Brave Book's Crusade to Save Children's Programming

Summary

Podcast Summary: Human Events Daily with Jack Posobiec Episode: Brave Book's Crusade to Save Children's Programming
Release Date: April 2, 2025

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Introduction to Brave Books and Brave Plus

In this episode of Human Events Daily, host Jack Posobiec engages in a comprehensive discussion with Trent Talbot, the visionary founder of Brave Books and the newly launched streaming service, Brave Plus. The conversation centers around the critical need for quality children's programming that fosters positive values and mitigates the negative impacts of overstimulating content prevalent in today's media landscape.

The Decline of Traditional Banking (00:40 - 02:47)

Before delving into the main topic, Jack highlights a concerning trend in the banking sector:

"In the last 30 days alone, 145 bank branches, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase included, have quietly shut down. No headlines, no warnings, just closed." (01:01)

He warns of potential bank failures reminiscent of the 2008 crisis and emphasizes the importance of safeguarding personal wealth through reliable means like gold and silver with partnerships such as Allegiance Gold.

Introducing Brave Plus (02:47 - 05:13)

Jack transitions to the primary focus of the episode—Brave Plus. He expresses enthusiasm about the service's launch:

"Brave Plus is now active. Guys, show them the trailer world where..." (02:47)

Trent Talbot elaborates on the inception of Brave Plus, explaining how Brave Books evolved from publishing children's literature to creating a dedicated streaming platform. The goal is to provide children with content that is not only entertaining but also educational and morally uplifting.

Quality Over Quantity in Children's Programming (05:13 - 10:24)

Trent discusses the meticulous selection process behind Brave Plus:

"We set an extremely high bar for the content that gets on. Right now, inappropriate content doesn't even make it to our desk. But even good stuff, only 1 out of every 20 shows make it through." (06:41)

He emphasizes the platform's commitment to promoting mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Unlike mainstream children's shows that often rely on high-paced, mindless content, Brave Plus aims to build character and encourage healthy imagination.

Jack concurs, sharing his frustrations with existing platforms:

"It's super high paced and yet it's just all fluff... it just turns them into like little zombies." (08:58)

Both agree that the current surge in overstimulating content is detrimental to children's development, likening it to "junk food for the brain."

The Impact of Overstimulating Content (10:24 - 13:27)

Trent elaborates on the adverse effects of popular children's shows:

"When they're forced to go back to reality, they really struggle... there's a real need out there, and I think we've got the team and Brave Books." (11:54)

Jack shares personal insights, noting that his household has completely removed YouTube to prevent exposure to addictive and overstimulating content. He underscores the importance of providing alternatives like Brave Plus that offer engaging yet wholesome programming.

Brave Plus Features and Accessibility (13:27 - 17:55)

The conversation shifts to the specifics of Brave Plus’ offerings:

• Accessibility: Available on various smart TVs, Roku, Apple devices, and Fire TV.
• Content: Features shows like "Iggy and Mr. Kirk," which integrate Brave Books' values and storytelling.
• Subscription Model:
  • $6.99/month for Brave Plus alone.
  • $18.99/month for both Brave Plus and the book club, with options for annual subscriptions at discounted rates.

Trent highlights the platform's unique position in the market, offering an alternative to mainstream services that have increasingly adopted controversial themes and high pricing:

"Nobody would know about Brave Books if it wasn't for people like yourself... we're just getting going." (18:56)

Jack praises the service, sharing how his children have embraced the content:

"These are the stories that I read with my kids... They absolutely love them." (17:04)

Conclusion and Call to Action (17:55 - End)

As the episode wraps up, Trent and Jack reinforce the mission of Brave Plus to create a safe and enriching media environment for children. They encourage parents to subscribe and support the movement towards better children's programming.

Key Takeaways:

• Quality Assurance: Brave Plus rigorously selects content that promotes positive values and avoids overstimulation.
• Parental Control: The platform empowers parents to provide their children with meaningful and safe entertainment.
• Community Support: Initiatives like Brave Books and endorsements from influencers like Jack Posobiec highlight a growing demand for alternative children's media.

Notable Quotes:

• "We don't want to just entertain kids, we want to build their character." – Trent Talbot (05:13)
• "It's junk food for the brain." – Jack Posobiec (11:54)
• "It's too important not to." – Trent Talbot (17:55)

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For parents seeking a trustworthy and value-driven streaming option for their children, Brave Plus emerges as a compelling choice, offering both educational content and moral storytelling in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.

