(upbeat music) (majestic music) (thunder claps) - [Cedric] A not-yet-night never breaks their promise.

(fireball explodes) - I've never seen anything like that!

(horse neighs) - You are gonna be quite the night, Nia.

Do you understand now why you can't?

Nia?

- [Nia] Got it, Dad.

- Think you could give me a little help here?

- I'm not sure she got the right lesson.

- She'll get there.

(majestic music) - Hi, I'm Jacqui Tricarico, Senior Correspondent for "One-on-One," and I am so pleased to be joined now by Daniel Errico.

He's a children's book author, and the creator of the Hulu series, "The Bravest Knight."

Daniel, so great to have you with us.

- Thanks so much for having me.

- Well, I wanna first talk about your career as a children's book author, because it didn't start out that way for you, you actually were a mechanical engineer.

So talk to us about that transition.

Was it something that you always knew you had a passion for, writing children's books?

And how did you transition out of being a mechanical engineer in that field, to this, to what you're doing now?

- It was kind of a latent passion, something I realized that I had always wanted to do, but never really allowed myself to pursue, so I went into something a little more practical, mechanical engineering.

And then I actually worked in New York at an investment bank brokerage firm, and neither one of them really gave me that sense of fulfillment that I wanted, so I decided to quit and work on writing kids' media full-time.

And I started with my website, freechildrenstories.com, and I was, at the time, writing and illustrating a book a week to just get better at it, and I was trying to study old children's books, and old fairy tales, and kind of learn the craft.

And I'd ended up going into schools, and reading in front of kids with my friends' illustrations, and seeing the kids' reactions, and just trying to get better at this.

- And a lot of your books, you have so many out now, but a lot of them do have that fairytale feel to them.

But I know that, in your stories, representation is so important.

I know you said, as a straight white male, as a child, you had that representation in the books that you were reading, so why was it so important for you to make sure, as you've been creating and developing these stories, to make sure that representation is seen throughout so many of the themes?

- Well, as you said, I mean, I had a ton of representation in my formative years, and that makes a big difference.

And I think every child deserves to see themself, to see their family on screen.

And the darker, more painful side of this is, when they don't, it sends a message to them about their family, about themselves when they get older.

And kids' media needs to be part of the solution there, of making sure every kid feels loved, has love for themself, and for others.

- So let's talk about "The Bravest Knight," one of the stories that you've written that Hulu picked up to create a children's show on.

First, let's talk about the story that you created.

Tell us about the themes and the messaging behind it.

- Yeah, "The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived" is the book that we then turned into "The Bravest Knight" show.

And at its core, it's a real classic fairytale story of a young boy who's a pumpkin farmer, and wants to become this brave knight, and it's his journey to becoming a full-fledged knight.

And in the end, he saves a prince and a princess from the dragon, and he ends up with the prince in the end.

And hopefully people see that, you know, you don't really change anything about the story by changing who that person decides to be with.

And Hulu has been an amazing partner for us in making the show "The Bravest Knight," and we got to expand the story, bringing all sorts of new characters, including the one right here, Grunt, our purple troll who's voice by Bobby Moynihan.

And now we get to see what that happily ever after looks like for Sir Cedric and the Prince when they're raising their own daughter, Nia.

And they teach her how to become a knight herself.

And, you know, being a knight is really an allegory for being a good person, and a (chuckles softly) helpful member of society, and doing the right thing, and all that.

- And season two just dropped this past December.

We're taping this in January, but I know season two just dropped this past December on Hulu.

Talk about, for you though, that transition from being the author then to being involved in the creation of this show.

- It's been amazing to get to tell a longer-form story more than anything else.

Picture books are my first love in kids' media, the thing that I love doing the most, however, it also can be limiting in some ways, because you only have, you know, less than 1,000 words, sometimes less than half that, to tell your story.

And I've now gotten to tell this arc that goes from one season, to hopefully even more than two.

And that means I get to do character development, I get to have callbacks, I get to have all that fun with the storytelling, and also it means that I can hopefully create a deeper, stronger connection with the reader/viewer.

- Where are you getting the inspiration from for these characters, and the challenges that they're facing?

- I think a lot of it comes down to what I think I needed to hear as a kid, or that I think that we need to be telling kids more often that they're not hearing now.

And then from there, I get to create these fun contexts using different fairytale tropes, different fairytale characters.

Like in season two, we have, it's what the characters do after their fairy tale's over.

So we have Rumpelstiltskin after his fairy tale's over, what would he be doing?

In this case, he works at a adventure package company, where he sells packages like vacations.

And the Giant from "Jack in the Beanstalk" is now moving a Ferris Wheel around at his own fair that he owns.

So I get to kind of find all these fun ways to bring these characters back in a new way.

- We talked about representation.

I know another theme that you like to touch upon in your books is mental health issues.

And I know as a child, you dealt with OCD, how important is it to you, and how are you making sure that representation of things like OCD, anxiety, things that we're hearing so much that kids are dealing with today, are intertwined in your stories?

- I mean, it's been wonderful to see the change of the conversation around mental health issues.

OCD is one thing that wasn't talked about much when I was a kid.

No one really knew, my teachers didn't know what it was at the time, and it's not their fault.

But I live now in Pittsburgh, and Mr. Rogers teaches us that all these things that we feel are mentionable and manageable.

And it's another thing where, when you show kids, in a responsible, constructive way, it can make a big difference in their life.

And kids' media meant a lot to me growing up, in that I love these characters, and I love the stories, and it gave me comfort, but it also could help if the characters teach you something about yourself and how to deal with the things that you're dealing with directly.

- And I wanna touch upon one other book that I read to my kids recently, it's called, "Don't Hug the Quokka."

Talk about that book, and the theme behind it, and just how important it is to have discussions with kids about the topic of consent, really.

- Thank you so much for bringing that up, I love talking about "Don't Hug the Quokka."

It's published by Imagination Press, which is the publishing arm of the American Psychological Association, and they have this wonderful message in the back about consent from Dr. Karen Rayne, and how to address it with kids.

For me, I wanted the book to be about, your... a lot of books about consent say, "You have a right to say no."

And "Don't Hug the Quokka" is about, if you want to hug someone, it doesn't mean you get to, and it's meant to instruct kids and help them learn how to hear and accept "no" themselves.

And it's just a fun book to read to kids, 'cause they get to shout no a lot, (chuckles) and it centers around the Quokka, who's a very huggable animal, in my opinion.

And the Quokka lives in Australia, off the coast of Perth, on this island called Rottnest Island.

It's pretty much the only place where Quokka lives.

And they have a problem with people wanting to hug them and take pictures with them.

So it's also got the slight environmental theme of, you've gotta leave the wildlife alone.

- It's such an important message, and my kids love the book.

And really quick, one minute left, I know you're working with an important organization as well recently, it's called GLSEN.

Tell us about it.

- Yes so, from now until June, 2025, Pride Month 2025, partial proceeds of "The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived" book will go to GLSEN, this incredible organization, LGBTQ+, focused on schools and education, and making sure every school is a safe place for every child.

- That's awesome.

I know we have the website that people can learn more about GLSEN, and that organization.

Daniel, thank you so much for joining us.

I know there's congratulations in order, you have a daughter on the way, and I'm sure you can't wait to start reading your books to her, that'll be such a special moment for you.

- Thank you so much, I appreciate that.

- Thank you for joining us.

We'll be right back after this.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

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And by The North Ward Center.

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And by New Jersey Monthly.

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