Be A Maker
words by Katey Howes
illustrations by Elizabet Vuković
What is the first thing you think about when the alarm goes
off in the morning?
What day is it,
anyway?
Can I sleep five more
minutes?
Do I hear someone in
the kitchen pouring rice cereal all over the floor?
Those questions we ask ourselves can set the tone for the
entire day. Which is why my newest picture book, Be A Maker (Carolrhoda, March 5, 2019) opens with this
recommendation:
It’s a question I hope every reader will make space for in
their wake-up routine. Open eyes. Stretch big. Ask yourself: today, what will I
make?
When you start your day thinking of the possibilities it
holds for creativity, kindness, innovation, and heck, even a really delicious
sandwich - is there any reasonable response other than to leap out of bed with
a grin on your face and optimism in your heart?
Be A Maker has
become, for me at least, a sort of manifesto. It’s a reminder of all the
opportunities that await when we embrace our innate, human desire to put
something new out into the world. But it started as nothing more than a
scribbled list in a little brown notebook.
I was simply playing with the verb “to make” – thinking of
all the vastly differently ways the English language applies that same word,
and how very dissimilar they are. Making time, for example, is nothing like
making faces. Making cupcakes and making friends require slightly different
techniques. So, out of curiosity, I listed all the ways I could think of to use
that one little word.
As I did, I started to imagine the list stringing together
into a story. (You know writers – we’d find the storyline in a take-out menu if
we looked at it long enough.) And of course, because my brain is obstinate, I
felt the need to write that story in rhyme. C’mon, how hard could it be? Lots
of things rhyme with “make!”
Every outing with my kids became a research trip – what did
children like to make? What did they create – and then destroy – without their
parents even really noticing?
Every couplet became a challenge. Could I find ways to
appeal to all the senses? Could I impart tension and mystery? Hope and pride?
Could I find yet another rhyme for “made?” (Raid, blade, Dennis Quaid? Hmm...
No. Definitely not.)
A year and a half and over 30 versions later, the text for
Be A Maker found its final form, gently shaped (and sometimes not-so-gently
ripped asunder and glued back together again) over time by five of my favorite
critique partners, the 12x12 picture book community, my agent and 2 different
editors at Carolrhoda. (Yeah. All that for 186 words. Whew!) And then it
travelled to Rotterdam, where illustrator Elizabet Vuković worked her magic and
MADE it so much more than I ever could have dreamed.
Seriously, take a looooong look at the illustrations, where
Elizabet has seamlessly introduced dozens of images of or references to strong
women, great thinkers, and brilliant artists. Then look again – and find a
little spider – a marvelous nature maker who needs no tools but those he was
born with – hidden in nearly every spread.
I told you she was magic.
The book follows two children through a day of making – with
their hands, their words, their hearts, their imaginations, their choices (plus
fruit and cheese! Because all the best days have fruit and cheese in them.) And it ends with yet another question, another
meditation, if you will, that might just make bedtime as meaningful as morning.
“In a day of making
choices, are you proud of what you made?”
When I share this book with kids, then ask what they are
proud of making, the responses overwhelm me. And I am never more proud of what
I’ve made than at that moment.
Katey Howes is thrilled to be making books for
children. She also makes bad jokes, great apple crisp, and messy mistakes.
Katey lives in Upper Makefield, Pennsylvania (really!) with her husband and
three adventurous daughters makers. Katey is the author of picture
books Magnolia Mudd and the Super
Jumptastic Launcher Deluxe and Grandmother Thorn,
which was named a 2018 Anna Dewdney Read Together Honor Book.
Connect with Katey at www.kateyhowes.com
Twitter @kateywrites
IG @kidlitlove
Facebook www.facebook.com/kateywrites
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