In this interview, Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic explains why she created the children’s book Daphne Draws Data. She notes that data storytelling is rarely taught in schools, and she wants to introduce the visual language of numbers and graphs early, leveraging children’s natural curiosity and question‑asking habits. Cole describes how kids constantly ask “why” and “how” questions, and she believes teaching them how to formulate good questions and seek answers with data will build foundational skills useful across school and future careers. She also hints at the book’s premise—a curious dragon named Daphne who explores data—setting expectations for parents and readers about the educational takeaways.
What inspired you to turn your attention to children's book with your new book? Daphne Draws Data. What was the motivation behind it?
Yeah, one of the things that we often hear. So I run a company called Storytelling with Data where we teach workshops to individuals and organizations about how to communicate effectively with data. And one of the things that we often hear is, oh, I wish that I had learned these skills earlier. And when you think back, we don't really get exposed to data storytelling or communicating with graphs very much in school. And so simultaneous with that, I was watching my kids grow and start school and seeing the homework that they came home with. And there was this idea in my head ever since having kids, I think, which is, they develop language at some point, such a young age, and it's by repetition and being immersed, and their minds are like sponges when it comes to being able to read and write and carry on a conversation. And it really seemed to me that we could be taking the visual language of numbers, of graphs and teaching that a whole lot sooner. Because one core concept, I think, or core skill that any good analyst, any good just person working in the business world has is the ability to ask good questions and then understand how to get answers to those questions. And I think this applies for the analyst who's working with data day in, day out, but also for an executive who needs to know when to question and how and who to go to for different things. And kids have this in innate curiosity, they ask questions about everything. I actually, I was in New York City with my family a couple weeks ago. It was our last trip of summer before school started back, and I was walking with my daughter, and my son was in front of me and. And my other son. And every two seconds one of them was asking me a question, Mommy, how did this happen? Mommy, what's that? Mommy? Over and over and over again, which I think is fantastic. I mean, it. It can get a little annoying, right? But if we can teach them how to. Their natural inclination to ask questions, right? Because it's their way of piecing in the puzzle of how does the world work and what's my place in the world? That if we can teach them how to hone that, and instead of incessantly asking questions, do keep asking questions, but also think about which are the most interesting questions or which ones could we collect information and answer ourselves or talk to other people as a means of testing assumptions. We can teach this all at such a young age, and it would be so impactful when it comes to developing foundational skills that will serve kids as they grow in school and in basically any field, which I think could be really empowering.
Yeah, that's wonderful. And, you know, I read the book and I thought it was amazing. And Daphne is very curious dinosaur. Maybe can you share with us she's a dragon. She's a dragon. Yeah, that is true. That is true. Daphne is a very curious dragon. Maybe could you share with us a bit about the story and the characters? What can, you know, readers expect? What can parents expect their kids to take away from it?
So the main book is a story, a fully illustrated picture book, and it focuses on Daphne. She is a dragon with a unique talent in that she really loves to draw. And the thing that she loves to draw more than anything else is data. And so she gets in a bit of an argument with her brother about this, who he tells her, well, that's not dragony enough. And so she leaves her cave in search of a place where she can be herself, and she goes on an adventure and she goes to some different places, meets different creatures, and in every case helps them solve a problem or a challenge that they're facing by collecting and then drawing data, really pictorial forms of graphs where a child looking at. It's not probably even going to realize that they're looking at a graph. And I won't ruin the ending, but it's a happy one where Daphne finds her place and recognizes that her unique talent is actually what makes her really powerful and special. And then to further learning. The story is accompanied by a graph glossary at the end of the book where there's a page devoted to each of the four main types of graphs that she draws in her bar charts, line graphs, pie charts, and scatter plots. So each of those talks more about, what is this? When would you use it? What sort of questions can you answer with it? Gives examples from Daphne's journey, and then also has an activity for kids, kids where they can collect data about themselves and use it to draw the given type of graph.
