A Q&A with Debbie Ridpath Ohi: I Want to Read All the Books

Today’s post comes to us from a woman that I’ve admired for years. Humor and pictures combine in her books in heretofore unprecedented ways. Now she has a picture book that a lot of us, and I mean a lot of us, can relate to. I Want to Read All the Books is slated for shelves everywhere, nation-wide, today!

Here is the plot:

Hana wants to know everything about the world around her. When she starts asking questions, her mother gives her a book. She learns so much, but now she has even more questions! She also has a big mission: she will read all the books—every single one! She reads every book in her house…and then her friends’ houses…and then the whole block. Nonfiction, fiction, romance, mysteries, and science fiction.

But when her mother takes her to the downtown library, she realizes there are a lot more books than she thought…way more. Maybe she can’t really read all the books—now what?

Now please, everyone, put your hands together for Debbie Ridpath Ohi!

---

Betsy Bird: Debbie! Master of BlueSky! How the heck are you? And what we have here is a pretty cute book. Surely SURELY either you or someone you knew was the kind of kid who literally wanted to read ALL the books. But where precisely did this book originate?

Debbie Ohi: Hey, thanks!

Yes, I was the kind of kid who used to think that someday I would have read ALL the books. I’ve since heard from others who have had a similar childhood fantasy.

As an adult, I’m always reading multiple books in multiple formats (physical, digital, audio). In addition, I have shelves of books waiting to be read and also keep lists of books I want to read. These lists keep getting longer, especially after hearing someone talk about or post about what they’re reading. One of my favorite online sources of book recommendations is the KidLit/YA Book Boost feed from the kidlit community on Bluesky.

I felt overwhelmed by all the books on my To Read pile, and started posting “I want to read ALL THE BOOKS” in social media along with a sketch like this one:

One of the times I posted in social media, agent Brenda Bowen suggested I should turn this into a picture book. Up to that point, the possibility had never crossed my mind.

I only started thinking about a picture book at that point, but let the idea simmer for a while before I started writing. I wanted the story to be more than just another book about books.

BB: In your book Hana, our hero, comes to a horrifying realization about her goal and has to face some serious truths. The fact that reading all the books in the world is an impossible task is just one of those things you have to learn. And with kids constantly being told that they can “do anything”, I like the cold water thrown in the face of Hana’s goals. Yours is a “You can’t do this but you can do this” kind of book. When you were writing it, was the ending (where she makes a bookclub) a given or did you think about ending it another way?

Debbie: Thank you for noticing that element of the story! 

I experimented with many different endings.

In an early version of the book, the girl has just moved to a new city with her family and she’s unpacking her books. She’s sad and missing her friends back in her hometown, but then she starts looking at some of her favorite comfort books. My original ending was not great; it was basically her being somewhat comforted even though she’s still disappointed that she can’t read all the books. 

I was also overly obsessed with the idea of using a different illustration style than my usual. I originally imagined the girl jumping into each of the books she was reading, with each scene illustrated in the same style as in the original picture book. I wanted to stretch my wings as an illustrator, try different styles. One of the sketches I included with this early proposal, for example, showed my main character after she jumps into Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans. When I pitched this idea to my editor, however, he correctly pointed out that this sort of thing has already been done before, and also gently guided me back to my story. I’m so glad he did!

BB: Along those same lines, was there anything that changed in the process of writing this book from the first manuscript onward?

Debbie: I continue to feel incredibly lucky to work with Justin Chanda at Simon & Schuster Children’s. He never tries to micromanage me but instead helps me identify what I really want the story to be about, and then helps me get there. I told Justin about my challenge in figuring out what the ending should be.

As Justin and I talked, I realized that I was trying to squeeze in too many elements, and was also letting the art dictate the story. Instead of trying to shoehorn in the theme of loneliness and finding comfort in books, we decided to make the story about what originally inspired me to write the book: the burning desire to read ALL THE BOOKS. And instead of seeking comfort in books, Hana seeks knowledge, finding the answers to her many questions.

From the beginning, I had the idea of a list of questions, with one of the questions being about growing up.  Part of growing up is facing some harsh realities, having some of our childhood dreams squashed. Sounds terrible and sad, I know, and perhaps it is a little terrible and sad.  But part of growing up is learning how to deal with disappointment, and how not to be so dismayed by one closed door that we don’t notice others opening.

So when Hana finds out she can’t read ALL the books after all, I thought at least she and her friends could share them with each other. It was Justin who came up with the idea of a book club, which I loved.

BB: Now in the past you’ve used a kind of mixed media technique in some of your books, integrating illustrations with real world objects. In this book, insofar as I could tell, you stuck strictly to illustration. What guides your decisions when you’re figuring out how best to illustrate a picture book?

Debbie: Biggest factor: I always want to learn something during the process, and I want to enjoy the creative journey.

I used found object art when illustrating Gurple and Preen: A Broken Crayon Cosmic Adventure. I was thrilled that Linda Sue Park wrote that story specifically for me, inspired by my broken crayon art!

I loved the creative challenge of incorporating found object art into book illustration, I also found it limiting in many ways. 

For I Want To Read ALL The Books, I purposely wrote a story that would require illustrations involving more background details, especially buildings, because I wanted to challenge myself a different way. Drawing characters has always been most fun for me. Backgrounds? Not so much, but I’m working to change that. 

Part of my research for this new book was to take a lot of reference photos for background settings. I love this kind of research, and it helps me find the best way to illustrate a picture book.

Example: I used to work for the Palmerston Branch of the Toronto Public Library, so it was an easy choice as the inspiration for a scene that involved a smaller library.

I included TPL’s Metro Reference Library, where I also did a chunk of writing for this book. The exterior scene includes my parents, who encouraged my love of my reading early on. My mom passed away over three decades ago, but I drew her as I imagined she’d look today. This illustration also includes me and my husband.

The indie bookstore scene was partly inspired by Mabel’s Fables, my local children’s indie as well as Lindsay’s Books For Children, where I used to work as a bookseller. Sadly, the bookstore shut down many years ago.

BB: Is this the last we’ve seen of Hana or might she pop up with other goals in the future?

Debbie: I don’t currently have any plans for a sequel starring Hana….at least not until I saw your interview question! Now you’ve got me thinking. Hm.

BB: Finally, what are you working on next?

Debbie: I’m illustrating I’m Busy, the newest picture book in the I’m… series written by Michael Ian Black and illustrated by me. After I finish this book illustration project, I’m taking some time to work on some middle grade projects I’ve been thinking about. One is a creepy mystery involving Japanese yokai which may or may not have illustrative elements (I haven’t yet decided). The other is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel.

Those familiar with my picture book work may not realize I began as an aspiring middle grade writer. Author Lee Wardlaw was the first children’s book professional to show interest in my work. Lee critiqued one of my early novel manuscripts and introduced me to her agent, Ginger Knowlton at Curtis Brown Ltd. Ginger ended up taking me on as a client. We sent out a couple of my middle grade novels and although we received some encouraging feedback, my books never found a home. As much as I love doing picture books and plan to do more in the future, I have not given up my original dream of writing middle grade.

So many story ideas. SO in addition to wanting to read all the books, I suppose I should also be saying that I want WRITE all the books!

---

Dang. Writing interview answers is one thing. Finding a capper as good as this one to end your answers? That takes skill.

I want to thank Debbie profusely for taking so much time to answer my questions today. As I mentioned, I Want to Read All the Books is available for purchase, starting today! You don’t have to read all the books out there, of course. Just this one.

Filed under: Interviews