Meeting the Steads (Erin and Philip, not Rebecca)

Today I took my girls to hear Erin and Philip Stead read from A Sick Day for Amos McGee (written by him, illustrated by her) and And Then It's Spring (written by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Ms. Stead) at our local bookstore.  My daughters initially didn't have much interest.  To them, hearing Erin or Philip Stead read A Sick Day for Amos McGee was no different than hearing me read it to them.  But as it turned out, Erin Stead did something very special that caught the attention of my 6-year-old aspiring artist.  She not only explained how she had made the illustrations for Amos, but she brought with her examples of them at all their stages - as sketches, woodcuts, and prints.  We hadn't even known that the illustrations were prints from woodcuts! 

The Steads could not have been more charming or gracious.  In response to my inquiries about how my daughter might be able to try printmaking, they suggested potato prints, which I'll now look into (any tips for her not-very-artistic mother are appreciated!).  And my easily frustrated daughter was thrilled to hear Ms. Stead talk about how many mistakes she makes, how many attempts she throws out, and how many she rectifies with her handy eraser. 

Are your children interested in hearing authors and illustrators read from their work?  Are you?  Who has been the most interesting or inspiring author or illustrator you've heard?

The Flip Side of Reading

The flip side of reading is, of course, writing.  Here, we write a lot of letters.  My kids are forced to write (or dictate, as their abilities allow) thank you notes (3 sentence minimum!).  They write occasional letters to grandparents and cousins.  My younger daughter wrote a letter to Sasha and Malia Obama requesting a playdate (no response yet).  They write letters I call constructive criticism to the government (we got a street paved and a pedestrian walk signal lengthened - by a whole 3 seconds! - and sympathy but no results for a complaint about off-leash dogs) and corporations.  One of my proudest moments as a mother was when, upon seeing an uprooted bus map pole, my then 2-year-old shouted, "Let's write a letter!"

But best of all, we write letters to authors.  Not as many as I'd like, to be honest - often out ambition exceeds our energy or time or quite simply, our interest flags.  But we got confirmation from Amy Hest of our hunch that the subway station in Jamaica Louise James was indeed modeled on the 1 station at 86th Street, which is decorated with mosaics of neighborhood scenes done by local teens.  And recently each of my daughters received a lovely letter back from Miriam Cohen, author of many children's books.  My girls wrote to her about her Mimmy and Sophie books.  They had been particularly intrigued by a blurb in the back that said the stories were partly true and they wanted to separate fact from fiction.  Ms. Cohen graciously wrote back and let us in on some secrets about which parts were true and which were not.

Do you or your kids write to authors?  Which ones?  Have you heard back?

Authors, Illustrators, and Author-Illustrators

In an interesting interview with author-illustrator Tomi Ungerer today, he claimed that all the classic children's book writers are author-illustrators, not "merely" authors or "merely" illustrators.  Specifically, he said, "Look, it’s a fact that the children’s books that withstand the grinding of time all come from authors who did both. Because the author has a vision, and there’s an osmosis between the oral and the visual, which come together and mix." Do you agree?  Can you think of counter-examples?

Right Up My Alley - And Yours?

Tomorrow what sounds like a fantastic exhibit of children's book illustrations opens at the NYPL.  I plan to check it out and to see the centennial exhibit too.  Maybe I'll see you there!

And if you love the library like I do and are concerned about impending budget cuts, consider signing this petition.  Thanks!

A Mom with a Hobby

In most, if not all, of the books my kids and I have read, the mothers are primarily or solely caregivers.  Yes, in the Ramona series Mrs. Quimby gets a part-time and then full-time job (is "liberated!" as her daughter Beezus says), but, although she seems to enjoy her work well enough, she does it out of economic necessity.  In picture book after picture book, the moms give hugs and kisses, prepare meals, put children to bed, and tend to all the other daily minutiae of childcare, but do not seem to be doing anything sheerly for their own pleasure. 

Enter Mrs. Peter, the cello-playing harried mother of seven in The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman and illustrated by my new favorite Marla Frazee.  Although the story is, as the title says, silly - the seven children each eat only one item - and their mother is a total pushover, the clever rhymes and the delightful illustrations make it utterly enjoyable.  As the family grows, the mom still manages to find time for her passion.  Even as one of the kids dumps oatmeal on the cat (which always makes me think of the song from The Fantasticks which laments, "Why did the kids put jam on the cat?  Strawberry jam all over the cat?  Why would the kids do something like that?  They did it 'cause we said no!"), Mrs. Peters does not get up from her cello but yells at the offender across the room.  Although the cello disappears from the illustrations midway through the story as Mrs. Peters is overwhelmed by her household, in the end, she takes it up again.  

Of note (pun intended) is the fact that the cello is never mentioned in the text - we only see it in those charming illustrations.  Whose idea was it, I wondered, to include the cello?  The author's or the illustrator's? 

So I emailed Ms. Frazee, who graciously wrote back within hours.  Apparently, I was not the first person with these questions.  Linda Urban had previously "interviewed" Ms. Frazee by email and reprinted the conversation, which included this topic, on her blog, Crooked Perfect (full links included below).  Ms. Frazee gave exactly the answer I was hoping for: she put the cello in because she thought the mom needed to be defined by something other than her status as a mother alone.  And for that, I, for one, am grateful.

Can you think of any other picture books or early chapter books where the mother has a hobby, a passion, an interest besides her children?

Here are the links to the full conversation.  The last link is the one that discusses  The Seven Silly Eaters specifically, while the others talk more generally about the process of illustrating picture books, including the collaboration with the author and editor and about what makes a book a picture book.  I highly recommend the entire series.  Enjoy!

http://lurban.livejournal.com/2008/08/22/

http://lurban.livejournal.com/2008/08/23/

http://lurban.livejournal.com/2008/08/24/

http://lurban.livejournal.com/2008/08/25/

http://lurban.livejournal.com/2008/08/26/