BookView Review

Welcome to BookView Interview, a conversation series where BookView talks to authors.

Recently, we talked to Steven Rogers about his writing and recently released debut picture book, Cuddle Kitty: A Tail of friendship, a rhythmic, charming lesson in empathy and boundaries (read the review here).

Who and what ultimately inspired you to become a writer? 

The trigger for me was reading an extraordinarily bad picture book to my daughter. So many things were done poorly in this book that I said to myself, “I can do better than this,” and so I set out to prove it.

What inspired the premise of your book? 

Watching my daughter get overexcited every time she saw one of our two cats. Each of the things you see Emma doing in the book, I’ve seen her do when she’s around our cats. I wanted to write something to show her that her overexcitment was scaring the cats and pushing her further away from her goal to be friends with them.

What authors do you like to read? What book or books have had a strong influence on you or your writing? 

Julia Donaldson. I remember the first Julia Donaldson book I ever read to my daughter, Room on the Broom. I’ve fallen in love with almost every one of Julia’s books that I’ve read, but it all started there. Julia’s work is the main reason I have chosen to write in verse. 

After the writing’s finished, how do you judge the quality of your work? 

As I’m writing I will read drafts to my daughter at bedtime, there’s nothing like going straight to the target audience. Once I’ve put together a polished draft I send it to a professional editor that I use, Kellie Nissen of Just Right Words. 

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? 

I’ve recently finished the second draft of my second book. I’m hoping to hand it over to my illustrator very soon. I’ve also been tinkering with a third book. I’ve got the overall story structure set out, I just need to write it.

How often do you base your characters on real people? 

The characters in Cuddle Kitty are directly based off my daughter and my cat. The characters in my second book are loosely based off someone I know. The third book is in the early stages of development, but the characters have been based on anyone, at least not yet. 

Has the Cuddle Kitty helped your daughter to play more gently with your cats? 

No, but Emma is only four years old and so her impulse control and emotional regulation are still developing. Every now and then we get some small wins, like a nice quiet “Hello Heidi” rather than a squeal and a chase, or a short gentle supervised cuddle with Cleo instead of a pulled ear.

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