Episode 31: What do you like best about illustrating a book? -with Raul The Third

Welcome! We’re back with another episode and Raul The Third answers this kid question: What do you like best about illustrating a book?

TRANSCRIPTS:

Grace Lin: Hello. I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books, including the middle grade novel, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and the picture book A Big Mooncake for Little Star.

Grace Lin: Today I'm here with Raul, the Third, the Pura Belpre award winning author, illustrator of the picture book, Vamos Let's Go To the Market. Did I say that right?

Raul the Third: You said it right.

Grace Lin: Okay. Hello Raul.

Raul the Third: Hi, how are you?

Grace Lin: So are you ready for today's question?

Raul the Third: I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

Grace Lin: All right. Today's question is from a young girl named Georgia. Her question is-

Georgia: What do you like best about illustrating a book?

Grace Lin: What do you like best about illustrating a book?

Raul the Third: Oh, well Georgia, thank you so much for your amazing question. And there are so many things I love about illustrating books. For instance, in Vamos Let's Go To the Market, there's all sorts of interesting characters that I got to create. But really now that they're on the page, it's almost as if they're my friends. So there's Little Lobo, La Oink Oink, El Toro, Kooky Dooky and I love drawing them, but then I also love drawing the world that they live in. So the city, for instance, it's just filled with so many interesting sights, sounds and smells and trying to capture that all on a single sheet of paper is not only challenging but also incredibly fun because as you know, taking a walk down the street can be pretty entertaining.

Grace Lin: Yeah, I love illustrating too, mainly because it's takes the story that you have in your head and then you put it on this picture and all of a sudden it kind of really comes to life. I also really like hiding certain secret things inside. I know you do that a lot too.

Raul the Third: I hide so many things in my books. And Vamos for instance, I hide this one particular character that I created when I was a little kid. The name of the character is called Punk and he's this little cactus with a spiky hairdo and I always find that he's the hardest to find, but also the funnest for me to draw.

Grace Lin: Ah, see and I hide things too. Like in my book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, it's really inspired by A Snowy Day. And so in A Snowy Day, the main character is Peters, if you look very closely in my book, A Big Bed for Little Snow, you'll see Peter in one of the pictures. And you'll even see Little Star who is kind of the crossover companion character of the companion book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star.

Raul the Third: That's amazing. I also used to love how Al Hirschfeld would always hide his daughter, I think her name was Nina, into every single illustration that he created.

Grace Lin: That’s actually why Little Star is in my book, A Big Bed for a Little Snow, because Little Star is based on my daughter and she wants me to put her in every single one of my books from now on.

Raul the Third: That's funny. My son is Raul, the Fourth and I put his name in every single book. And in Vamos Let's Go Eat, I named a diner after him, so it's Raul the Fourth Diner because he loves eating waffles.

Grace Lin: That's awesome. Well thank you so much Raul, for joining me today. And Georgia, I hope you enjoyed your question being answered.

Raul the Third: Thank you so much, Georgia. So long.

Today’s BOOK REVIEW comes from Andie! Andie is reviewing A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin.

The book I would like to talk about is A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin. It is about a little girl that keeps eating a big mooncake. She keeps sneaking a little bit every night and her mama notices when it is all gone. I like this book because it is fun and yummy and I love the pictures.

Thank you for that great review Andie!

More about today’s authors:

Raúl The Third is an award-winning illustrator, author, and artist living in Boston. His work centers around the contemporary Mexican-American experience and his memories of growing up in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Lowriders in Space was nominated for a Texas BlueBonnet award in 2016-2017 and Raúl was awarded the prestigious Pura Belpré Award for Illustration by the American Library Association for Lowriders to the Center of the Earth. He was also a contributor to the SpongeBob Comics series. ¡Vamos! Let’s Go to The Market! is Raúl’s first authorial project, which he wrote and illustrated, and is colored by Elaine Bay.

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.

Thanks to the High Five Books & Art Always Bookstore and Ms. Carleton’s 2nd grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews. Also, special thanks to The Eric Carle Museum of Picturebook Art for helping to facilitate today's interview.