Interviews

A Conversation with Doreen Cronin, Betsy Lewin & Duck

Doreen, you have given up your career as an attorney in order to take up writing children's books full-time. What inspired you to make this unusual career change?

Doreen Cronin: I actually enjoyed practicing law, but after Click, Clack, Moo had been out for about a year, it became really difficult to juggle both careers. I wanted to do more book signings, I wanted to visit classrooms, and I wanted to go to the American Library Association conferences and Book Expo America. Also, kids who wanted to write me letters started to track me down at the law firm. I'd be sitting at my desk going through motions and briefs, and a stack of first-grade Duck drawings would land on my desk. I knew it was time to go! Actually, some day I'd like to go back to practicing law, but that will be a few years from now.

Doreen, have any of your past cases served as inspiration for your books?

DC: As soon as I figure out a way to incorporate reinsurance litigation into a picture book, I'll let you know.

Doreen, you have said that one of your late father's many legacies was his sense of humor. How has his legacy influenced your writing style?

DC: For the record, I am nowhere near as funny as my dad. If my dad was writing picture books today, I'd still be practicing law! Someone asked me recently if anyone else in my family was a writer. The technical answer is no, but my father was an amazing storyteller. Because he was a police officer, every day was a new story!

Betsy, you began your career as a freelance greeting card illustrator and then began writing and illustrating stories for children's magazines. How did you come to be a children's book illustrator?

Betsy Lewin: An editor at Dodd, Mead & Co. saw a poem that I wrote and illustrated for a magazine and asked me to expand it into a thirty-two-page counting book titled Cat Count. I've been doing children's books ever since, and loving it.

Betsy, did you always know that you wanted to be an artist?

BL: I always knew I wanted to be an artist. My parents said I was born with a pencil in my hand.

Duck, how did you begin your career as a duck on Farmer Brown's farm?

Duck: As an egg; then I moved up.

Doreen, many times an author and illustrator do not meet during the publishing process. When did you meet Betsy for the first time?

DC: I can't remember exactly the first time. But after Click, Clack, Moo was published, Betsy and her husband, Ted, invited my husband and me to their home in Brooklyn and we went out for dinner. A good time was had by all!

Betsy, how has your collaborative process changed since you and Doreen first began working together?

BL: Doreen and I didn't know each other until after Click, Clack, Moo was published. We freely exchanged ideas during the making of Giggle, Giggle, Quack, which I found to be helpful to the book, plus it was a lot of fun. Doreen is very funny. Our senses of humor just seem to click.

Duck, Click, Clack, Moo received the Caldecott Honor and was a New York Times best-seller. Have you won any awards on the farm?

D: Best-Looking and Most Likely to Be Arrested.

Doreen, you collect antique typewriters. Do you use them to write your children's books?

DC: I don't have that kind of stamina! I write longhand and on the computer.

Duck, when we first met you in Click, Clack, Moo, you used a typewriter. In Giggle, Giggle, Quack you relied on a pencil and in Duck for President you use a computer to type your autobiography. Which do you prefer? Do you surf the Internet?

D: I'd prefer a wi-fi laptop, but I haven't been able to convince the boss yet. I used to surf the Net, but Farmer Brown pulled the plug after I ordered 100 copies of Animal Farm.

Betsy, you and your husband, illustrator Ted Lewin, love to travel and often visit exotic places to do research for your books. What is your favorite place to travel to?

BL: We've been to Africa and India the most times, so they're highest on the list so far.

Duck, what is your favorite vacation spot?

D: Cabo San Lucas. Fun, sun, and deep-sea fishing.

Doreen and Betsy, did you have any childhood pets?

DC: We had dogs.
BL: I had a number of dogs and cats -- nothing exotic. My favorite was a cat my father named Ajax because he played with an Ajax cleanser can. I did love Trippy, a dog who barked at everybody but the dog catcher. Sport was my first pet -- a cranky little fox terrier who chased his tail. Loved him, too.

Doreen and Betsy, did you spend any time on a farm while you were growing up?

DC: No. But when I was a reporter covering an agriculture show for my college newspaper, a cow licked my hand and I almost fainted.
BL: Yes. My hometown of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, is surrounded by farms. I had both friends and relatives who lived on farms.

Duck, have you always had political aspirations?

D: Doesn't everybody?

Duck, after you finish writing your autobiography, what will you do next?

D: I'll be taking over for Robert Novak on Crossfire.