How to Be an Elephant from Katherine Roy (′10) in September 2017 and is getting starred reviews from Library Journal and more! In this children’s picture book, she explores the childhood of an African elephant. As with her previous book, Neighborhood Sharks, she did massive amounts of research. She even traveled to Kenya where she was able to talk to elephant experts and see real elephants in the wild.

First sharks, then elephants. How do you pick your topics?

The idea to do a book about great white sharks initially came from my editor, Simon Boughton. During our introductory meeting, I told him that I’d spent a season teaching environmental education aboard a schooner on the Puget Sound, and one year later he asked if I’d be interested in doing a book on great white sharks, given my love of marine biology. There was no contract at the outset—it was just a prompt—but I ran home and got to work on a rough draft of what would become Neighborhood Sharks, which Simon bought about six months later. After turning in the final art for Sharks, he asked me what I’d like to work on next, and I told him that I’d always been fascinated by the social proximity between humans and elephants. A few months later, he bought the rough draft for How to Be an Elephant. So my topics all come from my personal interests, and I’m thankful to have an editor who listens and trusts me to follow those interests. Of course, he’s said “no” to a number of other topics I’ve pitched him, but always for good reasons!

Tags: Alumni, Cartoon Studies, Children's Book, How to Be an Elephant, Illustrated Books, Katherine Roy, Neighborhood sharks, Nonfiction Comic, Roaring Brook