Justin Colón, the author of The Quacken (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers), illustrated by Pablo Pino, talks about breaking the rules in the kidlit space and contributing to the horror/comedy picture book canon.
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About the book: The Quacken by Justin Colón; illustrated by Pablo Pino. Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
Fans of The Bad Seed and Creepy Carrots will flock to this hilarious, lightly spooky picture book about a boy who unwittingly unleashes a ferociously fuzzy beast on his campground!
Lurking in the lake at Cucumonga Campground is a fearsome and frightening creature. Legend says that it swallows kids, canoes, and even whales whole. But all Hector sees are cute, cuddly, quacking ducks. Until he breaks the campground's most important rule--Don't Feed the Ducks--and releases...the Quacken.
INTRO
Matthew: Welcome back to the Children’s Book Podcast, where we dive deep into the world of creativity, storytelling, and the magic behind the art of creating books for children.
I’m your host, Matthew Winner. Teacher. Librarian. Writer. Fan of kids.
Today, we are thrilled to have a guest whose debut picture book adds to the canon of horror/comedy, a class much-loved-by-kids of all ages across all libraries. Joining us is the fantastic Justin Colón, the talented author of the delightful new book, The Quacken, illustrated by Pablo Pino. Justin’s work is known for its humor, creativity, and the ability to transport readers into fantastical worlds filled with wonder and adventure.
In this episode, we’ll dive into Justin’s creative process, the inspiration behind The Quacken, and what it takes to craft a story that resonates with both children and adults. We will also tip a hat to The Kidlit Hive and PBChat, two sources of connection and inspiration. Whether you’re a writer, an illustrator, or a lover of picture books, this conversation is sure to inspire and entertain.
So, without further ado, let’s welcome Justin Colón to the show!
INTERVIEW
Justin: I am Justin Colón, and I am the author of The Quacken, my debut picture book, and several other picture books soon to follow.
Matthew: Oh my word, I'm so glad I'm catching you for your debut. That's exciting, Justin. I wasn't quite sure because you've got two listed on your site, but that's very exciting. Uh, well, congratulations on your debut.
Justin: so
Matthew: much. Yeah. It's
Justin: been a
Matthew: long time in the making. I'm going to go slightly out of order just by asking you first, when did the Quacken sell?
Justin: So the Quacken sold September, well, I might as well just say it. I know exactly. September 15th, 2021.
Matthew: Okay, so as of recording, that's like three years ago ish. Almost three years, yeah. Can you recall And longer since it went
Justin: on sub.
Matthew: Yeah. Can you recall when, when you felt like you had a finished manuscript to send out when you and your agent felt like it was ready to go on sub?
Justin: Yeah. So it's actually a funny story behind this one. And I don't know if I've shared this with anyone yet, but I, I broke the rules, um, and did what no author should ever do, and I came up with the concept of the quack and I pitched it in a Twitter contest and I hadn't actually written it yet. and it got traction.
Um, and I had to have, so I had one of those pit fast Twitter. It was like a DV pit contest or something like that. That's cool. And I was thinking I wasn't going to get too far. Cause I was like, it's not a Latin story. Um, but, and then it's sure enough, it caught attention. And I had to actually have two phone calls with my agent because the first phone call, I had an offer for another book, two book deal that I wound up declining because I decided I wanted to debut with humor and not nonfiction.
Okay. And the other thing to complicate it was My agent was the only one that I had submitted to and she's like there is no way you're gonna get married to me without Dating first so now you have to go try other agents So we did and then we had a second call and at some point during all this when she heard about the quack and she's like You need to write that story and then get back to me and we'll have our call Okay, and I think I wrote that.
Um, oh man, it happened fast Like it was percolating for a year happened within about two weeks Two weeks and then I had to wait the holiday hiatus to hear back from her
Matthew: Yeah,
Justin: we signed went on sub that month and then within like six days, I think we had our first R& R at a big five And then we did two R& R's with that editor, then another, it was an editorial director at a Big 5, and then a different editorial director was interested at a Big 5, and we did three R& R's for them.
And then what wound up happening was, at the very end of the summer, uh, a third editorial director jumped into the mix and said, I don't need any R& R's, I love your original story. Your original! So no revise and
Matthew: resubmits, wow! So that's
Justin: what we sold. So it was a few. And that is
Matthew: what, the original is what, what, got it.
Okay, great.
Justin: Yeah. So the original is, it's the one that we sold wound up being the closest to the original. It's very, it's very close to the original to the point where my editor actually didn't even want us to tweak too much because she felt it was very close to what she wanted to publish. Okay. That's, so it took a little bit to land there, but I'd say the process in retrospect was pretty fast.
