A quick conversation with Laura and Jenna Bush

As her time in the White House winds down, first lady Laura Bush is making another push for literacy, this time with a book she co-authored with her daughter Jenna.

The Bush women, both former teachers, were in Naperville Monday to promote their children's book, "Read All About It!"

Illustrated by Denise Brunkus, it tells the story of Tyrone, who is reluctant to embrace reading until storybook characters begin to come alive for him.

While in town, Laura and Jenna spoke with the Daily Herald about their experiences as writers and readers, as well as their time in the White House.

Q. What was it like to write a book together?

Laura: It was really fun. We realized in retrospect after we started that this was a book we have been writing for years because it's based on stories I used to tell (twins) Barbara and Jenna about particular students.

This whole idea of the books coming to life for Tyrone really happened in my first class, the fourth-graders in Dallas, where the children would pretend that Charlotte and Wilbur (of "Charlotte's Web") were in the room after I'd finished reading the story. That's where we really got the idea for this.

Q. Jenna, were you always a big reader or were you more like Tyrone when you were younger?

Jenna: No, we were always big readers … my sister and me. We loved to read when we were little. One of the reasons I think … is my parents both loved to read so when you are in a household with family members who … read all the time, you just want to model that behavior.

Laura: I remember very distinctly Barbara and Jenna when they were about 5, how desperate they were to learn to read. I remember that stage for myself, too, when you were right on the verge of starting to learn to read and you wanted to be able to read so badly because you see all those books you want to read.

Q. When you were growing up, was there a certain book that really sparked your interest?

Laura: For me, the "Little House on the Prairie" books. My mother started reading those to me before I could read and then as I got older I could read all the ones that were really meant for older children like "These Happy Golden Years," the book where Laura (Ingalls Wilder) gets married and the one right before that where she's teaching school.

I loved those books … and then my mother read "Little Women" to me before I could read and I looked forward to reading that after I was able to.

Jenna: I wish I could remember the first chapter book that we read because obviously that's sort of the first time you realize you can master a full book. We loved, and this was just for fun … we loved the "Baby-sitters Club," both Barbara and I did. And that's really good for new readers.

I think series are very good for kids because you read the first book and then you can't wait to get to the second one so all of a sudden you're reading all the time and she (Ann M. Martin) wrote at a level that was easy to read and fun to read. I think that really helped our transition into reading more complicated literature.

Q. Mrs. Bush, if you were to write a book about your time in the White House, what would you call it?

Laura: That's a good question. I have no earthly idea what I would call it. I haven't thought at all about that. In fact, I wonder what I would write if I were writing a book about the White House, much less the title.

I guess obviously I would write it from a personal perspective so the title would be something that was personal. I think "My Life" and a few of those have been taken.

Q. Do you plan to do more writing when your time in the White House is done?

Laura: Jenna will definitely be a writer. I think she really sees that and a love of teaching as being a career choice for the rest of her life. I never chose writing, I always based my jobs on reading.

I was a librarian… my favorite thing to do was read so I chose jobs where I could do that as a job.

Yes, I'll see if I have enough discipline working on that longer book. Stories like this with Jenna I think would be fun to do more of.

Jenna: Some of the stories we brainstormed, some of the stories that my mom told us about her kids, we just didn't use because obviously there's only so much you can write in 32 pages. So maybe Tyrone has some more stories in him.

Q. Any advice for the next first lady or first man?

Laura: My advice is to just make every minute you're there in the White House (count). We've had so many amazing experiences because my husband is president.

So my advice is to live every minute really aware of all this opportunity that you have, both because you have the chance to meet so many amazing people from around the world, but also because you have a podium while you live there.

So take advantage of that. That was one thing that I was sort of slow to learn.