In his first children’s book Into the Uncut Grass, Trevor Noah delves into the complexities of childhood, parenthood, and the often-overlooked nuances of conflict resolution. Drawing from his own experiences growing up in South Africa, Noah explores the universal tensions between parents and children, particularly the disconnect that can occur when understanding falls short. “All I keep remembering from my childhood was that my mom made assumptions about me that weren’t correct,” he explains. “And I think many kids go through this. In fact, in preparing to write this book, I spoke to just kids from different walks of life and different countries—kids really feel like their parents don’t take the time to try and understand them.”
The book’s heart lies in the relatable struggle between childhood and adulthood, and how both sides can find common ground in their shared world of imagination. Through a fantastical narrative, Noah presents a story that is simple enough for children to grasp but layered with meaning for parents to reflect on. As Noah puts it, the internal mind of a child is “far more complicated than [adults] think,” and Into the Uncut Grass serves as a reminder that understanding a child’s world requires patience, empathy, and, most importantly, time.
Illustrated by Sabina Hahn, the book is a visual and narrative journey, designed to spark conversations between children and their parents—conversations that, according to Noah, could foster deeper understanding and help bridge the gaps that tend to arise in the household. Into The Uncut Grass offers a fresh perspective on resolving conflicts, encouraging both kids and adults to see beyond their differences and connect on a more meaningful level. It’s not just a story for children; it’s an invitation for parents to revisit their own youth and consider the importance of empathy in raising the next generation.
As Noah reflects on the inspiration behind the book and the broader themes it tackles, his insights reveal a profound understanding of both the simplicity and complexity of these relationships. Now, the accomplished comedian and host shares more about the creative process, his personal experiences, and the lessons he hopes readers will take away from his newest release.
ESSENCE: What inspired you to write Into the Uncut Grass?
Trevor Noah: Well, I think it’s a few things. One, I’ve always wanted to write a children’s book. I’ve always found them simple and yet meaningful at the same time. And then I wanted to write a book that tried to tackle, in my opinion, the most complicated subject, which is conflict resolution, using one of the more, I would say like the nine subjects in our lives, which is just like kids who don’t want to do something that their parents want them to do. And really it was me trying to solve a puzzle that’s a lot larger than in this book, but just playing with it in a world that’s really simple and imaginative and beautiful at the same time.
You spoke about conflict resolution just now. How did your own experiences growing up influence this book?
I would often say to my mom, even now, that there were so many conflicts that we had between us that didn’t necessarily need to be the way they were. And I understand how hard it must be for parents, especially living in a world where they’re grinding to make ends meet or just working hard in their world. It can be hard for them to take the time to understand their child. But all I keep remembering from my childhood was that my mom made assumptions about me that weren’t correct. And I think many kids go through this. In fact, in preparing to write this book, I spoke to just kids from different walks of life and different countries and different places. And it’s pretty amazing how across the board, kids really feel like their parents don’t take the time to try and understand them.
Kids are moving at a different pace. Adults are moving in a world where they’re working and they have to get things done. And so, yeah, there’s just a breakdown and there’s disconnects in the conversations between them. So this was definitely inspired by that; me having the conversations that I had with myself as a kid and trying to sort of relive what would’ve been the moments I would’ve had in trying to resolve ideas or conflicts that existed in my house. Because that’s fundamentally how you learn how to resolve conflict when you grow up, right, is from how you experienced that as a child.
That’s interesting. So what message do you hope that the two entities—the children and adults—will take away from this story?
Well, the big thing I would hope is that if parents read this book with their kids, first and foremost, funny enough, I think kids have taken the right message from it. So every kid who’s read the book so far that I’ve gotten to speak to has spoken to me immediately with complete validation. The kids have gone like, “Yeah, man, thank you so much for writing this book. And I completely understood what the kid was going through.” And it’s pretty amazing to see how they’re just like, yeah, this is almost like a liberation book for them. And then for the adults, I hope they will come away understanding that the internal mind of a child is far more complicated than they think. And so they should take the time to delve into it because they’ll discover a lot more than they think.
Children are not just to be seen and not heard. Children are not just like a secondary thought. And there’s a magical world that exists on the other side of getting to know your kids. And then I think if adults read it by themselves, I don’t know. I’ve been on this journey for the past few years where I’ve just been like, it’s amazing how angry we allow ourselves to get and how much we assume malice on the part of others. And this is just me. It’s not scientific or based on the study or anything, but I would bet that 50% of the conflicts we have as human beings, at least 50% are just based on our perception, or just based on our ability to communicate, or just based on our internal state at the time that it happens.
