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Kensington cartoonist John Patrick Green will give a drawing demonstration at the Brooklyn Museum’s Children’s Book Fair on Nov. 23. Photo by Kevin Duggan
Kitten around
Kensington cartoonist brings his tail of kitties to book fair
COURIER LIFE, NOVEMBER 15-21, 2019 49
TBy Kevin Duggan hey’re clawing their
way to the top!
A Kensington
author and illustrator will
show off his drawing
skills and his comic books
about adorable animals at
the Brooklyn Children’s
Book Fair, happening at
the Brooklyn Museum
on Nov. 23. John Patrick
Green will host the final
event of the book festival,
demonstrating how he draws
the characters in his book
series “Kitten Construction
Company” — a group of
kitty construction workers
who get no respect from
their human counterparts
because they are just too
cute, the author said.
“These kittens want this
job, but no one will take
them seriously because
they’re so adorable,” Green
said.
The felines’ struggle to
be taken seriously resonates
with children who struggle
to be taken seriously, as
well as with adults who
face patronizing or sexist
adversity in the workplace
— a sort of #meowtoo
moment.
“A child might feel
like ‘I’ve legitimately
accomplished a thing,’ and
the only response they’ll get
from an adult or a teacher,
is, ‘Oh you’re so adorable,
how precious,’ ” he said.
“For adults — and I was
completely conscious of
this — it’s a metaphor for
sexism in the workplace.”
The second book in
the Kitten Construction
Company series, subtitled
“A Bridge Too Fur,” debuted
in October, and features
the industrious fur balls
teaming up with a company
of canine constructors.
At the festival, which
will feature about 40 kids’
book creators, Green will
sell and sign copies of both
books in the series, as well
as an earlier book about
another animal performing
human jobs. His 2016 book
“Hippopotamister,” follows
a hippopotamus that flees
the zoo and tries to live
among humans by trying
out different jobs, including
a construction worker, a
hair stylist, and a sous chef.
Early next year, Green
plans to fur-ther expand
his empire of employed
animal books with the
comic “InvestiGators,”
about crime-fighting, vestwearing
alligators. He has
plans to create several
sequels to the InvestiGators
book, and for a follow up
to “Hippopotamister” in the
coming years.
Green, who has been
drawing comics since he
was a child, says that he
loves having the opportunity
to amuse people with his
drawings.
“I get to just sit at home
and draw comics and think
of things that make me
laugh — and if I’m lucky,
other people will laugh at
me too,” he said.
John Patrick Green at
the Brooklyn Children’s
Book Fair at the Brooklyn
Museum 200 Eastern
Pkwy. at Washington
Avenue in Prospect Heights,
(718) 638–5000, www.
brooklynmuseum.org. Nov.
23, 11:30 am–4 pm. Free.
Green has written a two-book series about kittens that run their
own construction company. John Patrick Green, color by Cat Caro
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