Transcript

[Jack Posobiec]

I want to take a second to remind you to sign up for the POSO Daily Brief. It is completely free. It'll be one email that's sent to you every day. You can stop the endless scrolling trying to find out what's going on in your world. We will have this delivered directly to you totally for free. Go to humanevents.com poso Sign up today. It's called the POSO Daily Brief. Read what I read for show prep. You will not regret it. Human Events.com poso Totally free the poso Daily Brief. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard. Today we have a special sit down interview with Trent Talbot, the founder of Brave Books and now the founder of the streaming service Brave Plus. You're gonna love this.

[Mr. Kirk]

And Jack. Where's Jack? Where's Jack? Where is he? Jack, I want to see you. Great job, Jack. Thank you. What a job you do. You know, we have an incredible thing. We're always talking about the fake news and the bad, but we have gu and these are the guys who'd be getting policies.

[Jack Posobiec]

Folks, I want you to pay close attention because they're not talking about this on the news. In the last 30 days alone, 145 bank branches, bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase included, have quietly shut down. No headlines, no warnings, just closed. Now, could these bank closures lead to bank failures? Imagine you go down to your bank and it's closed. That doesn't feel like that deja vu feeling from 2008 or even 2020. I don't know what does. We've seen this movie before, and it didn't end well for people who waited too long to act. Many lost a lot of their hard earned savings and some never recovered at all. It happened fast. And that's exactly why I partnered with Allegiance Gold. You've seen them on Human Events Daily. They make protecting your wealth with real physical assets like gold and silver simple and fast and secure. So call Allegiance Gold right now at 844-577-7676 or visit protectwithposo.com that's 844-577-7676 or go to protectwithposo.com get your money out of vulnerable paper markets and into something real. They're even waving up to three years in setup fees. But only for Human Events listeners. Don't wait for the headlines to tell you that it's too late. Go to Allegiance Gold at 844-577-7676 or visit protectwithpost.com start protecting what's yours today. All right, guys. I told you about this. I've been tweeting about it. We've got it. You know, this is. This is the latest invasion of the Poso household and I absolutely love it. Folks, Brave plus is now active. Guys, show them the trailer world where.

[Trent Talbot]

Screen time sparks wonder instead of worry. Welcome to Brave. Every episode is carefully selected to ensure imaginations can safely run wild so they can watch without the emotional load for. For them or you.

[Mr. Kirk]

Hey, brave explorers, can we fix it?

[Trent Talbot]

Let's go.

[Mr. Kirk]

You can do it, Henry. Feels so good to help a friend.

[Trent Talbot]

A vetting process that prioritizes mental, emotional and spiritual well being.

[Jack Posobiec]

We came here to have fun together.

[Trent Talbot]

Curated by parents and handcrafted for kids. Full of timeless classics. Brave isn't just another streaming service. It's screen time made good.

[Jack Posobiec]

Oh my goodness. Brave Plus. All right. We got on here the founder of Brave Books. Now, I don't know, we have just have to say Brave Media. It's Trent Talbot. What's going on, brother?

[Trent Talbot]

Hey, Jack, thanks for having me, man.

[Jack Posobiec]

You know, by the way, I have to tell you, just yesterday we got the latest, you know, the latest book in the bravest series. Yesterday. My son, you know, he saw that come up in the mailbox with The Iggy and Mr. Kirk mail, you know, the, the packaging and he tore right into it. Also he's got the cards now, which is huge. You know, the, the kids absolutely love the cards. Even, even my younger son, who's just four year old, he loves the card so much. So, you know, Brave has been a part of the Poso household really for my kids entire, you know, entire childhood at this point. You know, I've told people before, we, we don't do Star wars. We don't do Harry Potter. What we do is Brave Books. And now with Brave plus, the minute, you know, I got the call, I would say we did get an early call. We got a little bit of a sneak preview that the Brave plus was available for Roku. So I downloaded it immediately on our system. That's. We have the Roku system, but I believe it's up on. On all smart TVs and Apple and everything like that and fire and it's. It's incredible. So tell me a little bit. You know, we saw the trailer right there. Tell me a little bit about the story of what went into Rave plus, which is now available. Everyone needs to go download it.

