Mighty Village Books: Interview with Danielle Daniel, new Canadian publisher

Anytime that I can promote Canadian books I do so. And with a new independent Canadian publisher starting up, it's another reason to make readers aware of their presence and the opportunity for new Canadian books for reading and for enjoying. Recently, I learned that author-illustrator Danielle Daniel, creator of the award-winning Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox (Groundwood, 2015), has been inspired to start her own publishing house named Mighty Village Books. Excited to learn more about Mighty Village Books, I interviewed Danielle Daniel about her new venture. 

• • • • • • •

 

 

Helen Kubiw: What motivated you to start your own publishing house?

 

Danielle Daniel: There have been many reasons behind this decision, but mostly, I wanted to build something new within the publishing industry—something filled with hope, creativity, and innovation. A model more aligned with my own spirit and vision for the future of publishing, one rooted in care, equity, and shared success.

 

HK: When did you first think about establishing a new publishing house, and how challenging was it to go from idea to reality?

 

Danielle Daniel: I began thinking seriously about this about three years ago, after my two novels were published and just as Sometimes I Feel Like a River was launching. Around that time, I noticed the joy I once felt on publication day had begun to fade. I wanted to reconnect with the heart of why I create, and to bring more meaning and joy into the process. Starting my own press felt like the natural next step, a way to nurture both my own work and the work of others within a model grounded in creativity, care and respect.
 

I’ve poured so much into building a press that reflects my values and vision. My experience as an author and illustrator of ten books, my background as an elementary teacher, and my MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in Creative Writing have all uniquely prepared me for this new chapter. I also genuinely enjoy growing and challenging myself—pushing into new territory feels like a natural extension of my creativity.

 

HK: As a publisher, what makes (will make) Mighty Village Books unique?

 

Danielle Daniel: Our motto is literally Little press. Big heart. At Mighty Village Books, we believe smaller is better. We publish with intention, choosing quality over quantity, because we care deeply about the books we create, the land on which we live and work, and the exceptional authors we’re honoured to support and champion. Our press was built to offer creators meaningful support and equitable profit-sharing—double the industry standard—because we believe storytelling should be sustainable, not extractive.

 

Beyond publishing books, we also create art and resources for classrooms, libraries, and beyond—beautiful, thoughtful tools that nurture imagination and connection. Through our shop and wholesale partnerships, we’re growing a creative community inspired by art and books. 

HK: This is a large and dauntless undertaking. Are there others who have partnered with you in this venture? Are there other creators whose work we’d recognize involved?

 

Danielle Daniel: This is indeed a large undertaking, and currently a sole proprietorship. While I have a small but mighty team who assist with graphic design and editing, Mighty Village Books remains a heart-led, independent operation built with great care and dedication. I’ve always been entrepreneurial by nature and look forward to the meaningful and rewarding work ahead.

 

HK: I like to keep a list of Canadian publishers of books for young people on my blog. Do you have the URL for your website yet? If so, can you please share it?

 

Danielle Daniel: www.mightyvillagebooks.com

(HK: I have now added this site to my list of publishers. See the list to the left.)

 
 

HK: What genres are you hoping to focus on? Also, will you be accepting submissions from any creator, or might they be limited to those who are Canadian or Indigenous or another group?

 

Danielle Daniel: We welcome submissions from both debut and established Canadian and Indigenous authors. Our hope is to publish a wide range of voices, with a deep commitment to supporting storytellers from underrepresented communities.

Our vision is rooted in nurturing early literacy through picture books and middle-grade stories that honour the emotional landscape of childhood and reflect the richness of diverse Canadian experiences, with a particular focus on voices from Northern Ontario. We’re drawn to stories that hold tenderness and truth, that make room for big feelings, wild imagination, and the quiet brilliance of being a child.

 

HK: What are the titles of your first publications and when are they scheduled for release? 

 

Danielle Daniel: While our first titles will be released in spring 2028, our growing collection of art and products designed to uplift, inspire, and empower both children and grownups is available now.

 

HK: I know that I use BNC CataList for learning about upcoming releases of Canadian books. Will you have your catalogues listed there?

 

Danielle Daniel: Yes, I’m familiar with BNC CataList and the important role it plays in connecting publishers, booksellers, and libraries across Canada. As Mighty Village Books grows and our first titles move closer to publication, I plan to have our catalogues listed there so readers like you can discover our upcoming books alongside other Canadian releases!

 

HK: Danielle, I am pleased to have reviewed several of your books, both those you’ve written (e.g., Sometimes I Feel Like a River [2023] and Sometimes I Feel Like an Oak [2024] and those which you have authored and illustrated (e.g., Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox  [2015] and Once In a Blue Moon [2018]). Will you continue to write and illustrate books? (I certainly hope so.) If so, will Mighty Village Books become your publisher?

 

Danielle Daniel: Thank you so much for your kind words, and for your support and thoughtful reviews of my previous books. I’m so grateful for your work in championing literacy. I’ll absolutely keep writing and illustrating—it’s the work I love most—and moving forward, my books will be proudly published through my press, Mighty Village Books.

  • • • • • • •

It was wonderful to chat with Danielle Daniel 

and learn more about Mighty Village Books.
 
Many thanks to Danielle Daniel
for the pleasure of this interview 
 
and

 

 to Rachel Sentes, Publicist at Serif, 

for facilitating this discussion and post.

 

 

 

If you're interested in checking out the wonderful books that Danielle Daniel has written and/or illustrated previously, here is a sample of titles:

 

 Sometimes I Feel Like an Oak 

(written by Danielle Daniel, illustrated by Jackie Traverse; Groundwood, 2024)

Sometimes I Feel Like a River

(written by Danielle Daniel, illustrated by Josée Bisaillon; Groundwood, 2023)

You Hold Me Up

(written by Monique Gray Smith, illustrated by Danielle Daniel; Orca, 2017) 

I'm Afraid, Said the Leaf

(written by Danielle Daniel, illustrated by Matt James; Tundra, 2024)

Once in a Blue Moon

(written and illustrated by Danielle Daniel; Groundwood, 2017) 

Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox

(written and illustrated by Danielle Daniel; Groundwood, 2015) 

Forever Birchwood

(written by Danielle Daniel; HarperCollins, 2022)

Reasons to Look at the Night Sky

(written by Danielle Daniel; Tundra, 2024) 

We Belong Here: Interview with author Frieda Wishinky and illustrator Ruth Ohi

We Belong Here

Written by Frieda Wishinsky

Illustrated by Ruth Ohi

North Winds Press (Scholastic Canada)

978-1-4431-9403-7

32 pp.

Ages 6-8

October 3, 2023

Reviewed here 

 

 

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of reviewing an important picture book, We Belong Here, about intolerance and kindness. Today, I have the good fortune of sharing with readers a bit more about the book and the creative process through this Q & A with its author Frieda Wishinsky and illustrator Ruth Ohi.

 

Helen Kubiw:  Whether it be the 1950s, the setting for We Belong Here, or now, there are always those who distrust others who are different, whether in their appearance, their cultures, their faith, language, or something else. Why do you think this still hasn’t changed?

Frieda Wishinsky:  That’s an important question. I think some people are afraid or uncomfortable with anyone who is different because they haven’t had the experience of getting to know them. I grew up in New York City where there were always people around from different cultures and backgrounds. I felt comfortable and curious about that difference. I loved the diversity of food, customs and experiences but I think that some people who live in places which lack diversity, feel afraid of what and who they don’t know.

 

Ruth Ohi:  We have a long way to go, but I feel it has changed: I believe there’s been progress. I’d like to see the interest in making things better continue to grow the way I think it already has.

HK:  I suspect those children who demonstrate intolerance, including those in the book, are often doing so from observing their own families expressing that same bigotry. While We Belong Here demonstrates the value in getting to know those who are different, how do think it’s possible for those children to rise above their learning when they’re seeing the worst at home?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  I hope this story and friendship of Eve and Mark will help kids and their families appreciate that although we are different, we are also alike. No one likes being called mean names. Everyone wants to feel appreciated. And being in touch with people from different cultures makes life richer and better. Being open to change and new people makes us less fearful and happier. 

 

 

 

HK:  The note at the end of the book suggests that the book came about through discussions that you had about your family histories. Once you decide that this was going to become a book, how did the collaborative process work?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  Over two years ago Ruth and I had coffee and shared our family histories. We talked about how Jewish and Japanese people faced discrimination after the war. I said, "If I can figure out how to write that theme of connection and help as a picture book, would you illustrate it?”  Ruth said yes. Now all I had to do was write the story. Not so easy! The story couldn’t be about adults. It had to focus on kids.

     It took me over a year and a half to figure out how to create a story about two kids from different places and cultures who help each other in difficult times.
     When I finally felt pretty good about my text, I passed it on to Anne Shone at Scholastic. Anne had worked on many books with both Ruth and me. Anne liked what I’d written but made some suggestions. After more revision, the text was approved by everyone at Scholastic. Ruth could now begin to illustrate.

     I didn’t see the story with its art till it was almost a finished book. Ruth and I did have a few discussions about historical accuracy, tomato sauce vs. beets, and adding in a carved wooden sculpture but we worked separately.
     Seeing the finished book was a delightful surprise. I loved how Ruth added evocative and touching art to the story and theme. I think her art highlighted and elevated my words. 

Ruth Ohi:  Once Frieda’s manuscript was accepted by Scholastic Canada, she and I communicated through our editor, Anne Shone. I read the text many times so that the characters could move about in my imagination for a bit. I then created page breaks and tiny thumbnails to see how action and pacing could work. I researched the 1950s to immerse myself in the time and sent research elements and resulting rough layouts to Anne. Sketches were drawn and redrawn many times with feedback, until approvals were given to begin final art.

Rough sketch by Ruth Ohi from We Belong Here

 

HK:  I appreciate the fact that both of you were able to contribute familial background history to the story of We Belong Here. I like that, by bringing the two together through Eve and Mark, you were able to produce a story of discrimination defeated by kindness. But, in your own family stories, did kindness always conquer the unfairness of intolerance?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  During the early days of World War Two, my mom met the wives of two Polish Generals when they were all jailed by the Russians as political prisoners. (My mom’s offense was a German sounding last name) These women, Yadviga and Zhosha, treated my mom as a sister, although they came from different religions and backgrounds. The three of them helped each other survive the harshness of a Russian prison for two years. Yadviga and Zhosha also promised my mom that if they were released, they would make sure she was released too. When the Russians changed their political alignment, the Polish women were released, and they got my mom out of jail the next day. Yadviga and Zhosha then opened a children's home in Russia for kids whose parents had been sent to Siberia. My mom worked there till the end of the war.  My mom was a natural storyteller and told me what happened to her in those terrible years. I never forgot the kindness and humanity of these two women.

 

Ruth Ohi:  My Dad was one of the first Japanese Canadians to be allowed to teach in Toronto. He was also a guidance counsellor. Leafing through photos, he’d tell me stories about his wonderful students and the staff that he worked with then and throughout his career.

 

 

HK:  How much of the story includes actual events that took place, like the shop, the rock, and the taunts, and how much is fictionalized but based on stories told within the family?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  The core of the story, that a Jewish family helps a Japanese family, is true. The rest is fiction. We did incorporate elements from our lives in the book though. For example, I was an imaginative kid who loved climbing up on some rocks in a NYC park. My dad carved a beautiful crane out of wood. My dad was a baker and made rugelach.

 

 

HK:  For each of you, what was the hardest part of creating this story?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  The hardest part for me was taking a true story and a general theme and creating a picture book that was universal and kid focused.

 

Ruth Ohi:  One of the hardest parts for me was also one of the most interesting as I had the chance to research the 1950s: fashion, cars, buildings, packaging, life in general. Anything I illustrated needed to actually exist. Everyone helped: Frieda sent family photos, my art director Andrea sent some men’s hairstyles, and Anne found a cake plate that inspired a spot illustration.

 

 

HK:  While many of your picture books, like Fox and Squirrel have important messages about compassion, empathy, emotional support, your books generally have a light-hearted innocence to them that veils those important lessons. How did you approach illustrating We Belong Here knowing that a story of children coping with discrimination could not be couched in sweet and colourful animal characters?

 

Ruth Ohi:  I think Frieda’s story has a sweet innocence as well. My author/illustrated picture books have a lot in common with We Belong Here as they tend to focus on the role of empathy. When finding friends who look different from you, it doesn’t always matter from a young child’s perspective whether it’s an animal or not. I love that there are so many different ways of viewing the world for a child to choose from. My book Scribble is a celebration of what makes us different. Three very different looking shapes (Circle, Square & Triangle), with the help of a non-shape friend, discover how much you can accomplish using your differences. Fox and Squirrel is a celebration of what makes us alike. The series is based on two very physically different animals who discover that they have a lot in common i.e., they both need to eat and sleep and like to play.
     Looking back, I think my author/illustrated stories reflect my childhood – someone who looked very different from everyone else in their class (I also wore a metal back brace for over four years for my scoliosis) and was figuring out their place in the world. I never set out to teach a lesson when I write a story, but do enjoy hearing that they help kids and spark conversations about empathy.

 

 

 

HK:  I know that We Belong Here is not your first picture book of a fictional account of a historical event. Your own Kenta and the Big Wave (2013) deals with the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and Joy Kogawa’s Naomi’s Tree (2008) deals with the internment of Japanese-Canadians during WW2. How do you approach illustrating a book of historical relevance and are there certain challenges you need to address?

 

Ruth Ohi:  Like Frieda’s story, research was required for both. The interiors and houses in Kenta and the Big Wave came from photos taken during my visits to Japan with my Dad and then later with my husband and my own kids. Kenta’s dog is the Ohi’s Shiba Inu that my daughters got to walk. It was an honour to illustrate for Joy and great to finally meet her at the launch, do a library session together and hear her say that she loved my illustrations. She is so gracious and kind. I feel very lucky in the authors I’ve been able to illustrate for.

 

 

 

HK:  I had thought it was unusual for an author and an illustrator to query a book together (unless the author is the illustrator). How did you get the publisher to accept a submission with both text and illustrations?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  We were lucky that we’d both published a bunch of books with Scholastic and we’d both worked with Anne Shone. Scholastic knew our work and we were happy this story resonated for them. Plus it’s great that I’m Jewish and Ruth’s background is Japanese so we could bring each of our cultures into the story authentically.

 

 

HK:  Do you see a follow-up book or perhaps a companion book that takes the perspective of an older Eve and Mark as teens or as parents themselves, or perhaps a story of a different kind of discrimination experienced by others?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  I hadn’t thought of a follow-up book, but I’d love to do another book with Ruth. Now all I have to do is think of a story that she might like illustrating!

 

Ruth Ohi:  I’d love to illustrate another Frieda story. Anyone who gets to illustrate one of her manuscripts is very lucky indeed.

• • • • • • •

Many thanks to 

author Frieda Wishinsky and illustrator Ruth Ohi 

for the privilege of asking them questions 

about their new book We Belong Here. 

As a story, it has great depth in its history and its lessons, 

and both Frieda and Ruth have brought insight and heart to it.

I hope this interview shares all that with you, my readers.

• • • • • • •

Interview with Jon Klassen, author-illustrator of The Rock from the Sky

The Rock from the Sky

Written and illustrated by Jon Klassen

Candlewick Press

978-1-5362-1563-2

96 pp.

Ages 4-8

April 2021

Reviewed here

 

After yesterday's review of Jon Klassen's picture book, The Rock from the Sky, I had the pleasure of interviewing the author-illustrator about his newest creation. Here is that Q & A.

Jon Klassen, author-illustrator of The Rock from the Sky

HK:  Between the little hats worn by Turtle and Armadillo, and the rock hanging in the air, I suspect that you’re a fan of the surrealist artist René Magritte.  Is this actually the case or is there another influence that inspires your art?

Jon Klassen:  I am a Magritte fan for sure – I don’t think I used to be, but I’ve come around – though the hats and the rock have other sources too. The bowler hats I think do a few jobs, referentially – Magritte, but also Laurel and Hardy, since I think of these stories as kind of like little comedy skits, and also Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. I’m not positive they wore bowler hats in that, but it feels like they did, and Beckett’s work generally has been a big deal for me. The rock itself is very Magritte, I agree, though there’s a weird reference for that one too – the first Edward Gorey drawing I remember seeing was on the cover of an edition of The 39 Steps by John Buchan and it’s just a drawing of a huge rock hanging in the sky over a flight of stairs going down a cliff, and it had a really big effect on me. I still love that drawing.

 

HK:  Was the germ of an idea from which The Rock from the Sky arose Magritte’s work The Castle of the Pyrenees or  something else altogether?

 

Jon Klassen:  I think it actually arose mostly from a talk I heard Alfred Hitchcock give on the nature of suspense, and how you could make an interesting scene out of a group of people sitting around a table talking about something very boring if you had told the audience ahead of time that there was a bomb under the table that would go off in 5 minutes. I enjoy drawing characters doing next to nothing, but I need some sort of setup that gives me permission to have pictures like that, so the rock from the sky was my “bomb under the table.” I really have been drawing rocks for like 15 years just hoping there will be a story for them some day. The back cover of the book, and the spreads where it’s just the rock in the sky, are kind of why I started the book in the first place.

 

HK:  Though there are only three characters–Turtle, Armadillo and Snake–and minimal dialogue and action, they are clearly distinct, especially Turtle and Armadillo. Why choose a turtle, an armadillo and a snake for your characters in The Rock from the Sky?

 

Jon Klassen:  They were kind of intuitive choices. I wanted this book to kind of connect with the other books I’d done, almost like the bit players from those books that finally got to put on their own show. The turtle was useful, practically speaking, since he moves slowly and it helps contrast with the rock falling. The armadillo-type guy just looks kind of humble, but also I think of him as kind of a man alone, out in the sticks a little more, so maybe he’s wise that way, kind of knowing. The snake just made me laugh. Snakes scare me badly in real life, so making him mute and kind of unknown to us was the best I could do. Also, he doesn’t get a bowler hat. I think he would have wanted one but there were only two so he had to settle for the beret.

 

HK:  Although we don’t actually know the source of the rock other than the sky, there is a suggestion that it is other-worldly. Why use a rock then, something so commonplace and familiar, rather than an unrecognizable structure, similar to the alien creature?

 

Jon Klassen:  I like the word “rock,” firstly, and as I say I really like drawing them. It’s such a blunt thing, and there’s no questions about it. If it was some kind of otherworldly structure, there would be all sorts of problems to solve that I wouldn’t know how to solve. It kind of reminds me of what I read about the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey where they had all these initial complicated ideas for what some kind of alien beacon would look like, but in the end they kind of had to admit there was no knowing, and the black monolith they finally used became almost a visual admission of that. We just don’t know. 

HK:  The book is divided into five parts which is different from your earlier picture books. While each chapter progresses the story, from the rock’s arrival and the animals’ interactions with it until the ending, each part still tells its own tale. It reminds me of I Want My Hat Back, This is Not My Hat, and We Found a Hat, which were written as three different books but are linked.  Did you write The Rock from the Sky as individual stories ever or were they always destined to be part of one? 

