Bob Odenkirk used to write poems with his kids. Now, he and his daughter have turned them into a book
The Breaking Bad actor and his daughter Erin talk to Q's Tom Power about Zilot & Other Important Rhymes
When your dad is Bob Odenkirk, storytime is next level. The Emmy Award-winning and New York Times bestselling writer, comedian and actor wouldn't just read to his two kids before bed, he'd get them to write poems too.
Now, he and his daughter, illustrator Erin Odenkirk, have compiled the poems the family wrote together all those years ago into a children's book, Zilot & Other Important Rhymes (before you get the dictionary out, "zilot" is a made-up word Bob's son used for a blanket fort).
In an interview with Q's Tom Power alongside his daughter, Bob says his goal was to use writing as a tool to teach his children they could one day pursue a creative career if they wanted to.
"I had met a few people in the course of my career — not many, but a few — who'd grown up in showbiz households," says Bob. "And I could see that they had a degree of confidence or a sense of belonging that I thought was enviable and worthy, which is to say, they didn't question whether it was possible for them to be a writer, director, actor, presenter, whatever….
"They didn't question the basic premise that maybe they could [be a creative professional] too. And I thought, I want my kids to think that way about life. I don't know what they'll be … but I'd like them to at least see the world and realize, 'I'm going to make that world one day. I'm going to be one of those people.' And I think a simple way to do it is to take out a piece of paper, write something with them — when you read, on your reading time, also write — and then stick it on the same shelf that the books are on that you purchased."
That approach certainly worked for Erin, a recent graduate of Pratt Institute, who's been creating art for as long as she can remember.
"It was a bedtime tradition that [my dad] started where we would all pile into my brother's room, and he would read two or three short-ish books to us, or maybe like a chapter of a Tintin or Roald Dahl-type book," Erin recalls. "Afterwards, we would whip out a notebook and write two or three poems….
"Cut to, like, 10, 12, 15 years later, I'm 19 and the pandemic happens, and I have to come home from college. And I'm just sitting around after my semester ends, and I think Bob felt kind of bad for me. So he pulled the book out. And he was like, 'Let's see what happens if I, you know, punch up a few of these, if you draw a few little drawings. At the very least, it'll be a fun project and an expansion of a memento. And at the very most, you know, we'll go on a U.S. book tour with it in three years.'"
The full interview with Bob and Erin Odenkirk is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Bob and Erin Odenkirk produced by Kaitlyn Swan.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
