(audience applauding)
- All right, it's good to see you again.
- Always good to be back. - Meet everybody.
- I got to meet everybody, which is good.
- Hello. - All right.
You go way back.
- We do.
- We bring people together on the Kelly Clarkson Show.
So your latest book though, is about John Lewis.
This is incredible.
So you worked with him, right, to do this?
- Yeah, so John Lewis is one of the first people
who worked with us on other books.
He loved our Rosa Parks book.
- [Kelly Clarkson] Yeah.
- And when we did our I am Martin Luther King Jr. book,
I was like, well, I can go and ask for help
but why don't I ask the guy who was with Dr. King?
And so he was our advisor on I am Martin Luther King Jr.
- [Kelly Clarkson] Oh, wow.
(audience cheering)
- So, which was amazing.
And when we did the I Am John Lewis book,
obviously, he had passed away-
- Yeah.
- But his lessons are just as vital today.
- Yeah.
- And, you know, it starts with that idea,
what do you do when you see something unfair?
Do you get mad?
Do you cry?
Do you storm off or do you march forward
and try to do something about it?
And that's what the book really tries to do
because he always tried to do something about it.
He used nonviolence resistance
and he would always make sure to fight back against,
you know, make sure whether it was the sit-ins,
whether it was obviously the marches,
he would never lose his temper,
would train himself to never lose his temper.
- So, your books always start with the person as a kid,
so what did you learn?
- Yeah, so this one, it's amazing.
You know, his parents told him, "You know what,
just don't get in trouble.
Just lay low."
But his grandmother was built differently.
And his grandmother, if you were black back then
when he was growing up,
and someone was white coming down the street,
you were expected that you'd have to walk out of the way.
You literally had to make way for that white person.
And his grandmother was like,
"That's an unfair rule, I'm not doing that."
- [Kelly Clarkson] Yeah.
- And she'll respectfully just be,
"You have a good day now," but stay exactly where she was.
- Wow.
- And he knew from her, from Dr. King,
from the lessons of Rosa Parks that,
you know what, you have to make sure
that you get into what he called good trouble.
And good trouble is necessary trouble.
Good trouble is the kind of trouble,
when you see someone and an injustice,
like you were talking about, or something unfair,
and you're fighting against it.
That's the kind of good trouble we all need to get into.
- Yeah, what a great lesson that is, good trouble.
I've never heard it put like that.
So, there's a passage in the book
that speaks to that, right?
- Yeah, so, and you know, and one of the things
that's so important when you think of it,
and I'm gonna read you from this passage,
is that they asked him, how do you stay calm?
Right? How do you stay calm when people are yelling at you
and throwing things at you and spitting at you?
And he would say, "I have faith."
And his idea of faith was that it's not easy, it's hard.
But faith to him was, you believe in something so strongly
you make a way outta no way.
And I love that idea, Kelly, right?
- Wow.
- You're making a way outta no way.
So here's the part I wanted to read
and this is the end of the book.
It says, "I have faith in my dreams.
I have faith in this country.
I have faith that we can make a way out of no way.
And in that, I am unshakable.
We are one people.
We are one family.
And now it's time for you to do your part.
Stand up, speak up, be prepared to march.
It's your turn now.
I am John Lewis.
I am never afraid to get in good trouble."
(audience applauding)
- Wow.
It's such a powerful way to educate kids.
It's really important and very cool what you do.
So I just want to thank you again for doing what you do.
- No, and lessons for my own kids too.
I know your kids read 'em. - Yeah.
- I just am trying to be a good parent.
- Yeah.
- We all get so frustrated,
we all get caught up in the world,
but this is my soul in book form.
This is how I get to tell my kids,
here are the values you need to live by.
And I want my kids to know, if you see injustice,
don't stay quiet.
- Speak up.
Use your voice, right? - Yeah.
- Find that faith.
Make a way out of no way.
- Absolutely. Um, (giggles) so before we go,
you still write books for adults as well, right?
- Yeah, so I entertain your kids
and I also murder people in thrillers.
(audience laughing)
That's perfect segue.
- Nice.
- But what we do, we have the new thriller's come out.
This is actually a nonfiction book.
It's called The Nazi Conspiracy.
- [Kelly Clarkson] Oh.
- It's about a secret plot, a true story,
for the Nazis where they tried to kill FDR and Stalin
and Winston Churchill at the height of World War II.
It is a real story.
It will blow your mind.
It's all real, out now.
And it, you know what, I don't think it's good for your kids
but I think you'll really, really like it.
And it's a way to entertain and learn about history.
- I love that it's non-fiction, that's the scary part.
Okay. (audience laughing)
- Yeah, I know, right?
That's where we are.
Look where we are, right? - Um, yes, I know.
- We're back again, fighting Nazis.
It's unbelievable.
- It is. It's unbelievable.
- And that's why we do John Lewis, right?
- Yeah.
- I mean it's always-
- That's why it's important to educate, yeah.
- A 100%. - So we don't repeat.
- Fight back, don't stay quiet.
- Yeah. - Use your voice.
- Absolutely.
- Wow.
- Thank you so much. - Always good to see you.
(audience applauding)
- I Am John Lewis by Brad Meltzer's out next week y'all.
Be sure to check out Brad's entire series
of Ordinary People Change the World,
including my personal favorite, I Am Dolly Parton.
Guess what everybody?
Everyone is going home with both copies,
John Lewis and Dolly Parton.
That's right.
(audience applauding and cheering)