The same year, she wrote a story for English class, and her teacher gave her an A and said it was “lovely.” Now this was a very big deal, because Kate was, and still is, terribly shy and quiet. That day in English class she saw that here was a way to tell people her thoughts and ideas without having to say anything out loud. Writing gave her a “voice.” Drawing was a way to show what she was thinking, too.
You would think that after discovering two things she could do pretty well, Kate would have known right away what she wanted to do when she grew up. Ha! Not she! It took her fifteen more years to figure out that since children’s books were her favorite books, and since she could write and draw, she should think about becoming a children’s book author and illustrator. After she finally got this through her head, she set to work and in 1983 her first picture book was published.
She thinks she is very lucky that she has gotten to do this kind of work (and get paid for it, too). She never went to art school, or to children’s-book-writing school. She learned what she knows by reading a lot, by looking at art a lot, and most of all by practicing a whole lot.
Learn more about Kate Duke in this article on Answers.com. |
