How Faith Jacobs Brings Mozart’s Story—and His Dog—to Life for Kids

Friend of the podcast, Author Faith Jacobs, joins us to share her latest book about Mozart. This time it is a children’s book about Mozart’s puppy, and the life of what can only be described as one of Mozart’s closest companions. This new book is a companion novel for Faith’s “Faithfully Yours” adult historical fiction series about Mozart. Discover how Faith brings history to life for young readers, making classical music and representation accessible and fun for all.

In this episode: • The inspiration behind Faith’s Mozart series • Why neurodiverse kids deserve to see themselves in stories • The real history of Mozart’s pets and their role in his life • How books can foster empathy, inclusion, and curiosity

Learn more about Faith Jacobs and her books:
 https://www.amazon.com/stores/Faith-jacobs/author/B0DPLVMR62?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=64f18fbd-3e96-438f-ac7f-615e615d65fb

Explore Leta’s Tap Styles:
 https://www.letatapstyles.com

Support Co-Host Leta Rundell’s nonprofit, Autistic Wings Dance Company, this holiday season (They are raising funds via the Colorado Gives campaign until Dec 9, but donations welcome year-round):
 https://www.autisticwingsdancecompany.org/donate1

Want to be a guest on Leta’s Tap Styles (And My Autistic Life)? Contact Amanda Trisdale on PodMatch:
 https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/letastapstylesguest

Transcript

0:08

faith, thank you so much for agreeing to come back on the program. We are super excited to have you. Leta is super excited to talk about the children's book if he can't figure out. of course. I'm excited too because it was, uh, it was a joy to write this book. Um, you know, I. You know, for a long time, I, I said that I didn't think I had what it took to write, to write books for young readers, but I, I do think that, that there needs to be something for them in relation to historical figures. And so I thought, why not? Why not as a, as a companion to at least introduce the younger Mozart fans to my series? I could do it through Maestro's Best Friend, which has another companion novel coming about, uh, his little Starling, who is called Melody. So that's in the works right now. It's called A Mimic for Maestro, um, the story of a birdie called Melody, and it takes place before Maestro's Best friend. Um, but is a companion to ironically, uh, book three, where Mozart, uh, has come down with a cold and he decides that he's gonna go out and buy himself a bird.'cause he's not going to rest. He's going to be stubborn. She is trying her hardest not to squeal so hard. She destroys another microphone this week. That's all right. Don't that loud. I just kind of heard everybody's ears in. Uh, but no, she is super excited about the books. I told her maybe Santa may be planning on bringing her a certain book for Christmas. Oh, yes, yes. So these, these are, um, they're 10 99. Um, and I am, I've currently just finished the. The first chapter of Mimic from Estro, which will be launching, I hope, before the end of this year, before Christmas. I'm, I'm hoping, um, just have to get through some hurdles, but, uh, it's, it's coming along. Uh, I'm going to guess. Those were very fun hurdles. Coming along, uh, having tried to write myself, um, though mine is all about copy to try and get people to donate. Yes. So go, go ahead. We'll, uh, we'll get to your first question. Um, you know, whenever, whatever you've got in your mind. uh, why write about Mozart's puppy? That's gonna be the question, you know, everyone's asking. So, you know, um, when, when we think about people on the spectrum, I often think about how sometimes a lot of us find that. Certain types of animals are much easier to get along with people. And in the Mainline Mozart series there's a line where Mozart says, animals are much more patient with me than people. Because at that point in, in Book one, he has had a really hard time. Trying to socialize and trying to make connections. So throughout all of his letters, Mozart talks very fondly about his canaries and his starling. Um, he had pet birds, he had many dogs. Uh, he had like a pompadour at one point when he was a younger man. But he loved, loved his puppies. He loved horses, he loved cats, he loved to imitate, uh, animal sounds. I thought, wouldn't it be so fun to have a little short companion series that was totally age appropriate for any younger Mozart fans who happen to follow me? Um, and was like a sort of, if you're familiar with Disney's Bolt, I've, I've pimp role to sort of have an inner voice. That's a lot like Bolt from, from the Disney film, you know, so she's very much, she's in tune when he's not well, but she's, she's playful and loyal and funny and she happens to be, um, a Wire Fox Terrier, which is a very European dog and a highly energetic dog, which is perfect for somebody like Mozart being so highly energetic as he was. Um, and. So I drew a lot from, um, his letters, you know, just this, this fondness for animals. So why pimp