Actor Max Greenfield often did an exercise about conquering fears with the late actor Leslie Jordan. Together, the friends made lists of their current anxieties. Jordan’s list was always the more entertaining one, Greenfield said.
“I’m scared of sharks and straight men,” Greenfield recalled Jordan saying in his signature Tennessee twang.
Those conversations inspired Greenfield, best known for his roles in the sitcoms New Girl and The Neighborhood, to write his forthcoming book Good Night Thoughts (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, September), which focuses on anxiety and how kids can calm their minds at bedtime. Greenfield spoke about the book during a June 30 session at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego.
“We would write down all of our fears, and when we were done, we would ask ourselves: ‘Which of those fears are in front of you?,’” he explained. “And [Jordan] would go, ‘Well, none of them.’ And then the following question would be asked: ‘Then why are we carrying them around right now?’”
This is Greenfield’s fourth children’s book. He’s previously published the trilogy I Don’t Want to Read this Book, This Book is Not a Present, and I Don’t Want to Read this Book Aloud. In Good Night Thoughts, the main character reflects on the fears preventing him from sleeping (such as robot sharks, a toilet overflowing with tarantulas, and the dentist). The book, Greenfield explained, is about putting those thoughts to sleep.
“What I love so much about the book is, it’s not taking those fears, thoughts, and anxieties a child may face before they go to bed and dismissing them, or saying they’re not real, or saying, ‘Oh don’t worry about this,’” he said. “It’s trying to find a way to surrender to them, accept them, or build a different relationship to them.”
As a kid, Greenfield wasn’t drawn to reading and found it challenging; as a result, he felt out of place in libraries. That’s a feeling he hopes his books can prevent in others.
“I was one of the kids that would be like, ‘How many pages is it?’” he said with a laugh. “When that’s the first question, there’s an issue.”
He continued: “To be here and talking to all of you and know those first three books could potentially open a conversation and dialogue that breaks that barrier for a child like myself that walks into a library, wants to be a part of that experience, and maybe allows them to get closer to it, is a goal.”
