 Hello, everyone. My name is Shannon O'Zerny. I am the head of Youth Services at the West Vancouver Memorial Library, and it is my great pleasure to be your host for this virtual event. We are offering in partnership with West Vancouver schools, B, like Ishii at Q and A with Ishii Creator at Kiko Yabuki. We miss doing these events in person at the library so so much, but we're really grateful that we can reach you remotely with this fantastic event. Before we begin, I want to acknowledge that the library has its home on the traditional and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples, and in particular recognize the Squamish, Slewa-tooth, and Musqueam nations. So this virtual event came about when Ms. Wilson, a teacher at West Bend schools, told me about the amazing B, like Ishii project she started with another teacher, Ms. McNeigh from Saanich schools. Ms. Wilson was asking me if she could get an e-book copy of Ishii, simple tips from a solid friend. And I said, you know what Ms. Wilson, I think we can cook up something even better than that. So here we are today. A little bit about our format. Very shortly I'm going to be passing things over to Akiko, then Ms. Wilson and Ms. McNeigh will be popping on the screen to pass along some of the questions that you sent us for this event. So it is my very great pleasure to introduce you all to Akiko Yabuki. Akiko is an edutainment producer who loves creating entertaining content that also educates the audience. Akiko was a global producer for Sesame Workshop, the producer of the Sesame Street programs worldwide. And we are so thrilled that she made this book about Ishii because the message happiness is a choice is one that resonates with us so much here in the lower mainland and beyond, especially now. So Akiko, we are so happy that you are here joining us all the way from New York, and I am going to pass things over to you to tell us more about Ishii. You're on. Hello, my name is Akiko Yabuki, and I am the author of Ishii, simple tips from a solid friend. So today I actually wanted to tell you more about how this book was made and why I made the book. So I lived in New York for a very long time, but about 10 years ago I moved to Vietnam, which is a country in Southeast Asia. I was born in Japan, so I didn't speak Vietnamese. I had no friends there, and I didn't have a job. It was just a very new adventure for me, and I was feeling very lost and lonely. And so one day something wonderful happened to me. I found this pretty little rock on the beach in a town called Muy Nè Vietnam. So it's not a perfect circle, but it was just something about this shape that I loved, and I will tell you a little bit about the rock itself a little later. And after a few days when I went home, I just decided to draw two dots and a line on it. And I named it Ishii, which means rock in Japanese. And Ishii also means one's will or determination. Does Ishii look happy here to you? No, right? Ishii didn't look happy here because I wasn't feeling happy myself. But I carried Ishii with me everywhere, and I would put Ishii in different places where I think was symbolizing how I was feeling. So if I saw a place where Ishii would be stuck, then I would place Ishii there, and however I was feeling, I would just spot those places and I took pictures of Ishii and carried Ishii everywhere. And it was just a therapeutic way for me to express how I was feeling at the time. So here are some of the examples of how I was feeling, and these are, you might recognize these from the book. Impossible. And these pictures, I did not buy all white pieces of a puzzle to make this page. I actually had a puzzle that had all these white pieces, and I felt like it was impossible. Okay. So this was a leftover. Again, this was just after my breakfast in Vietnam, and I just placed Ishii in my miso soup bowl. Feeling like a leftover. Different. I felt very different, very often in Vietnam. I had different feelings I was having in my life, and I shared all these pictures with a friend of mine in New York, and he said, you know, Ishii looks really sad all the time. Maybe you should put a smile on Ishii's face. And I did. Here and more positive words came out. Rest and try again the next day. Every experience makes me grow. Giving makes me happy. And smile. So I had so much fun carrying Ishii around in Vietnam. It was almost like a friend that I needed. And I would just carry Ishii in my little pocket, which I will show you inside later, but this is where Ishii is. And I would take pictures. I started to take more pictures of Ishii being happy, eating something delicious. Just enjoying, enjoying every day. So, essentially, I was Ishii, and Ishii was me. And like I said, Ishii had become an outlet for me to express how I was feeling, whether it was a negative feeling or a positive feeling. One day I was looking at all these pictures, and I wasn't taking pictures for any particular reason at the time, but I had so many pictures, I said, Oh, I wonder what would happen if I put them together. And I just started to pair them one sad and one happy. If I'm feeling this way, maybe I can do this. So I showed it to, I showed the pairs of the pictures to one of my friends, and she really liked it. And really that's where the making of the book began. And I wanted to show you, so I know you guys know this book, but this is the published version with these from and two lines. And I wanted to show you, I don't think many people have seen this one, but this is my very first version of the Ishii book, it was very different. At first it was Ishii, everyone needs a rock. And it didn't have the from and two page yet. And then my second version is this one, it's getting closer to the published version, but this is where I decided to put this sticker of the from and two page. And I want to read to you how to use this book has changed since this time. So this version says the purpose of this book is to put a smile on as many people's faces as possible. If this book found you, you now have the opportunity to make someone smile. So before this book was published, I actually only printed about 200 copies of this book in Vietnam. And I was not going to sell them because that was not my purpose. The purpose was for me to put this book out there and hopefully make someone else feel happier and better because I realized that that was what made me the happiest to see someone else smile. It made me feel like I had a place in this world. And so that's why I added the from and two page. So now that the official version has come out, I hope this book is being passed on if you have a copy and if you can. I would love it if you know of a family member, a friend or anyone that you may know who might need a little cheering up from Ishii. I hope you pass them on to someone else. I think that's it for my my presentation. So I'm ready for questions. Oh, I can't. Hey, can we peek into the pouch before we do question. Oh, yeah. So I found Ishii in Vietnam, like I said, and I found this little perfect pouch in a place called Sapa in Vietnam, and I thought I would make it my little travel Ishii pouch. And so she's always been in here. And here is Ishii. There's only one Ishii. And I will do a close up. Here we go. I don't know if you can see you see there is actually you can see. Oh, here we go. So Ishii still does have a face and you see, do you see this this brown mark right here? Do you see this mark right here? I think that's one of the reasons why I was so attracted to this particular rock. And what I do when I did the book and also social media postings is I actually take pictures of this Ishii and I just do the faces in a software called Photoshop. And in the pouch, along with Ishii, I also have this little tupperware with clay inside because sometimes Ishii cannot stand on its own. And I need to put a little piece of clay behind Ishii so Ishii can stand. Well, Ishii can stay still and I can take a picture. So that's where Ishii is at all times to stay safe unless Ishii is in my pocket. That is fantastic. So I think we are now ready for questions. We have Ms. Wilson and Ms. McNeigh and they are going to take turns reading some of the fantastic questions we got from real students. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to ask the first question from one of our students and it's been such a pleasure hearing from you and learning more about Ishii. So one of our first student questions was, which Ishii picture was the first picture you ever took? So the very first picture of Ishii when it became Ishii, I don't know if you can see, it's the picture that I showed you earlier on the green leaves of Ishii, not smiling, but a bit of a sad face Ishii. This is the very first picture of Ishii I took. So the next question we have, excuse me, of all of the Ishii pictures you've taken, which one do you think is your favorite? Which one means the most to you? So that was a very hard, it's really hard to pick one picture because I have so many favorites, but in the book where it says, when nothing makes me feel better, I go outside, nature has magic. So this picture of Ishii, Ishii is kind of being hugged by the foam of the water. It was just such a perfect timing. And this is, and I actually grew up by the beach in Japan. So the beach has a special place in my heart. And so I think this is probably one of my favorite pictures of Ishii. Thanks. You shared a little bit about where you found Ishii. But can you tell us about the exact moment and how you knew Ishii was yours? So I went to a beach town in Vietnam for a little holiday, and it was just a relaxing weekend. And I think as soon as I saw it, I just got excited. Because I wasn't looking for rocks. I wasn't really, you know, in search of anything. But when I saw the rock, I just picked it up and I had to take it home. So the next question was supposed to be, do you still have Ishii? But we've seen that obviously you've kept Ishii and Ishii is really special to you. So I'll move on to our next question. And the kids want to know, have you written any other books? I have not written or completed other books, but I have been trying to work on the next Ishii books for a while now. Oops, sorry. And so those books would be other books with Ishii as the character? Yes. Yes. Wonderful. We can't wait. Thank you. Yeah, the students were asking, have you been able to see any of their Ishii projects yet? Yes. Oh, it's so amazing to see that other that that children are making their first of all that they're making their own Ishii. I think that's great. And then to see that they can identify their own difficult moments and then also find their own tips