Kevin Henkes

“You don't need to have kids to write a good book for kids. I don't want my kids to see themselves in my books. Their lives should be their lives.”

“I always craft my words to the point where I think and hope they're perfect before I ever begin sketching.”

“Books come from within.”

“I usually do my writing in a very nice room, my studio, which is in the attic of our house in Wisconsin. But the nice thing about writing is that I can do it in many places. So sometimes I'll write in coffee shops.”

“When I'm drawing, I only do that at home, really, at my drawing table. But writing I could do in other places. So I've written in airports, in hotels, different places.”

“When I work on a novel, I usually have one character and a setting in mind.”

“Sometimes I think as adults we think of them as — because they're small in size that they're small in all ways — and they're not. They have big feelings, and they have big eyes, they see things, they hear things, they're living life just the way an adult does and I think sometimes as adults we forget that.”

“When I was young, I assumed that authors must have traveled the world or done exotic things in order to tell great stories.”

“I think writers are observers and watchers. We always have our ears open and eyes open, so I might see something in everyday life that inspires me. And I think that's probably more than anything else. Everyday life is where I get my inspiration.”

“When I'm writing, I'm creating the story and its character with words. I'm thinking about what the pictures will be like, but I never begin to sketch. The pictures are all in my head.”

“When I'm writing the text for a book like 'Little White Rabbit,' I read it aloud, alone, in my studio, again and again and again - because the rhythm has to be exactly right. After I get my manuscript to the point where I think it is perfect, I begin to think about what I want the art to look like.”

“Whenever I'm writing a book, small details from my life always creep in.”

“I usually know where I want to end up when I begin, but I have no idea how I'm going to get there... I don't write with an outline, and surprises happen on the way, and sometimes it changes.”

“I like examining the ordinary, and by doing so, one hopefully reveals the extraordinary nature within.”

“Everyone has something interesting to say.”

“When I was a boy, one of my uncles had a cabin on a lake in Wisconsin. My family went there for parts of three summers, and I loved it!”

“I like small, domestic stories.”