Episode #125: How do you start making a book? -with Anna Kim
Welcome back to Kids Ask Authors! Today we are joined by Anna Kim! Anna and Grace will answer the kid question, “How do you start making a book?”
TRANSCRIPT:
Grace Lin: Hello. I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books, including the middle grade novel, When the Sea Turned to Silver, and the picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star. Today, I'm here with Anna Kim, the author and illustrator of the picture book, Danbi Leads the School Parade. The art from that book is also featured in the picture book exhibit, Asians, Everyday, which you can now see online. Hi, Anna.
Anna Kim: Hi, Grace.
Grace Lin: How are you?
Anna Kim: I'm okay. How's everything?
Grace Lin: Good. I'm so glad that you're here with me today because I have a really great kid question for you. Are you ready for it?
Anna Kim: Yeah. Yeah.
Grace Lin: Okay. Today's question is from a kid named [Claudia 00:00:45]. And Claudia asks-
Claudia: How do you start a book?
Grace Lin: How do you start making a book?
Anna Kim: Hi, Claudia. I start with either one image, one word, or one sentence. So it depends what hits me, but it's just one thing and I just let it grow. Every day, I write one more thing, or one more image, one more character. And after like several months I have something, and then I have to shuffle things around and then I realize there's a story. So it all starts with something of a very, very small thing. Just like one thing.
Grace Lin: So for Danbi Leads the School Parade, what was it for that?
Anna Kim: Oh, that was a Danbi's drawing. She was a three quarter inch scribble on a tissue paper. Napkin actually. I just drew. Yeah. I just drew this girl with two little pigtails and then she has something. And then I just kept drawing her every day. Then she was going shopping, and then she was getting dressed. And then soon enough, she was this character.
Grace Lin: And do you know where she kind of came from? Was it like a memory? Or did you see somebody with pigtails and it inspired you right then? Or you just...
Anna Kim: You know? I think I just like... Well, I was trying to write a memoir, a graphic memoir. But then I didn't look like her when I was younger. I think it was just doodling. And then something in my doodle looked like a character, and that was a little scribble. And she was a tiny little drawing that just grew into a book.
Grace Lin: Yeah. That's great. Though honestly, now when you say that, sometimes that happens for me too. It's so interesting because I feel like, for me, every book is different. And some books.... And so that's why when you said it was one thing and I was like, "Oh, this is right. It is one thing." But sometimes it's a word, sometimes it's a picture, sometimes it's a sentence. And I know for like Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, I did this painting for a magazine, for Cricket magazine. They asked me to do this picture of a dragon and they said, "Anything you want." And so I just decided to do this picture of a dragon with a girl riding on it. And after I drew that, I'm like, "Oh, this should be a story for something." And I remember looking at it and looking at it. And that slowly... Like you said, you just added more and added more and added more day after day, and then it became a book. So I think it's the same way for me too.
Anna Kim: Wow. That's an amazing book.
Grace Lin: But I think that it's funny because it is one thing. I know on this podcast, a question that's often asked by kids is where do you get your ideas? And that question I answered with Mo Willems on another episode. And he said that you don't get ideas, you grow ideas. And what you said about the one thing I feel like is the same thing. It's like that one thing is that seed that you have to add to make it grow.
Anna Kim: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a really good word. Seed.
Grace Lin: Yeah.
Anna Kim: Yeah. I think that's the key word.
Grace Lin: How did you know when Danbi was fully grown? Blossomed.
Anna Kim: Well, I kept drawing her and then I would put her into situation. And then one day she went to school. And then you reminded me of like something of my school. And then she was having like school dramas. So when there was a conflict, then I realized she was more of a fully fleshed... Like, she had potential to be fully fleshed, because without conflicts, you don't have a story. So it was when I saw her with her friends, it's like, "Oh my God. She's having these dramas with her friends." So that's when I realized, "Oh wow, she's a real character." And then the story of the first day came up. So that's how it went.
Grace Lin: Awesome. Well, that's so great.
Anna Kim: Thank you.
Grace Lin: It's so nice to hear how Danbi came to life. Well, thank you so much, Anna, for answering Claudia's question. And Claudia, thank you so much for sending it in.
Anna Kim: Thank you for everything. Thank you, Claudia. Thank you, Grace. Thank you.
Grace Lin: Thanks. Bye.
Anna Kim: Bye.
Today’s Kid Book Review: Our kid book review today comes from Vivianna! Vivianna will be reviewing, “Danbi Leads the School Parade” by Anna Kim.
Hello, my name is Vivianna. The book I would like to talk about is Danbi Leads the School Parade by Anna Kim. Danbi is new in school and she can’t understand her teacher because she does not speak the language. When she tries to help, she makes it worse. No one plays with her...then...Lunchtime! She hands someone a rainbow drop and then Danbi shows her how to use the chopsticks. Then Danbi taps her lunch box and everybody joins in the drumming. I recommend this book for people with big hearts. I related to Danbi in the book because I have been new, too, and I know how good it feels to make a connection with someone.
Thank you Vivianna!
More about today’s authors:
Born in Seoul, Korea, and raised in New York, Anna grew up doodling around the edges of her notebooks and any loose scraps of paper she could find. A classically trained pianist with a B.A. in psychology from Wellesley College, she devoted herself to teaching music to young children. During those years of teaching, Anna discovered that drawing cartoons on yellow stickies helped keep restless children engaged. That's when she decided to expand her canvas from stickies to picture books and to pursue her newfound purpose: "Through picture and word, I want to surprise, inspire and delight children by creating fun and heartwarming stories. I want to plant seeds of love and kindness through living characters who jump off the page and touch the reader with genuine emotions. I want those characters to show kids of all sizes, shapes and colors what it's like to be courageous, resilient and empathetic heroes. And I want to share with readers the magic of friendship in transforming our beliefs, our hearts, and our lives forever."
Anna lives in a quiet part of New York City, where she can see trees and hear birds. Her work studio is full of stickies.
Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook, instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.
Please visit the Asians, Everyday exhibit found online at the Carle Museum featuring Anna Kim!
“Award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Grace Lin curated this online exhibition, launched May 2021 in honor of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Asians, Everyday showcases positive Asian American representation. The selected artworks and books, featuring contemporary characters and stories, celebrate our common humanity by depicting Asian Americans living their everyday lives.”
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