give a copy of your first published book to?

-Xander.

-Do you own more paperback books or hardcover books?

-Hardcover.

-If you could have any leader read your book in the entire world, who would it be?

-No idea.

[chuckles] -Pass.

-How many books are on your nightstand right now?

-Six.

-What books are you most embarrassed to admit you read?

-Pass.

We don't have one.

-On average, how many audiobooks do you listen to in one year's time?

-Zero.

[buzzer sound] [music] -Anna and Delaina, we always love to hear the authors speak the words that.. that they drew.

Would you mind reading your bo.. -Yes.

-Great.

-Do you mind if I interchange with the page?

-I don't care.

Read it.

-Xander's Zoo.

"This is Xander.

He is autistic.

Language is hard for him, but he talks to his animals."

-"He likes to pretend that he is a zookeeper."

-"His friends join in for a trip to the zoo.

Everyone is welcome.

Won't you come, too?"

-"My name is Arthur.

I'll be your guide.

Let's go see the animals.

Stay close to my side."

-"First stop is the home of Artie and Flo.

They're the best of the best as far as friends go."

-Look, there is Xander swinging on the vines.

Mike and Moe swing, too.

What a wonderful time.

Tim and Tina watch as they bask in the sun.

Together at our zoo, we always have fun."

-"Here at our pond, all the birds call it home.

Our differences are loved, and no one is alone."

-"At our last stop, we meet Sally and Blair.

They toss the ball without a care.

They play all day from breakfast to lunch, only stopping to see what Xander brought to munch."

-"We hope you enjoyed your visit to see how we all can live in sweet harmony.

Just like the animals from Xander's mind, we must love one another and always be kind."

[music] -What advice do you give to someone watching the show that says, "I've got an idea for a children's book"?

How do they go from that idea to actually getting it in a book?

-My advice is just go ahead and go do it.

Do what you want to do, even though there's going to be some people that are like, "Oh, I don't know if you're ever going to make it as a struggling artist," as some people say.

My advice is just do it anyways.

-Delaina, if I read correctly, you've always dreamed of being a children's author.

-Yes, I have notebooks of stuff I've written, but nothing's ever came to fruition because I'm a mom and a teacher and just really busy.

My advice would be write what you're passionate about and write about who you're passionate about, and then maybe you'll give birth to your artist.

[laughter] -Did you always know Anna had the gift of drawing as a little girl?

-Oh, yes.

She wasn't even two years old.

She was drawing pictures of animals, and you knew what they were.

She always had art supplies and crayons and sketchbooks.

She has always drawn and been really good at it.

Even from, like I said, before she was two, she was drawing things.

I think my grandmother said, "I think she just drew a dog."

I'm like, "No, she didn't."

I looked, and sure enough, it was a dog with ears and a tail.

You knew that that was a dog.

My grandfather said, "She's going to be a police sketch artist."

[laughs] -That's what Grandpa always said.

-If people want to buy Xander's Zoo, where do you see it?

It's on Amazon?

-Yes.

-Is there other places?

-Just on Amazon for now until I get somebody to help me take it off from there.

-What's next?

You've got other books.

You said you have one done.

-Yes.

I have one called Maggie's Big Day.

I'm hoping to put that one on Amazon, too.

It's about my childhood dog.

-Is Maggie still alive?

-Yes.

-Oh, she is.

-Yes.

She's about 11 years old, about to be.

-What type of dog is Maggie?

-She's a mutt.

She's just a little yellow dog.

-Those are the best type.

-She looks like you put a yellow Lab in the dryer and shrunk her down.

-[laughs] Yes, just really tiny.

-She's a little Lab-looking dog, but she's not a Lab.

-We'll be watching for that book on Maggie to come out on Amazon soon.

We have come to the end of this edition of Tennessee Writes, but we want to thank you both for coming on and sharing about yourselves, your story about Xander, and working with your love, working with children with special needs and disabilities, and how this story came to be.

Thank you so much.

Before you leave, would you guys mind signing Xander's Zoo, your book, for us?

-Yes.

[music] -Thank you so very much.

We have a thank-you gift.

We call this our Channel 11 Writing Kit.

We have one of these for each of you.

It's an organizer, messenger bag, water bottle, latte mug with a plethora of pens, notebook, all to help with your future drawings and writings.

-Thank you.

-Stay in touch.

We'd love to hear about future books that you may have, and we'll keep the audience updated as well.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Thank you so much for coming on, and we want to thank you for watching and joining us.

We ask that you join us again for another editio.. as we get up close and personal with another Tennessee author.

Remember, as Walt Disney once said, a good story can take you on a fantastic journey.

Keep on reading, Tennessee.

-For comments about today's show or to suggest a Tennessee author for a future program, email us at tennesseewrites@westtnpbs.org.

Tennessee Writes, on air and streaming now.

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