Dec. 12, 2024

From Jungle Adventures to Children's Books Jean Johnson's Journey

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Join us on this episode of the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball as we delve into the inspiring life of author Jean Johnson. Jean shares her incredible journey from growing up in the Yucatan jungle to becoming a celebrated children's book author. Discover how her multicultural upbringing and a deep love for animals shaped her writing career. Jean talks about her book series, "Renny Roo's Adventures," and how it introduces children to diverse cultures and languages. She also discusses her mission to inspire children through reading and the importance of broadening young minds. Don't miss this fascinating conversation filled with adventure, culture, and creativity!
Want to be a guest on Living the Dream with Curveball? Send Curtis Jackson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1628631536976x919760049303001600

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00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:09.205
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome, um, to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. Um, if you believe you can achieve, cheat.

00:00:18.664 --> 00:01:03.517
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire. And today I have an inspiring story as I am joined by author Jane Johnson. Jane has a children's book series, so she's going to be talking about that, and she's going to be talking about how, you know, her multicultural raising contributes to her children's book. And we're going to be talking to her about everything that she's up to. You know, she. She's, um, from Mexico, but, you know, she speaks perfect English and she'll tell you why.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So, Jean, thank you so much for joining me today.

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> Jane Johnson>Thank you, Curtis. It's so wonderful to be here.

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> Jane Johnson>It's so great to be able to talk to you and share a little bit about my books.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, why don't you start off by sharing a little bit about yourself first?

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> Jane Johnson>All right, well, let's just jump right on in. Hello, everybody. My name is Jean Johnson. I am the author of Renny Rue's Adventures. I was raised in the Yucatan jungle, and so therefore, a lot of the animals that I talk about in my books, I actually talk about them firsthand because I had them as pets. My dad was a little bit of like a Crocodile Dundee. And so anytime in the jungle when we would find, uh, a little animal that was hurt or didn't have its mama or something like that, Daddy, uh, would always bring these little animals home. And so me and my sister and, uh, a few of my brothers, when they'd come to visit, uh, we would always nurse them back to health. We had all kinds of animals, um, including anteaters, toucans, jaguars, ocelots. I, um, could go on and on.

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> Jane Johnson>Uh, one of my brothers even nursed, um, a little hummingbird back to health.

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> Jane Johnson>So the love of animals in all Little creatures just, uh, reverberates throughout all of my books. Uh, my books are the Roaming the States book series.

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> Jane Johnson>And, uh, because of my love of little animals and creatures that, uh, was kind of formed in me at such a young age. I've made sure that all of that is, of course, in all of my books now. When we moved to Mexico when I was about four, uh, I am of Mexican, uh, heritage. And when we moved, uh, back to the United States, I was about almost 13. I had a real hard time, uh, with English. I could speak, uh, Spanish fluently, and, uh, my English was not too great.

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> Jane Johnson>So I struggled a little bit in school with learning the words and uh, how to spell and read and write and all that. Um, so I was homeschooled, but it was all done, uh, of course, you know, at home. And so it was very different because, you know, my mom could speak Spanish and explain to me in Spanish. So then I was able to do it. So when I moved to the United States, it was very, uh. So I understand people who, who move here and can't quite get a, a hang of the language just because I was there too. And in my books I make sure that I have pronunciations of really hard words because I remember how hard it was, uh, learning um, how to pronounce, uh, words in English. Now my books are also available in Spanish. And of course I did that because I wanted, uh, a broader audience to be able to enjoy the books that I have.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All. Ah, right. Well, what made you decide to get into writing in the first place?

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> Jane Johnson>You know, that's so funny because I would have never, I would have never thought that, uh, doing books or a book author or anything like that would be something that I would, that I would do.