[Trent Talbot]

Yeah, well, you know, started with the books which you've been a part of since before we officially launched back in 2021. We were working on dialing a free ice cream with you. And you know, we, we did books for three years and it was, it was amazing. But we felt like it was time for Brave to take the next step. And you know, because kids consume way more screen time than they do books these days. So we wanted, we did our first TV show with Iggy Mr. Kirk. And then we were looking at the landscape of all the streaming platforms that are out there and there's a lot I know, but we didn't feel like the, the perfect platform existed for Iggy Mr. Kirk. And we wanted to create that for Iggy Mr. Kirk. But also me personally, you know, I started Brave Books because my daughter Charlotte was born four years ago and she's getting at that age where she's starting to watch tv and I wanted that for her. And so we really took a new approach to a kids streaming platform. We set an extremely high bar for the content that gets on. Right now, inappropriate content doesn't even make it to our desk. But even good stuff, only 1 out of every 20 shows make it through. We rate on the values that it promotes. We don't want to just entertain kids, we want to build their character. While doing so, we screen out overstimulating content because all the health issues it causes and then every character, the main characters need to model good behavior. And so that's the type of platform I wanted for my family and I figured that I wasn't alone.

[Jack Posobiec]

And this is so incredible because. So I love that phrase, by the way, in the trailer where it talks about emotional load. And one of the things that I've noticed already while looking at this and just having kids, which my kids are pretty much the ages you're, it's, it's like when you see the stuff that's available for kids that's out now, what is it? It's that attention grabbing and controlling mindless content of where it's the constant frame rate, the constant scene switching, everything's going on, but they're not really like teaching anything. It's super high paced and yet it's just all fluff. And so it's something where like, yeah, okay, I get it. You know, people want to turn it on and say, oh, this is, you know, a great way to keep the kids, you know, keep the kids quiet for 30 minutes, 40 minutes, whatever mom and dad need. But at the same time they're, they're glued to the screen and it just turns them into like little zombies. Where with this, you've carefully selected it and I went through, you know, every piece of it that's on there. So yes, it has The Iggy and Mr. Kirk which features the Brave books in the streaming adaptation. Yes, there's a, an interesting anti communist children's book called the Freedom, the Island of Free Ice Cream which is featured in one episode that. I can't remember who wrot that one. But you know, it's, it's, it's a good one and people can check it out. And of course my kids found that one and went like straight for it. They're like, daddy, Daddy, the free ice cream one is in there. And, and look, this is the thing, right? It's been, these shows have been compromised. The ones that are out there. The Sesame street totally compromised. The Muppets totally compromised. These days even, even the new like Looney Tunes stuff has got some weird adult themes and I hate to say so, Mr. Rogers, God rest his soul, he ain't walking through the door. You need to create this parallel ecosystem for children's content. So what you've done is you've combined the old stuff that is good and teaches good values with the new in an incredible way, which is awesome for kids because look, my kids know how to work the Roku and I have no problem whatsoever. I made sure that Boom. Brave plus was right at the front. I said, here it is guys. Watch whatever you want. And of course the first thing they wanted to do is watch all of Iki and Mr. Kirk right away. But tell me a little bit about that phrase, emotional load. What, what does that mean? And how did you guys, you know, really come to the selection process when you're using that term?

[Trent Talbot]

Yeah, well, when, when we started writing Iggy Mr. Kirk, me and my wife were doing a lot of market research and like, what, what shows are out there for kids? Because our kids were like threes. They were just starting to watch some TV and, and we, we let them explore, watch things like Paw Patrol. And we noticed that, you know, even though with Paw Patrol there may not have been any, any like overt sort of agenda going on, when they got done watching Paw Patrol, they were like, they were different. They had a really hard time snapping back to reality and they were acting out, it was causing, causing fights. And we just sort of went down this rabbit hole of, you know, it's not just that a lot of these, you know, institutions like Sesame street and the Muppets are going woke. And there's also this just underlying reality in the children's programming business is that the truth is that it doesn't pay very well. And so these companies are having to make content for as cheap and addictive as possible, very similar to our food industry. And, you know, the more that we looked in it, we really think that the harmful effects of overstimulating content on young developing brains is as big a problem as the effects of processed foods for parents right now.