is so important because while I think the difficult moments and the tips I talk about in the book are probably relatable to a lot of people, I think we all have our own difficult moments and our own tips that work specifically for us. So it's been amazing. And I hope I hope everyone continues to make their own version of the Ishii book and remind themselves with their own tips to stay positive and happy. So it's been fantastic. Yes. That's awesome. I know the kids will be so excited to think that you've seen what they did because that would really be special for them. One of the questions that came in was why did you, you told us about how you were drawn to the rock, but why a rock and not a leaf or a stick or something else. What was special that caused you to just keep this rock and keep telling the story with it? I think probably like practically speaking, I think a rock, well, I think for one, Ishii felt very comfortable and calming in my hand and to hold. And so there was something about the weight of the rock and also the size of it, how it felt in my hand. And so the fact that I could carry Ishii with me all the time and not have it crumble or, you know, get lost. I think that was probably practically speaking. That's probably why I kept held onto the rock. But I think there was such a connection between me. I just felt a strong like feeling toward this rock that I kind of came out organically. I wasn't thinking when I found Ishii that hey, I'm going to make a picture book. No, I was just holding onto the Ishii and I thought, oh, why don't I take a few pictures. So it kind of came out organically that way. Nice. The next student question is how do you put the faces on the rocks? And you've told us you use Photoshop, but maybe you could just expand on that a little bit. Do you know right away when you take the picture what kind of face Ishii will have? Do you ever play with the different kinds of faces or change your mind? Yes. In fact, I usually for each image that you see of Ishii with the face, I probably tweak it at least 10 times. Sometimes I would say up to 50 times to just get it perfect, like just the balance and how I want like a smile is a smile. But at the same time, there are so many different kinds of smiles. It could be some sort of like a somewhat of a shy smile or a big smile. So yes, there's a lot of changes to doing the face and also because I actually have a Photoshop software on my laptop, but I've also done the face on my phone, on my iPhone, which is a little harder because it's on a smaller screen. But so basically what I do is I have to first erase this face that's on there with Photoshop and then sometimes Ishii has looked up so like it'll be way up then wear his eyes are on the actual rock. I have actually, if you have seen Ishii's social media, you might have seen pictures of Ishii with different emotions. I usually don't post or use pictures of Ishii with like an angry face or a confused face. I have not done that up until now in the book and just with one of the posts that I've done. So I think I might experiment with that more in the future though. Nice. So you told us about the process of making the book. And I think Darcy and I are surprised to know that there were different versions of the book. And I'm sure that the kids will be very surprised to hear that too. How long did it take you from the time you realized you were going to make a book until you actually had a book that you could give to people? To give to people. So from the time I had Ishii in my hand until this book was actually published, I would say about three years. But this other version that I shared, not to sell to people, but to just share the 200 copies, I would say that took about a year and a half. So what happened was once I made that version that I was just going to pass around just to hopefully put smiles on people's faces. Because people liked it. And because I believed that this book would make people happy after passing copies around to people, I decided to do a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. And I raised enough money to self publish the book. So I did that. And in fact, when I did that, I was living in Toronto, Canada. But one year I was there. After Vietnam, we moved to Toronto. And then after I raised enough money, I had about 500 copies of a book. And then I was reaching out to people at this point. Not to people, but to like also bookstores, companies to see if I, my goal was to spread this message that you can stay positive and find a bright moment, even in a difficult time. So I actually reached out to, you know, famous TV personalities stores, and I'm not sure if flying tiger is in Canada, but it is a European chain store that sells a lot of knickknacks. And that was one of the companies I reached out to and one day I got an email from them and they said we would like 24,000 copy of the book. And I said, I don't have 24. Are you sure you don't mean 24. And so they ended up buying the right to just print 24,000 copies to be distributed all over Europe. And then after that, in my personal life, because I was, I was pregnant, and I was not going to have as much time. So I thought, okay, maybe it's time that I find an official publisher in New York. And then how kids books is who found the book and published it for me. So that's kind of