TFK Kid Reporter Claire Duncan talked to award-winning author and illustrator Kadir Nelson about his new book Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. Here’s what he had to say.
TFK:
In your book Heart and Soul, why did you choose a fictional main character [the grandmother] to tell the story of non-fictional events?
KADIR NELSON:
I chose the grandmother to show how ordinary people who weren’t famous contributed to the freedom of all people and showed courage even when nobody was noticing them.
TFK:
You’ve won several Coretta Scott King Book Awards for your work. How does it feel to win those when you’ve written about Martin Luther King, Jr.?
KADIR NELSON:
It’s an honor to win any awards and it’s meaningful to win those that honored Martin Luther King Jr., someone who made such a difference for all of us.
TFK:
What came first, the illustrations or the writing?
KADIR NELSON:
Some of the illustrations were ones I had done before and I added the others as I wrote the story.
TFK:
How did you do the illustrations? Are they paintings or drawings?
KADIR NELSON:
Some are very large paintings. I use my easel and paint on a canvas.
TFK:
How do you share these stories with kids in an appropriate way? Some of them are pretty tough, like the stories of slavery.
KADIR NELSON:
Kids don’t want to be talked down to. It’s important to tell the truth. The grandmother was able to tell the stories in a no nonsense, straightforward way.
TFK:
How do you decide what to work on?
KADIR NELSON:
It’s important to really care about the work. If I don’t love it, I don’t work on it.
TFK:
What are your favorite types of books to illustrate?
KADIR NELSON:
Good stories. I look for stories that I am interested in and that are worth sharing.
TFK:
What are your hopes for the future? If you were to write a sequel to Heart and Soul, what would you hope would be in it?
KADIR NELSON:
I would hope that people would be more loving toward each other, and as for the rest of what might come next I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.