People often ask me, "How do you make a book?" The truth is that I am not sure that I know! I work all the time and I guess bits and pieces just come together. I do not actually have one set proceedure for making a book as each book is different. "So which comes first- the words or the pictures?" THE WORDS- no- THE PICTURES-no- BOTH!-no- NEITHER! Nothing comes to me completely, all at once. For me, a book sort of grows. Maybe the best way to explain it is to simply show you. So here's how I made CAROUSEL CAT:

It all began in late Spring after a school appearance in Point Pleasant New Jersey. I'd had a great day and met a lot of great kids but by the time I left it was rush hour. The Garden State Parkway was like a parking lot. I looked over at the other cars. The other drivers semed very grouchy.

I smiled at one lady and she scowled back at me like I was ruining her day. I guess she was happy being unhappy.

Then a little car holding a big man edged up next to me. I looked over at the guy and he shrugged as if to say, "Well, we're stuck. So what?" I laughed and waved and he waved back. As his car crept ahead of mine I thought to myself, "He sure looked familiar. Where have I seen that face before?" In a store? At my house? Then it came to me- he looked just like Santa Claus! And then I wondered- "What does Santa Claus do all Summer?" I don't know why I think these things. It beat thinking about the traffic. I looked over for his car but he was way ahead of me now. Soon he was out of sight. Then I saw an exit sign for ASBURY PARK.

Asbury Park! I hadn't been there in years! My family used to go there when I was a boy. It had a fun boardwalk and a nice beach and many buildings full of amusements and rides! I wondered what it looked like now? I looked over at the other cars. Hmmm... why not find out now ? Beats sitting in a traffic jam... I worked my car over to the exit (BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!) and got off the Parkway. I decided to take the slow roads along the coast to Asbury Park. I might get lost, but least I'd be moving. I drove through Sea Girt and Spring Lake and Belmar. Maybe I'd go on some rides. I used to really like roller coasters.

Except when I got up to the front of the roller coaster's line and there was a sign that said I wasn't big enough to go on the ride. That was always really disappointing. Then my Dad would tell me- "Don't worry- you'll grow big enough soon. Just be patient." But I knew I wasn't going to grow big enough in time to go on the ride that day! Oh well, he was right. It took some time but I grew. Now I am grown up and I can go on any ride I want and it's great.

Soon I reached Asbury Park. Wow- it sure had changed. The Palace Amusement building was closed! The carousel in the carousel pavilion was gone! Nobody was around! No rides, no SkeeBall, No pizza! I sat down on an old bench and started to sketch. Ruined buildings may not be fun to look at but they are always interesting to draw.

I remembered when this boardwalk was so crowded you could hardly walk down it. Now there was nobody- except an old alley cat that was just wandering around. I wondered if anyone took care of him. Or her. Did it ever belong to anyone? Maybe someone with an apartment in town? Or someone who owned a pizza shop- (I was getting hungry). I thought about the great carousel that used to be in the pavilion. I thought about the Palace Amusements building. I drew the alley cat in front of me and it reminded me of another cat.......

There used to be a cat that hung around the SkeeBall games. It would always get underfoot when you were trying to throw the ball. It was like you were in HIS way, like you were in HIS pavilion, like he LIVED there. "Hmmm..." I thought, "Maybe it did." And I wondered what that would be like..... hey, it's my JOB to wonder about this kind of stuff.....

I wondered who fed that cat. What was it like in the evening, when everything shut down? Was it quiet? Spooky?

And what was it like in later years, when one by one, everything went out of business and closed down? Where did the SkeeBall cat go? What did he do? And now here was this cat, today. Couldn't be the same cat. It was an orange tabby, just an ordinary cat. I wondered if it ever did an extra-ordinary thing? I liked the sound of that. Wrote it down in my sketchbook: "ordinary cat does an extra-ordinary thing." And then I saw today's alley cat, the real nowaday cat- work himself through a crack in one of the boarded up doors and go inside the carousel pavilion! What was that cat up to?

I hurried over, got a box, stood on it and squinted through a broken window. It sure looked spooky in there. I kept thinking I saw scary things in the shadows. I'm always looking for scary things. Then I saw the cat. It walked calmly across the floor and jumped into a big tube- hey, I remember that big tube! It was part of the fun house! "Why would the cat go in there?" I wondered. For food? To sleep? For shelter? Why would a cat go in there? Yeah- WHY WOULD A CAT GO IN THERE?

I saw many things through many different windows. Here's a sketch of the old lights that hung down from the ceiling. They must have looked great when they were new. The cat was gone. I wondered where it went. Hmmm... I stepped away from the window. It didn't look like this building had a basement. It looked like it had an upstairs, though. I looked up.

And then I saw the cat- IN THE NEXT BUILDING! "How did it get there?" I wondered, "I didn't see it come out. Hmmm... it must have a secret route. I wrote down in my sketchbook: SECRET ROUTE.