Tag Archive for Florence Minor

On Birds and the Artist’s Sense of Wonder: A Conversation with Wendell Minor

 

“To me, birds represent the ultimate form of freedom.

To break the bonds of the earth

and to float in the sky

has fascinated man since the beginning of time.”

— Wendell Minor

 

 

It’s hard to know what to say about Wendell Minor. The awards and achievements seem endless. And there always seems to be a new book coming out. In plain truth, Wendell has enjoyed five decades in the publishing world, beginning as a book cover designer and transitioning to children’s book illustrator and author. As a nature lover and history buff, he shares those interests with children through the books he has authored or co-authored with Jean Craighead George, Tony Johnston, Robert Burleigh, Charlotte Zolotow, Margaret Wise Brown, Buzz Aldrin, Mary Higgins Clark, and last but not least, his (fabulous!) wife Florence. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the country. But mostly, today, I’m hoping he’ll indulge my newfound fascination with all things . . . avian.




Greetings, Wendell, thanks for stopping by to talk about birds and, not coincidentally, your newest book, Tiny Bird. I find myself newly “woke” to the world of birds. I daresay I’ve become a beginning birder. It’s given me so much pleasure.


Hello James, I have to say I’ve been a bird watcher as long as I can remember. I did my first bird drawing when I was five years old. It was a giant Robin. I can’t imagine a world without birds. We have lost three billion birds in America since 1970! That’s about 30 percent of the total population. They are battling loss of habitat and climate change. We should never take them for granted.

Illustration by Wendell Minor, age 5. Obviously, that poor kid is never going to make it. 

 

I interviewed Ralph Fletcher on a similar theme a while back, because he photographs birds. You draw them. At its heart, the hobby of birding is about seeing. Noticing details. The shape of the tail feathers. The length of a beak. Stopping, pausing, reflecting. All the qualities one needs to become a good artist or writer. It feels spiritual.

To me, birds represent the ultimate form of freedom. To break the bonds of the earth and to float in the sky has fascinated man since the beginning of time. Seagulls inspired the Wright Brothers at Kittyhawk. Careful observations of these graceful birds led to the basic understanding of the principles of flight and the first successful flying machine. Who doesn’t want to fly? For me, it’s a creative spiritual experience.

 

 

I’ve gone through the same experience with trees. Just waking up to them, noticing more and richer detail. I feel a little foolish about the lost time, but I’m grateful for the moments I’ve been given. It all links for me directly into becoming a better writer, being in the moment and attending to the thing itself. Again, that’s art, isn’t it?

Mother Nature keeps us humble. Perhaps Thoreau said it best: Simplify, simplify, simplify. “Without simplicity, it isn’t possible to live life to the fullest or really be able to be an integral part of nature and Man’s surroundings.”  

 

 

Do you use the Merlin app? It was created in partnership with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It’s an amazing resource to carry around in our magic phones. Very helpful in making identifications. Which has been another interesting discovery. There’s pleasure in not only seeing and appreciating a bird, but knowing its name: That’s a Tree Swallow, that’s a Cooper’s Hawk, that’s a Downy Woodpecker! Knowing what you are seeing increases the joy.

 

 

I use the Sibley and Peterson guide books plus a number of other books. I visit the Cornell site frequently. I decided to do a count of some of the birds I have illustrated over the years. Here’s a partial list:

Barred Owl, Great Horned Owl, Barn Owl, Snowy Owl, 

Sandhill Crane, Tri-colored Heron, Crows,

Eagles (Bald and Golden, Yellow Finches, Robins, Stellers Jay,

Pileated Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Pelicans,

Albatross, Laughing Gull, Herring Gull, Anhinga Bird,

Flamingos, Roseate Spoonbills, Cormorants, Mourning Doves,

Red-Tailed Hawk, Red Headed Woodpecker, Raven,

Red Tailed Hawk, Egrets, Red Winged Blackbirds, Blue Jay,

Chickadee, Magpie, Mockingbird, Peregrine Falcon,

Cardinal, and, of course, Hummingbirds.

Let’s talk about your new book. Hummingbirds are tough little birds, aren’t they?

