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How We Have Worked Together
by Kevin Henkes and Susan Hirschman
Susan:
Kevin Henkes came to Greenwillow when he was nineteen years old. I will always remember thinking, "This kid is too young to come to New York by himself." But I looked at his portfolio and the dummy for his first book, ALL ALONE, and knew he was someone we wanted to publish.
Kevin:
That first New York trip will always stand out in my memory. It was magical simply to be in New York City for the first time, and then to have Susan accept ALL ALONE was absolutely wonderful.
I remember Susan asking: "Where are you staying?" and "Why did your mother let you come?" Then she asked if I had other
appointments. I said I was going to Harper & Row that afternoon. She accepted my book then and there, and she proceeded to call my mother with the good news.
Susan: Kevin used to come to New York a couple of times a year in those first few years. He was from Racine, Wisconsin, and
lived in Madison. I guess New York, and Greenwillow, were very different from what he was used to.
Kevin:
As the airplane landed, on those early trips, I truly felt as if I might burst, I was so excited. To be in New York. To be at Greenwillow. To be working with Susan. It was all a dream come true.
Susan used to find an empty office, and I would go to work. I wrote my second picture book, CLEAN ENOUGH, at Greenwillow, and nearly all of my
third book, MARGARET & TAYLOR.
I was so excited to be at Greenwillow during those first years--I saw how
everything worked, and I eagerly drew it all in. Ava Weiss took me to see books being printed, too. I was nurtured, tended, and cared for. I was learning, and loving it completely.
Susan:
We didn't accept everything he wrote for publication, but even the things we turned down showed talent and a passion for what he was doing. But almost from the start, I think, we had a relationship of trust. Kevin knew that all we wanted was for his books to be as good as they could and should be. He was interested in growing and learning and doing his best work. I don't think I ever felt that he would rush off to another house if we turned something down.
Kevin:
As I sat before her in her office, Susan rejected what I had thought would be my second book. I thought the world had ended, but within about five minutes, Susan had drawn out of me the beginnings of CLEAN ENOUGH, my next book.
Not everything I've written has been accepted, but since we share the same goal--to make the best book possible--we know we'll eventually get
there.
I'm always amazed when authors look elsewhere when a book is turned down. Working with one editor and being at one house and having all my
books together are important to me.
And I'm lucky Susan has been at Greenwillow all these years. Had she left, I'd have left, too. I'd have followed her to the moon.
 Susan:
Kevin and I have worked together in a number of different ways on the novels. He sent in THE BIRTHDAY ROOM a chapter at a time. I read WORDS OF
STONE all at one gulp when it was finished. And I have been reading the novel he is working on now over the last year. He shows me the new parts when we
meet--every couple of months. I still don't know what the climax is, and I can't guess. I don't ask (and I don't think he would tell me). This is his most ambitious
book to date, and for older readers than before. I read it from the beginning each time I see it, and it is a very exciting experience.
Kevin:
Working on novels is so different from working on picture books. I've come to like letting Susan see the novels in parts as I write. I do this selfishly--I like having Susan ask for more (excitedly!). This usually provides me with a new burst of energy and keeps me writing.
When I was working on my first novel, and having a difficult time, Susan sent me a letter, which said, in part: "I have never doubted that you are
a real writer, so the fact that you are writing a real novel comes as no surprise..."
I carried the letter with me for months. It became a talisman. I still treasure it.
Susan:
I am lucky. Kevin and I have been friends for over twenty years. I am enormously older than he is, and somehow it has never mattered. We like each other, and we trust each other. I admire his talent, and I admire him as a human being. I love working on his books, and I have loved watching him grow from a boy to a man.
Kevin: I'm lucky, too. I'm lucky to have found Susan almost twenty-one years ago! I'm lucky that we connect on so many levels. We often love the same books and art, and we enjoy
each other's company.
I've known Susan longer than I lived in my childhood home. When we first met, I
was nineteen years old. Now I'm married and the father of two children.
It was books that brought us together, but if I never wrote another, Susan would remain one of the most important people in my life.
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