What Are the Odds? Cecil Castellucci on Odd Duck and Being Yourself

Bestselling author Cecil Castellucci makes a transition to children’s graphic novels with the new book Odd Duck. We talked to her about what it’s like to jump into a new genre and why kids’ books are so hot right now.

Odd Duck
 
The audience for Odd Duck is a little bit younger than the one you normally write for. How did it feel to make that transition?
 
I loved it! I am a strong believer that you have to follow the story and tell it the way that it wants to be told so in that sense, the transition was easy. I had written a picture book before, Grandma’s Gloves, but that’s a very sad book, so it was a real treat to write something that was fun.
 
Is it difficult to adapt your writing style to that age group, in the sense that word choice and the difficulty of the plotline become even more important for young readers?
 
Not really. I think it is more difficult if you are trying to squish a story into an age range that is not natural to the story. I just let Chad and Theodora sort of lead the way. I think when you have strong characters you don’t have to worry about those kinds of things. Kids are super smart and they are very game to read up and to infer things. If you write it, they will come along for the ride. One of the things that [artist] Sara Varon and I tried to do with this book was make it so that it worked in a few different ways. One, a kid who couldn’t read could follow the sequential story and pictures. Two, a kid could read it themselves or a parent could read it aloud to a kid as a picture book. Three, sophisticated readers could have fun with the little asides. That could be any age.
 
What are the lessons you hope Odd Duck imparts?
 
One thing that I was thinking about when I wrote the story was that we never think that we’re odd. But we totally are. Everyone is odd about something. So I hope that Odd Duck imparts the idea that it’s OK to be yourself and it’s OK to let someone else be themselves and it’s important to respect that in ourselves and in others. Also, that friendship sneaks up on us and it doesn’t have to look like what we think it should look like. Friendship just is. And that is beautiful.
 
We’re seeing more and more graphic novels, as opposed to picture books, being aimed at young readers. What made you want to write a book in that field?
 
At first that wasn’t what this book was. It was originally going to be an early reader with spot illustrations. It was at another publishing company and they hired Sara Varon to do the illustrations. Once she was on board, I thought since we both did comics that it was a great opportunity to throw out the words and do something super special. Sara was game. That publishing company wasn’t, so we happily skipped over to First Second, who totally got what we were trying to do. I love that there are more and more comics for the very young reader. I think that it helps with kids’ fluency in a number of ways. Learning about story, giving them agency over understanding if they aren’t strong with their words yet. Also giving them a visual literacy.
 
Do you have plans to do more children’s graphic novels?
 
I hope so! First off, I hope that Sara and I get to do a couple more stories with Chad and Theodora. I love them! But as I said earlier, I really try to follow the voice of the story and try to tell it the way it wants to be told. So if that is a comic book, or short story, or novel or kids book, I just write it and let it be what it wants to be. But there is something super magical about writing for little kids. I totally plan to do it again in some fashion.
 
How did you and Sara Varon team up? Were you a fan of her work before you partnered on this book?
 
I was and am a huge Sara Varon fan. I love Chicken and Cat and Robot Dreams, so I was thrilled when she was going to be the illustrator. And she was so fun to work with. The whole thing was a real treat.
 
When did you most feel like an odd duck growing up?
 
I still feel like an odd duck! Why, just yesterday I got all tangled and tongue-tied with an equally odd friend. We were walking down the street misunderstanding each other and saying pretty much the same thing. I totally felt like it was a Chad and Theodora moment! When I was growing up, instead of playing kickball, I tried to organize operas. Everyone thought I was weird. At some point you just kind of go with it.
 
Do you have other graphic novel projects in the works that you’d like to let readers know about?
 
Yes! I have a graphic novel with Joe Infurnari that is still untitled coming out from Dark Horse in fall 2014. I’m so excited about it. It’s a YA book about a girl, Pearl, who runs away from home, dresses up as a boy and meets an old Hobo named Ramshackle, whom she then rides the rails with in 1932 as they both try to sort themselves out.
 

-- John Hogan