1. The King of Kazam is a fantastic picture book, with brilliant rhyming text and wonderful illustrations. Jen and Cassandra – how did the project first come about?

Thank you! We met at a Bake Off street party and we bonded over values and a goat’s cheese tart. We were angry about  the behaviour of certain greedy world leaders. Boris and Donald, in particular. We wanted our kids to know it was positive to challenge such self serving hierarchies and to work together for community benefit. So Jen wrote the story of how Kandy and Kane take on the King of Kazam and Cassandra brought them to life through illustration.

2. Stunning colours and text placement make this book a joy to read, the fun factor and adventure of the King and the people who live in Kazam has a great community feel to it. Can you describe the collaboration between you both to make sure the words and illustrations were what you were both looking for? Were there many drafts involved? 

It took two years, a lot of coffee and a mountain of baked goods! We share a belief in the power of community and had a lot of fun playing with the words and images to best capture that. We discussed having characters with whom children connect. We paid close attention to our children and their friends as they played and interacted – their postures, positions and things they said – all of it. We wanted to make sure there is a visual distinction between the King’s kids and their greedy parents. Most importantly, we involved children and parents in giving us feedback on early drafts to help shape the book. The poo, ducks and underpants were firm favourites!

3. Kids love a bit of toilet humour and The King of Kazam certainly has this in abundance, what do you want readers to take away from this story? 

Poo seemed a good metaphor for greed as well as something that makes children laugh!  We wanted to give children a voice in bringing about change. That they understand who they are and what they do, matters. They can change the world and we want to encourage them to be brave in their thoughts and actions. Also, we wanted to make them laugh whilst doing so as we learn best while having fun.

4. This picture book is to raise funds for The Trussell Trust, it challenges the hierarchy that sits in many communities in an easily accessible way – can you tell us a little about your contact with The Trussell Trust on this project? 

We wanted our book to be true to its values and raise funds for a charity that works to ensure no one goes hungry. Last year The Trussell Trust provided 3 million food parcels to help some of the 14 million people who cannot afford to feed themselves and their  families. All profit (£2 per copy) goes to The Trussell Trust via Work For Good.

5. Do you plan to collaborate in the future on any further books? What’s in store for you both? 

We plan another fun picture book for charity in 2024. The Lamb Who Baa’d Backwards is another modern fairy tale about the importance of diversity. Jen is doing a one woman comedy show at the Edinburgh Festival, again for The Trussell Trust, as well as writing a sitcom and finishing a novel. Cassandra has lots of client work, collaborating with charities to create illustrations for social media, websites, maps etc, as well as teaching kids and adults locally.

6. Raising awareness for a charity is essential for it to survive, where can people find out more about The Trussell Trust? 

We have a lot about The Trussell Trust on our webpage for The King of Kazam https://www.jenhyatt.com/king-of-kazam We would love them to buy a copy to support their work and to come along to Jen’s Edinburgh Fringe Show where there will be plenty of information on their work https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/multitude-of-sins-a-dog-gone-mystery