Nick Bruel claims he’s never done a self-portrait before, but his artwork is so fun and seemingly effortless, that’s hard to believe. It’s also impressive that while he created this colorful piece, he was touring for his latest release in the Bad Kitty series, Bad Kitty: Puppy’s Big Day (Roaring Brook Press).
April Hall: I love that the portrait is so playful. It’s a play on Norman Rockwell, right? Do you feel like you are Bad Kitty or that Bad Kitty is you?
Nick Bruel: I have to confess that I didn’t give it as much thought as you’re crediting me with having. Yes, this portrait—possibly the first self-portrait I have ever made, I might add—is a play off of Rockwell’s “Triple Self Portrait.” But I never intended to make any statement on how Kitty and I might share identities. Yes, I am the Bad Kitty guy. A day doesn’t go by when I don’t think about her. But despite the appearances of this painting, I really don’t think of us as being one and the same.
AH: Obviously, you are an illustrator and an author. Does one come before the other? The images or the words? Or does the overall story come to you and you fill in the details?
NB: I love questions about process. Here we go.… First comes concept, and that manifests itself in the form of an outline. The outline is my map, which I flesh out with notes on paper and eventually type out onto my computer. Then I write my story, but because I feel strongly that pictures tell a story just as much as words do, I make my first draft by writing and sketching out the story at the same time. Because Kitty doesn’t talk, I have to sketch out her reactions to everything that’s said to her in order to understand how this story will progress. It’s a bit like having a silent movie actor cast in a talkie.
AH: The election cycle is going to heat up again soon (does it ever cool down?). Four years ago, Bad Kitty ran for president of a local cat club. Do you plan for any more politically related books?
NB: I actually don’t think of Bad Kitty for President as a political book. I think of it as a book about political process. In other words, I don’t take sides. My goal here was to go into detail about how we elect a president and not about who we should or should not elect.
You may recall in that book how Kitty is initially inspired to run for office because she’s annoyed about the stray cats who are rummaging through the trash in her neighborhood. A thinly veiled reference to immigration? Homelessness? Government subsidy? Take your pick. I decided early on that I wouldn’t take sides even on this issue, even if Kitty’s solution is to toss them all into an active volcano. But I think that’s how all cats think. I even contemplated at one point that I might define the positions of the cats on the Left side of the street with those on the Right side of the street. But I dismissed that notion pretty quickly because I decided it would be unfair to pigeonhole any mindset into a single opinion.
AH: Do you plan to go back to schools to talk with students as you did in 2012?
NB: But I never stopped. I’ve been inside plenty of schools in the past few years. It’s such a marvelous opportunity, one that every children’s book author should try to take. Think about it…adult genre authors do not get this opportunity. Aside from occasional bookstore visits and festivals, the adult genre authors do not get the opportunity to meet with and present to hundreds, sometimes thousands, of their readers with the kind of regularity that children’s book authors have when visiting schools. It’s amazing, and I always learn something from the experience. School visits help me to understand what both kids and teachers care about. Nothing can be more useful than that for what I do.
AH: Are there other current events that you’ve considered/plan to write about? For instance, the last blog post on your website addresses race in America.
NB: And this is where Kitty and I part ways. Much of what I care about, what I contemplate on a daily basis, is not appropriate for the Bad Kitty books. I care deeply about politics, perhaps more than I should. And I try very hard to understand the world through current events. But I’m not sure if most of what I waste my time contemplating should be in a Bad Kitty book.
Race is a good example. I personally believe that we live in a racially divided country. And I believe that race, income, health, health care, education, and about a million other social concerns are all strands in a very intricately woven social tapestry. But I don’t think those discussions belong in Bad Kitty books. Mind you, race exists in the Bad Kitty books. The teacher in Bad Kitty: School Daze is African American. So is the veterinarian in the upcoming Bad Kitty Goes to the Vet. So, race exists in these books. But I see no reason why I should explain anything about the race of these characters in these books.
AH: As a student, what teacher made the most impact on you and how?
NB: I really can’t pick just one. Back in third grade, Mrs. Pillsbury set the ball rolling for me by giving me the freedom to create comic books in the classroom. In eighth grade, Mr. Motley encouraged me in a way no other teacher had ever done before as a student of English literature. Ms. Mallison and Dr. Hull would continue that trend in high school. And in college, Mr. Bensten and Mr. Cairns gave me the sort of instruction and advice that I continue to use to this day.
I think one of the more thankless aspects of being a teacher is that the true results of their skill and efforts may not be seen for decades after the fact. But this is also what makes teachers and librarians so critical. Without those same skills and efforts, there literally is no future for their students. I’ve said this many times before, both publicly and privately, that we as living, thriving adults are all defined by the three most important groups of people in our lives: our family, our friends, and our teachers. Their influences on the sort of people we become are equal in importance.
See Nick Bruel at the ILA 2015 Conference in St. Louis, MO, when he speaks at the Author Luncheon Monday, July 20. The luncheon is an add-on to conference registration and tickets are $65.
April Hall is editor of Literacy Daily. A journalist for about 20 years, she has specialized in education, writing and editing for newspapers, websites, and magazines.