This Picture Book Life

the baseball player and the walrus + ben loory interview

05.21.2015

The Baseball Player and the Walrus by Ben Loory, illustrated by the hugely talented, Alex Latimer (2015).

This is an unusual picture book and not just in the usual ways. It’s more of a modern-day fable. And the tone and voice are all their own. It feels almost like a story that actually happened.

(click image(s) to enlarge)

There’s a ballplayer. And something’s missing from his life. And he finds it in a walrus at the zoo. That walrus becomes his companion, and he cares for the walrus in all the ways one cares for a walrus. And he becomes his friend.

And when hard times hit, the ballplayer still makes it his goal to be reunited with the walrus.

It seems to me he may have once cared about baseball the way he cares about the walrus. Or maybe he never did. Either way, at this point in his life, he’s looking for something more than baseball and this walrus is it. I find it interesting that he ends up sharing baseball with the walrus in the end though, a pure kind of baseball where they play catch and hit homeruns together, just the two of them in the backyard.

In reading reviews on Goodreads, it’s clear people connect to this book. They see the walrus as their passion, the thing they wish they could do but they can’t because they have this other job playing baseball. Or something like that. I think it was pretty brilliant to choose a baseball player since that seems on the surface like a dream passion kind of thing and taking care of a walrus more like a semi-regular gig. But that’s Ben Loory for you!

Big thanks to Penguin Young Readers for images!

Ben Loory has been on my radar for a few years and I was delighted to see he’d made a foray into picture books.

You may have read his collection, Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day. Or you may want to now. You may also have heard one of his stories read on This American Life. Or you could listen now.

And he was kind enough to answer a couple of questions for This Picture Book Life!

TPBL: How did the idea to write a picture book come about and was the story THE BASEBALL PLAYER AND THE WALRUS initially written for children or adults?

Ben Loory: I never write stories for anyone in particular; I just take the first line that comes to mind and follow the story to the end— then when it’s done, I try to find a way to publish it. The idea of doing one as a picture book came from my friend, the writer Cecil Castellucci, who mentioned it at the book launch for my collection Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day. The Baseball and the Walrus story seemed like a likely candidate, so my agent went out with that, and three years later, here we are!

TPBL: Did anything change about your writing in knowing it would be illustrated? Did you learn anything from writing an illustrated story?

BL: I wrote the story before I knew it would be illustrated, so no. I did take out a line where the baseball player was sued for breach of contract; apparently kids aren’t interested in legal disputes?? Otherwise, it remained as originally written. The main thing I learned from the whole experience is that Alex Latimer is a genius. My stories are a strange mix of goofiness and existential loneliness and his illustrations brought that out perfectly.

TPBL: What were your favorite picture books as a child?

BL: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (the best book ever written), Robin and the Pirates, and The Great Alphabet Race (which I still dream about to this day). Also I was (and am) heavily into the George & Martha books, and, of course, Richard Scarry.

TPBL: Baseball fan? Walrus fan?

BL: I was a huge Mets fan when I was growing up, until they traded Ray Knight after winning the World Series in 1986. The same World Series in which he was named the MVP. Still can’t believe they did that. Unconscionable. As for walruses—they’re the best! Except maybe for chameleons (who get to wear the little mittens).

ruth krauss’s picture book life

their picture book life

05.19.2015

Ruth Krauss (1901 – 1993). She was a woman who understood children. You can tell from her books. She knew how to truly be imaginative in her writing, to be limitless, to be playful.

Krauss wrote over 30 books for kids; she collaborated with her husband, Crocket Johnson; her books were illustrated by the legendary Maurice Sendak; she worked with great editor, Ursula Nordstrom.

But her words. Her stories. Come see!

Open House for Butterflies (1960), pictures by Maurice Sendak.

Krauss’s work is often defined by being non-linear and non-story like and this is a great example. It’s a text that flows Edward Lear-like and is totally free from convention. And yet there is substance along with charm. It acts, I think, the way a child acts, going from this to that without apology, making observations, sometimes sweet and sometimes silly. Oh and it’s subversive too, showing us how children know more than we think.

A Hole is to Dig (1952), pictures by Maurice Sendak.

Another collaboration with Sendak and my very favorite book of Krauss’s (and one of my favorites ever), it’s like the prequel to Open House. It’s a magical perspective on the world.

Ursula Nordstrom wrote in 1964:

“Yes, I think A Hole Is to Dig was something new. It came from Ruth Krauss’ listening to children, getting ideas from them, polishing some of the thoughts, exploring additional “definitions” of her own. It really grew of out children and what is important to them. (A brother is to help you.) Some of the definitions seem quite serious to children but those aren’t the ones the adults smile over and consider “cute.” For instance, “Buttons are to keep people warm.” Adults think oh isn’t that darling, but it makes perfectly good sense to children. “A tablespoon is to eat a table with” seems a pretty dumb joke to adults, but it knows most children out, they think it is so witty. A Hole Is to Dig was the first of all the Something Is Something books, and has been mushily imitated ever since it was published…”

“Dogs are to kiss people.”

“Hands are to hold.”

“A Hole is to dig.”

“Toes are to dance on.”

“Eyebrows are to go over your eyes.”

“A hole is to look through.”

The Backward Day (1950), pictures by Marc Simont.

A boy decides it’s backward day and dresses accordingly, underwear on the outside of his pants. He walks backwards, he says “Goodnight” instead of “Goodmorning.” One thing I love is how his parents play along with it and engage the idea instead of mandating something different, something normal. Krauss is nudging us to accept kids’ invitations to playfulness.

The Happy Day (1949), pictures by Marc Simont.

This is a book about the mice and snails and bears all waking up from winter. They sniff and smell and run and then, on the last page, they all get a wonderful surprise. That’s it! And it’s that good.

I’ll Be You and You Be Me (1954), pictures by Maurice Sendak.

This is a compilation of poems and bits of text, all of which have to do with friendship. A girl who loves a stuffed elephants. Siblings. A tree and bugs. All kinds of camaraderie.

The Carrot Seed (1945), pictures by Crocket Johnson.

This is a classic for a reason. It was ahead of its time and still so timely. A perfect book for anyone who needs to persist, especially despite naysayers. It also shows Krauss’s honesty about the world yet demonstrates a belief in possibility.

To Ruth Krauss and her imagination! Do you have favorite of hers, one that’s listed here or not?

You may also enjoy my post on Mary Blair’s picture book life!

the blue whale by jenni desmond

picture books for the older set

05.14.2015

BlueWhale The Blue Whale by Jenni Desmond (out May 27, 2015!)

This is one of those nonfiction books whose facts somehow make me cry. It’s partly the set up in the author’s note that blue whales are few in number due to human activity, from hunting to pollution. But it’s not just that. It’s the way this material is handled—from how the text is constructed to the dreamy illustrations.

(click image(s) to enlarge)

Part of Jenni Desmond‘s originality is how the story appears in the story of the picture book. The boy in the book is reading the very book we’re reading.

But there’s more! He enters the book. There he is, in a dinghy next to a mighty blue whale, staring down in wonder. Because this book is immersive. Immersive in the azure world of the blue whale.

The boy with the red crown is excited about this book he’s reading, excited about blue whales, excited about animals and habitats.

“Every blue whale has unique markings, similar to our fingerprints. Scientists use these, along with the shape of the dorsal fin, to identify individual whales.”

Together with the boy, we learn that baby calves are born 20 feet long and drink nearly 50 gallons of their mother’s milk every day. That whales have a lot of wax in their ear canals. That a single one of their breaths could inflate 2,000 balloons.

Along with the boy, we feel the world open up. It gets bigger and the blue whale gets smaller. Closer. More precious to us.

“A blue whale’s tongue weighs three tons, and its mouth is so big that 50 people can stand inside it. Fortunately, blue whales don’t eat people.”

And that’s how this book works. It brings the boy character inside it, it brings us inside it and conversely it brings the blue whale into our world, right outside our window and in our kitchen.

It’s the perfect kind of nonfiction book that educates while it enchants. It makes us care.

Thanks to Enchanted Lion Books for images!

Jenni Desmond was kind enough to answer a couple of questions about her process of making the book!

This Picture Book Life:What prompted you to write a book about this particular animal?

Jenni Desmond: I didn’t choose a blue whale on purpose, it chose me, by just falling out of my head onto the page one day. Then, the more I drew this beautiful mammal the more I fell in love with it. There is still so much we don’t know about blue whales. I just found them endlessly fascinating and beautiful, and kept wanting to know more. When I showed the rough sketches to my wonderful editor, Claudia, at Enchanted Lion Books, she understood my vision for the book and tirelessly helped me to sculpt it into something much more complex and interesting.

TPBL: You include the book itself in the text and illustrations. How did the idea to do that come about?

JD: I wanted the reader to be aware of the fictional element of the story versus the factual. By having the young boy holding and reading the book, I felt that it would mean that there was a clear divide between the two. The facts could stay as facts, and the reader knew that the inclusion of the boy in the images, when he was interacting with the whale, was purely a result of the boy’s vivid imagination.

TPBL: Boy with red graph paper crown. Go!

JD: I think sometimes non-fiction can feel quite dense and difficult, so I hope that by including the boy, the reader can have a little bit of respite to digest the information while they watch the boy having fun, hopefully even seeing themselves in the boy. I‘m not sure why he’s wearing a crown. Why not. Maybe he’s the king of the book. Maybe he likes dressing up. Maybe it’s just a nice shape and gives a splash of colour to the page. Maybe it’s all of these things.

Thank you, Jenni, both for the interview and for this outstanding book!

three picture books that make great baby shower gifts

PICTURE BOOKS +

05.12.2015

I’ve got two baby showers on the books in the next couple of months. And, of course, I almost always give at least one picture book to expecting parents.

Baby showers are all about anticipation. Soon, there will be clothes and diapers and bottles and a new life, finally here. And there will be snuggly bedtime rituals for many years. So, there will be stories. Here are three sure to be cherished.

SLEEP LIKE A TIGER written by Mary Logue, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski.

This is exquisite, a picture book that could easily be displayed on a coffee table or a child’s bean bag chair. And it’s a bedtime book, that classic genre of children’s fare. It lulls a clever, unsleepy child while connecting to animals of the natural world who also sleep— bats and bears and, of course, tigers. Zagarenski’s signature artwork is truly dreamy to behold.

SEASONS by Blexbolex.

This has the feel of a classic even though it was published in 2010. And what better metaphor for parenthood (childhood, life) than seasons, right? Each spread contains screen prints labeled in a way that tells us something deeper about barren trees or lush greenery. It’s a book to look at, to spend time with, and to spur the reader on to someday moments spent outside.

51q+TUfsbVL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_ ALMOST AN ALPHABET by Katie Viggers.

This will teach a child the alphabet when the time comes, but it will do more than that. It explores animals, from all the different kinds of bears to the luminosity of jellyfish. The artwork is gently comic and delightful.And there’s a yeti, and yetis are automatic crowd-pleasers. This is an alphabet book any artist of any age will appreciate.

Is there a picture book you always give at baby showers? Do tell!

picture book wordplay: you are (not) small & look!

picture books for pairing

05.07.2015

Why am I pairing these two (excellent) picture books? They both have language concepts that really shine while not outshining their spirit and heart! Both are excellent examples of a successful contemporary picture book—spare, clever, funny, AND touching. All that in so few words!

LOOK! has only two words! Two words! & You Are (Not) Small has spare language and plays with two words in the little mix: BIG and SMALL.

In small packages, both books accomplish a lot. Come see!

You are (Not) Small by Anna Kang, illustrated by Christopher Weyant.

There is a small creature and a big creature. But neither creature believes herself to be respectively small or big. There is evidence given. Arguments break out. Until…other creatures arrive to put everybody’s perspective in perspective.

(click image(s) to enlarge)

The conclusion is that nobody is small or big. Everybody is small AND big. Which is pretty profound, no?

But most of all, for me, the magic I want to point out today is the words. Those two words, amidst the others, are omnipresent, played-around-with opposites. Small. Big. Kang’s experimentation with those words (and Weyant’s visual play) is what makes this one sing for big readers and small ones.

Look! by Jeff Mack.

This book plays with two words too. The only two words in its pages! LOOK and OUT.

There are two characters, too. A boy and a gorilla. For me, the gorilla is the one that anchors the book, the one we care about and feel for. (I cared so much I almost cried.)

Ostensibly, this is a book about how reading is better than watching TV. But it’s also about friendship and kindness and giving others attention. (And then, it’s a bedtime book too. You’ll see.)

But that masterful language makes it. The gorilla says, LOOK. He wants the boy to look, to see his tricks, to spend time with him. But every time the boy looks, there’s a mishap and the gorilla’s pleas and ploys fail. So the boy says, OUT. As in, go. Leave me alone, with my TV show.

In the end though, don’t worry, gorilla and boy come together, united by something novel to look at together—a book. And that’s when the boy changes and the conclusion is sweet, sweet, sweet.