Here’s the third installment in my Pencil series on The Writing Life. So far I’ve delved in to the works and philosophies of Molly Gleeson and Rebekah Spivey. This time I’ll shine the spotlight on Keiko Kasza. All three and more will be featured in my Limestone Post story on the Local Authors Book Fair, sponsored by the Writers Guild at Bloomington. That piece will run some time within the next several weeks. Gleeson and Spivey have appeared on my WFHB radio interview program Big Talk. Sadly, Keiko did not wish to come on the show because she’s self-conscious about her accent — she was born and raised in Japan. Despite her fears, she is articulate and passionate about her art and would have made a good guest. She’s the author of 23 children’s picture books including A Mother for Choco, a bestseller that was made into an audio presentation featuring the voices of actors Paula Poundstone, Mary Tyler Moore, and Bea Arthur. Kasza’s book, My Lucky Day, was a selection of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
MG: Was it hard for you to get published the first time?
KK: Not really. I’ve been very lucky in that sense. The first book was in Japan. I was living with my husband in Tokyo at the time. I think I was 29 years old. My boss knew some editor. He said, “Do you want me to introduce you to this guy?” I said, “Yes!”
(Keiko worked as a graphic designer at an advertising firm. She began drawing and writing children’s picture books as a hobby when she and her husband lived for a while in Ecuador.)
My boss took me to the meeting with the editor. Right there, sitting around the coffee table, the editor said, “I’ll take it!” I could not believe it!
MG: Is the Japanese publishing industry similar to the one in the US?
KK: Yes, Of course. All publishers want to make money.
In Japan, I would say, they are more into morals and lessons that books can bring to children. In the United States, there could be lessons but it could be just pure fun.
MG: You have said that when you’re creating your stories you’re an actor, you’re being the animal.
KK: Exactly. The character. Let’s say I’m working on My Lucky Day. That’s my best selling book in the United States. I become those two characters when I’m writing and illustrating.
MG: The fox and the piglet.
KK: Yes, yes! How would I feel or act or say in this situation. I’m in the mind of the fox.
(Keiko writes her story first, then illustrates it.)
MG: How long does it take you from the original idea to a finished manuscript?
KK: Two years. Wake up. Have breakfast. Drink strong coffee, and go to my studio.
Every book I work on, I’m in love with the main characters. Every few years I change my lover!
MG: Why did you start working on children’s picture books while you were in Ecuador?
KK: I could not speak Spanish. My husband was busy doing his research (he is a retired Indiana University professor). I had no job, no kids. What am I going to do with my time? I didn’t know what to do with myself. I got two picture books as a gift from a friend in Tokyo.
(One of those gift books was the classic, Frederick, by Leo Leonni. The other was a Japanese title.)
I was so engrossed by both books. It was the right time. I have an art background and I’ve always loved to write, ever since I was a child. Seeing those two arts combined in those incredible picture books, I said, “Maybe I’ll try it.”
My first attempt was so bad.
MG: In your view or others’?
KK: I’m sure in everybody’s view. That particular one, I still have it somewhere in the attic.
MG: You’ve said you never liked art classes, even as a little girl.
KK: I hated it. I was not a bad student. I was getting good grades in math and Japanese and whatever, and then art? (She makes a retching sound.)
I just didn’t know how to draw. I was terrible at it. The reason why I chose graphic design when I came to the United States as a college student is because I didn’t think I could compete with American students if I majored in literature. I took an easy way; I chose graphic design. It’s not painting or drawing. Graphic design uses a lot of photographs — now computer graphics — and does not demand too much English language skills.
And then once the art classes started, I started to like it.
MG: What was it like growing up in Japan at the tail end of the post-World War II US occupation?
KK: The scars of war were visible everywhere. Some people were dying of malnutrition back then. That’s how I grew up. The parents are just busy bringing food on the table. I have to say, that’s kind of good, looking back. I grew up without much adult interference. I and my friends in the neighborhood just played every day until dinner time comes. Nobody is taking us to soccer practice. Kind of left on our own. During that time I developed ideas about how people think. What makes you angry or sad. In other words, social skills I learned. So many of my childhood memories are in my books.
MG: One of the defining moments of your childhood came while you were playing hide and seek. How old were you?
KK: Four. Running around with the neighborhood kids. I hid so well and then I started to get worried: “Oh my goodness, nobody’s finding me! Am I going to spend the night here? Or just come out and be a loser?” That struggle was written into one chapter of the book, Dorothy and Mikey.
A better one is The Rat and the Tiger. This is about bullying. Tiger is so big and I was the rat when I was growing up. From kindergarten to second grade, I had this nasty girl who bullied everybody in the class. The frustration that I felt growing up, it’s in that book.
MG: Your work was a form of psychotherapy.
KK: (Laughs.) That’s true! I didn’t have the guts to tell her off. In the book, rat tells the tiger off.
MG: Your drawings are vivid and natural and precisely executed. The animals look true to life. It looks as though you use pen and ink and watercolors.
KK: Uh uh. It is gouache. It is more opaque; watercolor is more transparent.
(Keiko is working on a new book but is having difficulty getting editors and publishers interested in it.)
MG: I would think publishers would see you as money in the bank.
KK: It’s not happening. I don’t understand. I sent the newest one to my editor; I haven’t heard from her.
One thing I can think of is I do my illustrations by hand. I’m not using computer graphics. Some publishers say, We do not like hand-painted pictures.
MG: Is that because the kids don’t want to see hand-painted pictures?
KK: It’s technically easier for them. If you create art in computer, all you have to do is send a file and they send the file to the printer. Simple. If it is original art, they have to scan it. The original has to be shipped. So many extra steps it would take.
But I think you’re right. I think children’s taste is changing so that they prefer computer-created art.
MG: Your target market is two to eight years old. It’s hard for adults to write children’s stories because our vocabularies are so advanced.
KK: I think that’s such an advantage for me because English is not my native language. I don’t have a huge vocabulary like you do. And secondly, as I said, growing up with the neighborhood kids, that social experience really helped me to write for children. When I’m ready to write I think back, What made me so angry when I was five years old? And then I write the story. So I have an advantage, being a foreigner.
MG: You have two grown children. Did you ever write a book specifically for them?
KK: No. But for The Rat and the Tiger my second son was about five years old. His friend came to our house and they are playing and playing. Then the friend got mad at my son. He said, “I’m out of here! You’re not my friend!” And he walked away. I stole that line for this book!
(A Mother for Choco won the Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award. Wolf’s Chicken Stew won a notable citation from the American Library Assiciation. It also won the Kentucky Bluegrass Award.)
KK: You don’t have the biggest news. My Lucky Day was picked up by Dolly Parton! She made it into a children’s play. She created music. I was invited to Dollywood, the premier on stage. I was there! I was on stage with Dolly Parton! Eight or ten years ago.
MG: Thank you.
KK: Thank you.