roll? Um, because sometime, uh, it's so funny, the only, the only Mozart movie that even features him having an animal happens to come from the forties. Um, from a German, a German movie called, uh, whom the Gods Love. It's a remake, actually, of a British film. Um, but Mo that's the only film where Mozart has a loyal companion. And, uh, he, it's, he, he's very sick. Um, when he's like, where's my doggie? Why isn't it, why isn't it in the room with me? Um, so, but I think, I think sometimes too, people over sensationalize Mozart's love of pets. I just think he, like anyone, um, I sort of treat her like a service dog, even though the only types of service dogs that actually existed in that time period were further blind. So I may hint and imply that pimple might have been a form of an early service dog. Um, but she just doesn't remember. She knows she has a very, a very fuzzy memory. So, so she does have her own story and, uh, and this little prequel to Maestro's best friend is gonna be really interesting with that. You hinted on the service dog 'cause there's a few questions I wanna have, but I wanna hit do the service dog real quick. A lot of people don't realize service. They get confused between emotional support animals and service dogs when we're talking about like service dogs for autism, service dogs for PTSD and there's a huge push within, um, the psychiatric world to see how much. Support these dogs can give. You have a question, Leta, I You forgot that they also think service dogs can only be the goldens, even though I have seen a service Scottie before. Well, it looks very, very, very funny trying to run'cause'cause all, all. the, it just so stubby, so close. to the ground. I Can't really run. I can't I can't run but so close to, the ground. I can't really run because it's too close to the ground. And those pods, those pods. So, yeah. Um, can you kind of expand upon that a little bit? Like from the author's point of view, bringing in, Sure. bringing in a dog as a service dog and not as an ESA. Yeah. So I would say, um, in what I tackle very briefly in, in, um, faithfully, or is Mozart in the mainline adult series, is that Wolf Gain has a very dependent personality type. And, and that wouldn't have been a diagnosis back in this day, but. There, the relationship to Constanza doesn't border on intentionally unhealthy, but there, there are certain parties, um, that in the book sort of start to see that Wolfgang has an unhealthy amount of, I'm depending on Constanza for kind of everything because he, he lacks a lot of skills. To live. He knows how to provide, but he doesn't know how to shave. He doesn't know how to dress his hair. Like he has people who do these things for him.'cause when he tries, he, he can't do it. And, and so where, where Pembro kind of comes in, there's, there's a really tense sort of relationship sequence in book three where, where Wolfgang and Constanza have a discussion like, Hey, we, we need time apart. Wolfgang almost has a form of separation anxiety. And this is historically true. So there was a story where they were in a park together. This is sort of like a, a tall tail ledge, and we don't know really if it's true or not, but that they were in a park together and, and Constanza had a little dog. Who started to bark when, when Wolfgang and Constanza started to have, um, just a playful, a playful couples, you know, like they're being playful with, with each other. It's not a serious fight. Um, but so what I drew from that was, huh, what if constanza, you know, in the, in this situation. You know, is out and about. She's running errands, you know, because back in those days, you know, it was really the women who went and did all the grocery shopping and that sort of stuff. Um, but so I thought to myself, what if she's out doing errands and she finds this dog that's been caged up. It's about four years old, but it's already well trained. And she thinks to herself, well, if I'm away and doing things, this can be his companion. Then I didn't realize that service dog, I, this is something that I've just recently learned. I did not realize that they were in existence in these 17 hundreds, more specifically for, like I said, the blind. So I didn't, I didn't really realize the history of them. And so I've, I've kind of begun digging into that to sort of, even in my children's series, you know, there, there's still factual stuff. It's just, it's really paired down so that. Not, not like I, I don't like children's books that make children feel stupid, but I'm also not, but it's also not going to be as heavily in depth or as in detail as say, the mainline books, which are, you know, and at an older audience. So there's enough factual information in there that they could look up and go, oh, what's a service dog? You know? And, and they could see, you know, the factual truths there. Um. I hope I answered your question, but why, why, why bring in the service dog versus an emotional support dog? Because, um, I feel like there are gonna be a lot of young kids on the spectrum who relate to having pets and having their pets be, be sort of like their best, their best friends, and maybe they don't even realize that the dog is performing, you know, services for them yet. Then there are going to be a lot of older adults who pick up the companion series just to pick it up. I hope, you know, as a companion to the mainline series and say, oh, I feel, I feel seen by by these sort of things. I also am, um, having a lot of adult associates, acquaintances, whatever we wanna call them who have kids with autism, and they're sitting there going, well, my child doesn't qualify for a service dog because my child doesn't blind. And it's like, oh my gosh, I don't think you. just service dogs for blind people, right? Like, like no offense, this just feels like reverse ableism. But towards dogs, Well, and I can. stupid and they can only do the blind people? I can speak to that because, um, so it's, it's no secret I don't hide it. Um, I was diagnosed with, um, complex partial and nocturnal seizures when I was about two years old, and I'll never forget the time that I had to stay over overnight for what's known as an overnight EEG, where they monitor, um, the seizure activity in your brain. I'm, I'm in remission now. Thank goodness I've been in remission for a very long time. But I dealt with, I dealt with very severe seizures. Um, when I would be asleep, uh, that would sometimes put me in the hospital. Um, and I'll never forget the day that, and I have the picture somewhere. Maybe I'll share it in my social media. It's so cute. They brought a service dog and he was, um, he wasn't a golden retriever, none of that. I remember he was very fuzzy. He was so friendly. Um, and then the lady brought him in and he was a, so I do feel like there is a little bit of ignorance there because there are service dogs for those with epilepsy equally. As much as there are those for service dogs with, um, for those who are blind or maybe hard of hearing or like, I know service dogs are, it's a spectrum. It's a spectrum, you know, um, for. There, there are service dogs for those who are paralyzed, there are service dogs. For those who have PTSD, it's, it is interesting to me that like, but I, I can see why we associate them more with the blind, because that's where their history began. It was the 1760s and, and service dogs were very much for those, you know, who were visually impaired. Um, but I, I've seen a couple of advocates, I think, on Instagram. Who have autism on top of like other comorbid, you know, conditions. And so, like, like I said, we don't really use the word service dog in here just because, um, it would not have necessarily been like a label. It, you know, would've just been Mozart's Pet. But for me as the author, my intent is that's exactly what Pimp is for him. She is his service dog as a matter of, and you'll see her acting in very service dog-like ways. Um, more so in mimic for Maestro. Um, and even in book three, she, uh, some dogs are taught to do deep pressure. Whenever someone's having a sensory, um, overload or about to have a meltdown, you, if you read book three, you will see pimple a couple of times. Um, lay on his chest and he's like, oh, this feels nice. So, uh. Yeah. Oh, so that was where I was going, like the idea of seeing a service dog who's for just autism, I know. I've talked to a lot of my friends who are autistic, the kids and the parents. Uh, neurotypical parents don't understand it as much, but seeing yourself in books for the kids who are autistic and being able to go, oh look, so I'm not weird for having a service dog, even though everyone else in my life seems to think I'm weird.'cause Mozart had a service dog. Yep. And, and that's what I mean when I say what it, it's, it's wonderful that we have these modern day, you know, uh, autistic, you know, base. Stories, but I feel like you've got these kids going to school and they're, they're learning about these historical figures in, in so many different ways, and it's like, well, what if we taught them that, that Mozart had his failures or that he had a service dog, especially the, the, the kids with disabilities. Like what if there were books out there that said, Hey, look, you know, here's a story with. With the service dog as the narrator. Um, and, and, and their, their person happens to be autistic or neurodivergent in some way. You know, we, because we can't really give it a label just because of the era, but he's neurodivergent coded and it's obvious. Um, and, and you can sit there and you can go, you know, okay. So I, I relate to that scene. You know, I, I know what it's like to have my service dog. Get me water. There's the same where Mozart's really sick and he's like, oh, I need some water. Oh, I need some water. And pepper was like water. I know where that's at. You know, and, and you know, in this cute little dog way, it's, it's like that's near his paper, you know? And because they're, because she's been taught these things, she doesn't remember where she was taught these things. But she has a background where probably her previous owner, before she was. Kidnapped or taken away or, you know, like, like I have a story where Pimple was kind of snatched by maybe, you know, the 17 hundreds version of a dog catcher and, and you know, but she was a, a well-trained, you know, service dog probably for somebody who was blind is her story. And, and it's, I don't know, I'm, I'm excited for, for, for, for younger readers to pick up this series because there will be. I think I wanna do like a series of short little adventures, you know, um, for my younger audience. I'm super excited about it too, because I mean, just being able, a lot of the autistic characters are still being written by neurotypical people in Hollywood and in the books. And, go ahead, kiddo. Say your piece. I ran into the most dumbest YouTube video last year by a person who was late diagnosed saying that a neurotypical person can write an autistic character. Proceeded to also off gay and other people who are disabled and going, just because you are part of the Q community or part of the disabled community doesn't mean you can't write the character with you what the shit is. Amen. That's that's true. I. She's not wrong. Yep. She, she is not wrong. I think sometimes that's one of my hardest problems as being in my forties and being diagnosed way back in the olden days and most of the people around me were diagnosed late diagnosed. So it's like you kinda didn't get what the rest of us got in childhood, present plus the person to also proceeded to say a non-autistic actor could play a autistic person. No. we've, we, we've, sick. we've, I mean, how do I say this? Just to quickly make a note on that, because I always advocate for, because I, I beautifully, um, my lead actor for Mozart, uh, happens to love animals and is, uh, and actually I plug this, he, he's in, he's in a film where he finally gets to play an autistic lead, which is something very rare for boys. It's rare for boys equally, as much as it's rare for girls like we or for anybody on the spectrum, to be honest with you is, is being able to play their own neuro type and, and I go back and forth on yes, acting is something where you're supposed to be able to play, you know? A role that's outside of yourself. But then I go back and I think about situations such as The Good Doctor, or I think about Rain Man, or I, you know, I, and I think about those, those really, really bad moments. Um, those stereotypical, you know, portrayals, I think about, uh, atypical, hated, atypical. I can't stand that show. Like, and then I think about, about situations like a kind of spark and geek girl that have autistic leads, you know, in autistic roles or, or people like Bella Ramsey, you know, who's been playing non-autistic roles, but just learned that they were autistic. Like there are lots of of great autistic actors out there now. Who I think should be given the chance to play these autistic roles. But then you've got situations like Gary Bell from a really obscure TV show called Alphas and people forget about that. Um, but he was one of the rare few who didn't offend. He though he wasn't autistic himself. You know, I feel like it's a case by case. Basis, and I go back and forth on it, but I also understand, you know, wanting somebody who is our neuro type to represent us on the screen. I, I get both sides and there are some people I know in Hollywood that. Have played autistic characters who are most assuredly, and I'm using quotation marks here. Most assuredly not autistic, just ignore what they were diagnosed with in their youth. But they are terrified that if they come out as autistic, they can't do any of the other, uh, characters because you'll get typecast. That's true, and I've had that conversation even with peers in my circle. So what is your, your next question, I, I wanna make sure that we get to everything that you've got. I, I do too. Um, I, Leta likes to go down rabbit holes. I like to go that's okay. I call them a tangent express. It's all right. I do them too. Writing. There are, like I said, there are not a lot of characters that are written by a neurodiverse person for a neurodiverse or even this is not just for a neurodiverse audience. This is for the entirety of, uh, children. But um, with your adult books, you are not shying away from Mozart was not neurotypical. Is that same idea coming into the kids' books? Yes. Oh yes. Like there are now, obviously, because it is from pimp Roll's perspective, it's a very different perspective on Mozart's neurodiversity. Um, because, you know, uh, I write pimple to sort of come across, you know, she's innocent, she's carefree, she's not, you know, like she may miss some of the nuances of things, but Mozart is still very much. Autistic, I believe there's even a line in Maestro's best friend where she, she talks about him being like, terrified of like big, big booming noises, you know? And so that is, that's sort of like that sensory overload. And, and there are moments where he's really overwhelmed, so he might, he might hug her, or, you know, like like it's, it's still very much present. But I tackle it in, in much more of a way that I think is palatable to younger readers. You know? So like I said, the 12 to the 12 to to 16 year a year old range is, is gonna be much more, um, it's gonna be a very, a different flavor of how I'm tackling it because whereas in, in the adult se, mainline adult series. I tackle, um, sensory overload. I tackle sort of like the social situations here. It's sort of like Mozart gets to unmask and so he gets to fully be himself in these little adventures with his puppy, you know? And so like, he, he might, he might vocally trill, he might stim with his hands, you know, and, and so it's that kind of stuff that is sort of like tackled. Um, but through Pimp Roll's eyes. So it's very much there. It's very much for, you know, young Neurodivergent readers, um, but just in a different way. And then when they get older, if they want to, you know, go into the Faithfully or Mozart series, um, the mainline adult series. It will, it, it's a, it, I feel like it's a nice stepping stone, you know, rather than feet first in, throw them in with things that I don't think many, many young readers, number one, would have the comprehension case by case, you know, basis, but would have the attention span I think, for, um, with the mainline faithfully or is Mozart series. But even things like trilling and like stemming, that is so neurodivergent and you see a lot of that's either they go way too much on the trilling and the stemming, or they ignore it, and a lot of autistic characters. and what's will be so beautiful is. I'm also going back to, uh, this is unrelated to the faith of Theor series, but it is very much for teens, for, for Young, for Young Readers, is a little series is a little books, um, called Wolf Gain, heart of a Dreamer. I've spoken about it briefly on my socials, but it's going to be, um, a graphic novel. Um, and for anyone who doesn't know what that means, doesn't mean what you think it means. It's just a comic, it's just a very fancy way of saying a comic book. Um, the, the, the graphic novel version will be sort of like if you liked Tangled and you liked sort of like, you know, the young coming in adventure, Disney disnification sort of style of writing. Um, it's going to be a, a young Mozart, um, sort of trying to find his, find his voice. Um, with immense courage, but it's a, it's a young neurodivergent wolf game, so it's for teens and that one is, has been in, in, uh, the works for a while, but I occasionally share stuff about it on my social media, so that one is very safe for your children. It's basically if, if I put a Disney filter on all the characters from Mozart's World and made them teenagers. doesn't mean graphic. Yes. There are some people in my life who have been like, how graphic? I'm like, it's a comic. Get a dictionary. What are you people talking about? I'll explain when you're older. No. So a lot of people. What do you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean? do you mean the, the word they use for when it's bunch of blood? Sometimes graphic can mean that, but there's, there is a, uh, there are people who just. Don't own a dictionary in my life who need to, so I'm making a sort of a, a young reader's comic, um, almost, I, I, I would call it that for, uh, called Wolfgang Heart of a Dreamer and, and it's outside of the Faithfully OS mode series, but it is very much a neurodivergent coming of age story. That is historically factually based with a little bit of, you know, adventure to it. Very, very Disney, if you like, that Star War sort of stuff. The number of people who, when you were younger, when I would go get like the Marvel graphic novels for you would go, why are you letting her read that? And I'm like, um. Okay, so you are not a geek Mm-hmm. while writing this.'cause I mean, this sounds crazy, I think, within the neurodivergent community, but I have been spending my weekend with neurotypical people for the last few weekends. So, um, I have crazy questions coming into this faith. I have spent the last four weekends in a row being told that neurodivergent people don't have feelings. Oh, I was like, when you reached out and went, can I come on? I'm like, Ooh. Can I ask this of you with the, does Mozart have any, I don't know, feelings in your, uh, young adult novel? oh, yes. He absolutely does. As a matter of fact. He has. Very, very, very big feelings. There is one of my favorite scenes, so in, in this story, um, that I'm writing, Mozart has, uh, she's, so, if you're familiar, this is what happens when I watch, uh, princess and The Frog, and, and I'm inspired. So there in the, in my little. Sleepy town of Salzburg. There is a character, her name is Grandma Amalia. And Grandma Amalia is the town's grandma. She's not Wolfgang's like personal grandmother, but she's sort of like all the kids around her. You know, she's kind of like the town's. Like Grandmother Willow and like all those different, you know, like that, that, or, or the grandmother and the Moana, um, you know, she's sort of like an elder in the village who, who loves, loves all the teens, all the