Mark, congratulations on your debut picture book, Wabi Sabi (Little, Brown and Company, 2008)! What inspired you to turn the concept of wabi sabi into a picture book?
Both the simplicity of the story and the complexity of the concept. On the one hand, it is a very simple story about a cat going away and coming back, with a new appreciation for her home. Every child can understand that love of what is familiar. But I also wanted to express something that I thought would be of interest on a number of levels, wabi sabi: both an idea and a feeling, a philosophy and an aesthetic principle. I believed (and Ed Young proved) an illustrator could do artistically what I was trying to do with words. The readers would have another way to grasp what might be felt, but which is “hard to explain.”
What do you feel Ed Young’s collages bring to your text?
Well he went beyond my expectations, which were to realize visually what I was expressing with text. There is a tactile quality to the book, which makes it accessible to readers as young as three years old; they (as well as older readers) reach out to touch the pictures. The concept of using found materials for his collages brilliantly demonstrates the most important idea of the book: the unexpected beauty of simple things. The subtlety and elegance of his touch are qualities I aspire to in my text, and the originality of his vision, as I say, surpasses my own.
So far, what has been the most fulfilling part of being a children’s author?
I don’t know how many picture book authors who do not illustrate their own books have had the luck I have had – that is, having my idea so satisfyingly take shape. It is nice to create a thing of beauty, and I think Ed and I have done that. The book’s success with children has also confirmed what I believe: the parameters of what is considered kid’s literature should be broadened, and books for children do not need to condescend. Ambiguous and complex emotions, ideas and aesthetic impressions, are features of the world in which we live from birth, and all our lives we feel our way to footholds of understanding in what is always beyond us. There are as many different kinds of footholds as there are readers out there, and kids are as diverse a readership as adults are. They are, I think, capable of appreciating many more kinds of books than they are now generally offered. Since children’s books are usually read out loud by adults, there is also that other wonderful aspect of shared experience and teaching which I think invites some complexity. My favorite review was a website posting where the parent said the book began an ongoing conversation with her daughter. Out driving or walking together, they often point things out and talk about whether or not they are wabi sabi.
What kinds of reactions to this book have you gotten from young readers?
Again, my beliefs about the diversity of young readers’ tastes have been confirmed. While all the children I have read the book to, in many different settings, are respectful and at least vaguely intrigued, there are always a few who respond passionately -- some to the ideas in the text, some to its form (haibun, or prose + haiku), and many to the illustrations. These kids come up afterwards to talk to me with enthusiasm or curiosity about wabi sabi or to study the pictures. There were books that were different from the norm, to which I responded when I was young, and I always thought there would be some kids who would respond in the same way to Wabi Sabi.
What role did books play in your childhood? What were some of your favorites?
One book in particular gave me the impression, as a child, that books for children shouldn’t condescend to them: The Bat Poet, by Randall Jarrell. I still remember my mother’s voice as she read, and that was the beginning of my own interest in poetry -- in finding a voice something like hers. It is about something (poetry) that might not be for everyone. The bat stays awake during the day, although his friends think that’s weird, and he discovers a way to relate a very private understanding of beauty in the world. But the book is also about the importance of a different kind of community for readers and writers, as the bat meets a talented bird and an appreciative chipmunk. The animal Family is perhaps an even more lyrical book, also by the professional poet Jarrell. Both books are exquisitely illustrated by Maurice Sendak.
What advice do you have for parents of children who are not interested in reading?
Harry Potter, of course, if that hasn’t been tried yet. Read it to them. At five, reading Tin Tin to my daughter was a breakthrough for her, and she began reading the adventures to herself. Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes. Bring them to bookstores and watch what they are drawn to. Find out what their friends are reading. Limits on TV watching.
Do you have any future children’s books in the works? Can you tell us a bit about them?
Not many people thought a kid’s book guided by an ambiguous ancient Eastern philosophy and aesthetic principle, with haiku, Japanese text, and subtle illustrations had a chance, but Wabi Sabi has sold pretty well, so maybe it won’t sound too unlikely that I’m working on a text that has to do with the Renaissance, love, and the sonnet. There is also another text that I wrote when I was in Japan, at the same time that I wrote Wabi Sabi, and Ed Young and Alvina Ling (the editor for Wabi Sabi) are looking at that now.
