>> From the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. >> Sasha Dowdy: Hello. Hello. Can everybody hear me? Awesome. Welcome, guys. Welcome to the Library of Congress. Who's been here before? Oh. Very good. And everybody here has now been here. So that's really exciting. So welcome to the Library of Congress, and welcome to the Young Readers Center. And what school are you guys with today? Yeah. Shout it out. Shout it out. >> Ludlow-Taylor. >> Sasha Dowdy: That's awesome. Welcome Ludlow-Taylor. It's so good to have you. So today we have a very special program with you, for you guys. But first I have a question. So we're talking about a woman today. Do you guys know who it is? She lives in New York, and she holds a torch, and she is walking forward. Who is it? [ Inaudible ] Yes. It's the Statue of Liberty. You guys are on point, and maybe you saw something to give you a clue behind me. So yes. We're talking about the Statue of Liberty, and specifically a book called "Her Right Foot" about the Statue of Liberty. And we have the illustrator, the artist Shawn Harris, who created this book with Dave Eggers here today with us which is really exciting. And we're talking about -- So Shawn Harris is the illustrator who's here today. And he came here all the way from Morongo Valley, California. And he's a musician and he's an artist and he's worked with tons of people that you may actually know. He has his own band, the Matches. He's also done work with Adele. You guys know Adele? Yeah. Pretty big deal. Snoop Dogg. Yeah? Maybe you've heard of a band called 311. Yeah? Okay. So he's done work with all these amazing people, and so he has this really cool music career, but now he has published a book with author Dave Eggers. So he's going to talk to you about that. You guys excited? So before he comes out and starts the program, I just want to say thank you to An Open Book Foundation, and this is an organization that's local to DC that really cares about kids reading. And what do they do to make sure that kids are reading? Well, they buy books. So all of you guys are walking away with a book, "Her Right Foot," at the end of the program today. So how about we give them a round of applause? Thank you. Thank you so much. It's going to be a good time. So how about we get started? Welcome, Shawn Harris. [ Applause ] >> Shawn Harris: Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Please. Please. Please. Well, you guys already guessed who this book is about. "Her Right Foot" is about the Statue of Liberty. So I guess we're done. That's -- No. This book is full of all kinds of interesting things that I learned while I was illustrating the book about the statue. The book does some kind of cool stuff. I'm going to let you decide for yourself. Can I read you this book? Is that cool with you guys? Okay. All right. All right. And for everybody that has been cutting out paper diligently while you're waiting for me to get introduced, thank you. I will collect that in a little bit. Just hold on to your shapes right now, and we're going to do an art project together. But you guys might notice when I start reading the book that I made this whole book with little cut out pieces of paper exactly the same as what you just did. Yeah. Yeah. So if you photographed that, that could be in a book one day. All right. Here we go. Oh, and you can go past this video. Okay. All right. Let's sync this up. Okay. Here are my end papers. These are called end papers right here. I'm just testing you here, Sasha. These are called end papers. I'm going to take the jacket off of the book. This is called a jacket. It's a very kind of formal thing that protects the book. Underneath the jacket you guys might recognize this tablet. This tablet, there's a date on it. It says July 4, 1886. It's interesting. Does that date sound familiar? Yeah. Yeah. 1776. You're right [laughs]. So this is when the "Declaration of Independence" was signed. And this is the tablet that the statue is holding. So you can hold this book and pose like the statue. Anyway, okay. Here we go. "Her Right Foot." "Her Right Foot." Said it twice just in case you missed it that first time. Okay. You have likely heard of a place called France. Is that true? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Good. Starting off on the right foot. Okay. If you have heard of France, you may have heard of the French. They are the people who live in France. Do we need to move this while we're doing the -- Is that better? Okay. Cool. We'll put that up in a minute. All right. So you have heard of the French. Where do they live? France. That's right. Okay. Cool. Cool. We're up to speed. Everyone's on the right page. You may have also heard of something called the Statue of Liberty. Right? Right? Did you know that the Statue of Liberty comes from France? This is true. This is a factual book. One day a Frenchman named Edouard de Laboulaye had an idea. The idea was to celebrate the hundred years the United States of America had been around by giving them a giant