Kristin Kladstrup is the author of the middle-grade novel The Book of Story Beginnings. She lives near Boston, Massachusetts.
Matt Tavares is the illustrator of Lady Liberty, by Doreen Rappaport; Iron Hans: A Grimms’ Fairy Tale, retold by Stephen Mitchell; Jack and the Beanstalk, retold by E. Nesbit; and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. He has also written and illustrated three books inspired by baseball: Mudball, Oliver’s Game, and Zachary’s Ball. He lives in Ogunquit, Maine.
I grew up in Sioux City, Iowa, in the beautiful hills that border the Missouri River. When I was young, I read as much as possible—new books, old books I had already read a hundred times, stacks of books checked out from the public library, and stacks of books brought home by my mother, who was a school librarian. I took piano lessons and developed the useful ability to play music while reading a book. Besides reading and playing music, I loved to draw and thought I would be an illustrator when I grew up.
In college, I took courses in many different subjects, none of them related to writing. I liked astronomy, which made me think I might like to be a physicist. Eventually I figured out that wasn’t really what I wanted to do, so I focused instead on history of science. (I still enjoy reading about how scientists figure things out.) After college, I lived first in Minnesota and then in Massachusetts. I worked at different jobs—editing, typing, and even writing—though nothing remotely related to children’s books. In my twenties, I took classes in drawing, painting, printmaking, and film animation. I tried writing and illustrating a picture book, revising the manuscript many times until I got tired of the story. I started a novel, but couldn’t think what would happen after the beginning chapters. Though I had lots of time for writing, I didn’t seem to get much of it done. It wasn’t until I was older and more disciplined that I decided I’d better try harder. As it happened, I also had a full-time job, a husband, and two children, so I had a lot less time.
Before I wrote my first novel, I assumed I should have the plot mapped out in my head. I still wish I could write that way, because it would be a lot more efficient. The fact is that I just have to plunge in and start writing before I figure out the general shape of a story. I spend a lot of time pretending to be the main characters, trying to figure out what they would do in whatever situation I’ve got them into, and trying to understand how the story will affect them. I also spend a lot of time revising what I’ve already written. I try to write in the morning, often going to the library because it’s less distracting than being at home.
Three Things You Might Not Know About Me:
1. I want to like spiders, but can’t because I’m terrified of them. I don’t like slugs and I don’t want to like them. It’s easier to get away from a slug than a spider, so I did allow my children to have a pet slug for a while.
2. I love almost all kinds of music; I can play the piano pretty well, and the violin and Appalachian dulcimer not very well at all.
3. When I was young I liked to swim and would pretend that I was going to an underwater school for mermaids-in-training.
I grew up in Winchester, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. I have always loved to draw. My parents say I’ve been drawing since I was two years old. During high school I took figure drawing classes at Boston University on weekends (a special class for high-school students), and then in college I majored in studio art. For my senior thesis at Bates College, I wrote and illustrated my first picture book, Sebastian’s Ball. Two years later, after much revision, Sebastian’s Ball became Zachary’s Ball, my first published book. Now I live in Ogunquit, Maine with my wife, Sarah, and our two daughters.
My first books were illustrated in pencil, partly because that was the medium I felt most comfortable with at the time and partly because monochromatic illustrations felt right for those stories. Since then, my style and process has changed considerably, mostly because I found myself illustrating stories that simply demanded some color. For example, the beanstalk in Jack and the Beanstalk just needed to be green, and the golden eggs needed to have a bright, yellow glow. Now I mostly work in full color, with watercolor and gouache. I try to let each story guide me, and adapt my process accordingly.
Three Things You Might Not Know About Me:
1. The best birthday gift I’ve ever gotten was the drafting table my parents got for me when I turned ten. I still use it today. There are other tables in my studio, but I do all my drawing and painting at the table I got for my tenth birthday.
2. I once played on a softball team that lost every single game. Zero wins and sixteen losses! We did much better the next season though—we even won a playoff game!
3. A poster of Boston Red Sox pitcher Derek Lowe reading my book Zachary’s Ball was once given out to the first 10,000 fans at a Boston Red Sox game! This was wonderful, until Derek Lowe entered the game in the ninth inning and proceeded to blow the lead for the Red Sox. Hundreds of people threw their posters onto the field, and the game had to be stopped for several minutes while the ground crew gathered all the posters!