kids who are there. And Wolfgang comes to her and, and, and, you know, sort of like upset and in tears and says, you know, everybody's telling me that my dreams are impossible. That, that they're too big. And, and, you know, and he's, he's very upsets. Is amazing. He's, he's feeling sadness. He's like, my friend's disappointed me. And maybe, maybe I, maybe I'm just a, a, a ni headed big dreamer. And she looks at him and, and says, and she, she picks his chin up and says, honey, you've got a talent that nobody can see you. And so there we're gonna tackle big feelings. Um, and wolf gain. Heart of a dream. We're heart of a dream or we're gonna tackle disappointment. We're gonna tackle happiness, joy, fear, because believe it or not, here's a little fact about, about being autistic. So the amygdala, which controls your fear, flight or, or fight. Um, it does not develop the same way in autistics as it does in neurotypicals. This is scientific. So, uh, our, our amygdalas go on overdrive at the age of 21. If you had No, and I, I cannot tell you the amount of autistic peers I have in my life who say to me, you know, I had no fear when I was young. Yeah. Neither did I. Um. But as an adult, because our amygdalas develop slower than most, um, and for, for very scientific reasons, I will not name here because it's big words that that will make our brains hurt. But there is, there is a reason. Um, and, and because of that development process, when your amygdala goes on overdrive, everything's on overdrive. And believe it or not, those on the spectrum feel pain. 10 times more than their neurotypical peers. I have a low pain tolerance. I feel things a lot. Um, sorrow, happiness, fear, sometimes anger. Yes, I get angry. It's amazing. Um, and if you read faithfully, yours, Mozart, you will see him experience. A full range of emotion no matter what book of mind you read, including Chaotic Idiots, which is all about an autistic teen who has a full range of emotion and empathy. It's amazing. Um, but there, I, I, am, I am, a writer who says, if you do not write your autistic characters with a full range of emotion, if you don't write them as human beings. You haven't met autistic people, do you have, um, effectively created a robot? That's why I don't like atypical, and that's why I don't like the good doctor. And that's why I don't like people who portray those on the spectrum as if they are emotionless beings. If they have a difficulty understanding their emotions, let me tell you what it's called, Alexia, and it's uh, it's an actual condition and I know people who have it. And the, uh, neurotypical, some of them I was dealing with were psychiatrists and psychologists, and I'm like, y'all should know this. Uh, parents, I get you. so you didn't just say. See this mirror, which is in front of you, which I am not in front yet. Her mentors were behind or did, uh, the choreography for Spirited the Musical, which was a. New take on, uh, a Christmas Carol. A learned new curse word. I know too much power. The little autistic kid came away from it and her favorite song was the entire song showing that Good Afternoon used to be an F you to people. So guess who's like, Ooh, I have a new way to tell you off without you knowing. I'm telling you off.'cause that's how autistic kids work. Oh, like I said, when, uh, in, uh, in the adult, in the adult mainline series for faithfully yours, Mozart, there are many. Many, many regency words that you would be amazed what they actually mean when you have a dictionary in front of you. And as I'm writing these things and it makes, it makes listening to Jane Austen that much more entertaining because you're like, this isn't nonsense. This is actually, this is really, really intelligent. Um, and I think that's why I'm having a hard time trying to find an audience for this. Because when people think re modern Regency, they don't think what I've written. If you've sampled the audio book at all, um, which is out now and I can't announce it's actually coming to Spotify for authors. Uh, so you'll be able to purchase it, um, next year 'cause we are, we're almost done with the second half. Uh, that'll be coming next year, sometime in 2026. I've just begun messing around with it today a little bit just to prep it for next year. Um, you will understand that I didn't write, you see. I often try to market this as bridgeton for Neurodivergence and that's a good, that's a good way to sort of like cook interest. However, my writing is very much Austin Knight. It is, it is Jane Austin ish, at least with my, my dialogue and my choice of my choice of wording, which is why I think I've been having, again, like I said, the hardest time trying to market this because people are so used to. The shallow stuff when it comes to this modern regency era style of writing, and that just doesn't exist here. You're over there going, what is Bridger Ms. Shonda's? Uh. TV series. You mean the thing she said, I wasn't allowed to watch ever. Yes. But that's because she sees you as a young child and you haven't grown past that young child.'cause