Okay, so for,
Matthew: I was gonna say for, for, for all of your readers, um, school age and grown up and, and reading aloud to others, describe for us the story of the Quacken. For again, those that have not come across this yet. Yeah,
Justin: of course. Uh, so the Quacken is a horror comedy picture book. I would describe it as suspenseful, slightly spooky, uh, maybe even a bit scary, and a whole lot of silly.
It is about a boy named Hector who, with his parents, goes to a campground during the summer and, He does not heed the warning of his fellow campers who say don't go near the ducks Don't look at the ducks. Don't even think about the ducks and whatever you do. Do not feed the ducks and of course he uh, he feeds the ducks and he releases a Gigantic beast of legend it is this fearsome Ferocious frightening creature and some say can swallow canoes campers even whales whole and it wants to eat Hector you And it really does want to eat him.
Matthew: I love the story beats of this book. It feels so much to me, like a classic cartoon. Do you have it? I haven't, I have it in front of me. You don't have it near you. Do you?
Justin: I have an FNG that all the pages have fallen out. So they're all over the place, but I have a copy. Oh, so do you, do you want to read
Matthew: the opening to us?
If you can't find it, I got it
Justin: right here. So I have a few, I can give you the opening spread if you want. It's pretty much, it's similar to what I think I read. Um. Go for it. Legend had it that a creature lurked in the lake. A fearsome, ferocious, frightening creature. Some said it swallowed canoes, campers, even whales whole.
But Hector didn't believe the legend. All he saw in the lake were cute, cuddly, quacking ducks.
Matthew: Oh, it's so good. I love that on the cover, Pablo's illustration is like the sun setting, but it is the face of The Quacken. There's so much, there's so much even on the, on the back cover, the, the, the, the vehicle driving away and the shadow of The Quacken.
There's so much that's on there. ominous, I think is what I'm trying to say about this book. Talk to me about where this came from. I immediately felt so much like, Oh, Justin is telling us about him. I don't know if this is childhood, Justin, if this is, Oh, you love a good, a good pun, a sense of humor, a good suspenseful.
I think so many of us humor and horror. when tied together work really well. It's very, I wrote to you in another, uh, question. It feels that feels quintessentially like Boy Scout camp to me, like Cub Scout camp around the fire, horror and comedy together. Tell me about that origin for you.
Justin: Yeah, definitely.
So first of all, I love the cover, right? He got that classic creature feature cover. Um, and that's what I was going for, right? So when I first broke into picture books, one of the very first picture books I read was Creepy Carrots. Oh, wonderful. Yeah. Till this day, I love Creepy Carrots. It's an enormous success.
That's why it's a perennial favorite and it's still on shelves throughout the year and especially Halloween. Um, it's brilliant. And what Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown accomplished together. And I always knew that I wanted to do a horror comedy in the picture book format. And so when I came up with the Quacken I just knew that's what I wanted to do, right?
Um, and I played around with different ways of telling the story, like, is it gonna be a giant duck on the high seas? Are we gonna have pirates? And then essentially I settled for, if this is gonna be a horror comedy, it has to be in a forest. I need to play off of classic tropes, right? Um, and I wanted to go for that campfire tale.
And because I am a, I love creature features. I love horror comedy. Um, so like my, my, my picture book next year that's coming out, uh, is called The Zombies. It's a, I always, I was saying this as Portmanteau, but it's Portmanteau, someone told me. Thank you to the person who told me after my webinar. Um, yeah.
And I, so I've, I've fallen in love with those and I have the zombies coming out next year with Simon and Schuster, which is the follow up to this and then after that I have Vampyr about a vampire kitten looking to find a loving home and so I've, I've really loved creature features in the picture book format.
That's terrific. Yeah, I find those fun and I think, Pablo was great at bringing that to life. And I get to work with Lucy Ruth Cummins, who...
Matthew: Oh, Lucy Ruth Cummins.
Justin: Yeah. So right. Brilliant, brilliant author, illustrator, brilliant art director. So that's been fun as well. And what was the next part of the question?
Was it about Boy Scout camp? I know
Matthew: I'm getting. Well, yeah, I, I want to go there. I think before we go there, I want to say to you, you know, we librarians are one to make a good book display and doing a great, like horror comedy picture book display is a great one. So being a fellow lover of picture books, I want to recommend one to you in case you haven't read it yet.
Go for it. It's a terrific picture book called. The Hampire. Have you heard of Hampire before? By Sudipta Barthan Quallen.
