On Eating and Being Eaten: An Interview with Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen on The Wolf, The Duck, and The Mouse

Fresh from the unstoppable team of Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen, The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse will surprise and enchant the reader, page after page. The offbeat, unexpected tale of a hungry wolf who swallows a helpless mouse, this book is funny, unusual, and charming. Of course that will come as no surprise to fans of Mac’s and Jon’s earlier works, which include the modern classics Triangle and Sam & Dave Dig a Hole. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to pick the brains of these two innovative creators and learn what makes their bellies rumble. So grab a yogurt, add your favorite topping, and please enjoy this interview with Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen.
First of all, congratulations on another truly excellent, original collaboration! What was the inspiration for this book? It’s based on a true story, right?
MAC: You know, Jon and I have each done two books on our own in which a main character ends up in an animal’s belly. I don’t know what that says about our psyches, but it’s nice to finally be exploring my issues with a good friend.
What was the process of creating The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse like?

JON: I got offered the text that Mac wrote in the traditional way through our publisher and agent, but we were closely in touch through the process of roughing it out and doing the final illustrations. Not necessarily meaning Mac was changing things, but I just like showing him stuff as it’s getting made. It’s such a funny text that it was easy to send a funny drawing to go with it.
What’s the best part of working together?
MAC: Being a writer involves a lot of sitting alone in a room, not writing. And that can get lonely. It breaks you out of your own head, creating something with a good friend.
JON: Yeah, it’s really nice that it’s a collaborative thing with someone you can pick up the phone and call if you get stuck. Even if we do our respective parts by ourselves, it’s a much less lonely thing when that option is there and you know the finished thing is coming from both of you.
What’s the worst part?
JON: Mac always calls right when I’m about to eat lunch.

With which character do you most strongly identify?
MAC: The duck.
JON: The mouse (it was either that or the wolf after Mac took the duck, but I really do feel like I’m the mouse in this one).
When the Mouse is first swallowed, the illustration looks a lot like some of Sam and Dave’s tunnels. Are there other hidden references?
JON: That’s actually the first time someone’s pointed that out! I think it must be an unconscious thing. I wanted to establish that the inside of the wolf was basically just a big empty cave and it’s the only page where we show both the inside and the outside of the wolf at the same time, so it does look like a tunnel. A gross tunnel.

Predators and prey are recurring themes with varying amounts of subtlety in your work. What’s the fascination? What did you most recently eat?
MAC: I always liked folk tales, fairy tales, and picture books where characters get eaten—Sendak’s Pierre, “Little Red Riding Hood,” Kafka’s “A Little Fable.” Eating and being eaten—that’s life and death, which is pretty good grist for stories. Anyway, I just had some yogurt with half a banana sliced up in it.
JON: Yeah, one of the main advantages of stories about animals is deciding whether they eat each other in the world of that particular story. It’s also just a great way to get back at a character who has something coming. You wouldn’t really want a character to be KILLED, but you can probably have him eaten. I just ate a bagel and some granola and also some yogurt (I think you caught us both just after breakfast).

What were some of your favorite picture books as kids? Who are some of your favorite authors and illustrators working today?
MAC: As a kid, I loved the books of James Marshall, Arnold Lobel, Margaret Wise Brown, Wanda Gag, Jerry Smath. Today? It’s an exciting time for picture books. I’m always excited to see what Carson Ellis, Christian Robinson, the Steads (ed: Philip and Erin), Julie Fogliano, Emily Hughes, Isabelle Arsenault, and Jessixa Bagley are getting up to.
JON: My list on both fronts is pretty similar. I would add PD Eastman, Ludwig Bemelmans and Marc Simont to the first list and Kitty Crowther, Jon Agee and Laura Carlin to the second list.

What’s next for each of you?
MAC: Next February, Greg Pizzoli and I will put out the first two books in an early reader series about a monkey who is always in trouble.
JON: Mac and I have the follow-up to Triangle coming out in the spring (“Square”) and I’m working on some new books of my own but everything is too early to talk about.
Thank you! I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next!
MAC/JON: Thank you for having us on!
The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse is on B&N bookshelves now!