I would hope that adults would read this book and just ask themselves some of the questions like, “did you try and understand the other person? Did you take on their point of view? Have you seen the world through their eyes? And have you considered being with them more than being with the problem?” I think there’s something beautiful and simple in that, that I know I’ve applied to my life.
The book included some amazing illustrations. What was it like working with Sabina Hahn and how did her artwork shape the story that you were trying to tell?
Sabina was a godsend. She’s been phenomenal. And this was my first children’s book, but she has illustrated many books before. So really she was guiding me in a lot of the process. She not only illustrates, but she interrogates why we’re illustrating and what we’re illustrating. She encouraged me to be as creative as I needed to be. She encouraged me to think beyond and then think silly and think fun, and think crazy, play with it. She reminded me not to take it too seriously. And I think that was something that really, really resonated with me. It was a joy working with somebody who hasn’t lost their youthful vigor and their silly view on the world whilst maintaining their seriousness and doing things that they need to do. And so that was really great because this book, it isn’t a book with pictures, it’s a picture book as well.
Right.
And the book relies on those images. The book relies on those illustrations really to stitch together the imagination between the words.
This book—how did it differ from your previous? Was this creative process more challenging for you as opposed to earlier writings?
It was easier in some ways, and it was harder in other ways. It was easier because it didn’t require as much, I would say, emotional excavation of my entire life. So that was easier, and it’s a shorter piece of work, et cetera, but it was so much harder in other ways. You take for granted how much harder it is to write a book that has far fewer words. And so you can rely less on your verbosity and you can’t just keep on speaking to get a message across. You have to figure out which words you’re using and why you’re using them.
And that was truly a challenge. And it was a great one because in a way, it made me delve deeper into a child’s world, because I think sometimes as adults, as our vocabulary grows, we get a little bit further away from the emotions that are attached to the words, and we can speak more and feel less. And children have so few words, and they feel more and speak less in a way. So in writing a children’s book, it really reminded me that that was the big challenge, was getting into all of the feelings and all of the emotions whilst using much fewer words. And that was probably the biggest challenge of all.
So, the world is a lot different now for children as opposed to when I was growing up and especially when my father was growing up. In a world full of digital distractions, what do you hope that this book brings to children who are less accustomed to storytelling through books and may be more accustomed to digital narratives?
I hope it ignites their imagination. I was lucky that I grew up in a world where, yes, we had TV, and yes, we had cartoons and we had movies and video games and all that stuff. But my first introduction to the world of narrative storytelling was books. And I think parents and kids alike, but people should never take for granted the gaps between information that form how we see the world. If you watch a video or you watch a movie, or you watch something, every single part of that story is being fed to you, you become a passive engager in the information. When you read a book, your mind has to work, your mind has to imagine what the words have described. And so if you and I read a page of a book and the book describes a tall house with a thin steeple and a squiggly chimney, we all imagine a different house. We might have a similar idea, but we all imagine a different house.
And I think that’s the power of reading, that’s the power of engaging, is that it forces your imagination to fill in parts of the story that only your character can. And I would hope that’s something we never forget, and that’s something we never lose. Because look, I mean, I love a TikTok video just as much as the next person. But I mean, I do think it’s important for us to live in a world where we foster individualism and creativity, especially when it comes to self-expression, so that we are not all seeing the world in just one myopic way that’s fed to us, but rather seeing the world in a beautiful tapestry of ideas that represents who we are.
Do you see yourself continuing doing the children’s genre? And if so, what kinds of stories might you want to tell in the future?
I’ll be lying to you if I said, yes, and I’ll be lying to you if I said, no. I don’t think of myself as being in any particular thing. I just try to go where I find some sort of purpose coming together with a curiosity. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to explore that in my life. So if I enjoy something, I’ll do it. And if I feel like doing it again, I’ll do it again and I’ll see what the feeling is for me first and foremost. But no, I wouldn’t do it just for the sake of doing it. So right now I’m focused on this book and just getting it out there, and then I’ll see if another idea comes to my mind or if something meaningful comes to me. But if not, I’m happy for that to be it. I wanted to write a children’s book. I never saw myself as being a children’s author, so the answer right now would be like, no slash I don’t know. And I’ll see what the next adventure brings and where I find myself next.