[Jack Posobiec]

That's so important what you just said there. So this is actually has a maha tie in and that's something that people just ranting about it earlier in the show. But this is something where, look, people are busy. I get it. We're busy. Myself, Tanya Tay. We've got the kids. You know, we want them to watch stuff that's good. We don't want to be one of those households that we have limits on screen time and obviously controls on that, but we don't want to, you know, be a family. That's, that's completely denying that to kids either, because it just creates, you know, creates this urge to want to get on even more. And also, my kids are smart. They're going to figure out, figure out our passwords. Like I'm constantly, constantly changing passwords around them because they're, they're, they're, they're little geniuses. And so the idea then is you provide them something, something good, and then also you're not beating them over their heads with it. But that idea you just said, and you expressed it in better terms than I could, it is overstimulating and it is addicting. The same way that, you know, you can be addicted to the empty calories that are in, like potato chips or junk food. It is junk food, and it's junk food for the brain in a way that they're not actually learning morals. They're just getting locked into what's on the screen. And guess what? When you see those PhDs and all the psychiatry and psychology degrees of all the people that go into it, what do you think they're studying? They're studying the fact that kids eyes are locked onto the screen and they actually become so addicted you can't even talk to them.

[Trent Talbot]

Yeah, it's, yeah, it's, it's mind blowing. Once you, once you see, once you see it firsthand, your own kids struggle to snap back to reality. It's like, it's almost like they're having withdrawal symptoms because they're just, they're hooked. And, and, and when they're forced to go back to reality, they, they really struggle. And yeah, just as you learn about the long term Effects of attention issues and adhd. Yeah, it's. It's mind blowing. And, you know, so Brave is. Brave is making a bet that this is a real issue that is going to. Is going to get bigger over time. And Brave is absolutely at the forefront. We're the first. We're the first streaming platform to address this. And, yeah, I feel good about the bed because it's a real issue that parents are facing. And once you tell them, they realize, yes, my kids struggle with that and it really does resonate.

[Jack Posobiec]

Yeah. And that's actually one of the reasons that. And we'll talk about it more after the break. But we deleted YouTube. In our house, we have no YouTube. It is not available. The kids are getting not even kids YouTube. And it's not about the wokeness. It's about exactly what you're saying. It's this addictive overstimulation of children. For all parents out there, this is a very, very important episode for you to share because this information is absolutely critical. We'll be right back here. Human events. D.

[Mr. Kirk]

Jack is a great guy. He's written a fantastic book. Everybody's talking about it. Go get it. And he's been my friend right from the beginning of this whole beautiful event. And we're going to turn it around and make our country great.

[Jack Posobiec]

Amen.

[Mr. Kirk]

Hi, brave explorers. I'm Mr. Kirk. Welcome to my treehouse. It's spring, which means it's time for new life. Have you ever cared for a new life? Like a new little brother or sister or a puppy? It can be a lot of work, but it's worth it because every life is a gift from God. Have you met Iggy? He and I are going fishing today. He is so excited. He has been looking forward to this for weeks. It's all he ever talks about.

[Trent Talbot]

Those are my fishing worms.

[Mr. Kirk]

Oh, no. It sounds like Iggy's in some sort of trouble.

[Trent Talbot]

It's over here.

[Mr. Kirk]

Oh, it's over there.

[Jack Posobiec]

Get out of here, bird.

[Trent Talbot]

What's going on, bird?

[Mr. Kirk]

In our treehouse? It's trying to steal my fishing worm.

[Trent Talbot]

And it won't fly out.

[Mr. Kirk]

Get your own fishing worms, Iggy. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Jack Posobiec]

All right, Jack. Back live. We just played that clip of Iggy and Mr. Kirk. It's just a great show. It's a fun show for kids. My kids instantly watched it and just. Just really enjoyed every single episode, you know, and we do some. Some of the PBS retro stuff. But let's. Let's talk numbers here a little bit because, Trent, how do people get access to this because I want people to know. By the way, if you get Brave plus, you can download it for free. The first couple episodes are free of Iggy and Mr. Kirk. You can see if you like it. You can see what's available. I think a number of the shows are available. So, so there's a free side to this and a paid side, is that correct?

