Behind The Scenes: Round and Round the Year We Go

 A conversation Between Taylor and Author-Illustrator Carter Higgins 

Taylor Norman: When you and I first started working together (ten years ago now!) (WOW), you were a longtime school librarian. You’ve since transitioned to being an author-illustrator full-time. How has your career background influenced your work?

Carter Higgins: The greatest thing about being a school librarian was watching kids fall in love with books and their makers—so easily and fully. It’s grounding to remember that kids are such an excellent audience to create for. It doesn’t have to be my books that they fall in love with, but their intensity is so invigorating.

TN: Let’s talk about your creative process. When you write a manuscript, how do you know it’s one you’ll want to illustrate, or one better suited to someone else’s art? What strikes you first when you have an idea—how do you know it’s more than just an observation, something warranting a whole book?

CH: Oh, this is a hard one. I’ve been growing a bit here—it used to be very clear to me when something wasn’t in my art wheelhouse, but then along came Round and Round the Year We Go. I don’t know if you remember this, but when I showed you a sample of what the art might look like, I was careful to portray things and other icons of the month rather than kids experiencing those things. I didn’t think I could do kids! You did. Overall, I think my rhythm-driven work for younger kids matches my style better than something more literary or narrative. I don’t want to stop making picture books with other illustrators because there is so much talent out there, and I love the collaborative process. As for knowing when something is just an observation or a whole book? I’m still figuring that out! I suppose that’s the challenge in all this: Can’t everything be a picture book if all the puzzle pieces of structure, story, and form come together in a satisfying, page-turning way?

TN: You are always so intentional about how words sound when read out loud, since that’s how the majority of your readers will experience them. Explain your thinking behind the assonance in this text, and why you liked this technique for this particular book.

CH: This goes back to another best part of being a school librarian: reading out loud to kids, over and over and over again. Early on, I knew that Round and Round should be chantable and rhythmic, a perfect storytime-rug book. The months were a built in structure, but I also wanted to use their sounds to capture how each month feels. I love a good worldbuilding rule, even if it’s invisible. Maybe especially if it’s invisible, felt instead of analyzed. Each month’s poem is designed around the name of the month itself and how it sounds when you say that word out loud. For example, the January and February spreads have a lot of -ary sounds, July is filled with long i sounds, and the -er of November and December make a perfect kind of brrr. It’s similar to creating art with a limited color palette or batch of materials, just with text instead. 

TN: Your illustrations in Round and Round might be the most playful and heartwarming of any book you’ve yet illustrated—we talked a lot about making them feel like classroom decorations, celebrating each special moment of a year. You’ve even included a little seek-and-find element by adding mice on each spread, separated until (spoiler!) the final page. How do you make books that are sure to capture such a wide range of readers—from kids who love reading to kids who would rather be outside?

CH: A fifth-grade teacher sent me a video of her students rapping along to the text in Circle Under Berry. Yes, it was the cutest, and no, they aren’t necessarily the target audience! That definitely influenced how I wrote and illustrated Round and Round: What if these rhythms get stuck in your head long past your time on the storytime rug? In a way, you can just take that reading experience outside with you. This book suggests such a wealth of ways to play, so maybe the next time the outside kids are outside, they will be thinking about cannonballs or scarecrow costumes or the absolute injustice of having to wear a coat when it starts to get chilly out. 

TN: The nature of time passing is comforting and mysterious at the same time. I love how your book recognizes the unique and special aspects of each month of the year. Do you have a favorite month, and why?

CH: I love September. It’s like a whole new opportunity to blow the happy-new-year horn!

TN: Give us a quick hot tip on how you, as a librarian, would bring this book to life at a storytime reading.

CH: Ooh, fun! I hand-lettered (hand-cut?) the month words, and they are larger than the rest of the text. So, I’d read but pause to point at each month, cueing the kids to yell that out together. A shared poem is chantable, right? Also, I’d have tons of blank drawing paper and crayons out, because you never know when someone needs to make a leaf rubbing or draw a picture of s’mores. And we’d be sure to check out the case cover for a surprise. 

TN: Quick, give us a three-song playlist for Round and Round the Year We Go!

CH: Obviously, Carole King’s version of “Chicken Soup With Rice” and Joni Mitchell’s “Circle Game.” Plus Nickel Creek’s “Ode to a Butterfly,” which sounds like how cartwheels feel.