Meet the author

Who: Kim Zarins, reading “The Helpful Puppy” and signing copies

When: 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16

Where: The Avid Reader, 617 Second St.

Davis resident Kim Zarins has a new picture book out for young readers, “The Helpful Puppy.”

“This is my second book,” said Zarins, who came to town about four years ago when she joined the English department faculty at Sacramento State, where she teaches courses in medieval literature (Chaucer, “Beowulf”) and children’s literature (“Charlotte’s Web,” “Holes”).

“The Helpful Puppy,” which is aimed at readers between ages 3 and 7, pairs Zarins with the well-known illustrator Emily Arnold McCully, who won the Caldecott Medal for her 1997 book “Mirette on the High Wire.”

As is often the case with picture books for children, “The Helpful Puppy” tells its story in a few carefully chosen words. “(Publishers of children’s picture books) don’t wan’t more than 500 words, typically,” Zarins said. (This newpaper story, by comparison, is about 700 words.)

“So the words you pick for a children’s picture book had better be a pretty good 500 words,” Zarins said. “It has to be short. You have to tell the story and suggest things with your language. If you spell out all the details (in your text), you’re impeding on the illustrator’s territory.”

When writing this kind of book, “you really need to have an idea in your mind of what the pattern is, if you’re going to have a kind of refrain” that will catch the ear as the book is read aloud, Zarins continued.

“And I need to know what the ending is before I can write — I need all of that in place. It’s harder than you think!” she said.

“The Helpful Puppy” has been greeted by good notices. Kirkus Reviews said “the short text, simple plot and amusing illustrations make this a fine choice for preschoolers who are just transitioning into real stories.”

Zarins’ first published effort, “Playful Bunny,” is a “board book” — with smaller, thicker pages, easier for a child to hold — that came out in 2006 from Scholastic.

When she’s developing a manuscript for a children’s picture book, “I read it aloud, not necessarily to kids,” she said. “I’ll read it aloud to see what it sounds like. That’s the test. If you find yourself changing the cadence, or trying to make a word go away, then it’s time to revise that part.

“With a picture book, the text usually comes first,” she related. “Then the illustrator will come on board. As the author, I have a very minimal relationship with the illustrator. The reason for that is they don’t want somebody like me saying ‘I want this kind of puppy (in the pictures), this breed. They don’t want the author micromanaging all aspects of the story. The illustrator needs creative space.

“I got to see her sketches, her semifinal art, before publication. But it’s not like producing a graphic novel, where I think the author and illustrator have more interaction. All those panels, with word bubbles here and there. That genre tends to be more of a close relationship.”

Zarins grew up in Dana Point, a coastal town in Orange County. She did her graduate studies at Cornell University in the upstate New York town of Ithaca, and then returned to California, living in San Jose for a time before coming to this area. She and her husband Mark settled in Davis in part “because of the school district” — they have a son in elementary school.

“Writing is something I always wanted to do,” she said. “I started writing manuscripts after I graduated from college … it was the classic narrative where you get rejection letters for years. And then I got a lucky break.”

She’s got more projects in the pipeline. She recently signed a contract for an ebook version of “The Helpful Puppy.” Zarins isn’t quite sure yet how McCully’s illustrations — which in some cases spread over two large, adjacent pages in the print edition — will be displayed on an ebook screen.

“I also have a young adult novel that I’m working on, that uses some of my background as a medievalist. And I’m working on some different picture book manuscripts.”

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Author Kim Zarins shows off her second picture book for children, “The Helpful Puppy.” She’ll have a book-signing appearance on Sunday, Sept. 16, at The Avid Reader, 617 Second St. in downtown Davis. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo

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