[Trent Talbot]

Yeah, that's right. We're available on just about all the Smart tv Samsung, I think is going to be the next couple days. But yeah, download on your smart TV Brave plus, and you can start watching Nicky Mr. Kurt for free. To subscribe, you just go to braveplus.com and you can either subscribe to Brave plus alone or the book club in which you get access to Brave plus for free.

[Jack Posobiec]

And so what is the, what is the fee if you just want to subscribe if you're not a member already at the book club? But I, I, by the way, I've, you know, I've been talking about Brave books, but my audience knows for, you know, literally four years at this point. You know, my, I'm here to tell you, my kids absolutely love it. They just love it.

[Trent Talbot]

The price of Brave plus alone is 699amonth. And for the books and Brave plus, it comes out to 1899amonth. That includes shipping or if you pay for the year, like 1599amonth. That's a still.

[Jack Posobiec]

Yeah, well, so, I mean, so that's, you know, that's, that's if you're getting all of the books and the maps and the cards and everything, it's way more than just the streaming. So just the stream is 699. Well, you think about that and it's like, okay, Disney is jacking their price up to double that. It was 10. Now they're going up to 16. So it's 1599amonth. So that's, that's, you know, you're talking about, this is the price of a latte just for Brave. And then guess what? You know, you got snow woke out there. You've got the insanity that's going up on Disney Plus. You can't trust these things. And then we also hear that Netflix is, you know, they're talking about making Aslan female over on Netflix. So great. Like, I get to show my kids Narnia and Aslan is going to be a woman, apparently by played by Meryl Streep. And that's why I'm like, I just, I can't trust my kids with any of These other platforms, I just can't.

[Trent Talbot]

Yeah, yeah. And, you know, that's why I'm so appreciative of you. And you know, a lot of the other authors of the movement who got behind us so early and saw the need for, like, kids need worlds and characters and stories that they can fall in love with and. And we start off with the books, now we're getting into. Into tv, but it's so important that, that they have that space for their imaginations to throw them wild because it's so, so healthy for them, but it's done in an environment that's safe for them. And yeah, like you said, you know, all these institutions, they've. All these institutions and ip, you know, like Narnia, it really breaks my heart. Are getting corrupted and so listen, we just need to build our own. We need to build our own world stories, platforms that, that are safe for our kids. You know, it's this. It's too important not to.

[Jack Posobiec]

And it's. It's something where you. You look at the. The world that's been created in there. It really is the shared universe. But then there's different, you know, there's different stories within. Within the, you know, within the. Within it. I'm. I'm just looking at the characters. I'm laughing because I remember the story, you know, the fountains and you know, the diff. That's the Feud episode where it's like the Family Feud and they're going back and forth and these are the stories. Look, I'm just gonna. I'll just be real for a second. Just, you know, kind of speak from the heart. You know, this. These are the stories that I read with my kids. Like their, Their childhood memories of mom and dad are going to be through Brave Books and they absolutely love them. They're always with good morals. And now to see that go and become something that is available on streaming, which is going to give it access to so many more kids and so many more families out there. It's just. It's incredible. Trent, when you put together and what the team has put together, I think it's absolutely fantastic. And having, you know, having Kirk Cameron on board, it's. It just takes it to the next level.

[Trent Talbot]

Well, well, thanks a lot, Jack. Like I said, nobody, nobody would know about Brave Books if it wasn't for. For, you know, people like yourself and some of those authors early on that, that just help. Help raise the. Raise the alarm bell of what we're trying to do. And. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate the trust back back four years ago whenever. We're just getting started, and yeah, I. I'm. I'm proud about where we've. Where we've come and really pumped about where we're going. I really think that we're. We're just getting going. I know it sounds crazy, but. But that's what I believe. I just think that. That there's a real need out there, and I think we've got the team and Brave Books.

[Jack Posobiec]

Is it. What. What is the website? Brave Books. Us.

[Trent Talbot]

Braveplus.com is. Is the best place to go.

[Jack Posobiec]

So brave plus dot com. Brave plus plus dot com. Go and get this. It's free. It's free, folks. You just go check it out. You're gonna love this. Trust me. Trent Talbot, always a pleasure, my friend. From one dad to another, fight the culture war and win with Brave Books. And now, Brave Plus. Ladies and gentlemen, as always, you have my permission to lay ashore.