Trick or Treating Orphan

When I was little the stories that stole my heart and imagination every time I read them were orphan tales. Maybe it was because I was the middle child in my family? Or maybe it was because in orphan stories, the orphan turned into a princess or suddenly found themselves the long lost nephew or niece of a wealthy Lord or Lady. Orphans had all the luck! For Halloween, I would dress as Sara Crewe in A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Oh, how I swooned for Sara when news came that her Captain Father was lost in the war. Suddenly her high status at the girl's boarding school was lost and she moves in with the servant girl to the ancient, cold attic. Sara is not daunted by this mistreatment and even finds clever ways to play tricks on the spoiled rich girls who treat her haughtily. In fact her story-telling and imagination keeps her and her servant-girl friend warm through cold winter nights. Sara's early life in India makes her polite and friendly to the Indian servant in the building across from the school. Soon warm soups, cakes, and fruits fill the attic for the two girls, along with a monkey. I love secrets and surprises in stories and A Little Princess has them in abundance. 

But since this is Halloween when one dresses up and goes door to door asking for treats, I think I would dress up like my other favorite orphan, Oliver Twist. After reading this book I insisted my mom make me gruel for breakfast every the morning. She had no idea what gruel was, but satisfied me with a bowl of hot oatmeal. As Oliver Twist, I would carry an empty bowl from door to door, ring the doorbell and say: Please sir, may I have some more?

An Average Kid Having Unexpected Adventures

Which favorite literary character would I dress as for Halloween?  This was a tougher question than I anticipated.  I spent about half an hour this morning standing in front of my bookcase perusing titles and pondering possibilities before I finally decided upon a character I have loved since first reading about his adventures while I was in elementary school.  His name?  Henry Reed.

Henry starred in five books, each of which concerned his (mis)adventures while spending summer vacations with his aunt and uncle in Grover’s Corner, New Jersey.  Along with his friend Margaret “Midge” Glass (the only kid his age who lives in the neighborhood), Henry finds himself involved in many humorous incidents, most of which result from complications arising from his efforts to earn money via various business enterprises.  Whether it’s working as researchers, babysitters, or theatrical managers, Henry and Midge continually find themselves in situations that spiral out of control.  All the while, Henry narrates his adventures in a plain-spoken and understated manner that adds to the humor of the books.

I reread all five of Henry’s adventures this summer.  Doing so reminded me why I loved them so much as a kid.  Much like Beverly Cleary’s Henry Huggins, Henry Reed is just an “average” kid that finds himself embroiled in hilarious adventures.  No magic, no special powers, just a curious and creative kid getting into and out of trouble.

I know this much: If I could dress as Henry Reed for Halloween, I’m not sure what would happen but I am sure it would involve an unexpected adventure.  And it would be funny to boot!

One Potato... Two!

Christy and Lauren 

I have just returned from a wonderful week-long writing retreat with my friend, author Anne Ylvisaker in California. Before the week of writing began however, we met Christy Hale in Santa Cruz! Christy brought f&gs of DREAM UP and THE FORGIVENESS GARDEN, along with the NY Times Review that had just come out that day. What beautiful books they are- and what a treat to leaf through them together. 

Christy, Lauren, and Anne 

Mostly it was great to share stories in real life. I have a feeling if Minnesota were not so far away, we would be getting together on a regular basis-- one afternoon was not enough time.

Sea Lions sleeping on the wharf just below us.

Today Christy is hosting her official launch parties for both of her books-- I wish I were still there to celebrate her accomplishments. I cannot wait to get my own real copies! Congratulations Christy!

Choosing a Character for Halloween

After an exhausting, but exhilarating week of school visits in the mountains of North Carolina, the literary character I'd be most comfortable dressing as for Halloween is Miss Eliza from my own book, Road to Tater Hill.  I could hide behind the folds of her floppy sunbonnet, and when I wanted some music, I could pull out my mountain dulcimer.

But if I wanted a naughtier, crazy, zany character, I'd choose the dragon from David LaRochelle's book, The Best Pet of All.  
  
                                                        

And if I were to choose the most intriguing character I've come across in recent reading, I'd choose The Gardener from Stephanie Stuve Bodeen's dystopian YA novel.

Happy Halloween to all of our readers!

Pumpkin time

As you know, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Pumpkin carving season has already started for me. Last Wednesday I carved this tiger-themed pumpkin for a bookstore in Chelan, Washington, and thanks to UPS packaging and FedEx, it arrived safe and sound on Friday. What I'm going to do with the eight other pumpkins lined up on my porch, I'm not sure yet, but I've still got two weeks to decide.

