Why do you write picture books? by Jane Clarke

I didn't set out to be a picture book writer.  
I loved sharing picture books and making up stories for my sons when they were small, but it never occurred to me then to try to write one.  Archaeology and history were my thing. My books and my writing were weighty and academic.


Then my husband’s work took us to the Netherlands, and my much-loved job had to be left behind. I did some substitute teaching at Antwerp International School and became a part time library assistant there. 
The best part of the job was reading picture books aloud to classes of children in Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten and First Grade  and helping them choose their books. I learned how picture books could work on different levels for the adult reader as well as the child listener, and how clever yet deceptively simple they could be. Soon, picture books were my favourite books in the library. 

Then one day, Jasmine, a little girl in Grade 1 asked for a book about ‘a princess, a rabbit and shopping.’ She wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and came back day after day to find out if the library had one yet.  She was so persistent I ended up saying I’d write her a story - Hoppy Shopping, Princess Jasmine. I enjoyed the challenge of cutting down the word count and as I revised it, and cut the text into pages, the pictures began to form in my mind…

I had a lot to learn and it was a long journey before my first published picture book was in the library:   

Although Hoppy Shopping, Princess Jasmine never made it into print, the Jasmine moment is the moment I became a picture book writer.
What’s yours?