Hummingbirds are amazing! Tiny Bird: A Hummingbird’s Amazing Journey by Robert Burleigh was born out of our mutual interest in their astounding toughness for such tiny creatures. The book covers the cycle of migration of the Ruby Throated Hummingbird from Connecticut to Guatemala, roughly 1500 hundred miles. They fly solo for the entire trip, plus a five hundred mile leap across the Gulf of Mexico: twenty plus hours non-stop!

There’s a really cool website, Hummingbird Central, that features a live map of the hummingbird migration. What a staggering journey. I expect a few ruby-throated hummingbirds to show up in my backyard any day now.

 

Here are a few of the things I learned: a hummingbird’s wings vibrate more than 50 beats per second. They are only about 3” long and weigh less than a penny! Only the female sits on the nest, which by the way is the size of a quarter. Hummingbirds come back to the same place every year. So if you see one in your backyard, you know they’ve traveled 15 hundred miles to be there!

 

 

Here’s an image I particularly like, from your book Everglades by Jean Craighead George. It reminds me of a seabirds puzzle I used to love as a kid. I’m curious, have any of your illustrations been used as puzzles? 

 

 

Thanks. That book has been in print since 1995! I had one book cover produced as a puzzle several years ago. The book was called Weed Rough by Douglas C. Jones. I have attached the illustration.

Ah, that’s so cool. A lot of us are doing puzzles these days. You’ve had a pretty remarkable career, Wendell. In addition to all your picture books and gallery shows, you’ve done quite an impressive array of book cover work, which tends to fly under the radar. Could you name a few we might recognize? I know you’ve done a version of To Kill a Mockingbird, a number of books by Pat Conroy and Jean Craighead George. Oh, just typing those names gives me a pang. We’re losing some of the great ones, aren’t we?

 

               

Yes, we are! Jean and Pat were my good friends for many years and I still miss them both. Over the years I’ve designed over 2000 book covers. A few that you might remember are David McCullough’s “Truman” and “The Path Between the Seas,” Pat Conroy’s “The Great Santini” and “The Prince of Tides,” Mary Higgins Clark’s “Where Are the Children?,” Toni Morrison’s “Sula,” and Fannie Flagg’s “ Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.” I could go on but that would take up too much space on the page.

How does that work? You get a manuscript and create a cover image from that? Or does an art director come to you with specific ideas? Covers are hard, so scrutinized by everyone in the publishing company, from editors to salespeople; I imagine there can be quite a lot of back and forth.

I do few covers these days, most of my time is spent doing picture books. I love the freedom of creating books for children. When doing an assignment for a book cover commission, I always insist on reading the manuscript. I owe that much to the authors who have spent months or years writing their books. I usually have the freedom to create my own vision for a cover; however I may do several concepts to navigate the many approval processes. Most of the time, my first sketch wins the day.

By the way, how’s my friend, the lovely Florence Minor doing? Have you two got another collaboration in the works?

Thanks for asking about Florence. She has completely recovered from her cancer surgery last year, and she’s feeling great! Her latest book is about kittens and all the amusing things they do. It’s looking great and will pub within a year from now. Florence sends you her best!

That’s good news. Okay, Wendell, thanks for swinging by. Maybe we’ll take a walk someday and you can be my birding guide. I can hear ’em, but they aren’t so easy to spot. I’ve got so much to learn.

It’s been a pleasure talking with you and I hope the Hummingbirds return to your backyard this year! See you at the next book festival as soon as we’re allowed.

 

Wendell Minor lives in Washington, CT, with his wife, author Florence Minor. Wendell’s books have received the Cook Prize, Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of the Year 2015, Publishers weekly Best Books of the Year 2005, Kirkus Best Books of the Year 2015, New York Public Library’s 100 Best Books for Kids 2017, Junior Library Guild Selections, Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young Children, Outstanding Science Trade Books, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library selection, Pennsylvania One Book Every Young Child selection, ALA Notable Book, John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers. Wendell was honored to be the 2018-2021 Artist Laureate of the Norman Rockwell Museum. Readers may visit Wendell at: www.minorart.com and on Facebook.

 

One Question, Five Authors #11: “How has your childhood informed your books?”

Coming up with questions is hard work. Frankly, I’m exhausted. You can’t imagine the hours I while away, sipping fruity cocktails, conferring with the flowers, daydreaming possible queries. Now I’m going to take a long, hot, restorative soak in the tub. Hopefully you’ll hang around to read the answers provided by today’s five guest authors: Todd Strasser, Aaron Becker, Florence Minor, David A. Kelly, and Jerdine Nolen.

 

Todd Strasser

For most of my writing life I’ve focused on contemporary realistic novels, but as I passed the age of 60, I decided to look back at the early years of my life. What immediately came to mind was the day in 1962 when I was twelve years old and came from school to discover several men digging a very large hole in our backyard. I was thrilled. My parents must have been building a swimming pool! I ran into the house for confirmation, only to learn that hole was the first step in building a fallout shelter. It was the height of the Cold War and my parents were taking no chances. From that incident grew Fallout, my novel about living through the Cuban Missile Crisis, when this country came as close as it ever had to a nuclear war.

The next inspiration that came from my “childhood” concerned the summer of the Woodstock music festival, which I attended. That became my new my novel, Summer of ’69. For me the summer began with a draft notice ordering me to prepare to fight in a war I didn’t believe in. But that was just the beginning of the angst I would face. My parents on the verge of divorce. My brother, who is mentally and emotionally handicapped and who had never spent a night away from home, was suddenly sent away to a YMCA camp. And, because of all the stress and fear I was feeling, I was taking far too many drugs. I feel that this novel is a landmark in my writing career because it became an opportunity to take a close look at, and try to make sense of, a collection of events that I’d been aware of all my life, but had never pieced together into an understandable whole. For me it was as close to therapy as any novel I’ve ever written.

Aaron Becker

Most of my books have stemmed from the feelings of boredom I had as a kid; my imagination was the one thing I could count on to take me away. But my latest, You Are Light, is a departure from that. This book is all about my mother and her influence on me as a science teacher. She taught college level astronomy and physics and would often bring home gadgets from her lab work. I always loved anything that had to do with color and light. So the idea of making a book that played with illumination came quite naturally to me. There was no room for a dedication on the copyright page, but if there was, it’d be to her!

Florence Minor

I grew up in a family of animal lovers, and my first bestie was my dog Jigsy, who arrived on the scene the year before I did. My uncle loved to tell stories about my dad stopping to pet every dog or cat he happened to meet on the street, and I have to admit that this apple did not fall far from the tree.

My love of all animals is an integral part of who I am, and when Jigsy passed over the rainbow bridge at age 14 I was bereft. Thankfully Boo the dachshund came into our lives shortly thereafter and her sweet and funny ways (like rolling over a grape but never eating it), helped to heal my broken heart.

Animals, mine as well as those of friends, have always been a joyous part of my life, in person as well as in books, and it feels natural for me to share my love of animals through the books I write for children. A shy child, I spent many hours reading, especially books about animals: Babar, Lassie, The Black Stallion, etc. In How to be a Bigger Bunny, the main character, Tickles, is often left behind by her older siblings (as I was by my older sister) but is able to save them when they get into trouble because of things she’s learned in her favorite book. So there you have it! I hope my books about penguins, bears, bunnies, and, stay tuned for kittens, inspire children to read, read, read!

David A. Kelly

A number of things from my childhood have informed my Ballpark Mysteries series of chapter books. Perhaps the first is a sense of fun and play. I grew up in Central New York playing one backyard game after another. Baseball was a huge favorite; in the winter it was hockey on the flooded, frozen baseball field, and nights were filled with capture the flag. While my main characters, Mike and Kate, don’t play backyard games in my books, I try to bring that feeling of fun and comradery to my stories.

Mystery stories were also a large influence. I grew up loving mysteries, from Encyclopedia Brown and Two Minute Mysteries to the Hardy Boys and Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators. I often recall specific ones when I’m mulling over possible plot points or searching for inspiration.

My childhood fear of writing has also played a part. As a child, I loved to read but hated to write. I could never figure out how to get started or what to write about. My spelling was bad and I was lazy. But as an adult, the very fact that I never considered myself a writer is what allowed me to become an author. I had nothing to lose by trying to write the Ballpark Mysteries. Luckily, with persistence, hard work, and lots of assistance it’s worked out.

And of course, some specific things from my childhood have shown up in my books. All that crab soccer I played in elementary school gym class made its way into The Baltimore Bandit scene in which my main characters, Mike and Kate, play crab soccer at Camden Yards to investigate a missing baseball glove. And the time that my father snuck me into a nearby hotel to meet Hank Aaron, who was staying there before a Hall of Fame Day Game in Cooperstown. After initially rebuffing me because he was eating his breakfast, he signed my baseball after finishing. I created  a similar incident in The All-Star Joker when Mike is trying to get his baseball signed by a big star.

Jerdine Nolen

When I was a child, my parents told stories to me. They were both natural storytellers. The stories they told were big and wide and wonderful and beautiful and awful and scary and seemed to live along the lines of magic.

The stories moved in my head and heart which moved me to feel and see the world in a particular way. The stories were packed with intrigue, fear, and hope. And always there was something to be gained by hearing the story. I sometimes wonder if the message my parents wanted me to glean was what I actually took away.

For my father, he often read or retold Bible stories to us. For my mother, her stories would always start, “…did I ever tell you about the time…” I think that coupled with my imagination, I was able to tell my own entertaining stories.

Often the reprimands given me included some (symbolic) story from my parent’s own childhood or something from the Bible.

So, yes. My childhood informs my stories.

5 QUESTIONS with Florence Minor, author of “How to Be a Bigger Bunny.”

 

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I was happy to spend time with Florence Minor to discuss her creative process. A former film editor, Flo now writes lovely picture books for very young children. Each book has been beautifully illustrated by her husband, Wendell, and this interview features behind-the-scenes glimpses into rough sketches and early drafts — the whole glorious hot mess of making a book.

 

Greetings, Flo. Congratulations on your new book.

Hey there, Jimmy. Thanks for the congrats and for inviting me to chat on your blog!

new bigger bunny cover

How did this story begin for you? I think, as writers, we live in a world of false starts and abandoned stories. Can you remember a moment when you thought, hey, this might actually be something.

As you well know, a published book often bears no resemblance, or little resemblance to the original manuscript. In the case of my current book, it began as a poem about a single dwarf bunny. I’ve always had an affinity for furry critters, and having met a couple of dwarf bunnies through a friend, I was intrigued by them. So, I wrote a poem about a day in the life of one of those little cuties and sent it off to my editor. She liked it, and made some suggestions, but after a number of revisions we decided that unlike my previous books, this one should be a story written in prose rather than poetry. I’m always up for a challenge, but I must admit that given my love of poetry, and the fact that my previous books were written in rhyme, this challenge was initially a bit unnerving. And while the hero of the book is still one bunny, the new storyline now revolved around a family of bunny siblings. So, I had to change hats and find my way to writing a very different kind of book. That said, once I sat down and started writing about Nibbles, Wiggles, Giggles, Jiggles, and of course, our hero, Tickles, it all began to feel very natural.

getPart

You dedicated this book to your “editor extraordinaire,” Katherine Tegen. How does she help you? What’s that writer-editor relationship?

Let me begin by saying that I am one very lucky author to have Katherine Tegen editing my books. My relationship with Katherine goes way back (you don’t really need to know how many years, do you?), when Katherine was Wendell’s editor on the books he and Jean Craighead George created. I got to know Katherine first as a talented, insightful editor, and then as a friend. I had recently left my film editing career behind when we moved from New York to Connecticut, and as I was in the process of reinventing myself, I began working in the studio with Wendell, and being involved in the books he was working on . . . which led to numerous, enjoyable work sessions with Katherine and Jean. Wendell works with a number of wonderful editors, and as time and circumstance would have it Katherine was the one who offered me my first contract for a collaboration with Wendell. Because we already knew each other quite well, we were, and are on the same page in the way we see a book evolving. Our communication regarding storyline, revisions, edits and compromise come together in a very productive way to create a book we are all happy with.

BB pgs 14-15

It’s a lengthy process from first idea to finished book. What’s the most exciting part for you? Signing the contract, seeing the illustrations, getting the finished book in the mail, signing a copy for a young reader? This interview??!!

Yes, it IS a lengthy process, and is not always without some frustrations until we hold that first bound book in our hands, but the most exciting part? How did you know I would say THIS INTERVIEW??? Well, almost. Honestly, it’s seeing the look on a child’s face when they connect with my book. Here’s a little story I love to tell, because it is as meaningful now, and always will be, as it was in 2009. That year, Wendell and I toured Pennsylvania with our book “If You Were a Penguin” when it was selected for their “One Book Every Young Child” program.

Early sketch.

Early sketch.

We visited elementary schools, libraries, even nursery schools throughout the state for a month. One hundred and fifteen thousand books were printed to give to the children in the state. In one elementary school we were asked if we would like to personally hand out the books to the children. Needless to say, we jumped at the chance. Now, if this was a live interview you would see tears forming in my eyes as I recount the response I received from one little boy. As I handed him his book he looked at me and said, “You mean this is my book to keep? I don’t have to return it?” It was the first book he had ever owned, and seeing the joy on his face is what this is all about.

Yes, those are the moments carved into the heart. Do you carry around a journal? Or are you someone who is writing in your head?

I should carry a journal (and maybe I will actually start to do that now!), but what seems to happen in the initial stages of a book, is that I am imagining and writing in my head. If I am in the studio I scribble some notes in longhand on copy paper, and eventually transfer them to the computer. If I am out of the studio, I jot down thoughts in the (old-fashioned) mini-FiloFax I always have with me until I am back in the studio. Once I get the basic storyline figured out, I write it out on the computer, and then do my editing on the computer, where it’s easy to save the numerous versions that invariably develop.

Obviously, you have a special relationship with the illustrator, Wendell Minor. At what point does he roll up his sleeves and get involved? Do you keep things separate? I can imagine it must be helpful to bounce ideas off him. To say, while passing the baked scrod, “Now, Wendell dear, about my book-crazed bunny Tickles . . .”

Tree bunny b

So, not only did I luck out with a fantastic editor, I also get to collaborate with an amazingly talented illustrator! Our process varies from book to book. Sometimes I’ll complete a manuscript and then Wendell will do thumbnail sketches. Sometimes they reflect perfectly what I had in mind. Other times… they involve, shall we say, a little compromise and revision. What? You think I had THAT in mind for that page? Are you kidding me? But honestly, more often than not Wendell comes up with images I might never have imagined, and they are absolutely perfect! We might work separately in the studio, or over lunch or dinner, or as we did on our first book together, on the ferry to Nantucket to celebrate our anniversary!

 

Another sketch.

And yet another terrific sketch.

Nantucket! I once knew a girl from Nantucket! Wait, hold on, no, I’m thinking of the limerick. Nevermind! As we were discussing . . . . People are often surprised about that in children’s publishing, how the industry does not encourage authors and illustrators to interact during the creative process. I’ve always understood it as a method to protect the illustrator from the (well-intentioned, interfering) writer. Poor Wendell has no such defense. How does he cope? Is there a time when you tell yourself, I better shut up now.

No one can deny it: Florence and Wendell make a great team.

No one can deny it: Florence and Wendell make a great team.

From early on in his career as a book jacket designer/illustrator, Wendell’s process frequently was to have an open, and may I add, very successful dialogue with the authors for whose books he was creating covers. Before I even started working in the studio with Wendell I assumed that that was the way it happened in publishing. It came as quite a surprise to me when I learned that Wendell was pretty much an anomaly in that regard. So, when we started collaborating on picture books, the discussions and give-and-take felt natural to both of us. That said, there are moments when compromise isn’t always so easy, and as in any relationship, one does have to know how to choose one’s battles, and defer, and after working together for nearly 26 years (yikes!), I think we’ve got that nailed down.

One of Wendell's many famous cover illustrations.

One of Wendell’s many famous cover illustrations.

Do you think the book benefits from your more organic, back-and-forth partnership? Is the industry model broken? I ask as an author who writes the book and then just . . . hopes. I never get the chance to bully the poor illustrator! I’ll say this, your approach seems more enjoyable, a true collaboration, though possibly with more headaches.
 
Clearly, there is no shortage of books out there in the world that have done quite nicely without the kind of collaboration that works for Wendell and me, which is also the way Wendell works with other authors in the picture book world. In fact, he can’t even imagine NOT working that way.  And I can’t help thinking that in a perfect world, author/illustrator communication would enhance any project, especially in picture books when pictures and words are, to my mind, of equal importance. The end result of back-and-forth dialogue makes for a book that is more than the sum of its parts. BTW: no headaches — yet, anyway — and my hope for you is that you get to bully (I mean collaborate) with an illustrator on one of your books sometime SOON!

So far you’ve written books about a penguin, a panda, and a bunny. I have an idea for you. Are you ready? A three-toed South American tree sloth. Thank you, my work is done here. You may send my share of the royalty check to . . .

Not so fast, Jimmy. Those three-toed South American Tree Sloths are awfully cute, but I’m afraid your work isn’t quite done. Whenever possible I prefer to write about animals I have either met “in person” or have at least seen up close and personal.

But is that how it works for you? Do you start with the animal?

Bigger Bunny cover sketch

I have been an animal lover since I was a child. I grew up with dogs and cats, and except for a few years when I was single and living in a “no pets” apartment, cats have been permanent apartment and studio companions. Of course, I am fascinated by animals of all types, and am intrigued by their various behaviors. Animals who have either been part of my life, or who I have seen in the wild, or even in zoos have provided me with many an idea for a book. Wendell and I also make a habit of visiting friends who have farms, which gives us the opportunity to spend time with various furry, feathered, and woolly critters. In fact, when visiting one friend’s farm, two calves were born on the day we arrived, so of course they were named Florence and Wendell!

Ha, that’s great.

There’s never a shortage of story ideas running around in my head, but since I also run the business end of our studio, I need to find a way to make more time for writing. I’ve put in an order for a clone, but unfortunately, it hasn’t shown up yet.

You have a background as a film editor. I’ve always felt there’s a strong connection between film and picture books. How did that past experience inform you as a writer?

You are so right about the connection between film and picture books. They are both all about storytelling, and telling those stories in ways that entertain and enlighten your audience. The process of storyboarding and editing are equally important in creating both a well crafted film and a book. As with any film, my initial manuscripts are always much longer than what works best for a picture book. Then comes the slicing and dicing part.


bunny reading

My film editing experience especially has been extremely helpful in paring down the text for the books I write for a very young audience. Editing film often required leaving favorite shots or favorite sequences on the cutting room floor, which could be painful . . . but knowing that invariably that process makes for a better film, I was able to make the transition to cutting text from my manuscripts without feeling too much pain!

How do you make that connection with young readers? I mean, this story seems exactly right for a certain very young reader. An age of innocence, I think. How do you know what’s right?

I think every author likely has their own particular vision for how best to connect with their audience. Since I write for the very young reader I think about my (much) younger self, and what appealed to me. The feedback Wendell and I get from young fans shows me that stories about animals, and poetry, are very appealing to them as well, so hopefully I’m on the right track.

BB pgs 28-29 sm-1

I’m sure that’s true. What are you working on now?

I know this will shock you, but the book I’m working on right now is about the friendship between two animals. And that’s all I’ll tell you. As we say in the film biz … stay tuned!

I like that — better not talk about it before the work is solid. Thanks, Flo. I appreciate you stopping by. My regards to Wendell. I hope the whole drawing pictures thing works out for him.

Thanks again for the invite. It’s been great chatting. I’ll certainly pass along your regards to Wendell, and, by the way, call me crazy, but I have a very good feeling that this drawing thing is going to work out just fine for him!

 

51WQtdnWQCLAuthors and illustrators previously interviewed here: Hudson Talbott, Hazel Mitchell, Susan Hood, Matthew McElligott, Jessica Olien, Nancy Castaldo, Aaron Becker, Matthew Cordell, Jeff Newman, Matt Phelan, Lizzy Rockwell, Jeff Mack, London Ladd, John Coy, Bruce Coville, Matt Faulkner, Susan Verde, Elizabeth Zunan, Robin Pulver, and Susan Wood. To find past interviews, click on the “5 Questions” link on the right sidebar, under CATEGORIES. Or use the “Search” function.