Jarett J. Krosoczka Transcript

January 26, 2008

Dr. Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to “Sound Authors”. Today is a day that we’re thinking about a whole bunch of children’s books and things like that in the middle of winter when everybody’s getting colds and laying at home listening to audiobooks, checking out those big beautiful picture books that we all had as kids and wish we could still read now.My next guest is Jarrett J. Krosoczka, is that right?

Jarrett J. Krosoczka: Yes, pretty much. I mean, we pronounce it [changes pronunciation of name], but whenever I meet older generation Polish people, they correct me and say that the correct pronunciation would be [changes pronunciation again], but my family, I guess, we’ve Americanized it. So it’s [changes pronunciation again].

Dr. Kent: Krosoczka, wonderful. Now Jarrett J. Krosoczka is the author of “Punk Farm” which has won countless awards including the “Child Magazine” Best Book of the Year and many others. Most importantly, he’s created a rock and roll sensation among kids and animals everywhere. Welcome to the show.

Jarrett: Thanks for having me, Dr. Kent.

Dr. Kent: Absolutely. Well, tell me a little bit about “Punk Farm”’s beginning.

Jarrett: ”Punk Farm” the book itself was published in 2005. And a few years before that I was working on a few different stories. One story was about a pig who liked to fly kites and his friend who was a depressed chicken. And I loved painting these farm animals, but I didn’t really like where the story was going.And separately, I had another story about a kid who was a rock star and I liked the idea of doing a book about rock stardom as a children’s book, but I didn’t really have a story that I was really jiving. And it was one day when I realized my rock star book was supposed to be about a group of rock stars, not just a single rock star.And it was around that time I was cleaning up my studio, and I found that painting of the pig and the chicken and I said, “Oh, this book’s supposed to be about a group of rock stars who are farm animals.”

Dr. Kent: Awesome. Well, your books are vibrant and fun to read. I was glued to every page. Is it fun for you to be in that world?

Jarrett: Oh my gosh, absolutely. I mean, when I finished the first “Punk Farm” book, I just had a few weeks of depression because I was, man, I spent every day painting these farm animals playing rock music and, you know, you’d wake up in the morning and you think that to yourself and you can’t have a bad day when you’re just painting farm animals with guitars.So yeah, man, it was such a fun experience. I had a blast doing it.

Dr. Kent: So I was going to ask just a little bit later on, but I’ll go ahead and jump in. Are you also a “serious” artist and writer?

Jarrett: Ah, I wouldn’t say…I mean writing and illustrating for kids makes me a serious author and artist. If you mean do I write stuff that would be more geared towards older people or paint stuff that are more geared towards older people?I try to. I’m so consumed in this world of children’s books right now that it’s hard to find the time between the writing and illustrating that I do and the traveling that I do to talk to kids at school. So I’d like to get more paintings going of settings from life or landscape painting, but it’s hard to find the time sometimes.

Dr. Kent: Right. Yeah, it was a loaded question.

Jarrett: Sure. No, it’s completely understandable.

Dr. Kent: [laughs] But the paintings are so beautiful and vibrant. Where did you get your start painting? Because it’s not just the fun story, it’s the wonderful paintings that people love. Did you do a bunch of landscapes and still life?

Jarrett: Yeah. Yeah. When I got to art school, I was all about wanting to draw cartoons or something. And I grew up wanting to be a cartoonist in some way. And when I got to art school, suddenly it’s like you have to draw from life, you have to paint from life. And initially, I was just kicking and screaming going into these classes thinking, “Oh, this is such a waste of time. I just want to draw cartoons.”And I started getting really into my painting classes, and I took a painting class every semester, painting from models, painting from still lives. I had to take a landscape painting class, and I really loved that.So the style in which I work really sort of came about when I just fell in love with painting in art school. Specifically, when we had to do a master copy, which was we had to pick a famous classical painting and copy it. And I did a John Singer Sargent. I made a copy of a John Singer Sargent painting and just fell in love with his style and the way he applied color and created light.So yes, the fact that I paint is really based out of that, I guess, the classical fine artist training I had in art school.

Dr. Kent: Right. You’ve now applied that to the barnyard. Do you visit barnyards to get inspiration?

Jarrett: Well, yeah. When I first was writing this book, my father, he lives in an area that’s much more…like you’d definitely pass cows when you’re heading to his house. And I definitely would just keep a camera in the car and take a few pictures of barns or farm animals.So I definitely spent some time in that sort of farm environment, instead of just taking a look at how the barns are put together, how the landscape was put together.

Dr. Kent: I know that we probably both have parents from the same generation. And my folks are among the ones that resisted rock and roll. They said rock and roll is evil - no, not evil, but they said, “Well, Bob Dylan ruined folk music.” [laughs] Their perspective on punk music is that, “Oh, my gosh. What’s this noise?”So what has been the reaction of parents and teachers and all that to “Punk Farm?”

Jarrett: Initially, I think my publisher may have been a little bit nervous of the word “punk”. But I think it’s become such a part of popular culture that people haven’t even batted an eye over the idea of it being like loud, fast music for kids.

Dr. Kent: Right.

