Interview with M.H. Clark, Author of ‘We Needed a You’

An interview about We Needed a You by M.H. Clark, presented by The Children’s Book Review in partnership with Compendium.

Today, we chat with M.H. Clark, author of We Needed a You. This tender new picture book is a love letter to the ones who complete our world, capturing the quiet magic of belonging and the joy a child brings to every ordinary day.

With a lyrical voice and a deep understanding of emotional connection, M.H. Clark offers a heartfelt tribute to the children who change everything in We Needed a You. Known for her evocative, poetic storytelling, Clark crafts a warm, inclusive picture book that celebrates the wonder of welcoming a child into the world, whether through birth, adoption, or the everyday formation of a chosen family.

In our conversation, Clark shares the inspirations behind the book, the importance of representing all kinds of families, and how Olivia Holden’s enchanting illustrations capture the sense of joy, belonging, and community woven through every page.

Your opening lines beautifully express how a child completes a family: “Before you were here, there were people to love… But something was missing. We needed a you.” What inspired you to capture this profound sentiment in such simple yet powerful words?

M.H. Clark (MHC): There are a few answers to this question! The first is that so many of the children in my life are fascinated with the world that was here before they were here. They want to know all about what was happening on Earth before they arrived! This book was inspired, in part, by offering children an answer to that question… and then explaining that the world, no matter how wonderful it was, just wasn’t complete without them. The second answer to this question is that the sentiment “the world is brighter with you in it” is such a universal feeling we have for the loved ones in our lives—children or otherwise. I wanted to find a way to write a book around this sentiment—to express how much we need each of the people who make our lives feel big and full and rich and complete. “I’m so glad you’re here” is a message we all need and want to hear.

What I love about this book is how it works so delightfully for both birth and adoptive families. Was this inclusivity intentional from the beginning, and did someone special inspire this poem?

MHC: Yes! This inclusivity is very much a part of this book and so many of the children’s books I write. It’s my hope that all types of families see themselves described and reflected in these pages, and that there is room for many different versions and kinds and constellations of families. There are many special children whose stories are woven into this book—whose individual hearts and spirits and ways of being shaped and inspired these words—but it is dedicated to Clara, whose parents adopted her in 2022 after waiting and wishing for her for a very long time.

While your previous works like You Belong Here and Tiny, Perfect Things share similar themes of belonging and appreciation, We Needed a You continues this exploration in a new direction. How do you feel this book allowed you to express something new?

MHC: Thank you so much for bringing up these themes! I agree with you that belonging and appreciation are so fundamental to the children’s books that I write, and to the reasons I write them. To me, this book is one that takes place close to home—it’s a book about family and community, the neighborhood where you live, the people who are in your small, familiar part of the world, your park, your playground, your street. It was very much inspired by the tiny little town where I was living when I wrote it—a place where every child was known by everyone, and was a beloved part of the community. That message of belonging—of being known, cherished, and loved by all the people who know you—is at the heart of this book.

Your rhyming bounces along with perfect cadence throughout the book. Did you study poetry formally, or does this rhythmic writing come naturally to you?

MHC: Oh, I love this question, and I love talking about rhyme. I did study poetry formally—both as an undergraduate student and as a graduate student. But I also think that rhyming is one of the ways my mind likes to make shape and meaning of the world. So in that sense, it also comes naturally to me. I am especially big on rhyming in children’s books, because rhyming is so incredibly powerful for language development. There’s some really incredible research about the benefits of rhyming for babies, toddlers, and young children, as they learn how language works… and there’s something wonderfully predictable about rhyme that allows young readers to feel invited into the poem by predicting the sounds that come next. To me, rhyme has so much room in it for the reader; that feeling of being “held” by a piece of writing is so comforting.

How many versions of We Needed a You did you write before feeling you had gotten it just right? Could you share some details about your revision process?

MHC: Ah, this is such a good question! There are some books that just “write themselves,” and all I have to do is catch them as they come. This was not one of them! There were so many iterations of this book—an alphabetical version… a version that talked about monarch butterflies and planets and the universe… I kept feeling like I was so close to the right version, but just one or two rooms over from the place where this book wanted to be. I wrote dozens and dozens of stanzas that didn’t make it into the final version, and just when I was losing hope, out came the stanza “Before you were here, there were people to love… to hold hands with and dance with and be with and hug. There were good friends and best friends and family, too. But something was missing. We needed a you.” And the minute that was down on the page, I knew that I was finally speaking with the book as it wanted to be. That’s when the writing began to come more easily.

Olivia Holden’s illustrations beautifully complement your poetic text. Do you ever think about what images the illustrator might pair with your words when you’re writing them?

MHC: As I write, I’m often inspired by visual scenes—moments of imagistic clarity that I try to capture in language, like the blackberry vines or the cats in the window or the kites being flown on the hilltops that appear in the pages of this book. But I am always, always surprised and awestruck to discover the ways that illustrators interpret these images, with palettes, perspectives, and imagination that add so much depth and life to whatever I might have been imagining.

In previous books, you’ve mentioned particular illustrations that resonated with you—like the crow’s nest in Tiny, Perfect Things. When you first saw Olivia Holden’s artwork for We Needed a You, was there a specific illustration or moment she captured that especially moved you or brought your words to life in a way you hadn’t imagined?

MHC: Olivia brings such profound energy and spirit to the page. There was a moment when several of us who were working on this book came across an illustration in her portfolio—sort of a little joyful parade of several brightly painted people in a line—and we all gasped, “that’s it!” The immediate right-ness of Olivia’s art is everywhere in this book, and there are so many moments that she lights up with her own incandescence. As I look through the book, I notice something new each time. One of the things I most appreciate about her art is the uniqueness of her perspective; she often looks at a scene from almost underneath it, so the page feels like it is being approached from a child’s vantage on the world. The wildness and tangle of the blackberry thicket does this for me, and all the electric luminous purple is so juicy I could look at it forever. I also really love the rainy day page, where the visual of the child’s foot in the puddle is larger than life. So much magic!

We Needed a You is perfect for bedtime reading. How do you envision parents and children experiencing this book together, and what conversations do you hope it might spark?

MHC: I love a good bedtime story. That’s the part of the day I most hope my books fit into—a last moment of awe and observation and tenderness and togetherness before sleep. I imagine lots of conversations about the world that is described in this book, and about each family’s own version of the friends and neighbors and landscapes and loved ones that this book describes. And I hope it inspires children and their parents or caregivers to feel that they are very much needed and loved in this world.

Since the book celebrates the unique impact a child has on their family, have any families shared any particularly touching stories about how they’ve connected with it?

MHC: The first readers of this book were the parents and families who inspired it, and I have received so much feedback from them that has brought tears to my eyes. One child looked at the cover and said “that’s you and that’s me” to his mother, pointing to each character in turn. Another parent said that their child looked up with wonder after reading and said “she wrote that for me?!” and then spent the rest of the day repeating phrases from the book to herself. I think the thing that most delights me about both of these stories is that little ones are truly seeing themselves in these pages… and feeling that the message of this book is uniquely for them and about them. And it is. For every single reader, it truly is.

We Needed a You beautifully shows how a child transforms everyday moments. Before we go, can you share a simple moment from your own life that captures this magic—maybe something ordinary that became special because of a child’s presence?

MHC: What a beautiful question. One of the things that the children in my life offer all the time is a profound attentiveness to the world around us—a way of seeing what adults are so used to seeing that we no longer perceive it as extraordinary… or sometimes, we fail to even notice it at all! In the neighborhood where I wrote this book, it was the children who first noticed when the blackberries were ripe. There were these beautiful dark purple fruits, right at arm level for little hands to reach, and while the adults were passing by, it was the children who noticed them and made us all stop. The children were the ones who found them, and who delighted in sharing what they had found… and, in doing so, helped all of the rest of us to see this profound gift of the season that might otherwise have passed us by.

About the Book

Publisher’s Book Summary: An exquisite picture book that melds tender rhyming text with expressively layered artwork to deliver a profound message of comfort and belonging every child needs to hear: The world is more magnificent with YOU in it!

“Before you were here, there were people to love… to hold hands with and dance with and be with and hug. There were good friends and best friends and family too. But something was missing. We needed a you.”

Let a little one know how much they matter, and celebrate how the world became a more vibrant place as soon as they arrived.

Written by award-winning children’s book author M.H. Clark, each page of this poetic book is a chance to connect with a child and tell them how deeply loved they are. Colorful illustrations invite readers to experience how their presence makes home cozier, days brighter, and ordinary moments fuller and more complete in countless ways.

Gift the book to welcome a new baby, celebrate an adoptive family, or enhance a child’s library.

Buy the Book

About the Author

M.H. Clark is a poet and writer who has received multiple awards, including the Washington State Book Award and two Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards. She has traveled the world and lived in many wonderful places–but she believes she belongs most of all in a little house with a large library, someplace where the forest meets the sea.

About the Illustrator

Olivia Holden is an illustrator based in West Yorkshire, England. She holds a degree in fashion and textile design from the University of Huddersfield. Holden enjoys mixing media to create intriguing and colorful textures and surface patterns. Through her illustrations, she hopes to spark creativity and imagination in children through vivid and emotionally rich storytelling.

This interview—Interview with M.H. Clark, Author of ‘We Needed a You’—was conducted between M.H. Clark and Bianca Schulze.