April 1, 2026
Dandelion Magic And The Power Of Words
A dandelion wish sounds small until it spins into a full-blown adventure. From the NCRA floor in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, we sit down with children’s author Darren Farrell to hear how Dandelion Magic turns a simple idea into a story kids want to follow all the way home.
Website: spotlight4success.com
00:06 - Welcome From NCRA
00:26 - Why Darren Farrell Is Here
00:45 - How He Became A Writer
01:10 - Who Dandelion Magic Is For
02:43 - Where To Find The Books
03:16 - New Release Lion In Bed
WEBVTT
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Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book Company.
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I am Devin Pintozi, your host.
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We are here at NCRA.
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Very excited to be here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
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And we are here with our very special guest, uh Darren Farrell.
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Uh, Darren, thank you for joining us today.
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Thank you for having me.
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Yeah.
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Tell us a bit about what brings you here to NCRA.
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I'm here to take part in the author luncheon tomorrow.
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I'm gonna be sharing a little bit about my book Dandelion Magic.
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Um, just talking about where the idea comes from, and we're gonna have a good discussion tomorrow.
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Oh, okay, great.
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What got you into writing?
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So I would say I have always been a huge fan of words.
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Okay.
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As a baby, my mom and my grandmother used to be able to hold me and just read the dictionary.
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Oh, there you go.
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And I would stop crying.
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So I've always loved words.
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When I was when I was younger, I wanted to be I wanted to be like a rapper, a hip hop, hip-hop artist.
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And then that kind of morphed into like journalism school, uh finding my way into advertising, and then um just starting out with picture books.
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I've always loved these simple, clever ideas behind picture books.
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Um, and then I lived in New York City and I thought, let me try to write one of my own.
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And it was a long process.
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Um, this is my I'm on my eighth book right now.
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Oh wow, look at that.
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Uh it's been a journey.
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Um, but uh I think words have always just been a part of my life.
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Drawing comics.
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Um that's great.
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And uh so what what grade levels are is this book uh suited for?
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This is um Dandelion Magic is great for pre-K, kindergarten, first grade, you know, second and third grade.
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It's fun to do a read aloud with this book.
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Um as they get second, third, fourth.
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It's really interesting to take this book and have them create their own story, starting with the dandelion making a wish, and then how that wish could go awry, and where that adventure might take them, and then how how that crazy adventure kind of like turns into like a happy ending.
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And um, so that that the story of this book is sort of like a wish starts out, starts out positive, and then kind of goes off on a crazy tangent that sends the main character on an adventure and kind of like that story of how he makes it home safe in the evening.
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Yeah, that's great.
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And uh, how can people find out more about your books?
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Uh yeah, anywhere books are sold.
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Quail Ridge Books is uh my hometown bookstore.
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It's a great bookshop if you want to order this book, but you can find it literally anywhere.
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If you're part of the Imagination Library, it also uh is part of the Imagination Library.
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I think when your child turns three, they'll receive this book in the mail in March.
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Oh wow, look at that.
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That's very nice.
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Is that the one with uh Dolly Parton?
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I want to say Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
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It's a good one.
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Wow, that's awesome! That's great.
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Wow.
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Um, is there anything else you'd like to share with the NCRA community?
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Um I have a new book that just came out this year called Lion in Bed.
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So if you want a cuddly, snuggly book about a lion who won't get out of bed, maybe you have a child who uh has a hard time waking up in the morning.
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It's a really cute story, really cuddly ending.
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I won't spoil it.
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Oh, okay.
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That sounds really good.
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All right, once again, this is Darren Farrell uh joining us from NCRA.
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Um uh if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to him and uh uh have a good day.
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Bye bye.
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