Justin: So it's funny, I do think I heard that. And in preparing for this podcast interview, the very last podcast interview I heard was you recommending that exact book.
Matthew: No kidding! It's another one of those Clearly you love it!
I love watching, I love any book to me that I can read it to children and feel them squirm a little bit. I really like that leaning in, that squirming, that excitement, that delight. And Creepy Carrots nails that and, and Hampire nails that. And now you've got, I love In the Quacken, much like Creepy Carrots, much, much like all of these books, you show the thing that we're fearing, or Pablo shows the thing that we're fearing.
immediately. There's no question what this is going to look like. It's not like we're going to turn a corner. It's just going to be a little baby duck. No, no, no. We're showing you scale from, from the outset. Uh, and instead we get to play with the anticipation, the legend, uh, And the knowing that this kid is going to encounter this monster.
What is going to happen? Um, the the the question that I had tied in or blended in to my original to you was asking you about boy scouts about summers in the woods about Those memories you had just and I really wanted to know Or I'm curious about where storytelling and or your, your draw to stories comes from.
And I was sort of hypothesizing before talking to you. I wonder if it came from campfire stuff with camping and Cub Scouts.
Justin: Yeah, so it's funny because, so when I was from middle school through high school, uh, every summer for one week, I would go to a summer camp for Boy Scouts in Rhode Island. It was this 1800 acre, um, piece of land and we would work on merit badges and there was all different troops there from all over the country.
Um, and obviously campfires and things like that. And I wouldn't say that actually directly. impacted the storytelling, influenced the storytelling so much as I did have those things to rely on when I was, even if it didn't make it directly into the story, right, of what is a camp like, like what's this world like when I was doing the world building, and I knew I wanted to go for that kind of vibe, which Pablo was great at bringing to life, but in terms of the actual influence for the story, you hinted at it in the question, which was cartoons.
Um, I know a lot of people write for children, but when I'm writing for children, I'm also writing for myself because I still have that same sense of like kid, like humor and every, like every night I watch cartoons. I still, um, we'll watch Nickelodeon, right? And I'm, and I'm on all the cartoons and I think, and I even teach humor classes.
I think these cartoons are brilliant. Lessons in how to craft comedy, right, especially effective comedy for, for children, but that also works for adults. And so I'd say the cartoons are really what kind of blends into my work and that's what I grew up on too, right?
Matthew: Where, where did your draw then to tell stories, specifically to tell them to children, where did that come from?
Justin: So, um, I live at home and, uh, my family adopted my little brother who, he is now a preteen. And I remember raising him almost like a parent and I would start, I started reading picture books to him. And I was always a writer, but it was more academic and I would help tutor people in writing and things like that.
I thought picture books are easy. I can do this, right? And that couldn't have been the furthest furthest thing from the truth. And I thought I'm going to do one picture book and take off, right? And like, check that off my list. Like, I think many people have this idea of doing, and I just got sucked into the world of picture books, like, because from coming from an acting world, I just thought I have to nail this with the craft and get it right.
And I have to tell great stories. And before I knew it, I just was. Immersed in it. I fell in love with the community. Um, I fell in love with the format itself and there's something just so special about picture books themselves. Right. And even though my little brother, um, has moved on from picture books, unfortunately, even though I'm still trying to always get him to read picture books with me, um, my love for picture books still remains and will always remain.
Right. And that's kind of where the storytelling evolved from.
Matthew: Justin, when I met you, we first met on Twitter through PB Chat. When I. met you virtually. Um, that is exactly the impression I got of you is I'll put it in my words. I felt like, Oh, this is a guy who's studying. He's studying the picture book space, not only the people who are making stories, but the people who are connecting through writing stories, the people who are recommending, uh, mentor texts and mentor authors.
Um, that I saw you being a student of. picture books in the same way, I think that I fashioned myself through this podcast over a decade of episodes, really approaching it as a masterclass. Let me really understand where you end in the book begins. If there's even an ending in the beginning, I'm really curious about the way we express ourselves and understand ourselves through art and specifically through the medium of stories.
And so it was really. It's really neat to me when, when, when your publicist reached out and said, Hey, can I send you a book? Justin, it wasn't until I was holding, I opened the, the, the, the, the packaging and held it and realized, this is Justin. I know who this is. And I was seeing your arc. I was seeing I saw you studying and connecting and helping others connect.
And now you have this book out. So that wasn't say that to you to say that was a really neat thing for me. Congratulations on having a book published. That's a hard thing to do. I'm glad you also learned. It's a very hard thing to do. And the best thing about books is that maybe the worst thing, but also the best thing is that a really, really good one does feel easy.