sculpture. So he convinced another Frenchman, a Frenchman with an Italian last name, to design the sculpture. This artist's name was Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. Bartholdi designed the statue. Now you might see that our Frenchman here is holding a banana up in the air. Does anybody have any idea why? Is he just -- You have an idea? Yeah. [ Inaudible ] Yeah. It's like the torch. Right? They don't serve torches with breakfast. So you have an idea too? [ Inaudible ] Also true. Also true. You use what you have, and if you only have a banana, but you have an idea and it involves holding a torch up high, you're going to hold that banana up in the air. And in his other hand you see he's got something. He's holding sort of like a tablet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the Statue of Liberty is not holding a menu. What's that? You can't see the pictures? Do you need me to stand? I can stand back here. Is that better? Okay. All right. Great. You still see? Okay. Good. Good. Okay. Okay. So he first made the statue very small, very small models of the sculpture. Then larger ones. And finally the one that we know which stands 305 feet above the water. It's tall. Yeah. This final full sized version was covered with a thin copper skin. The skin is about as thick as two pennies. Anybody have two pennies? It's not very thick. Right? You'd think she would get cold standing out there in the winter in New York. Right? Yeah. You have two. He has two coins right here. You guys can see. This is not pennies, but it's close to the width. This is the thickness of her skin. You can barely see that. Right? That does not translate on camera here. What's that? Well, we'll find out why she doesn't fall down in a minute because they're building the statue right now. So here is Bartholdi and his team. He had a team. He didn't like working alone. And they're constructing the statue's hand. Notice that this hand is bigger than these men. Thus they made the statue in many parts. You can see this hand is taking up the entire warehouse right here. You can see that. That's the actual size of the men on the hand. Yes. You have an idea, a question, a theory? What's that? How did they make it bigger? Like how did they attach it to the whole statue? We'll find out. These parts were assembled, and that's when they put it all together, in New York City. No. No. No. Wait. Wait. Wait. First they were assembled in Paris. Did you know this? Ask your friends, and even your teachers, if they knew before the Statue of Liberty was assembled in New York, she was first constructed in Paris. Your friends and teachers will be astounded. They will be impressed. Are you impressed, teachers and friends? Yeah. They might think that you are fibbing, but you are not fibbing. This really happened. The Statue of Liberty stood there high above Paris for almost a year in 1884. After they assembled the statue in Paris, they took it apart. Okay? "But we just put it together," the workers said. "That is absurd," they said. They said all this in French, the language of the French. A people who appreciate the absurd. [ Inaudible ] Why did they take it down in Paris? Because they were bringing it to America. It was a gift from the French, actually. In 1885, after they took it apart, they put the parts in 214 crates, put these crates on a boat. The boat was called the Isere. The boat traveled over the Atlantic Ocean, and made its way to a city called New York also in a state called -- >> New York. >> Shawn Harris: New York. In the United States. Correct. And here they are traveling across the Atlantic. Yes. >> Then how did it get to -- How -- Then how did it get to New York [inaudible]. >> No. It was a gift from the French. >> Shawn Harris: It was a gift from the French to the United States to help us celebrate our independence, the 100 year anniversary of our independence. So it's coming up. We're not at 1886 yet. We're in about 1884, 1885. Okay. Hundreds of workers, perhaps 214 of them, took the pieces out of the 214 boxes, then began to rivet the pieces together. Assembling the statue took 17 months, and it all happened on what was then called Bedloe's Island right here. Does anybody know what the island is called now? >> Liberty Island. >> Shawn Harris: Liberty Island. Really good. Good work. Yeah. The statue was so big and prominent they named the -- They renamed the island after the statue. Bartholdi liked to see the sculpture rise above the harbor. Sometimes he'd watch the construction from the water. Sometimes he watched it from the land. Usually he was wearing a sturdy black hat for he, like most European men of the time, and some artists, favored sturdy black hats. You may have noticed by now that the pictures of the Statue of Liberty in this book have her colored brown. You may have thought that the illustrator of this book was not so good at his job because we all know the Statue of Liberty is a certain greenish-blue color. Right? But the Statue of Liberty was made of copper, that stuff that