{"id":3513,"date":"2014-09-04T00:01:28","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T06:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=3513"},"modified":"2014-09-04T09:32:20","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T15:32:20","slug":"floras-backa-visit-with-author-illustrator-molly-idle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=3513","title":{"rendered":"Flora’s Back!
A Visit with Author-Illustrator Molly Idle"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Early sketch and final spread<\/em>
(Click second image to enlarge)<\/center>
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\nJust the other day<\/a><\/strong> author-illustrator Aaron Becker visited to talk about his new picture book (Quest<\/em>), which is a follow-up to one that won a Caldecott Honor early this year (Journey<\/em>). <\/p>\n

So then it occurred to me (I swear I don’t plan these things, as in I’m not that<\/em> organized) that I’d love to invite author-illustrator Molly Idle<\/a><\/strong> to do the same. Molly also received a Caldecott Honor early this year for Flora and the Flamingo<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, and she sees the release at the end of this month of a follow-up picture book about the same character (Flora, that is), Flora and the Penguin<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Chronicle Books). <\/p>\n

And I had this idea just yesterday, I think it was, so I’m glad Molly was able to roll with this and send me images and interview responses so quickly. I figured I’d ask her the same things I asked Aaron (with the exception of questions that pertain specifically to their books, of course). <\/p>\n

Flora and the Penguin<\/em> is (like Aaron’s book) another wordless tale. This one is entertaining, too — the charm and cheer and grace that was on every page of Flora and the Flamingo<\/em> is here again. This time, Flora is dancing partners with a penguin. At least she tries to skate with him on the ice, though he’s mighty distracted by some fish. And the color palette! O! The palette! You’ll see what I mean in some of the final spreads pictured below. <\/p>\n

Let’s get right to it, and I thank Molly for visiting. (For those of you who want even more, remember that Molly visited 7-Imp here<\/a><\/strong> in 2013.) <\/p>\n

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Jules<\/font><\/strong>: You’ve probably already discussed elsewhere what it was like to get the Caldecott call, so I apologize if this is redundant, but hey, what was it like to get the Caldecott call?<\/font><\/p>\n

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“My scribbly sketchbook with the first notes for <\/em>Flora and the Penguin”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

Molly<\/font><\/strong>: Are you kidding?! It was AWESOME! I knew that somebody was going to be getting a call that morning, but when it was my phone that rang at 4:30 a.m., you coulda knocked me over with a feather! I remember stammering my thanks to a roomful of happy, laughing, cheering people on the other end of the line, while standing in my kitchen in my jammies. When I hung up the phone and put it down, I just stood there for a moment. Then, I picked up the phone again and thumbed through to “recent calls” — just to be sure I hadn\u2019t imagined the whole thing. I turned around, still holding the phone, and there was my husband standing there in the kitchen, grinning at me and saying, \u201cWell?\u201d I just nodded, grinning back, and finally I said, \u201cI won.\u201d And he laughed and said, \u201cPhew! Well that\u2019s good, because I hate to think they\u2019d call and wake you up just to tell you you hadn\u2019t!\u201d <\/p>\n

Then, all was happy pandemonium at our house.<\/p>\n

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Early sketch: Flora with her skates<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

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Sketch: “Thinking about the ‘sit spin’ and how a penguin would manage it …”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

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Sketch: “Playing with opposites — x’s and o\u2019s …”
<\/em>(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n


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Sample sketches: “Playing with poses for flaps that would have worked
like the ones in <\/em>Flamingo (up and down) …”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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Sketch: “… but I wanted to be able to move these two far apart and then back together. The ‘flamingo flaps’ wouldn\u2019t do that.”
<\/em>(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

Jules<\/font><\/strong>: How’d you deal with the pressure of creating a sequel when the success of Flora’s debut was so huge<\/em>? This is assuming you felt stress. Perhaps you did not.<\/font><\/p>\n

Molly<\/font><\/strong>: Did I feel stress? Yes! Absolutely, but not on this book. I had already finished the artwork for Flora and the Penguin<\/em> by this time last year, so for me there was only the pressure that my art director and editor and I were applying to ourselves to make this book a good book. And that was plenty. <\/p>\n


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“This scribble is what I jotted down when I got the idea
to use double-sided, horizontal flaps.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

After Flora and the Flamingo<\/em> won the Caldecott Honor, though, I felt a huge sense of outside expectation, which of course was totally only in my own mind. It\u2019s not as if I started receiving emails saying, \u201cDear Ms. Idle: Your next book better measure up … or else.\u201d But I felt a weird sort of weight of uncertainty. Could I measure up against myself? And what did that even mean? And I sort of seized up creatively. I just froze. So, it was really lucky that I had a huge pile of work waiting to be done. Seriously. Because the only way to get work done is to do it. Sitting frozen wouldn\u2019t make my deadlines disappear. And through working, that paralyzing fear of expectation slowly started to diminish. <\/p>\n

I have a fortune cookie fortune on my desk that says \u201cAction is worry\u2019s worst enemy.\u201d That\u2019s not really a fortune, is it? But I think it\u2019s a truism. The best way to deal with it—whatever \u201cit\u201d is—is to work through it. <\/p>\n

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” … So I tried it out. And it worked! With the flap anchored toward the center of the book and images printed on both sides,
they could skate back and forth across the page.”
<\/em>(Click each to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Do you want to talk a bit about working with the designers and such at Chronicle? How much input do you have on the book’s overall design?<\/font><\/p>\n

Molly<\/font><\/strong>: Do I want to talk about working with the folks at Chronicle? \u201cHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.\u201d <\/p>\n

I love the folks at Chronicle. They are dedicated to making wonderful, beautiful, different books. And to do that, they pay attention to the smallest details. I\u2019m a believer that the smallest details often make the biggest differences. I\u2019ve been so fortunate to work with art directors, editors, and designers that believe that too. We share a love of simple, elegant design. We also share a love of ego-less collaboration. Whoever has the best idea, it doesn\u2019t matter who thinks of it — that should be the path taken. So there aren\u2019t really rigidly defined boundaries in how we divvy up design. My art director will make editorial notes; I\u2019ll design a different way to engineer a gatefold or flap; my editor will make color palette suggestions. There\u2019s a lot of overlap. There\u2019s a lot of trust. I like that.<\/p>\n

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“Now that I knew how the movement would work,
I started sketching\/choreographing their story …”
<\/em>(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

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“Even on the pages that don\u2019t involve movement of flaps, I like to make sure that the movement flows between one pose and the next,
so I take them apart and overlay them.”
<\/em>(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n