It feels easy to replicate because. It's so good. And we realized when we spend time trying to do it, those are the people that have real gifts, if they can make it appear that easy, we're watching a master at work when they do that.
Justin: Yeah, I totally agree. I think it's. It's a skill, right? It's beyond a talent.
It's a skill, something that you perfect and you put in so much time and energy and investment in. And I think it's the same with acting, right? Coming from the acting world, a lot of people go into acting thinking it's easy, anyone can do acting. And I know a lot of the way society is working nowadays, um, and how we reward certain people in the acting industry.
It can seem like you don't need any technique, right? But the, some of the greatest actors out there have really put so much time and energy into perfecting their technique and then they make it look effortless that their performance just looks like they are the character, right? Yeah. And I think it's similar with any real.
Art form, but it's so we could say the same
Matthew: for stand up comedy.
Justin: Yeah, same thing. Yeah, definitely. And that is a tough one. But, um, But with like picture books, right? Some of the best ones out there. They just make it look so simple and you're like Anyone can do that, but you really can't and that's what makes them a master of their craft, right?
Matthew: Yeah, I mean you also have the magic of the right illustrator on that book and I Recognize that some of that is the art director. It's Lucy Ruth Cummins knowing different artists knowing the voice of your story imagining what the outcome could look like the The fact that Pablo, you know, has created a world that feels so cinematic, and I, I think I'm drawn to books like that, to illustration styles like that, especially in a text like you have in The Quacken, that it, it more feels like he's directing a camera than it does he's illustrating something.
And that is a really immersive experience. quality to a book like the Quacken. And he, he, he, he just, he, he nails it. You really got, I don't know how else to say it this way. I don't mean it, I don't mean that it was luck, but it kind of feels like the right thing to say to you feels like you got lucky with Pablo Pino doing your work because it's, it's fantastic for this book.
Justin: So it's a funny, actually, there's a, Might have been a little bit beyond luck. Um, Pablo's work, like you said, was cinematic, right? Oh yeah. And I remember they were suggesting some illustrators. And I wanted to work with a fellow Latino creator and I stumbled upon Pablo's work online. I was just going through every agency list.
And I saw his and I thought instantly the same, like you said, the perfect words, cinematic. And I saw that and I was like, this is cinematic. Now this is how I envisioned it. And what him and Lucy together really created something that feels edge of your seat. suspenseful and fun and at the same time silly, right?
Like not too spooky, but it's also got that sense of silliness to it. Um, so definitely I would agree cinematic and I, but I do think that I got lucky in having Lucy Ruth Cummins and then Pablo team up. It was just perfect.
Matthew: Ah, yeah. Hey, let me jump back to Picturebook Chat, Kidlet Hive, your work as a voice actor, your work as an on screen actor, all of these things, I can see through lines in them, but, but tell me how PB Chat started.
How was it formed? Tell me a little bit more, if you don't mind, that impetus of of going out onto that space and starting that, that thing. I was a regularly attending, I should say at the time I was regularly attending, I think it was Thursday nights, Kidlet, uh, Kidlet art. I loved going onto that hashtag and just seeing artists share art.
And I just went there and I lurked and I complimented people and just said, I can't wait to see your work in a picture book. It's really beautiful. That was a fun thing for me. It was a delightful thing. What about PB chat?
Justin: Yeah, first of all, I loved Kidlet art. Um, so many skilled illustrators and getting to experience their work, right?
Through social media. Um, so with PBChat, the way it worked was when I had written that first manuscript of mine, I had written it in December of 2017 and some very nice, uh, stranger who was on the SCBWI boards at the time said, hey, there's this mentorship, uh, you should apply for it. Oh, okay. I thought it was a scam.
I didn't believe it coming from the world of Hollywood. I said, it's just someone looking to somehow get my money. So I didn't, I waited until the very last minute to apply before the deadline. And to my surprise, I got picked and it was Pam Calvert. And my story was not good, but she, it was not, it won't see the light of day, but she saw the potential with the humor, not with the technique.
And she gave me the, the way of looking at the craft. Right. And the way the story has structure. And I worked with her for three months. It was incredible. And I, I wanted to give back to the community and I put out one day, I had this idea and I said, Hey, would anyone be interested in like a weekly chat where we come together and we discuss a topic every week related to the craft and business of picture books?
And it was a resounding yes. Right. So I, um, put that together and. HeBeChat was born and every week we, we came together on Wednesday nights and sometimes it lasts into the early hours of the morning. We discussed, uh, prompts, we shared our good news and updates. We did, oh my God, I can't even believe how many giveaways we did.
And then, and then it, it evolved into a mentorship that lasted for four years. I think 115 mentees and dozens of that mentorship. No, that was PB Chat. Oh, that's still PB Chat. I don't think I was
Matthew: around when that was a mentorship. Wow.
Justin: It was PB Chat. It went for four years, 115 people and dozens went on to secure representation, uh, book deals.
Like we just had a book birthday yesterday for someone. Um, and then from there, like the pandemic hit, I was out of work as an actor and I thought like it was starting social media. People were in an overwhelmed with life at the time in the world. And.
Participation started falling a bit, but it was still a 40 hour a week labor of love for me.
And when that kind of died down, I thought, how else can I give back to the community? And I knew that now I was starting to build up the credentials with my book sales and my skill. And I thought that's how the Kid Lit Hive was born, right? Which was a combination of my love for beekeeping, which is where the name came from.
And then Kid Lit and the idea of us all as like a hive, a community.
Matthew: Community together. Yeah. Well, being able to be a connector is is I think what does for so many of us make this children's book space feel, feel so good and so safe and so, uh, maybe welcoming. There are certainly plenty of people that, um, still think.
It's easy to make a book and let's just go and do it. But there's also a lot of people in this space, a lot of people that from my experience, just, just want to see you succeed, just want to cheer you on. And that has made me also want to be one of those people of just, Oh, it feels good. It feels good to cheer people on and to celebrate new things coming out in the world, because also let's not forget that it's its own hurdle, even just to get a book published.
But then after that, to have. People find it is hard. There are so many books that come out every year and how that right book finds the right reader is, um, uh, that's, I guess where we librarians come in as well. It's a very, very special thing to be on this end and. to find that book that we have fifth grade graduation tomorrow, Justin, as of recording this.
And I will hear tomorrow at the fifth grade graduation assembly, some students inevitably will share their favorite books. And there will, there will always be ones that were this teacher read this to me in first grade, and it's still my favorite one, or this happened. And, and I, I was part of this battle of the books team where I was part of, uh, this reading group or whatever.
And you just see that that right book at the right time. We'll stick with us forever and ever. What a neat thing to be in that space, not only making books ourself, but also what you're doing, helping other people to, to find a space here as well.
Justin: Yeah, well, first of all, I just want to say that you've been a champion, right?
So, so much of this can feel isolated and what makes it special a lot of times in Aside from just the art of storytelling is the community, right? Yeah, I remember early on coming into this you I was just telling you right yours was one of the first podcasts I ever listened to before I had any experience in the picture book world um And those are the little things that I know they're labors of love and they take so much time and energy, right?
Like you're doing this. It clearly so much work goes in behind the scenes, but it brings so many people joy like creators, but also readers and fellow librarians and teachers. Um, so thank you for that. And I do, I will say it is always interesting seeing the impact that books have on people's lives.
Sometimes I'll read a review and it will be a reader that's now an adult that says, I read this 20 years ago and I still remember it and had such an impact on my life where I'm reading it to my children now. And there's something really special in that, right? Like it's, someone has left their mark on the world through their stories.
Matthew: Yeah. I, I'm grateful for this chat, Justin. I want to close us here because I feel like I can feel the anticipation of all that's to come for you. And I can't wait to read these books and to, to see and hear stories from you of meeting those readers, of meeting your readers and sharing those readers. Um, but I'll ask you that question that I asked.
all of my guests, which is that I will see a library full of children tomorrow morning thinking about our readers. Is there a message that I can bring to them from you?
Justin: You know, it's funny. I thought about this really hard and I think essentially, I don't think I would bring a message to them so much as I would love to be the one that's in that room listening to the children share their stories with me, right?
There's just something special in their perspective of the world. They're some of the best storytellers. So instead of bringing something to them, I almost feel like I would want to bring myself and just listen, right? Be a fly on the wall and hear these children. So it's pretty much my way of cheating out of the answer, but I think it's, it's, it's true.
OUTRO
Matthew: Thank you to Justin Colón for joining me on The Children’s Book Podcast.
You can pick up your own copy of The Quacken (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers) wherever books are found. Consider supporting independent bookstores by shopping through Bookshop.org. You can also use my affiliate link by clicking on the book’s name in our show notes.
Our podcast logo was created by Duke Stebbins (https://stebs.design/).
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You can support the show and buy me a coffee at matthewcwinner.com or by clicking the link in the show notes.
And on that note…
Be well. And read on.
End Of Episode
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