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| Kobi Yamada | |
Kobi Yamada is the New York Times bestselling author of What Do You Do with an Idea?, Finding Muchness, Because I Had a Teacher, and many other bestselling, award-winning books. In addition to being the creator of inspiring books and products, he is also the president of Compendium. He lives with his family in the Pacific Northwest.
Would you tell readers a little bit about Others?
At its heart, Others is a book about empathy and perspective. I wrote the book with the hope of inspiring more curiosity and connection.
Where did the idea for this book come from?
It seems that we are constantly hearing about our separateness and that people are feeling more disconnected. At least that was the case for me. I believe in the goodness of people. I wrote Others to encourage that goodness and to help spark discussions about our common humanity.
Why did you want to publish this title with Ten Speed?
I was excited to be part of Ten Speed Young Readers' inaugural list. They are building something exciting! Ginee Seo and her fabulous team are talented, deeply experienced, great human beings. It has been a joy to work with them through every step of the book-making process.
Others joins Chris Raschka's Yo! Yes? in the long legacy of picture books that use the gutter as an important aspect of the storytelling. Was the formatting of this book part of your original plan?
Yes, since its inception, Charles and I saw the gutter of the book as an important part of our visual storytelling. We loved the idea of placing the tall hedge in the center of the book. It creates a physical and psychological barrier to represent the many ways we may fall short in seeing and knowing others as we form opinions and feelings about them.
This is not your first time working with illustrator Charles Santoso, but it is the first time you've worked with him on a book for children. Do you have a relationship with him through your Compendium work?
I've had the pleasure of working with Charles on a number of gift books. Others is the first "traditional" picture book we have done together. I absolutely love working with Charles. He is a master illustrator, a superb talent, and a generous collaborator. But I think what I love most about working with Charles is his buoyant outlook and kind soul. You just feel good being in his presence, even virtually, since we live in different parts of the world.
Were you two in close contact during the making of this book?
Charles and I worked very closely on the concept and visual storytelling for Others. I am delighted with his work on this book. I also especially appreciate his silliness and his tenderness as he depicted the "imagined" scenes on the other side of the hedge.
The entire text of the picture book is a conversation between two children about "them" and "there."
This is a book about differing perspectives and how they can grow and change as we grow and change. I felt that the back-and-forth conversation was the best vehicle for portraying differing viewpoints. Charles and I worked diligently to position the text so the conversation was easy to track and follow. I am very happy with the result.
The text on the final page says, "Maybe we are all here together?" Why did you decide to phrase this as a question?
I believe a book about perspective should be less about having answers and more about our willingness to wonder and ask questions. I feel that questions are portals to more understanding. My hope for the book was to spark more curiosity to consider things in a broader, and perhaps, more open-hearted way.
Is there anything else you'd like to say to Shelf Awareness readers?
Others is a story for all of us. We don't have to know someone personally to care about them. There are so many possibilities for kinship, connection, and belonging available to us all if we are open, respectful, and curious about each other.