Author/Illustrator Spotlight: Laurie Keller

Almost a teacher, Nickelodeon, Hallmark, donuts, and Potato Pants: Author/illustrator Laurie Keller

An image from Laurie's workshop.
Many more at the end.

 

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI-MI. In this piece, meet author/illustrator Laurie Keller, faculty member of the 2014 Mackinac Island Conference, and creator of Arnie the Doughnut

You grew up in Muskegon, went to Kansas City and then New York City. And apparently you know enough about the fifty (scrambled) states to write two picture books about them. So how and why did you end up miles from where you grew up?

Well, I don’t know more about the states than the average person so I had to do a lot of research to make those two states books! As far as moving away from Michigan, I initially left after getting my first job as an illustrator at Hallmark Cards. Then, as I was about to start my book career, I moved from Kansas City to New York City. I loved living in both places but knew at some point I wanted to move back to Michigan to be closer to my family…and to the lakes!

Of the bio blurbs, many mention the “shores of Lake Michigan,” but one claims you live in a “little cottage” on the shore line. Is that an accurate description, or just some writerly flourish by a copywriter?

I did I live in a little rental cottage — very little. I didn’t even have a studio, just the corner of a living room, which was one reason I started working digitally. But it was adorable and yes, “along the shores of Lake Michigan.” I was there for eight years until I bought a house just up the street. It had been a dream to live in this area once I moved back. It’s very quiet and lovely and a nice place to work from home.

We draw together

You were almost an elementary school teacher, but you said a faculty member of the Kendall School of Art and Design convinced you to go into illustration instead. Who was it, and what did they say to convince you to change careers?

After two years of going to Kendall, which I really loved, I worried that I might not make it as an illustrator. I come from a family of teachers and always thought I might like to do that too so I decided to switch paths and pursue a career in education. I was really torn. 

But over the summer I stopped into Kendall and I ran into one of my former instructors, Thomas Gondek. He told me I was “selling myself short” and that he thought I had what it took to succeed in the illustration world. It meant a lot to me and I realized how much I missed creating art, so once again, I switched courses, re-enrolled at Kendall and never looked back. 

I know I would have loved being a teacher but actually, with all the school visits I do, I kind of feel like now I have the best of both worlds—making books and then getting to interact with all those kiddos!

Signing for fans

In 1997, Nickelodeon hired you as an illustrator, and you created six network IDs using pipe cleaners and cell animation.  I went down the YouTube rabbit hole looking for your work without luck. What was it like working for the infant children’s cable network?

Actually, Nickelodeon didn’t hire me as an illustrator, I was just doing a lot of freelance work for them once I moved to NYC. It was GREAT! I loved every project I got to do for them, especially Pipe Cleaner Theater, as we dubbed it. It was the first time I’d ever seen any character of mine animated so it was super exciting and I loved collaborating with Nickelodeon and the animators. 

The animations aren’t available to stream, unfortunately - -it was long before Youtube and digital access to things. I have them somewhere on a good ol’ VHS tape though!

You spent seven 1/2 years with Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, and you credit the company with giving you a safe structure to stretch your creativity and work within the discipline of deadlines. A special workshop tasked you with creating cards from concept to retail-ready. You’ve discussed the impact of the assignment in opening your world in interviews. Looking back, all these years later, what was the secret ingredient pointing to children’s books?     

Working at Hallmark was like going to graduate school. There were so many amazing artists who I learned so much from. Watching them helped me “zero in” more on “my style” and focus on  what I really liked to do—kids cards and humor cards. 

About 5 1/2 years in, I took part in a 4-month workshop with five other artists where we got to write and create our own cards from start to finish. They weren’t for mass market at that point but just to generate card possibilities for the planners to potentially plug into their card lines. We were in a studio where we could try all sorts of printing processes, papers, art techniques, etc. and I was obsessed with the writing and coming up with card ideas. It was truly the dream job! 

As far as children’s books go, at the time, that’s not where my head was but the workshop was what got me back into writing. The downside was, I couldn’t turn it off once I went back to my illustrator-but-not-writer job, and it drove me bonkers which led to me channeling my frustration into writing my first story, The Scrambled States of America during after work hours and eventually leaving Hallmark.

While that Hallmark workshop gave you wings towards writing and illustrating children’s books, you credit the Reading Reptile bookstore with giving you lunch hour inspiration. How soon in your 7-year stint did you think to spend your lunch hour studying picture books? Did you become a regular there? 

