Keeping Busy With Reese Witherspoon
by Jennifer Clare
Reese Witherspoon, a multifaceted talent in the entertainment industry, is renowned for her dynamic career. As an actress, producer, entrepreneur, advocate, and parent, Witherspoon’s jam-packed schedule is a testament to her boundless energy for her many passions.
Readers won’t be surprised to see that same lively spirit in Busy Betty, the vibrant children’s book character created by the award-winning actress and brought to life by the brilliant illustrations of Xindi Yan. With a big heart and even bigger ideas, there’s much to love about Betty.
The exuberant Busy Betty is back in her second adventure, where she throws a surprise party for her mother. But Betty gets a surprise of her own!
Brightly had the opportunity to speak with Reese about her new book, teaching kids adaptability, and finding time to read as a busy parent.
Jennifer Clare, Sr. Editor: You are a storyteller in many ways. What made you want to create something for kids specifically?
Reese Witherspoon: This character started occurring to me when I was looking at pictures. I was going through my old archives of pictures of me when I was a kid, realizing I had this crazy energy, high-spirited, full of ideas. And I was always building businesses with my brother in the backyard. We were interested in being entrepreneurs from the very beginning of our lives, and I thought, wouldn’t it be kind of fun to, first of all, showcase this character who’s larger than life, and also give caregivers ideas about how to create imaginative play for kids who have a lot of energy.
Busy Betty is a wonderfully positive portrayal of a spirited, highly energetic kid whose body and mind are constantly in movement. And I love that she’s based on you as a kid! What can we expect from Betty in The Circus Surprise?
Betty, her best friend Mae, and her other friend Jeffrey want to throw a party for her mother’s birthday, and they decide to focus on a circus theme. They build the costumes, and they do their clown makeup themselves, they use Betty’s mom’s tablecloth as the tent, and they train her dog to be a lion. But inevitably, disaster ensues, and a mess happens. And Betty just figures all is lost. She can’t pull herself out of the feeling that she’s failed. So her mother and her friends encourage her to take her mess and turn it into success. It’s about redirection and resilience. That is what I love about the Busy Betty stories.
Learning to switch gears and find new solutions to problems is an important skill for kids (and adults). Do you have advice for teaching kids to be flexible?
I think working with humor is really important. Kids can get really stuck and be kind of hard on themselves, but if you can redirect with humor, it really helps. So, you know, if you bake a cake and it burns, it’s really about how you fix it and make it edible. Those skills of learning how to make the best of a project that went wrong, I learned a lot from that. Being adaptable is a really important life skill.
And when in doubt, add glitter!
You are obviously a very busy person! What advice would you give for busy parents like myself who love books, but struggle to find time to read?
Oh gosh. It’s so hard when kids are little. Just give yourself a break. You don’t have to be the most well-read person. Anybody who has toddlers knows it’s impossible to be able to chase a kid and focus at night after they go to bed. Your reading will come back when your life clears up a little bit.
Also, kids become readers when they watch their parents read. My dad read a lot and my grandma read a lot, so watching them read all the time was a really important part of my life.
Any tips for creating an engaging read-aloud experience?
I think doing different voices for each character really helps. Try and modulate your voice because it keeps the reader interested.
I’ve tried the voices, and then halfway through the book, I forget which voice I was doing for which character.
I can show you my techniques!
I’ve found my daughter likes sound effects. So like, if there’s a car in the story I’ll add a “Vroom vroom” sound. Those are a little easier for me.
Oh yeah. Or like books that have a melody to them. Like the Pete the Cat books or books like Click-Clack Moo that have words that create a percussive sound really help kids read more.
What was the book that turned you into a reader as a child? And what are the books your kids love to read?
I just read and read. I read every book that I could get my hands on … I just loved it. I read a lot of Ramona Quinby when I was little. I loved mysteries too. I loved The Chronicles of Narnia.
The boys really liked Encyclopedia Brown. My daughter, we read the Judy Moody series. The Magic Tree House series was popular in my house. My daughter would read a lot of Gail Carson Levine, the Ella Enchanted books. Kate de Camillo’s Mercy Watson series is really cute and funny.
Can we expect more stories from Busy Betty?
I’m working on another one right now. I just have endless ideas. So yeah, next year I think we’re going to have another one out that has a holiday theme, which I’m really excited about.