In 2014 an anonymous donor gave money to the Santa Clara City Library Foundation & Friends for an annual author talk in honor of Santa Clara resident, Emma Kaliterna, who turned 100 last December.
Scott Campbell, Author and Illustrator, facilitated this year’s May 13 Emma Kaliterna Author Event. The first 40 families arriving at the event received a copy of “Sleepy, the Goodnight Buddy,” written by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Campbell.
“’Sleepy, the Goodnight Buddy’ is a bedtime story about a boy named Roderick who has a hard time sleeping, meaning that he’s excitable and he tries to come up with excuses to stay up,” Campbell said.
“His parents give him a stuffed animal called Sleepy, the Good Night Buddy to help him go to sleep. The animal comes to life and keeps the boy awake and the boy tries to get the animal to go to sleep. Ultimately, the boy is so exhausted trying to get the stuffed animal to go to sleep that eventually, he falls asleep.”
Campbell, who grew up in San Jose, reflected on how his upbringing in Silicon Valley influenced his work as an author and illustrator.
“I remember there being more abandoned play spaces around when I was growing up than what’s there now. Now everything is taken up,” Campbell said. “The Saratoga winery was abandoned back when I was living in the area. My friends and I used to go and explore things there. There’s stuff in my illustrations about exploring new places.”
Campbell used to work in the gaming industry in the Bay Area. During the summers in his high school and college years, he worked at the day camps for the Cupertino Parks and Recreation Department.
“Being at Cupertino Parks and Recreation inspired me to want to work with children,” Campbell said. “The gaming industry helped me with my editing. I was the Art Director for some games and I designed a lot of characters and environments.
“When you design games,” he continued, “there’s a lot of back and forth with the constant changing of how things work and how they work to make the experience more enjoyable for a player or for someone experiencing a story. When you design picture books, there’s also a lot of editing. You think a lot about how someone will experience the book.”
Visit www.scottc.com for more information about Campbell and his work.