Kappa & The School of Yōkai
Riley Wu
See it On Campus: Level 2
You can find my book alongside some of my illustrations in the RBC Media Gallery!
Visitor Info
Summer coming to a close means one thing for Kappa: it’s time to go to school. There are so many new things Kappa has deal with— a whole day away from the river, a chaotic cast of classmates, and a teacher with eyes in the back of their head. Kappa & The School of Yōkai is a heartwarming children’s book about coming to terms with anxiety.
During my time at Emily Carr, I found my love for illustration stemmed from storytelling and narrative, which eventually led me to picture books. I hope I can become an illustrator who can help foster a love of stories in young readers.
Kappa is a gentle and timid character, but has a lot of heart! While he often falls flat, he always tries his best.
Origins of the Story
The writing process for Kappa & the School of Yōkai began as I tried approaching a story about handling anxiety. I revisited my sketches, and found that unique physical quirks of the Kappa were a great visual for this. The dome in the Kappa’s head stores water, which gives them essential energy if they ever leave their body of water.
My vision for Kappa was to give my audience a clear visual for anxiety— something I found very hard to describe growing up, even if I knew exactly what it felt like. Kappa’s character began to constantly worry about the water in his head, exasperated by his clumsy & awkward nature.
(Fun fact, the first iteration of this story was a pop-up book! It was fun experimenting with different materials and playing with the structure of a book. Ultimately, I wanted to focus on the quality of illustrations over overcomplicating things with inner mechanics.)
The Book Dummy
Other Artworks