pennies are made out of, and copper starts out the color of pennies. Brown. Then very slowly when it's left outside for long periods of time, copper will eventually oxidize. And when it does, it turns -- >> Green. >> Shawn Harris: Yeah. First red, brown, greenish. Green. And then that kind of light teal that -- And that's the color that we know she is today. Right? Crazy. So if you left your pennies out in the New York harbor for 100 years you would have the Statue of Liberty colored penny if they were still made of copper. Okay. So the Statue of Liberty that everyone in New York City saw being constructed was actually brown. The Statue of Liberty, in fact, was brown for about 35 years. Yeah. But see. We don't know. When we look at old pictures of the Statue of Liberty, the photography was all black and white. So in our minds we're like, "Oh, yeah. That's a big teal statue." The statue turned green around 1920, and it has been this color ever since. And perhaps you already knew this. And you may have known that the book the statue is carrying, the one in her left hand, features the date, July 4, 1776, on which the "Declaration of Independence" was signed. Right? Roman numerals. And you may know that the seven spikes on her crown represent the seven seas on Earth, and the seven continents, and the sun rays too. And you probably know that the torch she carries is a symbol of enlightenment, lighting the path to liberty and to freedom. And you might have known that at one point Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb and the record player, once proposed to have a giant record player inside the Statue of Liberty. Yeah. He did. He wanted the statue to be able to speak. In the end, though, this idea was considered a little bit strange, and was not pursued. They didn't do it. They didn't do it. They -- We kept the light bulb, but we didn't use the giant phonograph. I mean can you imagine how hard it would be to like clean the dust off of a giant phonograph? You know? Yeah. And would she be singing? Would she be like singing an Adele song up there in the harbor or something? >> They would also have to clean -- They would also have to have big giant records. >> Shawn Harris: Yes. They would. And then who gets to choose the record? It's always, you know -- Oh, is it your turn to choose the record? And everybody [inaudible] anyway. The idea was not pursued. Did you know that the interior of the statue was designed by another Frenchman by the name of Eiffel ? Does that sound familiar? Eiffel Tower? That's right. The same Eiffel who a few years later would design the Eiffel Tower. I think it was about six years after he designed the Statue of Liberty he did the Eiffel Tower. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And did you know that while the statue was first being constructed in Paris, a bunch of Parisians, mostly writers who liked to eat, actually dined in the area just below the statue's knee before they even put her torso on? This too is true. While the statue was rising, Bartholdi set up a lunch four stories up to impress and enthrall these French writers who, being difficult to impress and enthrall, were at least mildly amused. Did you say, "How much did the lunch cost?" >> I said how much is four -- >> Shawn Harris: Oh. How much is four stories? Well, we're on the second story right now. Is that right? We're on the ground. Okay. Okay. But we did climb some stairs to get -- [ Inaudible ] So your library at school is on the third floor. So one more floor up and you're at the statue's knee. Yeah. Yeah. Are you at least mildly amused? But there is one thing that you might not know, and this is the central point to this book, a point that the author, my friend Dave Eggers, apologizes for taking so long to get to. The point is that even if you have seen a picture of the Statue of Liberty or many pictures of the Statue of Liberty, or even hundreds of pictures of the Statue of Liberty, you have probably not seen pictures of her feet. Have you? Okay. Let's check this out. And even if you have seen pictures of her feet, like this one, you probably have not seen pictures of the back of her feet. In particular, her right foot. What do you notice when you see this picture? Her foot is up. What is that? What could that mean? What could that mean? We notice like this her foot is up. What could that mean? >> She's moving. >> Shawn Harris: That she's moving. Yeah. She's about to go somewhere. Let's talk about that. That's right. She is going somewhere. She is on the move. Let's pause here and collect ourselves. Let's think about this. Let's pause here and think about this. Let's discuss this. Let's think about and discuss the fact that this is the largest sculpture in all of our land. And the most iconic symbol of the United States of America. Let's talk about the fact that the statue has welcomed millions of visitors and immigrants to the United States of America. People talk about her unusual headwear. They talk about her gown which seems a very heavy kind of garment which