AN INTERVIEW WITH KATE BEATON The author discusses princesses, ponies, and writing her first children s book TIME: So how did you become a cartoonist? KATE BEATON: Well, I always drew. And was encouraged to do so by my parents. I didn t think there was going to be any money in that, so I went to school for history and anthropology, and I was going to work in museums. But I did comics for the student newspaper, and this was like the early 2000s, when graphic novels were becoming a bigger thing. You could see that cartooning was something you could kind of keep up. So I just did. And I put the comics online, and they spread through word of mouth, and when they reached a certain point I thought, well, I ll give this a shot. TIME: Tell me about the pony, of The Princess and the Pony. KATE BEATON: I think I first drew the pony in 2008. That s really soon after I started making comics. And it has always struck a chord with people. You can t predict what will and what won t, but the pony was just unprecedented. I don t know it s round, it kind of looks like a pig. I get so many emails with pictures of tiny horses. Whenever people go on vacation and they see one, or there s one on the news, I get a bunch of emails. TIME: And what about Princess Pinecone, did she already exist before you wrote the book? KATE BEATON: She was created for the book. I was going to make it the story about the pony, but it s kind of like an inactive thing, and there has to be an active character, and you re talking to kids, so it s probably going to be a kid, and I m from a family of four girls, so for me it was probably going to be a girl. And then there was the princess thing, which I had debated, because there s so much princess stuff out there right now. But when I was a child I really, really liked princesses, and I don t think that I remember it was my choice as a child, I loved princesses, it was my choice. Of course things are being sold to you, because a lot of stuff is being marketed at kids, but I loved them, I just did, I drew myself with the cone hats and the dresses and everything. And so I thought, if I m going to make this story about a princess it matters a lot who she is and what she wants and what she s all about. So her name a lot of princesses are called flower names, like Rose or whatever, so I picked one that was kind of like a flower but not really. A little bit more prickly, a little bit off center. And I thought it suited her very well. I mostly wanted a book that would make kids laugh.
TIME: So in the world of the book, battling is just kind of the general occupation for people? KATE BEATON: It s this weird nonsense world. It s not full of Vikings, it s full of whoever whoever wants to be there, and that s what they like to do. But they hit each other with like pool noodles and things, which is another thing that kids do, they get in fights with objects that are supposed to be swords but they re not, and nobody gets hurt. Princess Pinecone s not afraid, and her size doesn t really bother her very much, she s just gonna go for it. I wrote it really fast, it just seemed like a natural thing. She gets this present she doesn t exactly want, but we ve all had that. Parents always do that, they listen, and they re like oh, yeah, a bike, and they get you the thing that you asked for but not really. But they re so happy to give it to you! A lot of it is modeled in a strange way on myself, I guess: when I was little I had a lot of those sweaters that just had random stuff written on them, I remember I had a shirt that just had a bunch of bears on it, and it just said exercise on it. It made no sense. I feel like there were these factories just outputting these weird random shirts that kids were given. So she wants a warrior horse, and she gets the pony instead, because her parents don t really know. But it s a story about love in the end, because her parents love her, they want to support her. They show up for the battle later on and they re cheering for her. She understands that it s not exactly what she asked for, but she makes the best of it. And then it turns out to be the best gift of all, which also happens, because you treasure those things, because of the love that was behind them. TIME: Did you test-drive the book on some kids before you turned it in? KATE BEATON: No. But I have a nephew now, he s a baby, he s amazing, so I m trying to write this next book about a baby. I spent some time with him, tried to understand his baby ways. Which are mostly just putting things in his mouth. Excerpted from an interview with Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine
Draw yourself as a great warrior next to your brave pony!
What does it take to be a warrior? Princess Pinecone is late for the Great Battle! Can you help her pack what she needs to be the bravest warrior of all? Match the word from Princess Pincecone s list to the picture it describes. Sweater Helmet Pony Slingshot Sword Shield
Even warriors have a cuddly side! Can you count how many sweaters appear in the picture? There are sweaters!