sometimes adults have a problem thinking you grow up. Um. No, but I mean, yeah, letting her watch where they're like, yes, good afternoon. Did not mean what you think. She, she has had way too much fun with that. Uh, I think a lot of young autistic people would love reading all the stuff in your books, uh, just so that they could have fun going, yes, I'm being very polite. Good afternoon. Yes. Yes, there are. There are some fun phrases in this book, and like I said, like. With the exception of the, as I've said before, the only reason why I slapped an 18 plus label and, and if people do buy the books, they do have 18 plus stickers now on the, um, on the front of them. The only reason I said that was because the mental health storyline in book three in particular, um, in, in, uh, let's here. In this one in particular, which is a gorgeous cover. It's so beautiful. Um, it, it, it most definitely does get a little bit too much. Like, as a matter of fact, I told, forgot this was in here, there is one F-bomb in book three, and I told, but it's, it's, it's in the scene where Wolfgang and his sister have a little bit of a, of a, of a verbal spat. They, they have a fight. Um, over, over their father. And I totally forgot that I left that in there. I thought I had changed it, but I'm like, okay, it's, it's appropriate for, for what's for, for the scene, you know, because Mozart's like, I've met my limit. I'm at my point. You've pushed me so far. Um, but you know, like only one, um, the majority of the time the dialogue is not, so the dialogue in the intimate, in the intimacy scenes are implied. But there's just a lot of things in here that I really think that, like young readers would not, would not benefit from, nor would they have the experience to understand. Hence that's why I started writing the companion series, you know, and why Heart of a Dreamer will be coming out. Um, so that they can see themselves in a version of Wolfgang before they graduate to, you know, here's the mainline stuff you can read later. Just the mental health stuff, even from 10, 15 years ago, probably should have an 18 plus label on it. If you were to write anything from, it's coming better. We've gotten better, but. Yeah, it's not for the faint of heart. No. minutes. Mm-hmm. I at 40 minutes. She is definitely the little producer. When she turns 18, she'll us be producing everyone's podcast going, here's where you go. What? What? But yeah, so your, your final question. Let's get to that. We, I wanted to ask, um, what. Brain just went on me. It's gonna be one of those days. Faith, what are you hoping? That every kid, not just neurodivergent, but um, every child who reads this takes away from the series. You know what I'm, what I'm honestly hoping for, for our show again, for, for Myer's Best Friend and the companion series as a whole is that, um, it's really a short series that is designed with empathy in mind. Um, empathy and compassion and kindness and loyalty. Um, all the things that we think of when we think of our pets, because, you know, I mean, to some people, their pets are like family to them and, and, uh, they're the most important part of their lives. And, uh, you know, I, I, I wanted what I, what I want most of the young readers to take away is, is maybe. Maybe looking at things through a different set of eyes, you know, that you may not have considered. And, and, you know, and, and to have discussions with their, with their family. You know, I mean, you, you, I definitely want parents to, to sit down with their kids and, and, and to, and to read the companion, um, the companion line and. And have discussions about, you know, what can we do in a situation where maybe we see somebody, you know, as having a meltdown or they're overwhelmed or they're, you know, or what if you are having one? How, how can we, you know, like how can we practice these different sort of things that we see? How can we apply what we see in the fiction to our actual lives? And how can we take away those lessons and apply, you know, compassion and maybe, maybe not judgment because we're living in such a judgment, um, judgment filled, uh, era right now, especially in relation to disability. I want my books, whether it's Maestro's Best Friend, whether it's Chaotic Idiots, which is for 14 to 16. Um, you know, I, I want these stories to be ones that I highly would recommend, and if you're looking for. for. a story for young readers from me, um, chaotic idiots is, is really safe. It's, it's a fantasy. We can talk about that at some other point, or I can, you know, but, uh, uh, chaotic idiots is, is a fantasy that is meant to inspire empathy. Um, as much as my companion series and even the adult novels are, are meant to as well. I am so excited to see where this goes. Um, the entire series, we are gonna push it out on our socials just 'cause. It is one I think is safe. Safe is not the right word, but it's what I'm coming with. It's safe for anyone to pick up the, you know, ones for the kids. And you get to see Pu everyone loves puppies, right? And if they don't love