Once I decided that I wanted to focus on kids’ cards (about a year after starting Hallmark), another Hallmark friend and I would spend many lunch hours and weekends at The Reading Reptile for inspiration. I don’t have kids so I hadn’t looked at children’s books since I was a kid and I was blown away by all the funny, beautiful, irreverent books that were being made. I was especially inspired by Lane Smith, Jon Scieszka, William Steig, Maira Kalman and my favorite, Petra Mathers. Initially I started collecting the books because of the art but soon was as interested in the stories and knew that one day I’d like to try writing my own.

Arnie the Doughnut and Hello, Arnie! are picture books but The Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut series is classified as chapter books. What’s the difference between the two formats?

picture book

The original Arnie the Doughnut is a 40 page picture book, slated toward 4-8 year olds (but hopefully readers of all ages!) while Hello, Arnie!, also a 40-page picture book, is a prequel to the original and geared toward the slightly younger set, 3-5 year olds. 

The The Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut, however is a 3-book chapter book series, black and white art, 144 pages, aimed at 6-9 year olds. I wasn’t planning on making any sequels for Arnie, let alone a chapter book. My editor suggested, since she knew that I wanted to try my hand at writing chapter books one day, that I write one about Arnie. 

chapter book

I was skeptical at first but once I dove in I had so much fun writing them. Well, except for the third one. I was making things too complicated and it took me forever to write. I was planning on a fourth but was so mentally “spent” after the last one that I couldn’t get myself to do any more at that point. 

I loved the longer format though because it allowed me to really draw out jokes and be extra silly. I learned a lot from writing them and definitely want to make more chapter books — maybe with Arnie too!

Kirkus seems to delight in reviewing your books, as if your multiple asides gave them permission to be as punny as they wanted. For The Scrambled States they said, “exuberant geographic jamboree will definitely have readers in a state.” For Arnie the Doughnut, “Donut expect this to pass young audiences without a sprinkle of giggles.” Any other fun reviews stand out?

Well, I had the “dream of a lifetime” review from the NYTimes for Arnie the Doughnut. The title of the review, by Lawrence Downes, was “Doughnut, Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and the first lines of the review read, “LAURIE KELLER is a goofball. She's a genius. She's a goofball and a genius.” 

I remember when my editor sent it to me, my head was spinning — I couldn’t believe what I was reading! I’ve had lots of memorable reviews — some great, some not-so-great, one of which was written by a 9-year-old reader. 

School visit

I had gotten a batch of letters from a class about Arnie the Doughnut. They all wrote about how much they liked the book except a boy named Chris told me right off the bat that he “really didn’t like my book”. He wrapped it up by saying, “You should put for ages 8 and under because it is not for our age it is for babies.” It’s one of my favorite reviews because it’s so honest and unexpected and I love that his teacher let him send it and didn’t make him change it to something “nice”.

As a true novice in children’s book publishing, you called a bunch of publishers to try to set up meetings to show your work. And somehow, you got four bites, and eventually a book contract. Will you describe the door-to-door selling that happened on your New York adventure?

It’s SO EMBARRASSING to admit, because I was CLUELESS as to how to go about submitting anything to a publisher. I found the book, The Children’s Writers and Illustrators Market, which pretty much said what each publisher was looking for and how to submit, but I ignorantly ignored all that and went straight for the phone numbers. 

After I wrote the manuscript for The Scrambled States of America, I naively (my picture is in the dictionary next to that word, by the way) started calling publishers on my lunch hours from a payphone at Hallmark. I told them I was coming to NYC and that I would love to show them my manuscript and art samples (I REALLY DID THAT, UGGGH!). 

Shockingly, four publishers agreed to meet with me (most likely because I worked for Hallmark)! The meetings were wonderful and the editors were so nice and very encouraging. I eventually got a couple rejection letters but they were very positive and I wasn’t discouraged because I was still on a high from my trip to NYC and decided I wanted to move there.

When did you meet Christy Ottaviano, the superstar editor who now runs an imprint in her name? You both have flexed your creative muscles since the day you became a team. How does Christy’s involvement help you as you build your impressive body of work?

Henry Holt was one of the NYC publisher meetings I had and I left art samples and a copy of The Scrambled States of America manuscript with the junior editor I met with. She ended up putting one of the art samples I left with her on her door (along with a lot of other artists’ work), and 6 months later, Christy saw it and asked about it.

