Chrissy Metz admits she was a little “nervous” to give her This Is Us castmates a sneak peek at the children’s book she was writing with her boyfriend, songwriter Bradley Collins. It’s been a dream of hers since she was a preschool teacher in Florida, after all. But now that their picture book, When I Talk to God, I Talk About You, is complete, she promptly sent a copy to everyone.
“I’m always so nervous because everything is pie in the sky until it happens. Until you actually receive the book,” Metz tells Romper. But once she had a copy in her hand? “I sent them to everybody.”
That includes This Is Us creator, writer, and executive producer Dan Fogelman as well as her co-stars Sterling K. Brown, Chris Sullivan, and Mandy Moore. “Gus and Ozzie have a copy of it,” Collins confirms, referring to Moore’s two sons with husband Taylor Goldsmith. “[It’s] so nice to be able to share with your friends,” says Metz
Illustrated by Lisa Fields, When I Talk to God, I Talk About You is a gorgeous picture book about faith, prayer, and the unconditional love between a parent and their child. Metz says she and Collins wrote the book as a way to “gently introduce prayer into young readers’ lives” and help answer questions they may have. “I just remember as a kid not understanding, ‘Can I only pray at church? Do I pray just at night and in the morning?’” Metz explains. “We wanted to impart the message of, ‘You can pray any time, for anyone, anywhere, alone, with your church, friends, family.’”
Collins says he hopes When I Talk to God, I Talk About You can act as “a conversation starter between parents and children about prayer and what it means because prayer means something different to everybody.”
The authors also hope to reach families from all types of religion. “We believe there’s as many relationships with God as there are people in the world,” Collins explains. “We wrote it very generally, so it can be adapted to any kind of beliefs.”
Inspired by both of their grandparents and their guidance on prayer, the book is full of thoughtful details, like the decision to tell the story with animals, even skunks who get “a bad reputation, unfortunately,” Metz says. “It felt very inclusive ... We all love animals and we can all see them coexisting together in the woods, loving each other, and supporting each other.”
“We wanted all those little things to be subtle, but it was very important to us that everybody is included in this story,” she adds.
Metz and Collins didn’t give Fields any notes or direction with the illustrations, but did ask her to include fireflies and a lot of them. “I was just kind of overboard about it,” Collins admits with a laugh, “I wanted as many fireflies in the book as possible. You go through it and you see there’s a little more prominence through each page of the fireflies and the fireflies represent the warm, safe light of God around us all the time. It’s kind of there.”
“Even if you can’t see them,” Metz adds.
From the importance of inviting illustrations to simplified messaging, Metz says her experience as a preschool teacher was especially helpful with entire process of the book. “I would sit at circle time,” Metz recalls of her time teaching, “and that was my favorite time of the day because kids were just enamored with the pictures if we were reading a picture book. I noticed how enthralled the kids were with the visuals and how important that is in the illustrations of obviously conveying the message of the book.”
While When I Talk to God, I Talk About You is a children’s book written for kids between 4 to 8 years old, it’s also full of messages for parents, grandparents, or anyone reading. And it’s been a tear-jerker for many. “The most humbling thing is seeing our friends and strangers read the book to their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and being told that they needed to have a dry run before they read it to their children because it was so emotional,” Collins says.
Indeed, a peek at the first page of the book of a bird sitting in a nest gives you a taste of what’s in store...
“The book is as much about wanting to have children in your life that it is actually having children,” Collins explains.
Metz says they wanted the book to also touch on the many ways a child can come into your life. “I have friends who’ve been trying to conceive for a very long time, adopt, or foster. We never know how children are going to come into our lives, but there’s a desire to want to have that connection,” Metz shares. “So we wanted to, of course, incorporate that into the story. And then just see the way that a relationship can blossom through the connective tissue of a prayer or just reading to your child at bedtime.”
“Whatever religion you practice, there’s a higher power that is surrounding us, loving us, and listening to us no matter what,” Metz continues. “And it’s the message that I would love to have people leave with and continue to read the book for: God is omnipresent always and forever and everywhere. That you really can pray any time, anywhere, and that if you are here on this planet, you’re purposeful and you’re loved.”
When I Talk to God, I Talk About You is available now wherever books are sold.
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