puppies, like. they don't love puppies, we don't not, there's not a curse word in, in Myer's best friend. Like, like it is, like, uh, as a matter of fact, I did, I, I read a little portion of it, um, on my Spotify, so on the coffee and comics production, Spotify, um, or my YouTube, uh, coffee and comics. Uh, nerd. You can actually hear, um, me read, uh, chapter one called, um, not chapter. Wait, was it chapter one? No, it was the Prologue. I read the prologue. Hello, my name is Pimple. Uh, so I, I read that on my YouTube. You can hear it. It's, it's honestly fun fact. Um, um, Maestro's Best Friend was actually a short little comic that I did on my Instagram, so I did draw it out and then I took the rest of the ideas and then just turned them into this little 45 page short, like I said, 10 99. Um, for this, for this beautiful small little cover, the same, the same price will apply to Mimic for Maestro. Story of a birdie called melody, so be on the lookout for that too. I'm really working hard on that one. Where can people find the book? So for now, um, uh, because it is the only site that is the only, uh, program that is feasible, believe me, I've, I've tried to go to Ingram Spark and everything else, but they, uh. They want you to pay an arm and a leg in order to be on these platforms. So right now it's on uh, amazon.com. And the beautiful thing about this is no matter where you are in the world, uh, it's international. So if you're in England, you can buy Master's Best Friend. Um, if you are in. Germany, you can buy it on, on Amazon de like there are lots of, uh, of different international, um, Amazon sites where thankfully you can purchase Maestro's best friend, and if you have. Someone in college who happens to be neurodivergent, the mainline adult series, um, is also available to purchase international. But for your children, for parents who are like, what's this? And can I buy it? I would not encourage faithfully yours, Mozart, just yet, but I would encourage Maestro's best friend because it's fun, it's cute, it's safe, it's an easy read, you know? Um, it's only four chapters and there are four short chapters, so. That is where you can get that at. the adult novels might need to be mandatory reading for the neurotypical parents of autistic kids here have Yes. I would say for, for the parents, if you would like a historical drama that is actually done factually and really well done and doesn't pull its punches, that's for you, your children, however, I would very much say, please give them this. cute puppies. a cute puppy. Mom, Puppy and a bird You are asking for a fever dream. I love you, mom. You are asking for a very much fever dream. I. I should explain that she's thinking me asking for neurotypical parents to understand their autistic kids as a fever fever, dream fever, in not even in the alternate universe. I said we're at 47 minutes. Uh, yes, she is definitely our little producer, isn't she? Fay? She's doing good. again. Oh yeah. Uh, thanks so much again for coming on. Um, we are so excited to see, uh, the next book in the series. We're gonna have to have you on a few more times, especially when the Spotify audio book drops.'cause I know a lot of. People live and breathe the Spotify audio books, um, and when the next kid's book comes out, and we could just have you on like every few months and we'd be great. And she's trying to show her puppy, Oh. asleep in the chair. You know, and since, since we are talking, I will say that I had two puppies when I was growing up. I had a pug and I had a lab and they, um, the book is actually dedicated to them. So I'll show the picture here. That's my, that's my little pug and that was my lab. And so the book is, is dedicated, uh, to them. Yes. Little star and little Joe. You probably can hear her from across the room squealing about the excitement of the baby puppies. Um, thanks again faith for coming on and, uh, go buy this. It's, the holidays are coming up. This is a perfect present. It's a cheap present in this economy'cause the economy's the economy right now 10 bucks. 10 bucks for the children's novel, 1999. For, uh, for the mainline adult series. But I think, I think given the, uh, the amount of pages, that's pretty typical. And I'll also announce we have a four year edition of the adult series, uh, coming out in January on Mozart's birthday. They're gonna be 1899. They're gonna be five times 8.27, so they're gonna be hand, they're gonna be holdable, they're gonna be much smaller additions. But that's coming for the four year anniversary of faithfully yours, Mozart. So market calendars that's coming on the 27th next year. Col. We will make sure that's in the description below. Thanks again for coming on and we can't wait to have you on again. to be on whenever you want me. Bye. Bye pickle. Okay, well thank you for watching the podcast and please subscribe and also look at the Adorable, don't You watch, subscribe Forward and also please like, and don't pick it if you'll to us, if you'll miss any of our new podcast. And also you see the Adorable, don't you like it?