 The junior editor gave Christy the manuscript of The Scrambled States of America, she read it and ended up calling me that day, telling me she wanted to publish it! Fortunately I wasn’t home and she left a message on my answering machine so I have it saved somewhere (along with those VHS tapes of Pipe Cleaner Theater!). 

Her call came the week before I was moving to NYC after quitting my job at Hallmark so her timing was absolutely PERFECT which made it all the more exciting!

As far as Christy’s involvement, I always chat with her at the very inception of an idea. She’s always open-minded but sometimes asks me to work something up more before giving me the green light. There have been several things I haven’t sold her on and I keep going back to the drawing board but since I always run an idea by her before getting too far into the writing, I usually get the YAY or NAY pretty early on. She and I have a very similar sense of humor so that has helped us really click from Day One!

You won the Geisel Award for We are Growing. How does one get nominated? What kind of ceremony was involved? Did you give an acceptance speech?

I have no idea how a book gets nominated for an award but it sure was a thrill when WE ARE GROWING! won the Geisel! The ceremony took place one morning during the ALA conference. It was a huge room filled to capacity so I was extra nervous because, yes, I had to give a speech. I was so nervous, in fact, that I wouldn’t let my mom or boyfriend record it (which I regret now). 

The audience couldn’t have been more friendly though and I actually had fun soon after I started my speech. It was such an honor to be there with the other award-winners AND a huge thrill that Congressman John Lewis, was there accepting one of his many awards for MARCH. I got to meet him and he was SO NICE!

You’ve illustrated at least ten books written by someone else. This began with the Marty Frye, Private Eye series by Janet Tashjian in 2000 and continued till 2023 with Bears Are Best, by Joan Holub. Does the fact that these are someone else’s words constrain your punny bone?

Since I was only illustrating in those books, the “to pun or not to pun” dilemma didn’t come into play so much. I do always get more nervous though with the illustrations because it’s someone else’s story and I don’t want to mess it up! 

I illustrated Adam Rex’s, Pluto Gets the Call, and that one was different because he and his editor, Allyn Johnston, wanted me to add as many silly and informational jokes as I wanted, ala The Scrambled States of America. I was nervous about messing with Adam’s story at first but after I got into it and got positive feedback from them, it was really fun to collaborate with them.

You were heavy into your take on nonfiction subjects: The Scrambled States of America (1998), Open Wide: Tooth School Inside (2000), Grandpa Gazillion’s Number Yard (2005), Do Unto Otters (2007). The Arnie the Doughnut series, and most recently Potato Pants stand out as purely fun books with no science behind them. What led you off the nonfiction path?

Classroom Potato Pants

Since my first two books had that nonfiction element to them, I didn’t know if my editor would be on board when I ran the idea of a “talking doughnut who didn’t want to be eaten” past her but she loved it. I wasn’t consciously planning to go in a different direction but was transfixed while watching the doughnut-making process at a Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop and decided to write about a pastry. 

Years later, Potato Pants popped into my head while working on the first Arnie chapter book so that wasn’t planned either. It’s been a while since I’ve done anything in the nonfiction realm but I definitely want to again (by the way, I’ve heard that doughnuts and potatoes consider both of the aforementioned books to be nonfiction!).

3-D Potato Pants

You described your writing process as a lot of crumpled-up paper while writing, and extra-long days painting. Do you still create on paper? Do you have a studio or workspace, and how have you amended it to be your own?

Yes, I have a studio now so even though I’ve still been mostly digital, I’m eager to get back to more “on paper” work again now that I have some room to play. As far as making the studio my own, if the previous owners could see it — their former bedroom — they wouldn’t recognize it. 

They had a hanging bed and multicolored-striped wallpaper everywhere but I had the bed disassembled and two opposing walls painted the happiest color I could imagine — two varying shades of chartreuse! 

I just love it, but the guy who painted it was shocked when he opened the paint cans and saw the colors. He called me into the room to make sure it wasn’t a mistake. I said, “I take it not many people paint their rooms this color?”

What’s next for Laurie Keller?

A busy couple of years! I’m illustrating three books for other people and am writing/illustrating two of my own. I don’t often work on more than one thing at a time but I kind of like it — who knew?!

A virtual tour of Laurie's studio: