They’re clawing their way to the top!
A Kensington author and illustrator will show off his drawing skills and his comic books about adorable animals at the Brooklyn Children’s Book Fair, happening at the Brooklyn Museum on Nov. 23. John Patrick Green will host the final event of the book festival, demonstrating how he draws the characters in his book series “Kitten Construction Company” — a group of kitty construction workers who get no respect from their human counterparts because they are just too cute, the author said.
“These kittens want this job, but no one will take them seriously because they’re so adorable,” Green said.
The felines’ struggle to be taken seriously resonates with children who struggle to be taken seriously, as well as with adults who face patronizing or sexist adversity in the workplace — a sort of #meowtoo moment.
“A child might feel like ‘I’ve legitimately accomplished a thing,’ and the only response they’ll get from an adult or a teacher, is, ‘Oh you’re so adorable, how precious,’ ” he said. “For adults — and I was completely conscious of this — it’s a metaphor for sexism in the workplace.”
The second book in the Kitten Construction Company series, subtitled “A Bridge Too Fur,” debuted in October, and features the industrious fur balls teaming up with a company of canine constructors.
At the festival, which will feature about 40 kids’ book creators, Green will sell and sign copies of both books in the series, as well as an earlier book about another animal performing human jobs. His 2016 book “Hippopotamister,” follows a hippopotamus that flees the zoo and tries to live among humans by trying out different jobs, including a construction worker, a hair stylist, and a sous chef.
Early next year, Green plans to fur-ther expand his empire of employed animal books with the comic “InvestiGators,” about crime-fighting, vest-wearing alligators. He has plans to create several sequels to the InvestiGators book, and for a follow up to “Hippopotamister” in the coming years.
Green, who has been drawing comics since he was a child, says that he loves having the opportunity to amuse people with his drawings.
“I get to just sit at home and draw comics and think of things that make me laugh — and if I’m lucky, other people will laugh at me too,” he said.
John Patrick Green at the Brooklyn Children’s Book Fair at the Brooklyn Museum [200 Eastern Pkwy. at Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights, (718) 638–5000, www.brooklynmuseum.org]. Nov. 23, 11:30 am–4 pm. Free.
