Best-selling children’s author bringing imagination, creativity to reading

Known for imaginative characters like a self-conscious, one-fanged vampire, or a puppy made of clouds experiencing friendship difficulties, author and illustrator Kelly Leigh Miller believes children empathize with relatable troubles.

Miller, whose children’s graphic novel “Cloud Puppy” spent nine-weeks on the Indie Bestsellers List, is hosting a book reading and signing at the Yorkville Public Library at 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 14. Miller is the library’s first featured professional author.

Miller is also giving a presentation of her graphic novel and leading a draw-a-long at 12:30 p.m. You can register for the event at the library’s website.

Both an author and illustrator, Miller is also known for her children’s books “Stella, Star Explorer,” “I Am A Wolf” and “I Love My Magic!” After growing up in Louisville, she studied art at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Miller now resides in Chicago.

“I love seeing kids’ interactions when I read my stories,” Miller said. “It’s wonderful seeing children driven to do creative things. At past [public] readings, some kids actually read my books beforehand and brought me their own comics and drawings they made for me to keep. I even had one kid write sequels to a bunch of my books.”

Miller said she’s excited to share with the Yorkville attendees behind-the-scenes work for “Cloud Puppy,” like the original sketches that inspired her character designs. She said the success of “Cloud Puppy” was a wonderful surprise. She even had parents tell her their kid would run around all day carrying the book, reading it multiple times.

While growing up, Miller said she was a reluctant reader, struggling to find any inspiring books until she came across the comics and manga that opened her whole world. She fell in love with Diana Wynne Jones “Howl’s Moving Castle” and the manga series “Sailor Moon.” It was from these early illustrations she was inspired to begin sketching her own characters.

“It was like I finally stumbled upon stories that I personally resonated with,” Miller said. “For kids who are reluctant readers like I was, it’s so nice to realize there are so many other books and genres out there waiting for you to discover. If you like dragons, find a book with dragons. Once you figure out what you like to read, you will seek out everything you can.”

Miller said the spark of creativity often comes by exploring the desires and fears she experienced as a child. She said if she’s drawing monsters, she tries to create the type of monster that would have captured her attention as a kid. She often draws in the style of Tamagotchi, the Japanese digital pets she loved throughout her childhood.

“I’ll draw a bunch of characters in my sketchbook and see which ones really stand out and say something to me,” Miller said. “I can begin to establish their personalities. I then write down every possible scenario I can imagine the character getting into.”

After establishing their personalities, Miller’s characters are fully born through digital illustration. Once digitized, she can begin crafting their story arcs.

“I like building conflict into each of the character’s stories,” Miller said. “What kind of solution can I lead the story to? For example, as a kid I had a lot of silly fights with my best friend. Neither of us would know how to properly apologize.”

She said through constructing these organic situations kids experience every day, she can develop her characters to grow and mature from each situation.

Miller said no matter how fantastical, children resonate with characters they can see themselves in. She hopes both parents and children can enjoy a laugh and catch a bolt of inspiration while using her illustrated dreamscapes to see the world anew.