MAKING BOOKS COME

QA&

A Q&A with local illustrator Tom Lichtenheld, whose 30+ children’s books include “Yes Day!” and “Duck! Rabbit!”

By Hannah Hoffmeister

Photos by Kathy Green, RCG Photography; book covers provided by Tom Lichtenheld

MAKING BOOKS COME to life

If you read to your little ones before the movie, his creative process and more. particular. There are so many ways — that bed, there’s a good chance you’ve This interview has been edited slightly for I’ve witnessed — for creative people to read something illustrated by Tom length. make a living. Lichtenheld. A Tri-Cities resident, Lichtenheld is the creative mind behind bestselling titles like “I Wish You More” and “Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction  KANE COUNTY MAGAZINE: Tell us a little bit about yourself. Have you always known you want to be an artist?  KC: What’s something people may not know about your creative process? TL: How much stuff is thrown away. A Site.” On March 12, “Yes Day!” — created TOM LICHTENHELD: I have always known finished picture book should look like it by Lichtenheld and the late Amy Krouse I’ve wanted to be an artist, although I could be no other way. It should look like it Rosenthal, a longtime collaborator — didn’t always know it was a possibility. I was effortless, (like) someone just shook debuted as a Netflix movie. Recently, Kane remember drawing when I was very small; it out of their sleeve. And getting to that County Magazine talked with him about one of my first memories is sitting in a point with a piece of work is a lot of work. kitchen at a little blackboard my mom A lot of things get thrown away. Even when had on the wall. She was making dinner you come up with the germ of the idea or something, and I was drawing a ship. and you know it’s pretty good, you explore … I always loved to draw, and obviously lots of ways of executing it, and I do lots kids like to draw, and art is important to of sketches and lots of ideas. And I pursue them. I’m a big advocate for pursuing art each one of those as if it’s going to be or creativity as a career. I managed to do golden, because you have to. And then you it myself — even though I spent most start to edit, and put things together, and of my career in advertising, it was still leave things behind. And the things that get tapping into my creativity in a big way. I left behind, in a way, are just as important like to tell parents and kids, ‘Creativity is as the things that end up in the book. not just a novelty anymore. It’s actually Because that’s what got you there. Also, necessary in any career, to be able to think a lot of things that end up on the cutting on your feet and be inventive and find new room floor will get picked up later on — ways of doing things.’ I’m a big promoter nothing’s really wasted. I like to impress of creativity in general and the arts in that upon kids when I talk to kids; I show

them lots of rejects. There’s this silly little device in (Microsoft) Keynote where you can make things go up in flames, so I show all these drawings and then I hit the flame button. (Lichtenheld laughs.) Which is a big hit with the kids.  KC: What do you enjoy about kids being your main audience, and how does that inform your creative style? TL: There’s a quotation I use from an author (Alison McGhee): “Children like specificity without context.” What that means is that kids aren’t as demanding about the thread of a story, and they will let you go anywhere as long as it’s interesting. I just love that about kids. Certainly every story has certain constraints, and it does need to be satisfying, because kids will also bust you if you stray too far. But what they value more than anything is imagination. And they don’t take everything literally, and I really like that.  KC: How long has the “Yes Day!” movie been in the works, and did you have any involvement with that? TL: The book came out in 2009; I think I got the first email about someone being interested in the movie rights probably three years ago. Unfortunately, that was shortly after Amy Krouse Rosenthal passed away, so it was really unfortunate that she couldn’t be part of it. Having gotten to know Jennifer Garner a little bit from a distance, I think that she and Amy would have been kindred spirits. I had to sign some paperwork, but other than that, I didn’t have any interest in being involved in the movie. I’m not a script writer or a filmmaker, so I had no authority to impose myself on what they do. I was just marveling at the fact that they were going to take a 32-page picture book with probably 200 words in it and make it into a 90-minute feature film. I thought, ‘Well, how are they going to do that?’ Had there been a premiere, I probably would have been invited to that. They did a nice little online premiere for people who were involved in the behind-the-scenes, so that was nice; I got to see it a little bit early.  KC: What did you think when you saw it for the first time? Did it match the picture you had in your head? TL: Yeah, it matched in that it was very true to the concept. Obviously from there, it sprang into a lot of scenarios that they invented, but yeah, the concept was very grounded in the book. It was delightful.  KC: It was very cool to see your name at the end in the credits. Did that surprise you or strike you in any way?

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TL: It knocked me over. I knew that Amy and I would be credited in the movie, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know it would be so prominent. I confess to taking a picture of that scene in the movie.  KC: When I watched it, it was No. 1 on Netflix. What does that mean to you? TL: It means it’s a great family film. I think that families are probably hungry for that. After a year of so much bad news, I think it came at the right time. It just hit a sweet spot when parents and families are ready to laugh together and watch some silly scenes together, and it just owes a lot of its popularity to timing and performance, being the right place at the right time.  KC: What can you tell us about your new book, “Stick and Stone: Best Friends Forever!”? When does that come out? TL: That comes out in September. It’s a follow-up to the original “Stick and Stone” book. I created it with Beth Ferry. We collaborated on that, which was just a blast. Stick and Stone are these two buddies, and Stick decides that he wants to find his family tree. He wants to know what his roots are — am I a willow? Am I a birch? So he and Stone go out to find his family tree. I can’t tell you what happens, but it’s got a really nice resolution to it. Ultimately it’s a story about friendship and family, and how friends can be family. Are you interested in writing and illustrating?

Lichtenheld recommends joining the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, which hosts conferences and provides opportunities for both upand-coming and established writers. Go to www.illinois. scbwi.org to learn more.

 Dexter, a 4-year-old Tri-Cities reader, recognized Lichtenheld's artwork as being from one his favorite books. He had lots of questions for the illustrator!