Liesbet Slegers lives in Belgium. She has written and illustrated many books for very young children. Her themes touch on daily rituals, such as going to school and going to sleep, as well as the changing seasons. With The Child in the Manger, she introduces children to the story of the birth of Jesus.

Why was it important to you to tell the story of the Nativity for very young children?

I had noticed that there were not many books for young children about that subject. And I like updating an old story with a new, modern look. That’s a challenge for me.

All of the elements of the story are here, but you state them so simply. For example, you portray the Three Kings with their “precious gifts” without stating what they are. How do you choose which details to leave out?

At the time that I wrote the book, I did not have children yet. So I went often to a school to test my ‘book to be.’ Now I have two young daughters, so it is easier to know what children can understand at what age. But I also follow my intuition. For example, ‘myrrh’ and ‘frankincense’ seemed too difficult. So I used the term ‘precious gifts.’ I think that young children would understand that better.

So often the story of the birth of Jesus is portrayed in quiet, earth-toned colors. Your palette is so vibrant and joyful!

That’s because I always use those colors. I think it’s important to paint it the way I like it myself. Children like those colors too, I have noticed. They can enjoy an old story when it looks very up-to-date.

We liked the way you show Mary and Joseph discovering the stable, with the horse and cow looking out, and then on the next page, Mary and Joseph holding the baby Jesus between the horse and cow. You suggest with those pictures that the animals are “sharing” the stable with Jesus.

That’s true, when I introduce the horse and cow in one picture, it is nice for the children that they are still there on the next page. They also like animals, and this makes the illustrations more attractive.  You can indeed say that the animals share the stable with Jesus. You can see that the animals and people are friends in my book. The animals also have an expression, or smile like the sheep.

We also liked the joyful feet above the part of the story when the shepherds begin to look for Jesus, and then the two shepherds and their two sheep look like they’re dancing toward Bethlehem.

It’s true that my characters mostly are very happy and cheerful. The shepherds are characters in this book, but I wanted to give them the quality of a regular person living today. So the children can recognize themselves in the shepherds.

We loved the way you bring everything back to the child on Christmas morning. Did you have that ending in mind when you started the book?

I wanted to have an ending that every child would recognize. Christmas is the day that Jesus was born. So it’s his birthday, and we give Christmas presents. And that’s the same for all people: The day that you were born is your birthday, and you also get presents then. That is something that children can understand very well, and in this way, the story becomes more alive for them. Of course, presents are not the most important thing on a birthday, but being together with your family. The same with Christmas.

Congratulations to Eric Carle! He won a Lifetime Achievement Award last month from the Society of Illustrators in New York City. Here he talks about his start in children’s books, the unexpected metamorphosis of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and our November featured book, A House for Hermit Crab.

You’ve said that you started out in advertising. Bill Martin Jr saw one of your ads and asked you if you would illustrate his manuscript, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Is that how you got started in children’s books?

That was the moment when I realized, this is my true course in life. It had been suggested to me before that I might consider illustrating books for children, but it was really when I met Bill Martin Jr and worked on Brown Bear that I was set on fire. I became completely inspired and ever since have been making books for children.

Was it easier to write and illustrate a book yourself? Or did that present different challenges?

It presented challenges because I was first a visual person and was more comfortable making the pictures. But gradually, over time, I began to find my way. And now, although I have collaborated with others like Bill Martin Jr, I prefer to do both story and illustration.

Is it true that the star of The Very Hungry Caterpillar started out as a worm?

Yes, it is true. One day I was punching holes with a hole puncher into a stack of paper, and I thought of a bookworm and so I created a story called A Week with Willi the Worm. Then later my editor, who didn’t like the idea of a worm, suggested a caterpillar and I said “Butterfly!” And the rest is history.

You give a lot of good information at the end A House for Hermit Crab about the creatures he meets in his travels.

I am fascinated by animals and insects. I always have been ever since I was a child and my father took me for walks in the woods, lifted up the bark of a tree to find the creatures who lived underneath. My aim with my books is to entertain with the story and the pictures. And to include a little learning, a little knowledge as well.  The learning part I always camouflage. It’s just one aspect, one dimension of the book.

How do you create a collage?

I make my collage illustrations using my own hand-painted tissue papers. I paint thin, translucent tissue paper with acrylics to create my ‘palette’ of colors and textures. I then organize them into color-coded flat files so that I have a stock of papers to work with. Using these painted papers, which I cut and tear and then glue down onto illustration board, I create the artwork.

We liked the spattery dots on the ocean floor in Hermit Crab. Did you flip your paintbrush to make those?

Yes, and sometimes I use the end of my paintbrush or a piece of carpet to create patterns and texture in my papers.

Do you think the story of Hermit Crab would give children courage if they had to move to a new home?

That would be very nice. Whether it is a move, or starting a new school, there are all kinds of transitions for children. I am particularly interested in the transition from home to school, as this was a challenging period in my own childhood. I hope my books will help to make transitions easier for children.

Readeo’s Jenny Brown Talks with Steven J. Simmons, author of October’s book of the month, Alice and Greta.

Steven J. Simmons is a cable television entrepreneur by day, a writer by night, and the father of five children (now just off to college) ’round the clock. Here he discusses his starring good witch and bad witch, plus the “brewmarang principle.”

Where did the idea come from for the story of Alice and Greta?

I was playing on a hill behind our house with my daughters Sarah, Caroline and Julia. A story came into my head about two witches, one a good witch and one a bad witch. We play-acted the story, and from that beginning, Alice and Greta were born. I drafted it over 20 times before it was published. It’s a lot of work.

Did you always picture a good witch and a bad witch? Or did that evolve?

Yes. They went to the same witch school but got different things from it. Alice would be doing good things for people, and Greta would be playing naughty tricks, and eventually they’d come to a playground where the climactic scene takes place. Greta plays a nasty trick, and Alice comes to the rescue and gets stuck as well. Then Alice remembers the brewmarang principle: “Whatever you chant, whatever you do, sooner or later, comes back to you.”

Do you think Alice and Greta always have a choice about how they use their knowledge?

Yes, I think they do have a choice. Alice chooses to do good things; Greta chooses to do bad things. Some interesting things happen to the characters in the sequel, Greta’s Revenge—they switch characters, and come back to themselves. Everyone is responsible for his or her behavior.

We liked when Alice turns the frog into a prince and Greta turns the prince back into a frog. Did you talk with Cyd Moore while you were working on the book?

I found Cyd Moore. I looked in bookstores, looked at artists’ portfolios. Her drawings captured what I wanted. They were whimsical but had lots of character and a sense of humor. In the pictures there are some witty things.

Both Alice and Greta see the same view—but one sees good things, the other bad. How do their actions shape their outlook?

I think people’s perceptions have a lot to do with their upbringing, the people they spend time with, and their experiences in life. Ultimately, people need to take responsibility for their own actions. If we do treat others as we’d like to be treated, the world will be a better place, and in the end we’ll all be happier and fulfilled.

It sounds like you believe in the “brewmarang principle.”

I do believe in the brewmarang principle. No one’s perfect. I understand that it’s hard to do this 100% of the time, but I think as close as we can come to doing it all the time, the better off we’ll be.

Kate DiCamillo received a Newbery Honor for her first novel, Because of Winn-Dixie, and the 2004 Newbery Medal for The Tale of Despereaux–both were made into major motion pictures. Here she discusses her beginning reader series starring Mercy Watson, a pig who loves “hot toast with a great deal of butter on it”–a passion that often leads Mercy by the nose into adventures–and sometimes trouble.

How did the character of Mercy Watson come to you?

Mercy Watson popped into my head when I was on an airplane. I have a little notebook, and I took it out and drew a pig face and wrote her name underneath. I knew right away that she was a pig that lived with Mr. and Mrs. Watson, who were not pigs. I worked on it for two years.

What about the “hot toast with a great deal of butter on it” that Mercy loves so much?

I was driving Alison McGhee to the airport. She got into my car with a piece of toast, and it was very buttered. I said, “Must you eat that in my car?” She said, “You don’t understand toast,” and she talked the whole car ride about how good it was and how it should be buttered all the way to the edges. On the way home, it clicked in my head as the thing that made it all work with Mercy Watson. So a pig pops into my head with a name attached, and then I had to wait 2 years for toast to show up. After that, it was the easiest writing experience ever, because you think of the experience and put the pig
in it.

Speaking of Alison McGhee, I hear you have a new book coming with her.

We sure do, it’s a book about a tall girl and a short girl. I’m short.

It’s a book about friendship called Bink and Golly. And Bink’s the short one: is your hair curly and do you wear striped socks?

You’re onto me, Jennifer Brown. I am Bink. Bink c’est moi.

Now back to Mercy. Do Mr. & Mrs. Watson think that Mercy is their child?

If we had to psychologically analyze what was going on with those two, we’d say in some dim recess of their brains they know she is a pig, but mostly she is their child and that’s how they treat her. It happens all the time with dogs, and I’ve heard rumors of it happening with a cat. That’s what’s happening with the Watsons. It’s a family.

Is it more challenging to write longer books like Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux than it is to write about Mercy Watson?

Mercy Watson is, I have to say, easier. It’s not because of length, it’s because there’s a rhythm to it and the words fall into that rhythm. It’s also easier because I know the characters, and when I’m writing the novels I’m learning the characters as I go.

Did the artist Chris Van Dusen draw Mercy the way you had pictured her?

The first sketch that Chris did of Mercy was of her looking petite with a bow on her head. And I said, “No no, you must tell him she is a Pig.” Then in the second sketches, there she was: big, self-centered, domineering and kind of loving in her own way.

When we talked with Chris Van Dusen, he said: “The Mercy Watson books were really fun because Kate DiCamillo gave me full range to create these characters…. It was almost like casting a movie.”

He did a great job. The great thing about doing all six of these with Chris, is that what was in my mind was replaced with his world of Deckawoo Drive–his Mercy and his Eugenia and Baby, who are a delight. That made the stories even easier to write. Then I thought, who can I come up with next that Chris is just going to knock out of the park? I couldn’t’ wait to see who he’d come up with. And in that last one [book six], he had to bring everyone back, and he did it!

Visit the Mercy Watson Web site for games, trivia quizzes and more!

Laurie Rosenwald is a painter, a type designer, a graphic artist and, of course, a writer and illustrator. Because she does so many different things, she works with many different media, or artist’s tools. She says that her love for the artist’s tools led to the book And to Name But Just a Few: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue. If you look on the page with the “Mary Had a Little Lamb” rhyme, you can see some of them: crayons, colored pencils, pastels (which are like chalk) and perhaps her favorite, collage.

Where did you get the idea for And to Name But Just a Few…?

I was in the Blue Apple offices with a manuscript I had done called Bubbling Mud about Iceland, where I lived in the early 1990s. Someone suggested, “Why don’t you do a list book, like numbers or letters or colors?” I love colors. So I wrote what became the text of the book in an hour that day. Then it took more than a year to put it all together, design it and illustrate it. I make 100 collages and throw out 99.

So the artwork took much longer than the rhymes?

The rhymes came pretty quickly to me. There wasn’t a lot of revision the way there was with the artwork. The design is what makes it. If you do a beautiful drawing and it has to fit in a square, it kills the illustration. I like being able to do everything, the art and the design. That’s when things look great, when they work together.

We liked the wordplay, like homonyms (“Lettuce explain” for GREEN) and synonyms (a girl’s name that means the same as PURPLE).

I have to admit that it all came to me in a flurry. I love love love to write. I love it so much that I feel guilty about it. I should be cleaning my room, or going to the gym. But no, I want to write.

And what a great art lesson in the YELLOW pages!

Yellow is very important for that reason. It’s the one you mix with blue to get green, or red to get orange. Caran d’Ache crayons are my favorite crayons. They’re very opaque. I wanted to have some illustrations that were painted, and things that have glue and paper and collage. This is the first book I made using a digital camera. I would take pictures, cut them out, and refine them in Photoshop. I was making collages without gluing them down. I wanted the book to feel the way I do about art supplies. It’s almost romantic.

There’s such a freedom to your artwork. Is that why you like collage?

Almost everything I do involves something organic, something out of control and human. And also something strict, graphic and controlled. It’s like the two sides of the brain – the arty side and the logic side. I start with making very sloppy, very quick drawings. Sometimes I use a squirt bottle, like a ketchup bottle. I always start with black on white paper. Then I take digital pictures of those drawings and bring them into the computer and add color, backgrounds, fonts [or type]. I teach a course called “How to Make Mistakes on Purpose.” I’ve taught it at the School of Visual Arts, and for corporations that want to be more creative. In my own work, I feel like a fraud unless I’m making a discovery.