James Patterson, Bill O'Reilly team up on children's book "Give Please a Chance"
Two best-selling authors are teaming up on a new project that takes each of them out of their traditional field of expertise.
Novelist James Patterson, best-known for his thrillers, and Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, known in literary circles for his non-fiction “Killing” series, have joined forces for a new book, “Give Please a Chance,” to teach children about the power of the word “please.”
When Patterson first reached out to O’Reilly with the idea for the book, O’Reilly thought it was to scold him
“Then he said ‘Hey, you like kids, right?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah’ … And he said ‘I have this idea that we do a book together.’ And I said, ‘Well okay, but you’re a fiction guy and I’m a nonfiction guy, so what’s it going to be?’ He goes, ‘It’s going to be for kids -- little kids, like 2 to 6 – and it’s going to be teaching them A.) to read, because kids need to get reading, by the use of unbelievable illustrations and giving them a good message,’” O’Reilly told “CBS This Morning” Tuesday.
When asked why he reached out to O’Reilly, Patterson said the book conveys a “message for everybody,” especially after a very contentious election cycle.
“This is about turning out a generation of please-and-thank-you kids, and there’s nothing better we can do,” Patterson said. “I mean, we can talk all day about the Cabinet and whatever but, we can’t fix that. We can fix our own houses. ... We can get our kids and our grandkids and our nieces and nephews and we can take this book to preschools.”
O’Reilly also added that the “marketing” of the book -- by two bestselling authors -- was “key.”
“Patterson and O’Reilly -- everybody’s going to pay attention. That’s what our goal was, because awareness is the key to getting any good project in front of the public,” O’Reilly said.
Switching over to the President-elect Donald Trump, co-host Norah O’Donnell asked, “If you could use the word ‘please’ with Mr. Trump… ‘Please Mr. Trump, please’ what, Bill O’Reilly?”
“Please Mr. Trump, put the nation above politics,” O’Reilly answered.
“What do you mean by that?” O’Donnell asked.
“What’s good for the folks, for everything – not just the people who voted for you but for everybody,” O’Reilly said. “Because that’s what politicians don’t do, they don’t put the country, the good of the country [first]. They put what’s good for my party, or what’s good for me, so I’d like to see Donald Trump shift on over to what’s good for the folks.”
When asked if he’s read his Fox News colleague, Megyn Kelly’s new memoir – which includes details of alleged sexual harassment from former chairman Roger Ailes -- he said he has not and was “not interested.”
“I’m not interested in basically litigating something that is finished that makes my network look bad. Okay, I’m not interested in making my network look bad. At all. That doesn’t interest me one bit,” O’Reilly said.
“Is that what she’s doing?” O’Donnell asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m not going to even bother with it. I’ve got a country that’s in … a political transition. I’ve got a kids book that I want millions of kids to look at. That’s what I’m interested in – not making my network look bad,” O”Reilly said.
“Look, it’s open season, let’s whack the Fox News channel. I’ve had enough of it. It’s a good place to work, alright? We do good work, we do honest work there. So I’m not going to buy into, ‘Let’s use Fox News channel as a piñata.’ I don’t think it’s right.”
