Episode 45: Which book was your favorite to illustrate? -with Elisa Kleven

Hello! Welcome to another great episode of Kids Ask Authors where Grace Lin and Elisa Kleven answer this kid question: “Which book was your favorite to illustrate?”

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. Today, I'm here with Elisa Kleven, the author and illustrator of the picture books, Hiro’s Hats and the Paper Princess. Hello, Elisa.

Elisa Kleven: Hi.

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

Elisa Kleven: Yes.

Grace Lin: All right. Today's question is from a young girl named Georgia. It's actually her second question. Her question is ...

Georgia: Which book was your favorite to illustrate?

Grace Lin: Which book was your favorite illustrate and why?

Elisa Kleven: That's a great question. Well, I've illustrated so many books and they're all like my children in different ways. So I guess they're all my favorite in different ways, but if I'm not thinking too much about it, the one that comes to mind is The Lion And The Little Red Bird.

Grace Lin: I love that one.

Elisa Kleven: Thank you. And I guess it's my favorite because the colors are very happy. I use a lot of blues and purples, but for some reason I had this image of just the lion color. Lions have very warm colors. They're that beautiful golden brown, a little bit yellow, and he had a fuzzy mane and his best friend is a little red bird so I was using a very warm palette. And the lion, he's just a very gentle lion with a really good heart and he's artistic, and he seemed just like a gentle good force. And I had a lot of fun too making his mane, which is made out of collage, little bits of wool that I glued around his head. And so it was almost like working with a little stuffed animal or something,

Grace Lin: It's so sweet looking, and I know the bird, it's wings are that marbleized paper, is that right?

Elisa Kleven: Right. She has her little bit of collage too, exactly what Grace said, with marbleized paper, which was fun to cut out. And I've always liked marbleized paper because it kind of reminds me of feathers and it just looks very birdlike and very fluid.

Grace Lin: So that was your favorite. Well, I have to say that my favorite to illustrate was my book, A Big Mooncake For Little Star, and the reason why I have to say that is my favorite is because it stars my daughter, Hazel. She is Little Star and if I say another book she will be so upset with me. So I have to say that was my favorite book to illustrate. But honestly, even if it wasn't featuring my daughter, I would say it's probably been one of my favorites to illustrate as well. It was a brand new style for me. Before, my art, it was a little bit of a different art style for me. I started using wash in a little bit more of a realistic way and this new style is, I like to call it a fadeaway style, where the girl's clothes kind of fade away into the background. So it was kind of a new challenge and I really love how it turned out. So that's why I would say A Big Mooncake For Little Star is my favorite because it was a new illustration challenge. And it feature, my daughter.

Elisa Kleven: And it won a Caldecott.

Grace Lin: Oh yes, that helps too.

Elisa Kleven: That's always nice.

Grace Lin: It did win a Caldecott honor but I can't say that that's why I love it.

Elisa Kleven: Right. That's icing on the cake.

Grace Lin: A nice pat on the back to make me feel like it was not only loved by me, but loved by others as well.

Elisa Kleven: Very much so. It's a beautiful book.

Grace Lin: Thank you.

Elisa Kleven: And I love the way you faded it out into the night and the more realistic faces. There was a little less folk art looking.

Grace Lin: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Elisa Kleven: Very accomplished.

Grace Lin: Thank you. Well, thank you so much, Georgia, for your question. I hope you like the way we answered it. Please send more questions. And any other listeners, please send your questions in as well. So thank you Elisa for answering today's question.

Elisa Kleven: Thanks for having me, Grace. It's been so much fun. Thank you. Thanks, Georgia. Bye.

Grace Lin: Keep reading.

Elisa Kleven: Bye.

Today’s Book Review comes from Ariadne! She’s reviewing The Grumpy Pirate by Artemis Roehrig and Corinne Demas.

The book I would like to talk about is The Grumpy Pirate by Corinne Demas and Artemis Roehrig, illustrated by Ashlyn Anstee. This book is about a grumpy pirate who gets a parrot, and the parrot always copies him. I like this book because the grumpy pirate is grumpy and then gets happy.

More about today’s authors:

Elisa Kleven writes and illustrates picture books because she’s never outgrown a deep childhood urge to enter a magical world. Elisa is the author and/or illustrator of over thirty books. Her books have received many honors, including a New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award for SUN BREAD, and have been included in Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. Her illustrations for ABUELA, by Arthur Dorros, are currently touring children's museums nationwide as part of an exhibit of seven classic children's books, and a piece from her newest title, HIRO'S HATS, is currently on display at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. In 2018 Elisa delivered a TEDx Talk on the power of retaining a childlike imagination throughout life, and she loves to share her thoughts about this with both children and adults.

To learn more about Elisa and her work, please visit her website: www.elisakleven.com

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.

Special thanks to the High Five Books & Art Always Bookstore, Ms. Carleton’s 2nd grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews.