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Good morning, all. <\/p>\nGood morning, all. <\/p>\n
My Valentine to you today is going to be this post, because I’ve got two visitors this morning, and I not only like the book they made together, but I also really enjoyed their conversation and art today. <\/p>\n
I’m (partly) looking back a bit — at 2014, that is. Author Miriam Busch<\/a><\/strong> and illustrator Larry Day<\/a><\/strong>, who has been illustrating picture books since 2001, are here to talk about Lion, Lion<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, a picture book that was released last September from Balzer + Bray. <\/p>\n Better late than never. It’s a wonderful book, and I’m pleased they stopped by to visit today. <\/p>\n The book tells the story of a conversation between a young boy and a lion, and Kirkus<\/em> called it “sly, dark humor for little ones\u2014at its best.” The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books<\/em> called out its “Sendakian flair” and described it as an “excellent way to introduce younger listeners to the deliberate subversion of expectations.”<\/p>\n But we’re also looking ahead today in that, at the end of this post, we’ll look at what is on Miriam’s and Larry’s plates now — what projects are currently taking up their time. <\/p>\n I thank them for visiting. <\/p>\n Let’s get right to it …<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Miriam<\/font><\/strong>: Hi, Jules! Miriam here. I\u2019m going to talk a little, and then Larry will chime in. Larry and I created Lion, Lion<\/em> together. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s a short history.<\/p>\n In 2008, Larry asked me to write a story about Rusty: <\/p>\n Honestly, I was a little lost. I asked Larry who he thought he was (Rusty, not Larry — I didn\u2019t say, \u201cjust who do you think you are?\u201d), and Larry gave some vague answers about how Rusty was a king and how there should be lions. This did not help. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s how some of our notes went. Often, we met for breakfast in a diner and then talked out our story ideas. Larry wrote this out (after pots of coffee, no doubt): Right. No idea why there weren\u2019t fistfights among editors over who got to publish that one. <\/p>\n After several rejections, we shelved Rusty. <\/p>\n (Don\u2019t tell Larry, but I never liked this kid. Self-important with a slingshot? BUT: I loved Larry\u2019s lions. I loved all of his animals, but I kept coming back to the lions in my head.)<\/p>\n So, several months after we shelved Rusty, we met for breakfast at a diner. The conversation turned to those lions, especially the one Larry had named Philbert. I had spent time in Africa and wondered about setting a story there — maybe with a different kid (one who was clever-but-matter-of-fact instead of self-important)?<\/p>\n We borrowed the first three lines from Rusty, and by the end of breakfast, we had hammered out script ideas on a napkin. Larry sketched, I sketched, we talked it through, and I wrote it down.<\/p>\n I was thinking a lot about double meanings and characters who speak at cross-purposes — and inlaid the script with this double-meaning. Within a week, Larry had a dummy ready to go.<\/p>\n We submitted it. Alessandra Balzer (Balzer + Bray) asked if we were willing to make the setting urban. (WHAT?? This entire new story came about because of the foundation of the setting!) But we agreed to try it, and I think the difference is both subtle and profound. <\/p>\n One of Larry\u2019s initial urban drawings: In our first Lion Lion<\/em>, there is no delineation between the boy\u2019s reality and his fantasy (if that\u2019s how you want to look at it). What happens now is that the boy steps from his stoop into his imagination (or does he?) and at the end, he returns to his stoop with his friends. <\/p>\n Because the setting changed, the animals changed too. Throughout this entire process of setting changes and character changes and simplifying the story, Larry drew and re-drew, and I wrote and re-wrote. Larry listened to every text revision, and I participated in the page-turn and image decisions. <\/p>\n As we go along, we write down what we think needs a spread, what needs single-page illustrations, and what might need vignettes (like the lion sneezing). Once we figure out rough visuals, we read through again and again for redundancies or holes. In most cases, Larry sketches to nail down character, and we talk back and forth about it — I might think a character\u2019s head is too big, her hair needs more messing up, etc. Larry then sketches sequential thumbnails (or, as in the case with our current project, he sketches a rough dummy). <\/p>\n Here\u2019s a progression from a thumbnail with notes to final art. Larry\u2019s always so willing to re-sketch from another viewpoint, to try and try and try to get the emotion just right, and he doesn\u2019t take any comment personally. I\u2019m sure some of this ease in willingness to re-work art comes from his long-time work as a storyboard artist.<\/p>\n From Voices from The Oregon Trail<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, written by Kay Winters<\/a><\/strong> (Dial, 2014):<\/p>\n
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\nEventually, we came up with this convoluted story about this bratty kid, who thinks he should be hunting lions, because that\u2019s what kings do (don\u2019t ask me — I\u2019m even embarrassed to be telling you this) and then eventually uses a slingshot to save his new lion friends from a real hunter. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\nThe final art:
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\nIn the initial manuscript, the boy is tongue-in-cheek offering his friends to the hungry lion. The animals are all in on the gag, but Alessandra thought to make the story a bit less sinister by having the boy offer actual foods. Still, the speaking-at-cross-purposes remains: the lion reacts to the animals eating the foods.
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\nFinal art:
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\nI can\u2019t count how many different types of birds we went through! <\/p>\n
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2015\/02\/14.Hedgehogs_skunkssmall.jpg\")
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\nLion, Lion<\/em> was our PhD program for learning how to work together. We have collaborated on several more projects, and whether we\u2019ve begun with an image or with a full manuscript, the process now goes something like this: I read the story to Larry. Together, we work through page turns\/possible breaks on the manuscript. It\u2019s not until we have a dummy that we can really read for pacing and pauses and more text changes. <\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2015\/02\/larryandmiriam.jpg\")
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\nOther artists and writers ask how we can work together. We breathe story. The work is always about the story. Our collaboration leads us together to stories we wouldn\u2019t know how to create separately.
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2015\/02\/lionlioncover.JPG\")
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\nLarry<\/font><\/strong>: Larry here! Hi, Jules. Here are a few other picture books I\u2019ve illustrated:<\/p>\n
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2015\/02\/oregontrail.JPG\")
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\nFrom Nanook & Pryce: Gone Fishing<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, written by Ned Crowley (Harper Collins, 2009):
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2015\/02\/nanook.JPG\")
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\nFrom Civil War Drummer Boy<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, written by Verla Kay<\/a><\/strong> (Putnam, 2012):
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2015\/02\/civilwardrummerboy.JPG\")
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\nThe book’s trailer:
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