Photos of suburban buildings, very flat and graphic, never a human visible. So I had to figure out something new.Īntoinette: In art school, I loved the photographs of Lewis Baltz. The deadline pressure is on, so it keeps me focused (and sometimes stressed)! I loved the stark black and white look, but it wasn’t exactly kid-friendly. Jill: What was the biggest challenge in creating the book?Īntoinette: I like to change up my art style with each book and so there’s a phase where I have to figure out what that style will be. The book is silly and light-hearted, but the underlying theme is serous: one person, no matter how small, can make a difference. The text went through many iterations, but the basic plot stayed the same: a little brown bird sings a new song and changes her little world. So those two ideas whirled around in the brain blender and came out as Froodle.
Birders just call them LBB’s, little brown birds. Then, I was reading about bird watchers and what struck me was that sparrows and wrens and other small birds are so ubiquitous that a birder won’t make note of them on the list of birds they’ve sighted. It brought to mind the phrase a lone voice in the wilderness. Jill: Do you recall what sparked this story idea?Īntoinette: An image came first: a bird sitting alone in the woods. Portis has done is give every child reader/listener a bird with whom to identify, and other bird “types” they undoubtedly know in human form.īut enough from me, because – lucky us! – Antoinette was kind enough to answer questions about her process and share artwork. Only crow holds out (but, of course, he finally gives it a shot, too). Inspired by the little brown bird, the cardinal and dove are soon making up their own new (and funny) songs. She pauses … and her neighbors are more than a bit taken aback when what bursts from her is an enthusiastic “Froodle sproodle!” Crow, the largest bird, “was not amused.” Large and threatening, he looms above the little brown bird to ask, “What did you say?” to which she replies, “Um … oodle?” Behind her, the cardinal says, “Uh-oh.” and the white dove (peacemaker) says, “She meant peep!” One day the little brown bird can’t take it anymore. Season after season, four neighborhood birds sing the same monotonous songs. Delightful wordplay is the star here, and I’m not sure who would have more fun with it – the kiddos listening or the adult reading/performing it aloud.
One of my favorite books of 2014 is Froodle, by Antoinette Portis.
0 kommentar(er)
