(upbeat music)

- "Careful what you say, itmight end up in a novel."

That message hangs on a sign

in the kitchen of Karen Kingsbury.

Her real family has been the inspiration

behind her fictional Baxter family.

And now Karen's son, Tyler,is his mom's co-writer.

Take a look.

- [Narrator] Wildly popularnovelist, Karen Kingsbury,

has again paired up withher son, Tyler Russell,

as a successful writing team.

Their latest project is Book Three

in the well-loved BaxterFamily children's series.

This time two of the Baxter girls

have come to a big decision.

In "Never Grow Up," Karen and Tyler weave

their trademark themes of faith and family

into another charmingstory for young readers.

- Welcome back to the 700 Club,

Karen Kingsbury andher son, Tyler Russell.

Hey, good to have thetwo of you with us today.

- Hello, it's lovely to be here.

- Hello, thanks for having us.

We're so excited.

- Well, Karen, I'm gonna jumpfor a second over to Tyler

and ask him what it's liketo work with your mom.

- It is such a blast.

I mean, I've learned so muchfrom her just growing up

watching her work and soto get to work together,

it feels like a dream.

I'm still learning a lot,but we have a lot of fun

creating these stories together.

- Must be, and Karen, whata treat for you to know

that you have a childthat wants to carry on

the Kingsbury tradition (laughs).

That's great.

- Otherwise we're so excitedto be able to work together.

And I had so many books thatI was already working on it,

that without Tyler, wewouldn't have brought

the Baxter family childrento life, so pretty excited.

- Well, you have 25million books in print.

Where do you get yourinspiration for the next book

after you've written so many?

- Well, it's really all God.

I mean, He gives me thestory like a movie in my head

and I just feel like the first reader

when I'm bringing it to life.

So it can be anything Icome across during a day.

It could be an interview Iwatch or a conversation I had.

So it's true, be carefulwhat you say (laughs).

- Well Tyler, it seemslike writing would be,

I know you've been a writer on your own

prior to working with your mom,

but it seems like such a personal process.

So how does the process workfor the two of you together?

- Yeah, I mean the process is really fun.

We get together andoutline kind of our map

of the story where we're gonna go.

And then we go to our ownseparate spots and work on it.

So I'll maybe do the firstdraft and then send her

that draft and she'llgive me edits or notes

and we just kind of go back and forth

'til it feels just right.

- Karen, "Never Grow Up"is actually the third book

in your Baxter Family children's series.

What made you decide to focus

on this particular theme, "never grow up?"

- Well, you know, asyou can see kids grow up

and so we thought it'd be kind of fun

if we focused this ontwo different issues.

We have Ashley who is doing aPeter Pan play with her class.

So the "never grew up" theme, she's Wendy.

And then also we have Kari,who's doing an assignment

on writing an essay on"What do you wanna be

"when you grow up?"

And that's a tough question for kids.

I mean, it's a toughquestion for young adults.

- Absolutely.

I immediately sent offfor book one and two,

so I could be sure to readthose with my grandchildren

first, before getting to three.

What's the latest on theupcoming Baxter Family TV series?

- Well, at this point they have36 episodes that are filmed,

they're edited, ready to go.

And Roma Downey, she'splaying Elizabeth Baxter

and she is also the producer.

So she's taking thisseries, the one with MGM,

they're kind of presentingit to different channels

and different networks,different platforms,

to see where God will have it land.

We're excited.

It could be any time, that announcement.

- Boy, I guess you should be excited.

That's a very big deal.

Tyler, what's in the works for Book Four

of the children's series?

Are we gonna get to watchthe Baxter children grow up?

- Such a great question.

Yeah, we're actually workingon Book Four and Five

right now, which is very exciting.

So we feel like Book Four mightbe an adventure theme book

and we might see Ashleygoing to maybe science camp.

So we're kind of in the earlyprocess of coming up with that

but definitely keep youreyes peeled for Book Four.

It's been such a dream working on these

and I can't wait to share more stories

with all of you.

- Yeah, and I think too,the thing we really love,

is that this is such a collaboration,

but it is also acollection of books really.

So if somebody just wantsto pick up "Never Grow Up"

and they've never read theother ones, that'd be fine.

It's just different slices of life.

- Mm-hmm.

Do you ever havedisagreements with each other

about what the next project should be?

- Sometimes, I mean, oncein a while I'll be like,

"Now wait a minute, Tyler, weneed a little more conflict

or he'll say, "Wait, we need more humor."

- And I feel like it's justsomething I've been learning

is, you know, we wanna servethe story, serve the reader,

and make sure that God ishonored in the process.

So it's a lot of giveand take, which is good.

- Yeah, how wonderful.

And Karen, what a treat for you.

I say again, as a parent, to see your son

grabbing the gauntlet andcontinuing to carry forth

the tradition of theKingsbury series is wonderful.

I wanna mention to folkswho have enjoyed your books,

as we know it's beenmillions and millions,

Karen and Tyler's latest book is called

"Never Grow Up" and it'savailable wherever books are sold.

So, enjoy it with your childrenand your grandchildren.

Thanks for being with us today, you two.

- Thanks for having us.- Thank you so much.

- Bless you.