Books |
New Year’s Special for Kids and Adults (with NO sports): Matthew McConaughey
Published: Jan 01, 2024
Category:
Children
As a young actor, Mathew McConaughey had an unusual problem: too handsome. After small parts in comedies, he broke out as a stripper in “Magic Mike. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor as an AIDS-afflicted cowboy in “Dallas Buyers Club.” If you saw “The Wolf of Wall Street,” you definitely recall his long monologue about money and masturbation. And you can probably recall the way he says “Alright, alright, alright…”
Acting is what Mathew McConaughey does. It’s not who he is. He’s the father of three kids, and he’s intent on learning from them. He started the “just keep livin foundation”, which is “dedicated to helping teenage kids lead active lives and make healthy choices to become great men and women.” He’s from Uvalde, Texas. The week after the school shooting there, he and his wife were in his hometown, mostly listening. Then he spoke at the White House. Do not miss what he says about a victim’s green sneakers — that’s not acting.
McConaughey is a champion. conversationalist. His friends say, “You ought to write that down.” He does; he journals. And writes books. The new one is a book for children, “Just Because,” illustrated by Renee Kuirilla. The general rule about books for small children is to simplify. He’ll have none of that. As he learns from his family, kids are smart. They get nuance. They see the difference between sermons and reality. So “Just Because” is complex — it’s all about complications.
“No one likes to get advice,” he has said. “I can’t stand getting advice. You tell me what to do and it’s a good way to get me to do the opposite. But if you throw out an open-ended sort of couplet, that frames a situation. Everyone has their own personal, subjective story, and can put themselves into it in a completely original way…I write like an 8-year-old because — what an innocent, fun place to go. What a place of forgiveness and freedom and creativity….It’s about the poetry of life, instead of having the pressure on us that feels like we’re told every day that we need to be absolute about every single thing.”
Some samples:
“Just because I forgive you, doesn’t mean that I still trust. There’s what you do, there’s what I do, and yours is not my must.”
“Just because you can pull it off, doesn’t mean that you should do it. Just because you failed, doesn’t mean that you blew it.”
“Just because I’m in the race, doesn’t mean I’m fully ready. Just because I’m shaking, doesn’t mean that I’m not steady.”
The point of the book? “You don’t have to do what I do, and I don’t have to do what you do,” . What’s true for you? Great. May not be true for me. And that’s OK. It’s a place of amnesty, of proper leniency that I hope kids and adults can have for others without the judgment of, ‘Well if you don’t believe what I believe, then we’re against each other.’”
Unsurprisingly, “Just Because” was an instant bestseller. At 32 pages, it will spark conversations that reveal your kids — even pre-schoolers — are smarter than you suspected. To buy it or the audio book from Amazon, click here.