would likely result in serious lower back issues. Right? They talk about her beautiful torch, and the severe look on her face. But no one talks about the fact that she's walking. This 150 foot woman is on the go, like you said. Every time we see the Statue of Liberty in pictures or any time we imagine the Statue of Liberty we see her standing still, very still, like, well, a statue. But she's moving. She weighs 450,000 pounds, and wears a size 879 shoe. What size shoe do you wear? No 879, huh? No. How can we all have missed this? Or even if we saw this, and noticed this, how is it that we have seen and noticed a 450,000 pound human on her way somewhere and said, "Oh, just another 150 foot woman walking off 150 foot pedestal. No big deal." Most important, where is she going? Is she going to SoHo to get a panini? Have you ever had a panini? Neither have I. Is she going to West Village to look for vintage Nico records? No. No. No. She's facing southwest. So she's facing New Jersey. Could she be going to Trenton? Wait. No. No. No. She's facing southeast. So she's not going to New Jersey. But she is going somewhere. Where is she going? There are certain things that we know. We know that around her feet are chains. They are broken chains, implying that she's freed herself from bondage. We know that Bartholdi wanted us to know this. He wanted us to see the chains. People have talked about the chains. But few talk about the foot that is so obviously in midstride, about the fact that her entire right leg is in midstride. What does this mean? What does this mean that we often forget about the right foot, the right leg? Here's an idea. Here's a theory. Here's a reminder. If the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of freedom, if the Statue of Liberty has welcomed millions of immigrants to the United States, then how can she stand still? Liberty and freedom from oppression are not things that you get or grant by standing around like some kind of statue. No. These are things that require action and courage and an unwillingness to rest. The Statue of Liberty was not built to welcome just 1,886 immigrants from Italy one certain Sunday in, say, 1886. No. She was built to welcome 3,000 immigrants from Poland the next day, the next day 5,000 Norwegians, after that 10,000 Glaswegians, then Cambodians, then Estonians, Somalis, Nepalis, Syrians, Liberians. It never ends. It cannot end. After all, the Statue of Liberty is an immigrant too. And this is why she's moving. This is why she's striding. In welcoming the poor, the tired, the struggling, to breathe free, she is not content to wait. She must meet them in the sea. And that's the end. [ Applause ] And because this is a very special event, I'm really honored to be here at the Library of Congress. I actually brought the original piece that I did with construction paper of this last page of the book. Can you guys see this? This is the first time that I did this, and then they printed this in the book. And it's the last page. Do you guys have any questions about the book, the words or the art? Yes. What's your question back here in the glitter cat shirt. >> I have to think about it. >> Shawn Harris: You have to think about it? Okay. I'll come back to you. Do you want to look at that? This is the original of this. How did I make it out of paper? Well, all I did was I just cut out the shapes and then I glued them on the page. Yeah. You can see it. Right? Yeah. Yeah. You have a question right here in the cat ears. >> How do you keep -- How do you -- How did you make the Statue of Liberty? >> Shawn Harris: Well, I did not make the Statue of Liberty, but the Statue of Liberty that is right here in my piece of art I just -- You know what? I cut out a shape, and before I drew on it it didn't really look very much like the Statue of Liberty. It's kind of sort of a rectangle with an -- maybe an arm-like shape protruding in to the air. And then I -- See how I painted the yellow and teal paint on top of that shape? And all of a sudden it looked like the Statue of Liberty. That's pretty crazy. You should try it. You should try it. You have a question right here in the front row? Yes? >> How did you make it so realistic? >> Shawn Harris: You think this is realistic? Thank you. I appreciate that. Practice. Practice, I guess. But you'll see. We're going to do an art project together when I pick this up off the ground. We're going to do an art project together, and you'll get to see my work in action, how I glue everything on the page. And you know what? It's not different. It's not much different from the way you do things at home probably, which is kind of cool. You have a question right here in the yellow. I know. The mouth gets dry when you talk in front of people. Right? >> How come on the -- on that one most of the lines are thicker than the ones on that one? >> Shawn Harris: That's an interesting question. She says how come the lines are thicker than on this one? And the answer is I did the ink on a different layer on this one. So this is