RUSH: Sarah in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you?
RUSH: I’m fine. Thank you for calling. I’m great. How are you?
CALLER: We’re doing great today. I’ve been dying to tell you about our 5-year-old — this is our oldest, it’s a little boy — and he is currently on his fifth read-through of Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims.
RUSH: Fifth?
RUSH: You have read it to him four times now?
CALLER: Yeah. We have to read it to him. Of course he’s not reading quite on that level yet. We honestly thought that the book was gonna be over his head anyway when we heard the targeted age group for the book.
RUSH: Well, what did you think? When you heard the book was 10-13, what did you think, it was gonna be mostly pictures and maybe 80 pages?
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: See, it’s a real book! We have full expectations. One thing I don’t do, and never have, is insult or downgrade or look down at the intelligence of you in the audience ’cause I think to listen to this program you’ve gotta be engaged and bright — and I treat the kids the same way. They’re gonna grow into this if it’s a little ahead of ’em. And your son’s proof of it.
CALLER: Yeah, we were. Nobody’s been more surprised than us. Every time we started the book again, we figured, “Well, he might get bored, you know, halfway through it this time.” But no. (chuckles) He wants to finish it every single time, and then I will go to put him to bed one night and we’ll say, “What do you want to read tonight?” He says, “Well, can we read Rush Revere?” We say, “Well, we finished it last night, Buddy. Do you remember?” And he says, “Can I read it again?” So we do.
RUSH: (laughing) 5 years old?
CALLER: He’s 5 years old.
RUSH: Five years old. Are you still finding new things with each reading, or does he have things he likes to hear over and over again?
CALLER: I think he just has things he likes to hear over and over again. His personality (chuckles) kind of lends itself to that anyway. When he likes something, he wants to put it on repeat for a while.
RUSH: Oh, he’s like me!
CALLER: (giggling)
RUSH: He’s an obsessive-compulsive.
CALLER: (giggling) Maybe. Maybe. If he’s like you, I’m okay with that. (giggling)
RUSH: Well, did you get him the audio version of the book?
CALLER: No, we don’t have the audio version. We have the e-book. That’s what we ordered first, and then he received the print copy for Christmas. So.
RUSH: Oh. Well, here. Let me tell you what we’ll do. When we finish here, you stay on the phone and Bo Snerdley will get your address. I’ll tell you what we’ll do. You need a break.
CALLER: (chuckles)
RUSH: I’ll send you the audio version that you can play it for him. It’s me reading it. He may like you better, but you can find out. This way it’ll give you some time off.
CALLER: Oh, that’d be great.
RUSH: You can tell him it’s being read by the actual author.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: The man who wrote it, and I’ll send you the new one, too.
RUSH: I’ll send you the new one, too.
CALLER: Thank you so much. He’ll love that.
RUSH: Oh, I hope so. I hope so. Five years old. That’s great.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: What else besides this did he like having you read to him?
CALLER: Well, actually your book was the very first chapter book we had ever read to him, which is one reason why we thought it wouldn’t hold his interest, and so your book has actually opened up the door for some other chapter books, which has been pretty exciting. We’ve actually read to him kind of a fictional story that kind of details Kublai Khan and some others. He’s had a bent towards a love of history anyway, so we’re trying to kind of encourage that now.
RUSH: I tell you what. I can’t tell you how ecstatic I am to be playing a small role in that.
CALLER: Well, we’re grateful. I’m so glad you did it. I know sometimes it’s scary to embark on a new adventure like that, but we’re just so grateful for it. It’s nice to have resources out there like that.
RUSH: It is. Can I be honest with you about that? I may as well, since she brought it up here. You said, “It can be scary to embark on a new adventure.” I have written two books, and they each sold two million copies. This back in the early nineties, and it was back when there wasn’t anything but me. There were no other talk shows. There was no Fox News or any of that. And then people came along and said — you know the story.
Kathryn said, “Why don’t you do a book for kids, telling the truth about American history?”
I had people say to me, “Have you considered the downside?”
“What downside?”
“Do you realize the left is just gonna be waiting to pounce on this thing if it doesn’t sell like your first books? They’re gonna say, ‘Oops, Limbaugh has lost it! Oops, Limbaugh doesn’t have anywhere near the reach or the pull with his audience.'”
I said, “That’s not why I’m doing it. I expect them to say that anyway.”
Strangely enough, though (you know, knocking on wood, here. I shouldn’t say this), there hasn’t been any of that. In fact, the reviews that have been on this book from the left have been kind of cute, to tell you the truth.
But I hadn’t even thought of that ’til I had some people say, “You know, you’re really putting a lot at risk here.”
I said, “Well, I don’t know.”
To me, it wasn’t about that. It was about the mission and it was about the objective here, and there’s always been a mission to this program. There’s always been an objective, multifaceted objectives, and I’ve told you what they are. There’s a business side and there’s a programming side, and it’s the same thing with the books. So it’s always scary. You always wonder. But there was enough evidence. We had enough evidence to know it was gonna be a success, and we expect the second one to be, too. But I appreciate that.
Now, Sarah, hang on so Mr. Snerdley can pick up the phone and get your address so we can send this stuff to you.
Related Links