‘Hey, Kiddo’ author speaks to students

Monday, students gathered in the Student Center Ballroom to listen to Jarrett Krosoczka, author of graphic memoir, “Hey, Kiddo” as he lectured about the memoir. 

Krosoczka began his presentation with his early experiences as a writer and illustrator. He told the audience about the countless postcards and unfinished books he sent to publishers as he tried to get his name out there and get his career started.  

“There are plenty of times where I thought, ‘I’m going to be one of those people that almost made it’ and there are plenty of times where I felt like I wanted to quit and give up. But your biggest thing is always right around the corner, you just have to remember that,” Krosoczka said.  

After his first children’s book, “Good Night, Monkey Boy” was published by Random House, his career took off. Now, he has 41 published books that sit on the shelves of libraries across the country. 

“I get to meet these caretakers and educators that say that these books got their kids excited about reading and literacy and it’s amazing to see Halloween pumpkins decorated with my characters or kids dressed up as my characters for Halloween and it’s really cool.” 

Krosoczka then began speaking about what it was like to write his memoir. He spoke of the way he returned to the mindset that he had during that time of his life, using everything from his grandparents’ aftershave and perfume for the art he was creating as a teenager. He wanted the memoir to accurately reflect the emotions he was feeling.  

When coming up with the title for the work, Krosoczka went through several ideas. It wasn’t until he read through the letters his mother had written he got the title “Hey, Kiddo.” 

“Hey, Kiddo” was released as an audio book Wednesday. What makes the audio book special is that each character in the memoir actually voices themselves, except for Krosoczka’s grandparents who have passed.

“I don’t write books for other people these things are all for me. Really, I just write them to entertain myself,” Krosoczka said as he finished his presentation.