the actual paper that's photographed here, but I did the ink on a separate piece of paper and then scanned that in for the book in case I messed up. And then after I decided I liked it, I went and did my final. You have a question. >> What -- Did you use -- What kind of paint did you use? Like watercolor? >> Shawn Harris: I used mostly ink, and I used some acrylic. And a little bit of watercolor. Yeah. So pretty much anything that was laying around that was the right color. Let's see. Another question. You have a question. >> Why did you choose to do this book? >> Shawn Harris: Why did I choose to do this book? That's a really good question. I got to read the book, and they asked me if I would do some samples in cut paper because they -- Dave, the author, wanted this book done in cut paper. And so I said, "Oh, yeah. No problem. I can do my art with cut paper." And then I ran home and did some art to make sure that I could because I just told them, "Yes. I can do that." And I didn't know that I could. And I showed it to him, and he liked it. But the reason why I did the book was I read the manuscript which is just the words without the pictures. And I was really inspired. I thought it was a great message. I was feeling a little bit like I didn't -- I was a bit frustrated, didn't have a way of communicating that I thought everybody should be welcomed in to the United States, and this book really says that. I think my favorite line from this book is when it says the Statue of Liberty is an immigrant too. And I thought about, you know, my great grandparents that immigrated here. They came over on boats to seek a better life in America. And how I'm just so lucky to have been born here. You know? But people are arriving here every day that are looking for -- that want their kids to be born here like we were or like a lot of us were, I should say. Unless you're Native American, your family immigrated here. And the story of immigrating to America is such an American story, right? Like that's who we all are. And so it's really important that we celebrate people that have immigrated here and are immigrating here every day. They are really brave, heroic American people. So yes. You have a question? >> So basically the statue is an immigrant, and even though [inaudible] immigrant too. >> Shawn Harris: Yeah. She's standing in the harbor there in New York City where the most people immigrate to the United States, and welcoming them with her torch. You have a question? >> Yeah. My question is how many years or months did it take you to do that? >> Shawn Harris: How many years? It -- You know, it took me -- I basically didn't sleep for about six months. Yeah. Yeah. So maybe that's -- Should I call that a year or should I call it six months? Do we? Okay. Okay. We'll just call it six months then. Yeah. That's hard? Well, you -- How -- I slept a little bit. You know, like when you have a big project due? And like the whole last night you stay up and you work on the project, and the next day at school you're like falling asleep? That's how I was for like six months. Yeah. Because this book wasn't originally going to come out until next year, and the publisher decided, "We want to put this out now." As soon as possible. So they called me up and said, "How fast can you cut that paper?" And I said, "Not much faster." And they said, "Well, try." And so I called -- I actually called my mom. And my mom lives in Arizona. And I said, "Mom." My mom taught me how to cut paper when I was a kid. And I said, "Mom, can you come over and help me cut some stuff out?" And she did. She drove to my house from Arizona, and she helped me cut out the paper that I used for this book. Yes. You have a question. >> Does the author choose the pictures that he wants you to draw or do you choose them? >> Shawn Harris: We wok together. I work together with the author. But most of this book, most of this book, I chose the pictures. I sent them to the author. And then he would maybe have a little idea. Like, for instance, on this page this bird was pink, and he said, "Hey, that pink bird, I feel like maybe you're gilding the lilies there." And so I looked up that phrase, and I went, "Okay. I think if I just -- I'm going to turn the bird brown." And he said, "Perfect. I love it." So that's an example of how we worked together. Let's do one more question, and then let's do an art project together. You have a question. Yes. >> How did you -- How did you know if you had it right? How did you -- >> Shawn Harris: How did I know if I had -- if I was like drawing the right thing? Is that what you're talking about? >> And write it. >> Shawn Harris: Well, like I said, my friend wrote the book, but both of us made -- Both of us had to do a lot of research for the book. Remember when I told you that all the original pictures of the Statue of Liberty were in black and white. So I was -- I had to figure out, "Oh, okay. So was she the color of a penny here or was she green here?" And then I sent in my drawings to the publisher that printed the book, and then they have a whole team whose job it is to fact check the book. And so they actually came back to me and they said, "Oh, you know, in that picture where she's holding the banana in the air, well, your coffee pot wasn't invented for another 20 years. You're going to have to put a different coffee pot in there." And so when you make a factual book, you have to get those things right. And luckily I was working with a good team, but with Dave there were a couple things that he had to change in the text as well. We got a couple dates wrong at certain times, and we had to figure out, okay, this is this. But yeah. It was a group project. There were people working on it, and they were looking things up in books and going to places like the Library of Congress and making sure we were right. So yeah. You have -- I'll let you continue your question. >> How did you know if you had to put a date? How did you know? >> Shawn Harris: Well, those same people would fact check. So we would say a date, and they would go, "You just said the wrong date. That was 100 years too late." And we'd go, "Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I meant." Okay. Should we do some art together? When we're done, if you guys have questions for me that you want to come ask me, I'll be here hanging out. So you can come. If anybody at the end wants to come and look at the original art that I put down somewhere, and wants to come see that closer or wants to come ask me anything, I'll be here. Now you guys have shapes. Can I get your shapes? Yes. Awesome. Okay. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. You know what? I'm actually going to need -- I'm actually going to need five helpers. Can I get five helpers? Okay. Like cat ears and white shirt. And yellow shirt and let's see. Oh, I like your bow. Come on forward right here. And then one more helper. You back there in the green shirt. Okay. All right. If you guys would help me collect the paper, and then stay up here with me, that would be great. Maybe I can give you this little stack right here. Hi. Would you grab this stack of paper right -- Oh. Those are cool. These are great. Can you hold these? Oh. Well, can you ask me after we're done here? Okay. So yeah. Each of you, I want you each to grab a little pile of shapes here. Okay? Okay. Yeah. Why don't you grab some of them? Why don't you give her some of them? Are there any more shapes out there? Do you have some shapes? I want each of you to hold some shapes. Okay? Okay. So can -- That's okay. You only need four. Actually. What's your name? Evelyn. And you are? McKenzie [assumed spelling]. I like your name. Your name is? Landon. Okay. McKenzie. Got it. What's your name? [Inaudible] good to meet you. And your name is? Amir [assumed spelling] good to meet you. I'm Shawn. Okay. Can you give some shapes to Evelyn? Can you give Evelyn maybe four of your shapes? All right. You guys each have some shapes. Okay. If you guys would stand up here in a line right here, stand in a line. Stand in a line in front of everybody here. In front of everybody. Okay. Okay. All right. So we're going to do some art together. You guys together right now might have a microphone already. Okay. I would like each of you -- Okay. No. The first one of you. We're going to go in a row here. You're standing next to me. What's your name? >> Dikaya [assumed spelling]. >> Shawn Harris: Dikaya. You guys know Dikaya. Okay. Dikaya, if you could look through your shapes and give me your favorite shape cut out in that pile right there. Give me your favorite shape. We're going to start with Dikaya's shape here that one of you guys cut out. And we're going to -- That's a good shape. Okay. All right. Okay. What could -- What could we interpret this shape to be? You guys can -- You guys can just shout it out. [ Inaudible ] Okay. Let's go back to the hands. Let's go back to the hands. Let's go back to the hands. I thought that was going to be -- Okay. You have an idea. >> A leaf because it has the stem. >> Shawn Harris: A leaf. Okay. Because it has a stem. Now what if I turn the shape this way? What could it be now? What could we interpret this to mean? Any ideas, theories, reminders? An eye? That's cool. That's cool. What if I turn it that way? Back to a leaf? Let's go with the eye. I think the eye is a cool idea. I think the eye. [ Inaudible ] She says -- Wait. Wait. Wait. She says, "I made it. It's supposed to be a leaf." >> It could also be [inaudible]. >> Shawn Harris: It could. It could be a lot of things, but here's the cool thing about making art. And here's the cool thing about looking at art. Hold on, you guys. You guys. This is actually my favorite thing about the book that I just read to you is that the Statue of Liberty is a piece of art. You guys realize this giant sculpture, that's art. An artist made it. Right? And this whole book is the author Dave Eggers looking at this piece of art and saying, "What could this mean?" And that is so interesting to me because she says, "This is a leaf because I cut it out and it's a leaf." Well, we can also interpret it to be an eye. So let's use it. Can we use it as an eye? Is that okay with you? Okay. She says okay. That's very big of you to let us repurpose and reinterpret your art. So I have a glue stick right here. You guys have a glue stick at your classroom at home? Anything? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is art of the people. Okay? You can all do this at home. You don't need any fancy equipment. Well, I might use the stem. Watch this. Watch this. Okay. Still kind of -- Still kind of looks like maybe it's a leaf sitting on the ground, but what if I go like. What if I go like that? What if I go like that? Suddenly it doesn't look like a leaf anymore. Right? Okay. Now thank you, Dikaya, for that shape. Landon, right? Is it Landon? Landon, what shape are we going to use that you have selected? >> We could use this heart. >> Shawn Harris: Okay. So Landon says -- Landon says we can use this heart. But what besides a heart could we turn this in to? Any ideas? Yes. You in the yellow shirt. >> The fire for the torch. >> Shawn Harris: Fire for a torch. That would be a really good fire. What about if we turn it that way? Any ideas there? You have an idea. >> It could be a butt. >> Shawn Harris: It. Everybody has one. It could be a butt. What if -- What if we turn it this way? What do you think? >> It can be lips. >> Shawn Harris: It could be lips? Definitely. Oh. That would be cool. Let's do that. Let's do that. This could be really interesting. This could be really interesting. All right. We are going to turn this in to big lips. Cool. Cool. Cool. Let's do it. So I'm going to put a little bit of glue on our page right here. You want to take it off? You can take it off. You don't want it? Yeah. Come help me. You can just pull it off. Go for it. There you go. Okay. All right. And remind me your name. McKenzie. McKenzie just said you should take that little, the hair on the bottom of her lip, off. And so I let her do that. That was her decision. Okay. McKenzie, you have a shape for us? Oh. McKenzie, that's cool. That's a cool shape. You got some crazy scissors, huh? What could we interpret McKenzie's shape as? What could that be, everybody? What could that be? You have an idea? >> A person. >> Shawn Harris: It could be a person. What do you see? What part of a person do you see? You see some arms and legs? Okay. What if I turn it this way? What could that be? Could be a bunny for sure. For sure. Wait. You have an idea. >> Crab. >> Shawn Harris: It could be a crab for sure. For sure. You have an idea in the yellow shirt. >> It could be a dress. >> Shawn Harris: It could be a dress? That would be cool. That would be -- I feel like there's sort of a story taking shape here. It could be hair. Oh. He said it could be hair. I think this could be really -- This could be really good hair, I think. Let's see. What if we just kind of put it right there? Does that look like hair to you guys? >> No. >> Shawn Harris: What if we -- It could be a bow. That would be a good -- Yeah. Let's make it a bow. That's a good idea. Okay. So first before we do -- Before we put the bow on our character's head right here, I'm going to give it some hair. Okay? Okay? That way. Otherwise what do you tie the bow to, right? Okay. All right. All right. Oh. That's cool. Okay. Which way do we want to put our bow right here? Like that? Yeah. That's cool. Oh. That's really nice. That's really nice. That's nice. I like that. Okay. We have a couple more. We have a couple more people. Oh. That's cool. That's cool. Wait. Hold on. Wait. And your name was? Evelyn. Okay. You guys. Thank you. So Evelyn just picked out a shape. We're going to use this shape next. We have a lot of red shapes which I like. We're going kind of monochromatic which really makes the eyes stand out. Right? When we're using all red and black, and then we've just got this one different color, it really makes me focus on that. I like that. I think this is cool. What can we use this shape as? Yes. Yellow shirt. >> We could use it as something like a car. >> Shawn Harris: Something like a car. Oh. She could be parking a car. She would be getting in a car. She'd be like calling a car. You have an idea? Yeah. >> A neck. >> Shawn Harris: A neck. This could be a cool neck. Definitely could be a good neck. You have an idea? >> It can be -- It could be -- >> Shawn Harris: If I turn it this way, does it give you a different idea? What about that way? >> It can be their shoulders probably. >> Shawn Harris: It could definitely be a shoulder. Maybe like a shoulder pad. Like those are good. Oh. I haven't heard from you yet. >> A pocket. >> Shawn Harris: Could be a pocket. Oh. That's -- I like that. And what -- And maybe we could put something in her pocket. Right? Would that be interesting? Okay. Oh. Cool. That's a good one. Okay. So we're going to turn this in to a pocket right here. But what makes a -- We need some context here, I think, because, you know, what makes a pocket a pocket? Right? Maybe if she has a shirt on. Maybe if she has a shirt kind of like your shirt. Oh, you don't have a pocket. Who has a pocket on their shirt? You have a pocket on your -- Oh. Look at it. McKenzie, right? Look at McKenzie's pocket right here. Let's do a pocket like that. Let's do a pocket like that. So I'm going to do a shirt kind of like McKenzie's. So if I give her -- If I give her shirt a neck right there, and maybe an arm, and another arm. And then McKenzie has all these stripes on her shirt so I'm going to draw these stripes. You see when I just looked at McKenzie's shirt, and then I drew it? That's called research right there. That's what that's called. All right. Cool. Okay. So we are almost done. I'm -- She needs something more of a head, and maybe she needs to hold something. Do we have any more volunteers up here that have shapes? You didn't go yet. What -- And your name was? >> Amir. >> Shawn Harris: Amir has a shape for us. Amir, what's it going to be? This could change everything, Amir. No. No. No. Let him choose. Let him choose, McKenzie. We already drew your shirt. What's it going to be? Do you want to ask them what shape we should use? Hold up your two favorites. Hold up your two favorites. All right. Amir has his two favorites. Hold up your left hand, Amir. Or. Which one did you guys want? Point to the side. Point to the side. This one? Okay. All right. We're doing this one. Good job, Amir. That was very democratic. What's that? Thank you. What could this be? It could be like a skirt. It could be a mask. Oh. That would be interesting. Oh. Who has -- Who has our scissors? Who has scissors on them? So you know what? I'm just going to -- I'm going go ahead and rip it, if that's okay with you guys. You guys. She's at a masquerade ball. Is that what somebody said? That's cool. She's a superhero? There are so many interpretations that we can make. Right? Look at this. So now -- Now we need another eye. Here's the crazy thing. We now know something about her that nobody else knows. Right? Wow. I'm going to give her a little nose in here. All right. Okay. Okay. Let's do one more shape. I want to put something in her hand right here. I want to put something in her hand. Let's see what it's going to be. Okay? Let's see the blue thing. Let's see the blue thing. All right. Another point of interest. Amir had another one. What could this be in her hand? Okay. Hold on. Let's take hands. You have an idea. >> A ball. >> Shawn Harris: It could be a ball? What kind of ball? What kind of ball? It could definitely be a torch. That would be a really good tie in to the book if we put a torch in her hand. Should we put a -- Let's put a torch in her hand. I was going to make it a ball, but let's do a torch. A jawbreaker. That would be the right size for her mouth. Right? All right, you guys, we're going to make this a torch right here. We're going to make this a torch. That's going to be a torch. And this is the crazy thing. Yeah. That can be the stick. That's great. That's great. I love it. I love it. Okay. Who's got a piece of yellow? Yeah. Who's got a yellow piece? That will work. That's great. Give me that heart too, would you? Give me that orange heart on the ground there. All right. You guys, while I -- You guys, while I finish this torch, can you guys do a slow clap? Very slow. And then I'll be done by the time we get fast. Okay. All right. All right. I'm going to be done by the time we're -- You're fast clapping. [ Clapping ] All right. There it is. There it is. Okay. Okay. One last thing that I want to do. With my volunteers that were up here, Amir and McKenzie and Dikaya and Landon, Evelyn, would you come up here, Evelyn, for one last thing? Would you guys face the audience? And stand in a line for me. Amir, you're going to be last right here. Landon, you're going to be first right there. Yeah. Right there. Okay. Now what I want to do is have you guys tell a story about this picture that we all just made together. Okay? So we're going to start here. We're going to start, "Once upon a time." >> Once upon a time there was a statue that was -- that had a mask on with a torch hanging on it. >> Shawn Harris: And then. >> And then. >> Shawn Harris: You can look at the picture. You can look at the picture for inspiration. Right here. All right. We'll come back to you. We'll come back to you. You have an idea of where to go with the story? There was a. >> And then a fish kissed her, and then the -- >> Shawn Harris: A fish kissed her? >> And then the lips got stuck on her face. >> Shawn Harris: The fish lips got stuck on her face? >> And finally she finally got a shirt, and they had stripes on her. And she -- And her name was. >> Shawn Harris: Her name was? >> Lady Liberty. >> Shawn Harris: Lady Liberty, everybody. Thank you to my storytellers. That was a very inventive story. What's that? You can bow. All of my helpers can bow. Everybody bow. On three. One. Two. Three. Bow. Thank you guys very much. Thank you for reading this book with me. >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov.