Poem for the Living

My Aunt Cornelia has an unusual name, which has been changed to "Nini" by
her once young nieces and nephews, who found Cornelia too difficult to
pronounce, and to "Corey" by her old friends, who found Cornelia too formal
for their artsy California culture.  When she moved to New York about 25
years ago she returned to her given name, and it fits her perfectly.

She plays the piano, speaks French, and discusses quantum physics with
my son with ease.  She is an avid hiker, Sierra Club supporter, painter,
teacher and campaigner for environmental issues. She is also an adventurous
cook. Hint: Oxtail stew is in her recipe book. 

A renaissance woman, she has influenced my choices in art, travel, and
ethics.  Her paintings and sketches of German castles, Yosemite landmarks,
and abstracts fill my house and my thoughts.  But her most important gifts
to me are intangible: her respect for the rhythm of life, her celebration
of winter solitude, her love of the Romatic poets, and her wisdom during
difficult times - "It is what it is." 

She is 82 now, still observing life, still breathing, in and out, in and out.
 The sketchpads have been set aside, though.  The daily hikes have stopped.
It will not be long before the breathing stops and and the cancer that has
greedily invaded her brain returns her to the earth that she loves.

Friends stop by to serenade her, "You are my sunshine, my
only sunshine..."  They bring over her paintings to decorate the stark
nursing home walls.  They tell us, her nieces, what an important person
she has been, and still is, in their lives. They embrace us, because we are
connected to her.  Another gift to us.

Whatever we call her, Nini, Corey, or Cornelia, those of
us fortunate enough to know her, are graced by her presence. 
The earth is a better place because she has hiked its trails, weathered
its seasons, and loved its inhabitants.

Poem for the Living (by Theodora Kroeber)
When I am am dead
Cry for me a little,
Think of me sometimes
But not too much.
It is not good for you
Or your wife or your husband
Or your children
To allow your thoughts to dwell
Too long on the Dead.
Think of me now and again
As I was in life
At some moment
   it is pleasant to recall.
But not for long.
Leave me in peace
As I shall leave
   you, too, in peace.
While you live
Let your thoughts be with
the living.

Book to film challenge

When I was growing up my mother had a rule that I had to read a book before I could see the movie based on the title. Movies were for the most part seen only in the theater. They were not available "on demand;" no one had their own private "queue." The return of a classic film was a much-anticipated event.

The summer before I started seventh grade my mother gave me a summer project, Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. The movie was coming soon and Mom wanted me ready. Gone With the Wind was the longest book I'd ever read and subsequently the longest movie I'd ever seen. It was also the first time I consciously compared a written work to a film adaptation. Even 238 minutes was not enough time to capture all of Mitchell's subplots. I remember being upset that Scarlett's other children were left out of the screen version.

I rarely choose to read a book if I have already seen the movie. I want to discover when I read. I want my own fresh canvas where I can paint my own mental images. I dislike book covers that feature movie characters. Moreover if I really love a book I don't want to see a movie rendition until much time has passed; I want to hold onto my inner vision of the story. A movie automatically replaces this with someone else's vision. I wonder if picture book authors go through a stage of grief letting go of their imagined characters and scenes once a book takes form with an illustrator's interpretation.

First impressions can be strong. When I see a movie first, that becomes my measure of the story. I saw Mary Poppins as a child, but read the P. L. Travers series as an adult and could never reconcile the sour governess in the books with Julie Andrew's portrayal.

Like Stephanie I'm reaching back toward an older book and movie adaptation to discuss. Unlike Stephanie, I'll pan my choice. Our family read aloud Philip Pullman's wonderful trilogy, His Dark Materials. The movie version of the first book, The Golden Compass, boasted an amazing cast—Nicole Kidman, Sam Elliot, Eva Green, Dakota Blue Richards, and Daniel Craig. We were hopeful the film version would do justice to the book. What a disappointment! This review sums up my sentiments:

"By failing to trust viewers to stick with a story and pick up on things as they become relevant, it winds up over-explaining, oversimplifying, and dropping into klutzy exposition mode.

So The Golden Compass film tells you baldly up front everything that the novel is trying to get you to wonder about and to explore slowly."

The film has a rushed pace. Compressing a complicated novel into a movie length meant extensive editing. The story doesn't unfold. Exposition, the shortcut, just doesn't engage and respect the audience on the same level. The characters were not developed enough and I didn't care about them. Special effects abounded, but they couldn't substitute for a good story.

From Page to Screen

With the Oscars taking over the internet and television last week, it got us thinking about books that have become movies, and this round, our topic will be exactly that. I love both books and movies, so this is fun for me. There have definitely been some clinkers that probably should have remained only a book, but there are lots that I have enjoyed. In fact, it was hard to narrow it down to one. Most recently, I'm a big fan of The Hunger Games books, and I loved the movie. But for this post, I'm going to focus on an older one.

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo is a sweet story about ten-year-old Opal who finds a stray dog and names him Winn-Dixie. She lives in a trailer park with her preacher dad, and the story has many colorful characters that Opal encounters on a daily basis. And I absolutely loved the movie version of this. Anna Sophia Robb plays Opal with big, wide eyes, and a sweet voice.Winn-Dixie is a big doofus of a dog that you can't help but love. For me, the most brilliant casting was Dave Matthews as a lonely introvert who runs the pet store.I'm a huge fan of his music and one of my favorite scenes is when Opal walks in to the pet store only to find all the animals out of their cages, charmed by him playing the guitar.If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it.

Next Big Thing Comes to Life on Stage

U of Minnesota Orchestra filing getting ready to play The Rite of Spring

I answered the questions for my next big thing here. In less than a week, my new book When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky, Two Artists, Their Ballet, and One Extraordinary Riot will be available and it seems impossible that this time a year ago I was just beginning the final illustrations!

Last fall, as I was looking up where the centennial performances of The Rite of Spring were going to be happening all over the world, I noticed that the Joffrey Ballet was going to be performing the original choreography by Nijinsky along with a live orchestra playing Stravinsky's music here in Minneapolis. When I bought the tickets months ago, February 26th seemed like it would never arrive. Last night I sat in the audience of the Orpheum Theatre downtown and oohed and ahhhed with the rest of the audience at the first two contemporary ballet pieces performed en pointe with legs turned out and giant leaps that were breath-taking. Then after the second intermission, the orchestra filed in-- filling the orchestra pit and spilling out on the next level up. (see the timpani filling the left side?) Stravinsky wrote Le sacre du printemps for an extra large orchestra and the University of Minnesota Orchestra rose to the occasion of celebrating this historic event. When the curtain finally rose to reveal the dancers I nearly swooned. It was as if one of my illustrations had come to life. I kept hoping to see the ghosts of Nijinsky and Stravinsky in the wings. Legend has it that Nijinsky stood on a chair with Stravinsky steadying him by his coat tails in the wings yelling the beats of the music in Russian to the dancers because they could not hear the music over the cries and shouts of the audience.

Illustration for When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky © Lauren Stringer

What was so interesting about the evening is that most of the audience seemed to be there to see the Joffrey Ballet, not the historic re-enactment of The Rite of Spring complete with sets and costumes. They were there to see point shoes and tutus, pirouettes and leaps. Several people walked out in the middle of the performance in disgust. Many people did not know what to make of it-- and it became clear to me why this ballet 100 years ago caused such a ruckus-- indeed it caused a legendary riot at its premiere on May 29, 1913. There was no riot, but it still asked the important questions about art and beauty and comfort and surprise. A night to remember!

My Next Big Thing

What is your next Big Thing?

Top Goat, a novel about a goat who becomes the leader of his herd after he and his fellow goats escape the confines of their pen and embark upon the adventure of their lives.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I was watching a pair of goats head-butting each other at a local farm, and I thought, "Hey, those goats would make good characters for a novel."

What genre does your book fall under?

Middle Grade fiction

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Um, some type of CGI-generated goats?

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Buck, a young outcast goat, earns the respect of his herd after leading them on an adventure beyond the confines of their pen.

Who is publishing your book?

TBD

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

About 3 months

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Pigs Might Fly or Find the White Horse, both by Dick King-Smith.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

In addition to the above reference to head-butting goats, I was intrigued by the possibilities for exploring the theme of bullying in a way that does not involve a school setting.  Plus, I think goats are interesting characters!

What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

Lots of mayhem and humor, I hope.

The Next Big Thing Blog Tour

Ashley Wolff tagged me to be the next stop on The Next Big Thing Blog Tour. This tour provides a chance to get to know various children's book authors and illustrators through their blogs. Here at OnePotatoTen fellow members were also tagged, so we will devote a round to answering these ten questions.

1) What is the working title of your next book?
I have a few titles under development, but will use this post to discuss How Sophany Saved the Dance

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
The author, Daryn Reicherter, MD is a Psychiatrist and Clinical Associate Professor at Stanford University, School of Medicine. He is the Director of Cross Cultural Trauma Psychiatry at a refugee clinic in San Jose where he met and became friends with Sophany Bay, a Khmer Rouge survivor who immigrated to this country and started a Cambodian dance school in San Jose.



Daryn's wife, YA author Heidi R.Kling, was a member of my writer's group. She shared Daryn's picture book story and I was eager to give the story form. I enjoy researching other cultures. I used to enjoy folk dancing from many cultures and ballroom/social dancing. My daughter has been a dancer since she was three (jazz, tap, ballet, lyrical, hip hop) so I've watched many kinds of dance and have wanted to do a dance book. I created a sketch dummy and tried a few color studies combining collage of decorative papers and rice papers with watercolor and brush markers on sumi paper.

3) What genre does your book fall under? How Sophany Saved the Dance will be a picture book.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition? I wish Sophany could play herself. She danced before the king of Cambodia in her early years. She still teaches but no longer performs. The movie rendition needs to honor the traditional dance form by starring an accomplished Khmer dancer.

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? How Sophany Saved the Dance is a true story of hope and resilience set between two cultures.

6) Who is publishing your book? Stay tuned!

7) How long did it take you to write (illustrate) the first draft of the manuscript? This was a "back burner" project that I have moved to the front burner. I have been researching and sketching on and off for a few years.

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
A Song for Cambodia by Michelle Lord, illustrated by Shino Arihara (Lee & Low, 2008)
Little Sap and Monsieur Rodin by Michelle Lord, illustrated by Felicia Hoshino (Lee & Low, 2006)

9) Who or what inspired you to write (illustrate) this book? I was inspired by Daryn's sensitive telling of Sophany's story. Daryn was inspired by Sophany's resilience and desire to preserve her culture and help her community.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest? The Khmer Rouge trial is coming to a close. Sophany’s story was used in the international criminal court as evidence against the Khmer Rouge.

I am tagging my Stanford YA/MG writing teacher, Annemarie O'Brien who has her first book publishing soon.

The Next Big Thing

For this round, we'll all be answering the questions from The Next Big Thing. I'll be answering them about the forthcoming paperback of my novel The Raft, which came out in hardcover last August.

1)      What is the working title of your next book?

The next book I have coming out is the paperback version of The Raft, my young adult novel that was released in hardcover in August.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

I spent about three years living out on Midway Island. To get there, we took a small turbo-prop plane, which took about five hours over nothing but ocean. I was always worried the thing would go down.
3) What genre does your book fall under? Young adult
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Wow, well, there are basically two characters: 15-year-old Robie, and twenty-something Max. There are flashbacks to Max in high school, so an actor who could do younger and bit older. For the girl I could imagine someone like Elle Fanning or Abigail Breslin. For the guy, someone on the order of Taylor Lautner, who could look older or younger if needed. Dreaming here, of course: I would love to see the novel be a movie and there are any number of people who would be perfect for each part.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Robie takes the flight to Midway, which crashes halfway there, leaving her in a raft in the middle of the ocean.
6) Who is publishing your book?

Feiwel and Friends, a Macmillan imprint
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

About a year, I think. It was painful, I didn’t think I was ever going to finish. But I always go through that stage with my books.
8)What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I had a friend tell me, “Hey! You’ve written a female Hatchet!” Not that I would dare put my book in the same category as Hatchet, but for fun we did start calling it Hatchette after that.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book? My experiences on Midway contributed a lot to the story. I didn’t have to research the setting because I had lived it. All the flora and fauna and wildlife was second nature to write about.
10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

The book is on the 2013 TAYSHAS high school reading list in Texas and was named a 2013 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers.