Entering into a World of STEM Learning with Eunice and Sabrina Moyle

Red: How important are stories with Social Skills and Emotional Growth for Children and Young Learners?

Sabrina and Eunice: Great stories are hugely important for children’s growth and development. They allow kids to explore their imaginations and consider how they would act in challenging situations, giving them real-life skills. A great story is ultimately about a character’s inner transformation as they learn to navigate outer obstacles. It’s therefore important that we highlight the inner-world social-emotional skills that kids can use to navigate outer-world challenges – from managing boredom, frustration, and overstimulation, to dealing with conflict, to staying grounded in the face of someone else’s emotional outbursts. In Astrid and Stella, we do this by having Astrid and Stella encounter different evil villains, alien creatures, and sticky situations while introducing helpful nuggets of wisdom and gadgets like Bobo’s Friend Pods, which help kids maintain good boundaries and manage their “personal space zone.” With all this, silliness, action, humor, and adventure always come first, otherwise, kids won’t stick around for the life lessons – we think of it kind of like sneaking vegetables into a lasagna!

Red: With book bans growing due to Political Polarization in the United States amongst Public Schools and Libraries, how important is diversity in Children’s Literature?

Sabrina and Eunice: As Carl Jung said, “Whatever you resist persists” – data has shown that banned books often get more attention, which can lead to a spike in media awareness and sales. As parents ourselves, we understand the desire to make sure that kids’ content remains age-appropriate. In that context, it’s important to provide kids with stories in which they can see themselves reflected, and it’s important to show diverse perspectives so that kids can develop empathy for people who are not like themselves.  Kids want to read about kids who are like them, and who can shine a path forward for how to win at life no matter what their background. The most important kind of diversity comes in offering kids exciting books that immerse the reader in universal aspects of the human experience – the struggle to overcome challenges against all odds, the quest to find one’s calling, the timeless battle to overcome tough circumstances, and negativity, the search for meaning and humor in crisis, and striving for mastery, meaning, acceptance, and friendship.

Unfortunately, we reached the end of the line for this interview, but Sabrina and Eunice shared some great Behind-The-Scenes YouTube videos for their graphic novel The Cosmic Adventures of Astrid & Stella and their upcoming fourth installment titled Comet Together! (Available on January 7th, 2025) And ways for you to check out their work and support it.

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