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> Jane Johnson>It just, it never crossed my mind. And what happened one night, me and my husband were talking, it was after our granddaughter was born. And I said, you know, it makes me really sad that she'll never know how I was raised because the chances of her going, you know, deep into the jungle are really, really thin when she just grows up and has an adventure streak in her. And uh, he said, you know, honey, you should really, uh, you know, write a book and you should have a character based off our granddaughter and call her Rennie Roo. And that is the birth of Rennie roo. And within 24 hours, I had written the first book.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, so for the listeners who don't have an adventure streak in them, let them know, you know, really what, what it is like, you know, growing up and being actually really raised in the jungle.

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> Jane Johnson>So when we first moved down to the Zona Maya, they uh, had not really ever seen, uh, anybody lighter skinned or anything. And so when me and my sister, you know, we're little kids and we're walking around and they're touching us and you know, pulling our hair because they're not hair, you know, like ours. And it was just complete, you know, having, uh, to learn the culture and having to learn the language and having to come together and especially as a kid because, you know, you're playing hide, go seek, you're wanting to make friends, you're wanting to, you know, do all these fun things, and if you can't speak to them, then we've got them. We've got a problem. And so at a very young age, me and my sister both, um, slowly began to learn not only Spanish, but we, uh, learned, um, English. English.

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> Jane Johnson>Not English, sorry, Mayan Indian. And uh, we could speak, uh, Mayan for quite a while. And of course it's such a very difficult language to learn. And it's been, you know, 40 something years since I've spoken. I can still understand some of it. I cannot speak any of it anymore. But, uh, but we made some long lasting relationships. I still have friends down in the village of Senor, where I was, uh, raised.

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> Jane Johnson>And my brother actually, when he came down, he met, uh, a Mayan young lady and they got married. And they have been married, I want to say, almost 40 years. And they have, uh, two children and they still live down in the jungle. They come out and visit us here in the United States occasionally. But that's, that's home to them is the village of Senor.

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> Jane Johnson>And uh, they have a, A wonderful ministry that they do down there called Zona Maya Missions Ministry, uh, where they do all kinds of cool things for the Mayan people. They, um, do, you know, things for the kids and do readings and uh, uh, they, you know, read books to the kids and bring, you know, books to them and all kinds of really fun things, uh, to the different villages that are, you know, down in Senor, because they just recently got, you know, electricity and they just recently got phones and they just recently got all these, you know, things that we've had here for, you know, for years and years and years have just recently gotten all those things. And so it's fun to kind of see, you know, how it was when we were there as opposed to how it is now that they're there.

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> Jane Johnson>And uh, the village of Senor is, I want to say, probably most known. Now. Of course, it wasn't popular when we were down there because this is the, you know, the late 70s, early 80s. But, uh, but now it's known for the, um, awasul that's there.

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> Jane Johnson>It's a, uh, it's like a, um, body of water and it's, uh, clear blue, it's gorgeous. And people come from all over just to be able to go swim in that awass.

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> Jane Johnson>And um, on the other side are Cayman, which are, um, related to like, alligators. And so you don't want to go to this particular side of the water. You want to stay on this side and that's why it's always good to get a Mayan Indian guide to take you, because they know, um, they're laying like the back of their hand.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, so kind of tell us where the, where this jungle is where you grew up. You know, we're familiar with places like Mexico City, Tijuana, stuff like that, but kind of let the listeners know who might not know where this place is.

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> Jane Johnson>You got it. So, um, the Yucatan jungle is going to be almost to Guatemala. So we are talking way, way, way down in Mexico, way past everything else. It's almost to the very tip where, um, Guatemala meets the border of Mexico. The Yucatan is going to be right in that area. It's very close to about two hours, two, uh, and a half hours away from, on a bus. Two, uh, and a half hours away from Cancun. Uh, so a lot of people that go to the Zona Maya get there by, um, by going, you know, to Cancun, and then they'll go to Chichen Itza and all the local places to see the Mayan temples and all that. And, uh, that's closer to civilization because where the village is actually in the Yucatan jungle, you are going in the jungle to get there. So even though, you know, what we would consider a road here is not necessarily what they have for a road to get to the village there.

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> Jane Johnson>It's a, uh, very, um, you got to have some, some four wheel drive to get there. I'll just say that.

00:09:37.654 --> 00:09:46.475
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, what, Tell us about your biggest influences when it comes to writing. Who influences you to do what you do?

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> Jane Johnson>So whenever I started on this, uh, journey of writing, and I want to say this for everybody, if you're, you know, in the third part of your life, uh, you're never too old, you know, um, to start something new, to learn something new, to discover that, you know, you don't have to just stick with what you've been doing for the past 30 years. You can, you know, go and learn something new and make something fun of it. And that's, that's exactly what I did. I had done, um, a lot of promoting and social media managing and all that kind of stuff for years and years, and it just burned me out. And, um, when this came along, it reinvigorated me to want to connect with people and want to talk to people and want to share about my books and want to do something that's different. And um, you know, I hear a lot of people my age, you know, I'm 50, and I hear people say, oh, well, I'm too young. Uh, I'm too old or, you know, I don't have time, you know, to start something new.

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> Jane Johnson>It'll take too long, or this, that. And the other. And the truth of the matter is, is that I am having more fun now doing this than I ever have doing anything else because it's. It is fulfilling. It is so much fun to see the little kids eyes light when they hear about an animal that they've maybe only seen on tv. Or when they hear about, you know, uh, a state that they've always wanted to go and visit. Or. Or it's their state. And they're so excited because I'm talking about stuff that they know that they've learned in school. And so I. You know, if the one thing that I could, you know, put out there to people is you're never too old. You're really not. You're. You're not too old to go after something that makes you feel happy. You're not too old to, you know, if you've been doing something for forever and ever, you can change and you can, you know, learn something new.

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> Jane Johnson>And you can teach an old dog new tricks, I guess, is the point that I'm trying to make.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So kind of give us a little background or history on the Mayans, if you will.

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> Jane Johnson>So the Mayan Indian people, um, they. Well, they were the first ones really to be in that area in that. In that part of Mexico. And they ruled for a very, very long time. Um, there was a movie about them not too long ago called, um, Apocalypto. And, uh.

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> Jane Johnson>And it's very, very accurate to, um. To. To. To the area of. Then. Of those. Of the people. Now, one thing that most. Most, um, Americans, I guess, don't understand about the Mayan culture, Mayan Indian, is that, uh, the language is so diverse. So it depends on the area that you're in as to the language that they're going to speak. So they all will have.

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> Jane Johnson>It's like a blanketed. You call it Mayan, but depending on where they're located, they'll all speak a little bit different from each other.

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> Jane Johnson>And so that, you know, I guess it's kind of similar to us here, you know, in the States. I'm from. Originally from Texas, so I have a really, really, you know, Texas slang. And I have a very thick accent. I'm sure your listeners are like, boy, that. That lady's from. Must be from the South. Yes, I am.

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> Jane Johnson>I am from. Child. I'm from Texas.

00:13:18.429 --> 00:13:30.014
> Jane Johnson>Uh, uh, Born there. And then whenever we moved out, uh, from Mexico, that's where we, we, ah, that's where I went to high, uh, school was in Texas. And so that's where the, the thick exit comes from.

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> Jane Johnson>Now, the Mayan people, they're still, um. They're still, they still, they still are tribes. They still have places that. It's Mayan land where you have to get permission if you're wanting to go and, and you know, do photography or anything like that, that it's, you know, you have to get permission. Very similar to, you know, here with uh, with the American Indian land where they own the land. And so you have to get permission to do certain things. Um, but a lot of people, I guess from the Apocalypto movie just assumed that there were no more, um, Mayans. But that's, that's not true that the Mayan people, the Mayan bloodline is still alive today. I've got a niece and a nephew that uh, have children now.

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> Jane Johnson>And uh, it's just in the legacy just continue. So the Mayan Indian people are still around. They are the ones that built the pyramids in uh, in Chitin Itza and in all those locations down in Mexico where you see those, you know, grand. They look like, um, they look like those, those temples from Egypt, the pyramids, same that you know, kind of construction. And uh, that's of course the Mayan people, they, they have been there for a long, long time and they're still there now.

00:14:49.815 --> 00:14:57.355
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, so tell us about your books. You know, tell us where we can get them and tell listeners what they can expect when they read them.

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> Jane Johnson>All right, so my books are all available on Amazon. You can also, uh, get my books on from my website, www.

00:15:06.809 --> 00:15:12.115
> Jane Johnson>Uh.rennyrou.com and that's r Y N N I E R O O.

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> Jane Johnson>You can also find my books on Audible because not everybody, especially little kids, can flip through a book or maybe, you know, don't understand it or they're too young to read. And the target audience for my book is, uh, three to seven. Those are the ones that seem to really enjoy it the most. And so I made sure that I have Audible books available for my audience so that they can get a book and then have the, the child have the audible where they can, you know, read along. And I have a little actress, voice actress that does the voices for me. Her name is Emmy Orr and she is absolutely fantastic. She's nine years old and she brings Rennie Roo to life. She is just amazing. Just a, uh, fantastic little girl. And, uh, for the Kansas book, her and her four year old sister do the voices of, uh, Rennie Roo and Tater Tot. Now the book of Rennie Rue's adventures focuses on a kangaroo, uh, that has a big giant bow in her hair.

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> Jane Johnson>And she invites the reader to go roaming the States. And we are going to do all of the states in the United States. So far we have Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Alabama, Minnesota, Yucatan. And towards the end of this month, I'm going to be releasing the Zona Maya.

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> Jane Johnson>Now those last two ones, the, the Yucatan and the Zona Maya, those of course, are a little more, uh, Biograph, because they talk more about where I was raised and I wanted to throw those in there for the kids. And what has been so amazing about that has been a lot of feedback about the Yucatan book. Where little kids would tell me, I've been there, I've been to Cancun, I know where you're talking about, I know what the Caribbean is. And, and it gets the kids talking about things in their world.

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> Jane Johnson>So it just broadens and opens up their little minds to be able to understand that there is more than just what's going on here in the United States.

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> Jane Johnson>My books also introduce children to the Mayan Indian language. I do have a couple of pages in my books that kind, um, of teach the kids the words of the Mayan Indian language and, um, how to say them.

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> Jane Johnson>And I just think that, you know, again, teaching kids a broader spectrum of, you know, the world around them makes us all better. And I think that it, you know, helped me have a better perspective of, um, the world around me because I know that it's not just here. I know that there are people all over. And I want to share that with the children. You know, I want them to be excited when they read about Rennie Roo's next adventure. Where's she gonna go next? And we talk about, um, the little animals in my books. But the most intriguing part that children love about my books is that every book talks about prehistoric animals and dinosaurs. I am a huge dinosaur fan. I love the history of dinosaurs. I love prehistoric animals and learning about them. And wouldn't you know, little kids do too. And so we connect on that issue. When I go to schools and do readings, the children absolutely love telling me what their favorite dinosaur is, what they've learned how to pronounce it. And it's just, it has opened up so much because the little kids love it. And of course that's what inspires me to write more and to continue on this journey of writing about the States is the excitement that I get whenever I go into a school just to be able to talk to the kids.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that listeners need to be aware of.

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> Jane Johnson>All right, so I've got quite a few things happening, and, um, if anybody wants to join in on any of my social media, they are welcome to, because I am all over the place. We have, uh, coming up here in December, and where I'm located in Manhattan, Kansas, we have a event that's going to be happening at the Manhattan, Kansas, uh, hyvee on December 14. We are doing a, uh, Santa and his Reindeer. And of course, I have been invited to come. So I'm going to be there. And if any of your listeners come and tell me that they, you know, heard me on your podcast or anything like that, if they let me know, I will, um, give them a free download to one of the Audible books.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, that's interesting that you live in Manhattan, Kansas, because I lived in Junction City. I stayed there for, like, three years. I'm in Wichita now.

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> Jane Johnson>Yes, yes, I did. I saw that. I saw that you were in Wichita, and I thought, man, that's really cool. And I was going to ask you about that beforehand and totally got sidetracked, but I did not know that. So how did you like living in Junction City?

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Uh, I mean, I really didn't, uh, because it wasn't anything to do. But then once I moved out of there, then I started checking out stuff on social media. Like, man, I wish I would have had access to this information when I lived there.

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> Jane Johnson>Right, right. Yeah.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>But I'm originally from Louisiana.

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> Jane Johnson>Oh, very cool. I love Louisiana.

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> Jane Johnson>Been there several times.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yeah, absolutely. Well, so listeners can keep up with everything that you're up to. Throw out your contact info.

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> Jane Johnson>Okay. All right. So if anybody wants to get a hold of me, they sure can. They can reach me at, of course, my, uh, website. They can reach me on Instagram at Renny, uh, Ruse Adventures.

00:20:47.267 --> 00:21:01.694
> Jane Johnson>They can also reach me on Facebook, Renny Ruse Adventures there as well. Except that it's added with the author page, is added at the end of it. But when you see, you'll see me and you'll know, oh, that's the lady with the. With the kangaroo and the parakeet.

00:21:02.555 --> 00:21:13.515
> Jane Johnson>And that's how they'll find me. But, uh, they can also, uh, shoot me over an email if they like to. And of course, it is, um, Rra Kidbooks, gmail dot com.

00:21:15.974 --> 00:21:23.994
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All right, we'll close this out with some final thoughts. Maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on or any final thoughts you have for the listeners.

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> Jane Johnson>All right, so the one last thing that I want to kind of just say is, you know, parents, uh, caregivers, aunts, uncles, encourage your little ones to reach, encourage them to pick up a good book. Um, it's going to broaden their little minds. It's going to help them learn. It's going to bring in vocabulary words that they maybe not would have heard before had it not been for that book. So, um, this Christmas season, if you possibly can, you know, look into getting your kids some books, they've got enough toys. My goodness, most kids have enough toys. But you know, a book is the gift that just keeps on giving because they can open it up and just escape into a good book anytime that they want to. And uh, whether it's my book or somebody else's book, that part, I don't, I, I really don't care. I just want to get kids reading.

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> Jane Johnson>Um, it's helped me and I, and I think that it's, it's important, it's important that children read.

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> Jane Johnson>Whether it's, you know, being read to, like I said through an audible. Um, there are also tons of read along accounts on YouTube if you'd like to, you know, check those out. There's, you know, where all you have to do is just sit your child down and you've got somebody who reads them books if they, you know, if they can't read for themselves. But get your children reading, it's important and it helps everybody. It'll help you and it'll help your children too.

00:22:50.494 --> 00:23:23.744
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely, ladies and gentlemen. And check out Jane Johnson's book, you know. Follow rate Review Share this to as many people as possible. Gene has an interesting story and an interesting history. Jump on your favorite podcast app. Leave us a review. Follow us. Check out the show. Share it. If you have any guests or suggestion topics, Curtis Jackson 1978@att.net is the place to send them. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Gene, thank you for all that you do and thank you for joining us.

00:23:24.394 --> 00:23:27.015
> Jane Johnson>Thank you, Curtis. I so much appreciate it.

00:23:27.555 --> 00:23:40.146
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream podcast, visit www.djcurveball.com until next time, stay focused on Living the dream.

00:23:40.211 --> 00:23:40.434
> Jane Johnson>Dream.