Children’s authors dish on the sly humor of ‘The Wolf the Duck and the Mouse’ ahead of Utah visits

So, let’s say you’re a mouse. And let’s also say you run into a wolf one day. And let’s finally say the wolf eats you because that’s what wolves do. What would you expect to find in the belly of the beast?

If you said, “A duck with an awesome vinyl record collection who lives and feasts like a king, thanks to his host’s unknowing largesse,” then you’ll love “The Wolf the Duck and the Mouse,” the latest collaboration between the uber-talented Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen. And even if “duck” wasn’t your answer, chances are excellent that you’ll love this sly book anyway.

Barnett and Klassen, who will be in Salt Lake City on Oct. 15 and 16, share their thoughts in an email exchange about their new book, as well as their creative partnership, with The Salt Lake Tribune.

How did you two meet?

We met at a party that our book agent, Steve Malk, was throwing in Los Angeles. Steve basically put us in a corner of the room by ourselves and said, “You both like ‘Frog and Toad,’ ” and that was kind of it.

My friend Margaret, who’s a bookseller here in Salt Lake, wants me to ask if you see yourselves in your books. Like, can you see yourself in the belly of a wolf?

To a certain extent you have to be able to see yourself in the books, even if it’s at a bit of a distance. A lot of times you can feel like you might already be in the belly of a wolf. This book is partly about answering the question about how much that affects your mood one way or another.

What would be on your menu if, in fact, you were dining in a wolf’s belly? What albums would you listen to?

The duck and the mouse seem to do all right with their menu — some good wine and cheese is pretty appealing. We’re both pretty big sushi fans, but that might be a tall order in there. Agreeing on music would be easy. We both really love old soul music. If it were allowed, Otis Redding’s face would’ve been on one of the record covers in the book.

Would you mind talking about your history of collaboration? How many books have you done together? What does that process look like?

We’ve done five books together, although the fifth doesn’t come out until next spring. The process varies quite a bit from book to book. The first book we did together was “Extra Yarn,” and that was a very traditional collaboration, meaning that the text was written and complete before the illustration process started, and that part was done in isolation, mostly. We talked about how things were going while it was being illustrated, but there weren’t any real changes being made or anything.

The next book was “Sam and Dave Dig a Hole,” and that book was more of a collaboration all the way along. We thought of the main idea over a breakfast meeting together and then the text was written based on what we’d come up with, but all along during both the writing and illustration stages we were helping each other out and solving things as a team. The Shapes books — “Triangle,” which came out in the spring, and “Square,” which will be out next spring — are a lot like that, too.

The latest book was actually a holdout from a while ago when the text was written, and it followed the “Extra Yarn” model of the text and the illustration being done mostly separately. There is speculation that that’s because we’re getting sick of each other, and we haven’t been disputing those rumors.

Jon, your illustrations have a distinctive palette — lots of neutral colors. Can you tell our readers how you came to favor this look?

I went to school for animation, and the program for that kind of work involves a lot more drawing than painting, so the science of color and what goes with what is still kind of a mystery to me. Also, whenever I admire an illustration or a painting or any piece of graphic design, so often it’s because of how the values are handled — the lights and darks — so as long as those are taken care of, I’m usually happy and the color stuff is sort of secondary. I think that leads to a more subdued palette, but it’s also just how I like things to look!

What’s in the future for you as a creative team?

There will be three books in the Shapes series altogether — “Triangle,” “Square,” and “Circle,” each coming out a year after the other. Past that, we will have to wait and see, but pals who do this kind of thing don’t go too long without wanting to cash in on each other — so there will be something soon.