In this episode of the Lab Daddy Clay interviews Jan Bozarth, creator and author of a young girls adventure novel series, “The Fairy Godmother Academy.” Watch Daddy Clay as he explores the world that Jan has created in both her novels and interactive website (www.fairygodmotheracademy.com/). DadLabs The Lab Ep. 610 is brought to you by BabyBjorn.

Daddy Clay: Hey there welcome back to The Lab. I'm Daddy Clay. I'm joined today by Jan Bozarth, the creator of "Fairy Godmother Academy". Jan, thanks so much for joining us today.
Jan Bozarth: Thanks Clay. Thanks for having me.
Daddy Clay: It's a pleasure. This episode's brought to you by BabyBjorn. And I refer to Jan as the creator of "The Fairy Godmother Academy" because author doesn't really do it justice. I mean it's much more than just books involved in "Fairy Godmother Academy". Well let's start with the books. I mean obviously that's the foundation of everything. This is "Birdie's Book". "Fairy Godmother Academy" is actually a series, is that right?
Jan: That's right. 8 books.
Daddy Clay: 8 books. And describe to me a little about the world of the "Fairy Godmother Academy".
Jan: It's a girl fantasy fiction book series. The world of the "Fairy Godmother Academy" is really about dreaming and going into a fantasy world called Aventurine and they get to put their most cherished dream in the big, big fairy book, The Book of Dreams of all girls of all time.
Daddy Clay: Is there an age range that it's most appropriate for?
Jan: We're saying 7 to 12 pre-teen girls.
Daddy Clay: Okay, so I've got an 8 year old so I'm right in the wheelhouse. And she's actually read this book and really did love it. And I found that she really piled right through it. The difficulty of the language is just right on for that age of girl. So tell me a little bit about wisdom cards. What are wisdom cards?
Jan: One of the things that we wanted to do was we wanted to give girls activities that they would access online, but they would actually do in their real life. A little bit like the Girl Scouts in that we give them what we're calling wisdom acts and those are things that they can do in their real life and they can do them with their Girl Scout troop or their friends or their school. And the way that they get to know about those wisdom acts is through the wisdom cards. Each book, we have a wisdom card. You can also collect them digitally online on our site.
Daddy Clay: Which leads us to talk a little bit about the website. Describe what's going on? How does that amplify or continue what's going on in the book?
Jan: The web site, really, we envision as a place where girls can get together, build community around the "Fairy Godmother Academy", get to know each other, do some of the wisdom acts together, and become a fairy godmother in their own life.
Daddy Clay: My experience with the site is that pretty much all the conversations that are happening there are moderated so you've got adult eyes on pretty much all the communication that's going on on the site. "Birdie's Book" is the first and you've got another one coming out soon right?
Jan: This is "Kerka's Book" and it's coming out May 11th. Kerka is another character that goes to a completely different part of Aventurine so when girls read the series, they're getting a new character, a new place in the fantasy world each time. And also I want to mention that all the characters are from different countries. So Birdie is of Irish descent, Kerka is Finnish. Our third book is Guatemalan.
Daddy Clay: So let me ask you this question, as a dad, this environment's a pretty female, pretty girly, pretty frilly environment. How can dads engage in this conversation? Is there a way for them to become part of the conversation?
Jan: Absolutely. What we really want the girls to do is to believe that they can be a fairy godmother in their own life and like "Birdie's Book", Birdie is a part of the Arbor lineage and so all the activities, the wisdom cards, the wisdom acts, are around protecting the green world. So that's a way that the parent can get involved with the child and the idea behind the book. And "Kerka's Book" is a completely different lineage. And hers is called the Pax lineage and it's all about relationships. And her story, it's about her relationship with her two sisters but we see the Pax lineage wisdom cards really being about getting along with others, their schoolmates, their family, their friends.
Daddy Clay: Well, overall I think this is a really terrific book and a great online property. I highly encourage you, if you have 8, 9, 10 year old girls, you've got those kind of early tween girls, this is a really healthy fantasy world. A great way to encourage reading and also online literacy. I suggest that you check out "The Fairy Godmother Academy". Jan, thanks a lot for joining us.
Jan: Thanks Clay.
Daddy Clay: That's all for us at DadLabs. Thanks to our sponsors, BabyBjorn, and we'll see you next time.