Special Guest Claribel A. Ortega 👻
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Description
🍪 What are internet cookies? And why won't Google allow cookies anymore? 👻 March is National Reading Month, and we have author Claribel A. Ortega on to talk about her hit book Ghost Squad, and how great readers can become great writers! 🦹♀️ Learn how Marvel Comics is honoring super heroes, like She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, and Shuri for Women's History Month. 📚 Plus, on today's fact attack, we learn the origin of Litte Free Library!
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👻 Go on an adventure and buy a copy of Claribel A. Ortega's Ghost Squad
🍪 Explore how Google's new rule on cookies will change internet advertisements
✍️ Find a copy of the transcript for today's episode here
Transcript
Unknown Speaker 0:00
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Bethany Van Delft 0:04
From cookies to comic books, in the next 10 minutes, we'll get the lowdown on what's up in the world. I'm Bethany Van Delft and this is The Ten News. Internet company, Google is shaking things up with some big changes to how the search engine shares your data. The company recently announced its browser will no longer allow cookies. No, not the delicious kind of cookies. Cookies are little pieces of code that advertisers use to record your online search history. Then they use that information to show you ads for things they think you might be interested in. Let's say at one point, you googled coolest podcast for kids. Eventually, you might start getting ads with my face in them.
Sound Bit 1:02
Makes sense to me.
Bethany Van Delft 1:03
There's been a lot of concern lately, though, about who gets to see your search history, and how that information is used. And Google isn't the only company to take steps to protect users privacy. Apple is rolling out a new system on iPhones, that requires apps to ask your permission to collect certain data, like your location for instance, these moves may mean major changes for how companies advertise online. March is the National reading month. To celebrate, I sat down with author Claribel Ortega to talk about her hit book ghost squad, and how great readers can become great writers. Thank you so much for joining us. This is amazing.
Claribel Ortega 1:51
Thank you for having me. I'm a big fan of the show. My name is Clarabelle Ortega, and I write books for kids. My first book "Ghost Squad" came out last year. And it's a spooky Halloween adventure about a girl named Sally Luna, who accidentally unleashes on of some evil spirits on her city of St. Augustine and has to send them back into the underworld, with her best friend Sid, a fat cat named Chunk and a witch named Babette before the full moon on Halloween.
Bethany Van Delft 2:19
Spooky. So I'm guessing a lot of our listeners know you from "Ghost Squad." Where did the idea come from? And is there a relationship between you and the material in the story?
Claribel Ortega 2:33
The idea for "Ghost Squad" came from a couple different places. I'm a huge fan of, sort of adventures centering kids, I loved The Goonies growing up and Hocus Pocus. So I always wanted to write something that felt that way to me. And then "Ghost Squad" is very much based on my Dominican culture and mythology that says, or folklore rather, that says that fireflies are the souls of the lost loved ones watching over us. I thought that was always such a beautiful thing. It's such a really comforting idea. And I wanted to incorporate it into a kid's story, both to help people who are navigating grief and loss and also to sort of preserve this word of mouth thing that I've been taught when I was a child and I wanted to share it with other people.
Bethany Van Delft 3:24
Oh, wow. So that, oh my goodness, that gives me like 18 questions. So I, it's so awesome that "Ghost Squad" integrates Spanish throughout the story.
Claribel Ortega 3:37
My my background is Puerto Rican.
Bethany Van Delft 3:38
So that's that is so it's so lovely to see cultures represented, how do you feel that you represent your family specifically, and maybe your upbringing in your work? And why is that important to do so?
Claribel Ortega 3:53
So there is a certain amount of pressure that comes with it. But mostly I'm just honored to be able to help children who who didn't get to see themselves ever in books be able to do that. And also even adults, like myself, who, you know, I didn't really grow up with books that spoke about, you know, Caribbean households in the way that "Ghost Squad" does in a way that's not like an issue book, right? It's just an adventure, and the kids happen to be Dominican and the kids happen to be black. And I think that's really beautiful. And it shows that everyone is capable of being a hero in a story.
Bethany Van Delft 4:29
How do you pick and choose which of your experiences will go into a story or will be turned into a book?
Claribel Ortega 4:36
So for me the story really comes first. With "Ghost Squad" it was interesting because it was sort of like a combination of things. I mentioned before that the book is that sort of light exploration of grief. I don't Delve too deep into like the dark side of it. But I do talk about it and in a way that I feel is, can open up kids to questions. To be able to talk about it. And the reason why was because I lost my brother to cancer. And I had a really hard time navigating that loss because sometimes we get afraid to talk about those kinds of things. But I think they're really important for kids to talk about, especially when they're seeing it on the TV every day anyway, and to help them process those kinds of things. I think books can do a lot in that arena. So that was part of it. And then the other part of it was sort of like the adventure part of it right? The story came to me. I always like watching The Goonies. I grew up in the South Bronx, so seeing kids ride bikes, like that far away from their house was like, What? I was allowed to go to the corner store and back, my mom had to be able to have eyes on me at all times. So just that having that sort of like independence and distance and was so appealing to me, because it's something I never really got to experience.
Bethany Van Delft 6:01
Who were some authors who inspired you when you are our listeners age?
Claribel Ortega 6:07
So my number one, a huge fan girl of RL Stein, I loved Goosebumps, I could not stop reading his books, so definitely RL Stein. I also was a big fan of the Babysitters Club. I loved the House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. I read that book about 7 billion times when I was a kid. Um, and then, you know, I read a lot of older books and I don't really remember the names of the authors now but we would go to the library and they would sell really old old books when I was a kid for like 50 cents so I used to just buy those and and I don't remember the names of it, but I just read anything I could get my hands on but definitely RL Stein was, was my favorite. I loved him and I still do to this day. I think he's fantastic.
Bethany Van Delft 7:02
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for for being with us.
Claribel Ortega 7:05
Thank you for having me as super fun.
Bethany Van Delft 7:08
I feel little authors popping up everywhere.
Next correspondent Pamela Kirkland brings us some superhero news about how one comic book company is honoring its legendary ladies. Oh, I can't wait for this one.
Sound Bit 7:39
She's got health.
Pamela 7:43
If you're a comic book fan, you know there have always been some pretty powerful women in the Marvel Universe. In honor of Women's History Month, Marvel has rolled out a whole series of new covers of some of your favorite superheroes. Each cover highlights a different iconic female hero from she Hulk to spider woman to Black Panther Shuri on Friday, I'll guide you through comic book artists Jen Bartell illustrated the eight covers for Marvel. She's an award winning artist who's drawn for DC and Marvel Comics and like, not only did she sketch out the characters, she designed outfits for each one that reflects the year that character was created. She told Marvel in an interview that she loves drawing superheroes, and these covers feel extra special. Her favorite thing about Marvel's female character, she says is, despite the fact they have superpowers, they're extremely relatable superheroes. They're just like us.
Sound Bit 8:45
I'm sorry, did I step on your mom?
Bethany Van Delft 8:57
There's a chance you've seen one of those little wooden boxes on a post with a glass door and a bunch of books inside. Maybe you've even taken something to read or left your favorite novel for others to enjoy. But have you ever wondered how the box got there in the first place? Hmm. Well, in 2009, Todd Bowl built the first little free library in Hudson, Wisconsin, in memory of his mother, a former school teacher and a big fan of reading. At first the idea was to give people a place to share books for free. But when Todd saw people gathering around the little box to talk about what was in it, he knew he had started something bigger. Now his nonprofit organization has over 100,000 little free libraries in over 100 countries and has won tons of awards for its work to support literacy. Way to go. So check out the link in the show notes to learn how you can build a little free library in your neighborhood. Time's up, but before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Want even more great content from The Ten News? Sign up for The Ten News newsletter, aka The Ten News-letter. It's a free bi weekly email with even more stories to enjoy together, and we made it easy for you. The link to join is in the show notes. And on our website, thetennews.com. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a corporate actor of Small But Mighty Media and next chapter podcast and is distributed by iHeartRadio. Our editorial director is Tracey Crooks. Editing and sound designed by Pete Musto, who also co wrote today's episode with Ben Austin de Campo. Our creative producer is Jenner Pascua. Stephen Tompkins is our head of audience development. And our production assistant is Sarah Olender. Pamela Kirkland contributed to today's episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and The Ten News is executive produced by Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. Do you want to be part of the show? Have a grown up help you record a question, a joke, or a fun fact you want to share and email it to us at hello@thetennews.com. And if you really love The Ten News, and we still hope you do, go to your favorite podcast app and submit a rating and review. It helps others find the show so they can join the fun too. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News. Now I'm gonna go make some real cookies that go in my mouth. Not my computer.