Jarrett: I haven’t gotten any flack, at least none that people have told me to my face or people that have–I mean I haven’t seen any blogs pop up where parents or teachers were horrified by it.

Kent: They’re all used to seeing piercings and all this already.

Jarrett: Yeah, yeah. There was one blog once where it was for actual–you know hard core punk rockers who accused the book or the idea of the book of becoming the death of punk music, becoming used as a story for kids but that’s just ridiculous.

Kent: I’m very amused by the accessorizing that you did on your farm animals. How did you build these characters? Did you think of them in your head and then for all these upcoming books you kind of know what their little persona is?

Jarrett: Yeah, yeah. You know within the multiple drafts that I created for the first book the characters’ personalities really came to life. The pig is very egotistical. The sheep is all about the music. The chicken is neurotic. The goat is overly chill and the cow–she’s like a cheerleader. I wanted it to be like when you think of the Ramones with their big black sunglasses posing and looking tough.I think that’s where I have the most fun with these characters. I’m creating a black and white publicity shot where it’s just them looking tough but it’s just a sheep and a pig, you know.Then on Punk Farm on Tour they get a little bit edgier. They get a little bit darker. You know the chicken wears a tie in the first book that’s orange and in the second book it’s black. The pig–his bracelet studs get a little bit sharper, and the sheep is starting to spike his hair. So it’s fun to manipulate it just slightly. People might not notice it at first glance, but I try to add a little detail. On Punk Farm on Tour they’re getting a little bit more popular.

Kent: So what’s the next stage after they go on tour here?

Jarrett: I don’t know. I’ve written a third book and I’ve sent it to my publisher. I’m hoping it’s a book that I get to spend some time with. I don’t want to give too much away so I don’t want to say what happens next.

Kent: But there’s something coming up?

Jarrett: There’s something coming up. I hope so. Fingers are crossed. I have some more plans. I am not done with these characters. Even after the second book - I finished the second book and I thought ‘oh, man, I’m finished with these characters for this go. I’m anxious to get back to the drafting table to spend some more time with them.’

Kent: And how do you interact with kids every day? What are kids’ reactions to this book?

Jarrett: Well, I tour the country fairly sensibly. I visit schools. Schools schedule me to come in and talk to their kids about the writing process and the illustrating process. Of all my books I can definitely tell they just really have affection for the book. They really just get into the character and the whole attitude of it being this punk rock book, I guess.When I read the book I have them meditate and find their inner punk rock farm animal and they become the audience. So I’ll shout out “Old McDonald had a farm” and they’ll shout “e-i-e-i-o” and I’ll have them pump their fists into the air and pretend like they’re at a concert and stuff. Yeah, they totally dig it.

Kent: Awesome. The fun thing about the book is you do use those songs that we’re all familiar with. How did you get that idea?

Jarrett: Well, I’m a big fan of punk covers of songs. There’s this band called “Me First” and the “Gimme Gimmes” and every album they have is a different genre. So they have a Motown CD and it’s all Motown, it’s punk or folk music is punk.I have in my iTunes this vast collection of random groups who are doing punk covers of old songs. There are a few compilations that came out a few years ago. One was called Punk Goes the 80s or Punk Goes the 90s. I just think it’s hysterical. Punk covers of songs. They’re just great. Originally, I was thinking of writing an original song for them, and then I thought how funny would it be if it was a punk cover of a nursery rhyme?

Kent: Exactly. One of the fun things about the book is that it does go over the top. I honestly don’t think it kills punk. I think they overdo the song and that’s appropriate - the ridiculous ending. It’s fun. So is there an audio soundtrack to this whole thing? I know on the website there are some sounds.

Jarrett: Yeah. All of the punk farm music is available as free downloads at punkfarm.com. Originally, when the first book was coming out I pitched the idea of the book coming with a CD to my publisher. But when books come with CDs they cost that much more money, the production costs goes up, and so the price to the consumer goes up. We didn’t want to put the book at risk. We wanted people to fall in love with the characters in the book.So in this day of the Internet, MP3 players and iPods we can get this thing recorded, throw it online and give it away free that way. That’s proved to be an incredibly effective way to get the music out there. I think we probably got the song out to more people that way than if the book had come with a CD, for sure.

Kent: So what’s the next project outside of Punk Farm? Are you working on some other things?

Jarrett: Yeah, I’m about eight pages away from finishing what will be my next book. My next book is going to be a 96-page comic book, and it’s called “Lunch Lady”. And it’s about a lunch lady who fights crime. So imagine if your lunch lady from grade school was a secret agent spy and knew karate and all of her lunch lady paraphernalia–her spoon becomes a phone or a spatula becomes a helicopter. She uses all of these gadgets to fight crime, sort of a James Bond character.

Kent: Awesome! I like it.

Jarrett: Thanks, man. I’m having a lot of fun with it.

Kent: Well it’s been a pleasure chatting with you, Jarrett J. Krosoczka.

Jarrett: Yeah, Krosoczka.

Kent: Krosoczka, Perfect. And we’re going to check out punkfarm.com. The books are great. I’ve got my own little autographed copy with the funny little animals all over it. I appreciate that, and it’s been a pleasure chatting.