My Halloween costume of recent years has simply been a "bone" tie that I bought back when I was a fourth grade teacher, but if I were to dress up as a literary character, I would choose Albus Dumbledore. A kind-hearted, wise, and beloved teacher who can do magic - who wouldn't want to be that? I've been working on the gray hair and beard, but I still need to find an elder wood wand.

Incognito for Halloween

This round of posts we ten potatoes disguise ourselves as favorite characters from children's books. I knew immediately which character I would choose; I've been pretending to be her since I was ten!

When our fifth grade teacher read aloud Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, every girl in class wanted to be Harriet. That was when my best friend, her sister, and I started our own detective agency. We chose a secluded meeting place in Leslie's house, reached through the trap door in the floor of her sister Ashley's bedroom closet. After whispering the secret password—which I still will not divulge even if you tickle or torture me—we descended underground to meet in the basement. Flashlights revealed vital statistics and thumbprints on the ID cards we created. In hushed voices we discussed espionage. Like Harriet we kept confidential notebooks documenting our observations and any conspicuous activity.

We traveled the neighborhood on bicycles wearing disguises. I flipped the long hair from my back, up over my head, and down my forehead, like bangs, then held the hair in place with a sombrero I found in Leslie's dress-up box. On Halloween keep your eyes open for a middle-aged woman on a bicycle wearing a sombrero. You might not see me; I learned early how to make myself invisible. But I will see you, and I will be taking notes.

Illustration - An Evolution Story

I am a late bloomer. That is what my mom always said of me. I took my time learning to walk, read, talk... my first kiss wasn't until I was 17, if you discount my sister urging me to run up and kiss Little Bill when I was three. And so it was with picture books. I illustrated my first one when I was in my mid-thirties. MUD, by Mary Lyn Ray. I only intended to illustrate one book, then return to my sawing, hammering, building and painting of sculptures, but my editor had the discernment to send me Cynthia Rylant's SCARECROW, which melted my fine artist self and brought me into the world of painting picture books for good. Since then I have a deep appreciation for every manuscript that arrives on my desk to consider painting the pictures for. What a gift other people's stories are to my life! Thanks to Kristine O' Connell George, I learned to fold origami for FOLD ME A POEM. Thanks to Linda Ashman, I studied the homes of animals and learned how to rhyme pictures with shapes to match her rhyming text. I have spent nights in a red silk tent because of Wendy Orr and whispered to stuffed animals thanks to Mem Fox. Right now I am dancing with deer because of another story by Mary Lyn Ray. 

One of the stories that most changed my life was OUR FAMILY TREE, AN EVOLUTION STORY, by Lisa Westberg Peters. 

I was terribly afraid to illustrate this book initially because of its subject matter. Not the fact that evolution was/is so controversial in this country, but because I am not a scientist. Most of my life I avoided science as much as possible, taking my high school science credits during summer school because it was faster and easier-- so I could take two or three art classes during the year instead! But I loved Lisa's story, I knew I had to take illustrate it. For months I read, studied, visited an Anthropologist in her lab, and the more I learned, the more my breath was taken away by the sheer gorgeous magnitude of 4 billion years of life on our Earth. I sketched and painted color studies and had no idea how I was going to paint the vastness of evolution into a picture book. At one point I stretched up an 8 foot by 8 foot sheet of paper on my studio wall and drew with charcoal the family tree I was beginning to see in my mind's eye, but could not shrink to book-size.

I gathered images of landscapes from every era. When Lisa wrote:.."then the earth changed. Land rose from the oceans... life changed too... some cells joined together and became plants. Our cells joined together and we became animals,"I had to show the enormity of the land rising while at the same time microscopic changes in cells becoming plants and animals. 

On my studio walls hung images of cells, volcanos, renderings by scientific artists alongside photos and paintings by fine artists.

I loved this mural of the evolution of humans by Diego Rivera.

The art work of other artists, both scientific and painters of the 20th century like Georgia O'Keefe and Marsden Hartley informed my how I could show life evolving through the movement of form and paint.

I made color sketches in my journal and dozens more all the time wondering how I might show what is happening above the sea and below the sea at the same time. While I paint the illustrations for a book, my studio becomes an impassable place to visitors. The floors are covered with open books, sketches, and objects that might give me a clue what color or shape to choose. By accident I had opened a book upside down on the floor and it was a painting by Bosch, upside down that gave me my answer.

Bosch's painting on the right, upside down became
the composition for the illustration below.

Every painting for OUR FAMILY TREE evolved through research, learning, looking, and imagining walks through extinctions, evolutions, and moving continents over time. It took me nearly three years to research and paint the illustrations for this book. Three years that changed the way I see myself in the world around me. I am now a lover of science and all the wonders it offers to my imagination. Maybe I am a late bloomer, but it was worth the wait. I am so thankful for the worlds picture books continue to open up for me.