Shibutanis Bring Childhood Wish to Life with Kudo Kids Series

When Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani were young, they were voracious readers.
 
But there was one problem: they struggled to find themselves represented in the books they were reading. While their parents ensured that they read historical books about Japanese-Americans and their Asian heritage, books with Japanese-American characters in a modern setting were hard to come by.
 
"I was kind of into fantasy books, so I read the Lord of the Rings, and the Redwall series, and the Harry Potter series, but none of the characters in those were Asian-American or of Asian heritage," Alex said. "They were woodland creatures, or dwarves and elves, wizards. And stories have an amazing way of kind of reflecting our realities, and I just never felt my experience reflected when I was reading a book."
 
While they may not have known it at the time, seeds were being planted.
 
Now, the 2018 Olympic ice dance bronze medalists are published authors with two middle-grade children's books to their name.
 
The Kudo Kids series is about two Japanese-American siblings, Andy and Mika Kudo, who travel the world, having adventures and solving mysteries.
 
"Growing up, Maia and I didn't have a middle-grade book that featured contemporary Asian-American protagonists," Alex said. "We wanted to tell an uplifting, fun, dynamic, exciting, throw-in-all-those-superlatives mystery adventure that we would've really enjoyed when we were kids."
 
The second book in the series, Kudo Kids: The Mystery in Manhattan, came out on May 4, 2021. In the story, Andy and Mika travel to New York City for the first time and are pulled into a chase around the city when their aunt's dress goes missing.
 
Kudo Kids: The Masked Medalist, the first book in the series, came out last September and is set in Tokyo at an Olympic Games.
 
While much of their focus in writing the first book went to establishing the characters, the second book allowed them to concentrate on character development and the Kudo Kids' sibling relationship. Both, however, are set in cities close to the Shibutanis' hearts.
 
"For both stories, we chose locations where we had different experiences so that we could kind of write a little bit authentically and share some of our favorite things about those two particular cities," Alex said.
 
"I was born in New York and we grew up skating in the tri-state area. I represented the Skating Club of New York," Maia added. "We spent so much time in the city over the years that it's exciting for us to be able to introduce it to young readers who maybe haven't had the chance to visit before."
 
That desire to introduce readers to new cities has become even more important over the last year as travel has become far more difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
"Especially during the pandemic when our first book came out, it was such an amazing experience to get the feedback from young kids and parents to hear that they're enjoying the story so much and reading it multiple times," Maia said. "And so to know that, while travel is a little bit more challenging now, readers can, through our books, visit Tokyo and New York, is really amazing."
 
The pandemic has, of course, had a number of adverse effects on the creation and promotion of the Kudo Kids series. The Shibutanis had been looking forward to traveling to libraries around the country to meet the fans -- something they still hope to do -- and recorded the first audio book immediately before the lockdown began last year.
 
"I have a very distinct memory of finishing recording the book, and then essentially the next day, staying inside for a year," Alex noted with a laugh.
 
But it also ended up being a positive in the form of motivation.
 
"We feel so fortunate that we had this project to work on, especially when things were shutting down around the world," Maia said, "because to know that we're working on something that will hopefully be a bright spot for a young person during a challenging time, that was really all the motivation we needed to try and buckle down and make this as great as possible."
 
The two particularly enjoyed recording the audiobooks because they spent so much time listening to books on tape -- from the time before audiobooks -- as they were driven between home, school and the rink growing up.
 
"We always enjoyed the different inflections that the narrator would have for different characters, and so it was a different type of performance than what we're used to, but it was fun," Alex said.
 
"And for both books, since we have two characters and the chapter perspective alternates between each character, Alex performs as Andy and I voice Mika," Maia added. "And so it's cool for us to be in the booth and hear each other perform, and we're able to work with the director to craft the performance and give each other feedback, and make it the best thing that it could possibly be."
 
The support for their new book, the Shibutanis say, has been overwhelming. Michelle Kwan wrote a blurb for this book -- Scott Hamilton and Kristi Yamaguchi wrote blurbs for book one -- and they have been welcomed into the literary community with open arms.
 
Fans from around the world and of all ages have read and enjoyed the Kudo Kids, and the Shibutanis served as co-chairs for the American Library Association National Library Week.
 
It's all served as a reminder of the importance of community.
 
"Beyond just the pages of the book and the story you're telling, it's who you get to do it with," Alex said. "So we're really appreciative of our editors and the entire team of people who make it happen. It's been really amazing because it's been a continuation of our understanding of the creative, collaborative process in skating. We are the ones on the ice, but it takes a whole village and support structure of people to kind of bring everything to life."

The Skating Club of New York is hosting a Zoom Q&A for Maia and Alex on Sunday, May 16th at 7pm ET. Current partner clubs include: North Jersey FSC, Rye FSC, Knickerbocker FSC, Arctic FSC, and Florida Everblades FSC. If your club is interested in joining, send an email to kudokids2@gmail.com.