Interview: Dan Santat and John Rocco

On Sunday, June 26th, while attending the American Library Association’s Annual Conference in New Orleans, I ran around to as many of my favorite kids comics creators as I could and asked them all the exact same questions. Keep in mind, exhibit halls are crazy loud and crazy busy, so there is a lot of background noise. Let me know in the comments if you have trouble hearing anything and I’ll translate for you.

Sometimes I’m just lucky. Really, really lucky. There I was, looking around for someone to interview, when who should I spy but Dan Santat. But that’s not even the lucky part! He was talking to John Rocco! See? Two great author/illustrators in one interview. So lucky!

Dan has done what seems like eighty bazillion books, but the one we’re concerned with here at GC4K is Sidekicks, about a group of superheroes’ super pets, which came out about a month ago. John, on the other hand, hasn’t done quite as many books, but he’s done just about everything else. His book Blackout is both charming and a great picture book/graphic novel bridge. Their interview is hilarious. Take a look.

Books mentioned in this video:

• Smile, by Raina Telgemeier
• Astronaut Academy, by Dave Roman (watch Dave and Raina’s interview here)
• The Unsinkable Walker Bean, by Aaron Renier
• Level Up, by Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham (watch Gene and Thien’s interview here)
• Pinocchio, by Winshluss (really, it’s not for kids)
• I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassen

Filed under: Interviews