Interview with talented #kidlit author/illustrator, Kari Percival

CAROL GORDON EKSTER: I met Kari when a mutual friend started a critique group. I was instantly impressed by Kari’s writing and illustration talents as well as her very thoughtful and helpful feedback of my own picture books. I’m happy to highlight her on Writers’ Rumpus!

Kari, what brought you to enter the world of writing and illustrating picture books?

KARI PERCIVAL: Since pre-school, I loved acting out stories in plays, drawing pictures, reading picture books, doing puppetry and learning through play and by observation and curiosity.

When I was in high school, I worked at Ipswich River Audubon Nature Camp in Topsfield MA, where reading lunch time picture books to kids about Nature, I noted the joy and power of picture books for children all over again. In college, I studied acting, art and later, in graduate school, science teaching.  

When my first baby arrived, I fell back into reading picture books daily, and I re-discovered my passion for the idea of writing and illustrating children’s books. That’s when I thought maybe I could try it.

CGE: How has your background as a teacher informed what you write about?

KP: Young learners do not remember worksheets, drills and tests. They remember hands-on experiences where they get to make observations, ask questions about phenomena they see with their own eyes, and make a difference. When I was a science teacher, my goal was to get kids outdoors, collecting data in their own community as part of a larger effort with local environmental organizations.

Community service-learning science projects were a cornerstone of my teaching practice: for example, my 6th grade science students participated in a project to help re-introduce an important but extirpated flowering marine eel grass to coastal ecosystems. We grew flowering eel grass in tanks in our classroom and collected data on the plants’ growth. Later, it was planted in the area and now it grows there again! Hands-on community service learning is an empowering way to learn.

I think maybe it’s not a coincidence that the children’s books I’ve sold feature children learning through doing, becoming empowered helpers through learning.

CGE: Where does your love of science come from?

KP: When I was in 6th grade, my science teacher Janet Altobello taught us ecology. In her class, I learned how everything is interconnected and how we depend on life processes, for example, the photosynthesis of plants and phytoplankton, to breathe and eat.

In class, we ran around playing modified games of tag which were science models to learn nuanced understandings of population dynamics and the energy pyramid. We build a nature trail at our school. We went to Acadia National Park. It was amazing.

Once I found out about ecology, I wanted to know how human culture could live more in balance with ecology. And I felt that all people, especially voters, should understand how all life is interconnected. It’s vital that everyone understand how all the choices we make every day have consequences for life on Earth. So teaching ecology became a kind of calling for me. I taught for 10 years in public schools. I brought my students outdoors as much as possible.

CGE: Your first book, HOW TO SAY HELLO TO A WORM, won the Ezra Jack Keats Writers Award 2023 as well as received other industry praise. Congratulations! How have these stars and honors influenced your art?

KP: Children’s book publishing can be a daunting industry to try to get into, and once you are in, there are even more unexpected challenges to overcome. Compared to my old job of classroom teaching, the pace of publishing is slow and disconnected, the pay is irregular, and the process can get discouraging. Self-doubt can creep in.

Then, sometimes I get these little thank you notes from parents: reviews sharing that my book is their children’s favorite one on their book shelf they choose every night, or parent messages sharing videos where their kids joyfully recite their favorite passages from my book, or a starred review or maybe even an award. That kind of feedback encourages me to maybe keep trying.

The Ezra Jack Keats Award is given to debut authors and illustrators specifically to encourage them to keep going. It just sort of says “Don’t quit! You may be on to something!” so when I won the EJK award, it was kind of a kick in the pants to keep writing.

I encourage readers to write your kids’ favorite authors, or leave positive reviews on Goodreads or where ever, or if you teach, ask your students to write to their favorite authors. At the right moment, a little fan mail can be AS helpful to an author as any big award. Awards are amazing and humbling, and it does feel exciting to stick that gold seal on a book. But each of us has the power to let our favorite authors and illustrators know how much their work means to us any time.

CGE: Tell us about your work schedule and process, including what comes first for you, the art or the text?

KP: I love picture books because they are a dynamic dance between image and text. Visions and images often come to me first. Then, I add as many words as needed to help the story come alive, but as few words as possible to let the images do most of the heavy lifting. This allows the viewer/reader/listener to do most of the discovery, make the most connections, do the most thinking.

For process, I find I get the best visions or solve story challenges lying in bed, hiking in the woods, taking walks, swims or in the bath tub.

As far as my schedule, it is important to schedule regular times to draw and/or write as a habit. It could be from 5-6 AM every day, or on your train commute if you have one, or Thursdays from 9-4, or Saturday nights from 8-10. Or monthly retreats of one or two days where you squirrel yourself away to write or draw. Whatever works for you. This dedicated, regular space and time gets you over the hump from an inspired idea to finishing something to submit.

CGE: Your new picture book, SAFE CROSSING, Chronicle, came out in January. It received acclaim as well as starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. Impressive! Can you give us the backstory on this title?

KP: When I made my illustration portfolio, I was advised to make illustrations showing the type of stories I would like to illustrate. I thought back to when I was a public-school science teacher, when one of my students told me how he was part of a community volunteer effort to help amphibians cross the street during their spring migration. He said it was on the first heavy rain after the first full moon after the spring equinox.  I thought showing people in the rain with headlamps helping amphibians would make for dramatic illustration, so that is where the vision of the book started. It was one example of young people getting to know their nature neighbors, witnessing their migration, and helping count them and improving their habitat.

CGE: What does the future hold for Kari Percival?

KP: I have several picture book dummies and manuscripts in development. Are homes with publishers in their future? I hope so! Some are whimsical stories for small children with nature themes.  Some are picture book biographies about scientist and activists. Some are about wildlife conservation, nature, climate, and science inquiry.

CGE: Your books are beautiful and inspiring! And I recently saw this in Publishers’ Weekly. Congrats are in order! We can’t wait!

Nicole Fox at RISE x Penguin Workshop has acquired world rights to Fall Day, All Day by Ezra Jack Keats Award-winner Kari Percival (How to Say Hello to a Worm), a picture book celebrating the ways we connect to changes in nature, with a second book to follow. Publication is planned for August 2026 and 2027; Teresa Kietlinski at Bookmark Literary negotiated the two-book deal.

Connect with Kari here:

Website: https://karipercival.com/

Instagram: @karipercival

And here are resources for teachers and caregivers:

Resources