 

Jon Klassen:  I wrote the first story on its own, but kind of knowing that, even if I solved it, it was going to be too light to justify a whole book. But when it was done, I had these three characters who I knew something about, and I had a rock sitting there, and I wanted to see what the next little while felt like after it showed up, even if it didn’t do anything. The idea that their lives just kept going and their relationship problems just kept puttering along in the face of this thing, and all that it implied, was fun to think about. Cause you kind of have to keep going. What else are you going to do?


HK:  Though your humour is incredibly sophisticated in its layering and messaging, kids get it, even if differently from adults. Do you find yourself rethinking how you present a story to make sure it’s accessible for all or do you endeavour to always match the audience for which the book is slotted?

 

Jon Klassen:  I sort of ride the middle between myself and the kids, I think. If I’m interested, or laughing, or whatever I’m hoping will happen to an audience, that’s about the best I can hope for, and then the job isn’t so much to think about what they’re going to take out of it, but what they’ll understand, event-wise. Clarity in the words and the pictures, so that even little kids are given a good shot at least getting what’s physically going on, is a big goal and takes up a lot of my time. But past that I don’t find I’m very good at adjusting for different audiences or guessing who is going to get what.

 

HK:  The audience suggested for The Rock from the Sky is for readers of ages 4 to 8. I think that the book is sophisticated enough for older readers. In fact, I could even see it becoming one of those classics like Where the Wild Things Are or The Little Prince that were written for children but revered by adults who derive deeper meaning from the text and art. For whom did you write The Rock from the Sky?

 

Jon Klassen:  That is a very very nice thing to say. I do always hope that adults will like the books too, or at least understand what interested me about making them. You don’t want anyone to think you were bored. Who I have in my head when I’m making them I think is sort of a murky mixture, kind of ghosts fading in and out. It’s me now, it’s me as maybe a second or third grader, which is when I remember a lot of these books really connecting, but it’s also friends I had then, my brothers as they were then, my parents. I remember being kind of a ham at family reunion dinners and things like that, and that table was about 25 people, and I probably think of that size crowd at a maximum. That’s the room I know how to play to, even if everyone would rather just be eating.

 

HK:  Your art is described as created digitally with watercolours. Do you start with watercolour and then work with it digitally or are some images digitally rendered? Essentially what I’d like to know is where you start and how your progress to end up with such austere but powerful illustrations.

 

Jon Klassen:  Any austerity comes from the roughs, I think. My stories kind of live and die based on characters facing a certain way or walking from one spot to another one, and that has to be clear so I try not complicate it, visually. The roughs are all big shapes and big decisions, so I can have fun inside those shapes later but I know what their job is going to be also. I’m not looking for the final rendering of anything to carry the story, or the book, it’s just there to make it look better and hopefully add to the mood. Once the roughs are done and I know where everything is going to go, I do a lot of versions of the separate pieces - the skies, the ground, the rocks, the characters, and try and allow for happy accidents in there, knowing I can control things later. Then I just pick out my favourite ones and assemble them on the page. The digital part comes in when everything is on the page together and I want to make it all look cohesive. It’s a very relaxing way to work, usually, because there’s no phase that seems super high stakes, and I really enjoy enhancing or subduing all the weird things the paint does, but minding that it doesn’t take over or distract from the story, either.

 • • • • • • •

 

Interviewing Jon Klassen has been such a treat for me. 

I've admired his work since the publication of his first book 

I Want My Hat Back 

released in the month prior to this blog's inception.

I continue to be impressed by the depth of his work 

and this interview supports the validity of that assessment. 

 

So, many thanks to Jon Klassen for responding to my questions.

Thanks also to Sarah Dunn, 

Marketing and Publicity Director at ZG Stories,

for facilitating this interview.