my, my journey to, to being published as, as a kids book author. Wow, that's really incredible. It's interesting to hear the whole story of how you went from the first just picking the rock up on the beach to actually publishing a book and having it go all over the world. Yes. I was, yes, I couldn't believe when I started to get emails from people from, from literally around the world, telling me that they, the book resonated with them. It was it shocked me. And I was so touched and so happy that I was able to make them smile and stay positive. So that was this has been an amazing journey for me as well. Fantastic. I love that message of finding the, the bright moments in difficult times and I think that that's really resonating with a lot of our students right now. So thank you for that. And I think it's really helping them find those strategies to deal with things when they're difficult. What one of the students wants to know is what you do when you're not writing books and not creating issue pictures. I'm not working on the book. We have a big dog, a black lab. And so I, I take him on walks and I also have a three year old daughter. And because I live in Brooklyn, New York. And right now I'm actually back at work with sesame workshop. So I'm working with some projects on Sesame Street. And otherwise I'm cooking. I do yoga. And I try to exercise exercise makes me so much happier. Even at a time like this when I can't really go outdoors and mingle with people just moving. And we actually are lucky to have a back patio so I try to get as much sun as possible. Yes, so that's pretty much my life right now. That's so cool. I bet the kids will be really excited to hear that you work with Sesame Street because Sesame Street is something we all know from our childhood. That's very exciting. Some of the other questions we had here you've already answered like, are you going to make another issue book. I know lots of the kids were really interested in hearing whether or not you were going to do that. And one of the questions that that came was, I think you've already answered but maybe for kids they might not quite understand it and one of the questions they had was, did you write the book when there was Coronavirus was it wasn't at a time when things were scary and I know you've kind of answered that but maybe if you could just clarify for the younger kids in the audience who might not quite put those two things together. So I did not write the book after the Coronavirus appeared in our lives. I wrote this book. So I probably met Ishii. Oh, I probably met Ishii like seven or eight years ago actually. So there was no virus, but I was going through a very hard time in my personal life. So I made the book for myself really. Yes, the project kind of came about organically through myself expressing my feelings. I just needed to let my my sad feelings and lonely feelings out somehow and taking pictures and through Ishii, I was able to communicate my feelings. So yes, it was definitely during the time when I was having a difficult time. And in fact, without the difficult times in my life, this book never would have happened because I wouldn't have had a reason to make the book. So for that, I am grateful that I've had those difficult moments so that I can look so that I could look for the tips that I could follow in my own life. That's fantastic. And it's such a great message for not just the kids to hear right now, but for all of us to hear that those difficult times in our lives push us to find the happiness and learn how to help ourselves be happy. I know Darcy and I are just so excited to get a chance to talk to you and the kids will be so excited. We have lots of schools here that have taken your book and and run with the project and kids are building their own Ishii creations and their own stories. And we're so grateful to you for having written the book and given giving the kids and us at this platform to examine our own feelings and look for our own happiness. Thank you so much. Oh my God, it's, it's such an honor to be talking to you and to share my journey with Ishii with everyone. And I'm just like, like, when I think about when I get requests from schools and questions from students, I am just like you having difficult moments and coming up with my own tips. So I just feel it's kind of like it's unreal for me to be to be here and being asked these questions and people wanting to know about me and my little rock. Like to me it's just me and a little rock and it turned into this this this big kind of journey for me and it's just been amazing. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you all so so much. Thank you Akiko for taking the time and your work day to talk to us. Thank you to Ms. Wilson and Ms. McNeely. I'm so excited about a book that they wanted to share it with students and put this project together. You can still make your own Ishii creation if you're watching. There's no expiry date on that. It's the link we will put in the description of the video. You can also go to WVML.ca slash Ishii to see what other students have made and to see Ms. Wilson and Ms. McNeely's website. Thank you so much for the light the library for bringing us all together. We will all wave goodbye now. We won't disappear from the screen. But thank you all of you. Thanks Akiko. Thank you.