Kylie Howarth is an award-winning, internationally published children’s author-illustrator from Western Australia. Kylie has swum with whale sharks, manta rays and humpback whales in Ningaloo, piranha and pink dolphins in the Amazon, braved scuba diving with lionfish in Egypt, marine iguanas and hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos Islands and encountered great white sharks in South Africa. She can also confirm that ice-cream bean trees are real and not fiction! (And the fruit does taste just like vanilla ice-cream.) Today Kylie is visiting to talk about her latest book, the second in her graphic novel series, Kev and Trev: Snot Scary Jungle Stories!
The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reader copy of Snot Scary Jungle Stories.
From the publisher:
Join Kev and Trev’s epic jungle adventure – full of roarsome new friends and frightfully fun times! Outswing a scary jaguar, steer clear of hairy spiders, poison frogs and cheeky monkeys, and dance like your life depends on it, all the while searching for mysterious pugorillas … and Kev’s missing shorts! Jump on board Kev and Trev’s popcorn powered houseboat and sail to the jungle for their most tree-mendous journey yet.
How long does it take you to create a Kev and Trev book?
The first book took three to four years! Developing a new concept and new characters can take a lot of time, but it’s also my favourite part of the process. At the same time, I was studying how graphic novels work as I had not made one before. Now that I’ve finished Book One and know the main characters well, each new book will become faster to make. I’ll be creating one Kev and Trev book every year.
Book 2 (like Book 1) is laugh-out-loud funny and full of puns. Do you brainstorm a bunch of themed jokes before you start writing the plot? Or do you find the jokes pop up as you get into the story?
Ha ha, thanks! I love humour in books and my family thrives on jokes and banter too. So, the funny bits just pop up naturally once I start writing the dialogue. I’ll then read my rough draft to my kids, who’ll suggest more jokes (usually funnier than mine) and I’ll add those in too.
Which of the characters is your favourite to draw? (We promise not to tell the others.)
My Happy is the easiest to draw and I kind of wish I’d made the other characters just as simple. Then perhaps I could make two graphic novels in a year instead of one! Mr Happy is also my favourite as I draw him with school kids at my author visits. I love seeing him drawn in all the different kids’ styles and enjoy reading the funny speech bubbles they write for him.
Graphic novels and comics feature a lot of speech bubbles. Do you draw the speech bubbles first and then fill in the text? Or put the text in first and then draw the speech bubble around it?
It is always easier to write or type the text first and then draw the bubble around it. That way you ensure the text fits nicely inside and won’t get too squishy. I am passionate about creating books that are inclusive of struggling readers, so making sure the text is clear and easy to read is important.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?
I’m excited to be working on Kev and Trev Book 3!!! I’ve plotted a draft outline with another unexpected twist (like Book 2). I am now starting to plan each page by roughing out loose sketches. I still have a long way to go yet, though. The next steps after that will be to write and refine all the dialogue and short stories then research and design the new characters. The research stage will be fun as Kev and Trev are off to the snow in Book 3 and so am I! There will be some very COOL snow animal characters.
One last thing, thank you to all the kids who’ve read Kev and Trev! You are EPIC!!
Kev and Trev: Snot Scary Jungle Stories is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.
AWESOME EXTRAS:
Read an interview with Kylie Howarth about Book 1 in the series
Kylie’s blog post for teachers on how to encourage kids to create graphic novels
Visit Kylie Howarth’s website for more about her and her books
Do you write on a computer, or use pen and paper?
REVIEWED BY KALEIGHA, SECOND GRADE, MISSOURI, USA
REVIEWED BY VIVIAN, SECOND GRADE, MISSOURI, USA
REVIEWED BY ORLANDO, SECOND GRADE, MISSOURI, USA
REVIEWED BY BECKETT, SECOND GRADE, MISSOURI, USA
REVIEWED BY WEYLEN, 8, VIC
alphabetsoup.net.au 