A cardboard box can hide a fox
and possibly a bear.
A ball of string’s the perfect the thing
to tangle here and there.
Paperclips hung in a strip
can decorate a room.
Rubber bands on hands expand
and twist or flick and zoom.
Paper sheets with folds and pleats
can loop de loop the sun.
And drinking straws can draw for sure
blow ink and see it run.
From my hand
to a statue
by a tree
to a nest
on a rooftop
to a wire
then higher
to a peak
past a cloud
to you
Once a tree
grew ears (of wood)
and twisted knots for eyes
and two branch arms
with a leaf hairdo
and finger-sprouting twigs
put boots on roots
marched into town
to sell a crop of apples
‘Apples! Come and get them
Juicy, round and red’
it fed the town
then marched back home
to its apple orchard bed
1. Think of an adjective (rotten)
2. Pick an animal (a bear)
3. Choose an occupation (pirate)
Put them together and what do you get? – Rotten Bear the Pirate!!
Why is he ‘rotten’? Perhaps he is mangy. Bad at pillaging? Is he too jolly? He might be too cuddly to be truly scary?
Rotten Bear the Pirate was no use at all on the high seas, until the day he found an old map changed things forever. At the bottom of the map was a message GENUINE PIRATE SHIP WANTED FOR ADVENTURE …
Our children’s story won a third prize in the Children’s and Young Adult Literature annual conference (Aspiring / Unpublished – Graphic Novels, Illustrated picture books and Middle grade illustrated novels section). We worked with our long time collaborator and friend, the talented Matt Davidson. Matt developed three terrific illustrations to submit along with the full text. The story is always being tweaked so we won’t post the complete manuscript. As a thanks to all our well-wishers and just for the fun of it, here are the three images with some accompanying text.
Freddy & Miss Ginger came about when musing on what Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers may have been like as children. Was Fred a fidget? Was Ginger a little wisecracker? Would Fred have been labelled ADHD and always annoying those around him?
What if they were a dog and a cat!
Freddy threw off his collar, put on his bowtie and ran to the park.
There he could jiggle and spin and shake out his wriggles once and for all.
Freddy and Miss Ginger danced and danced and danced.
First a waltz, and a foxtrot, then a rumba.
They danced a tango, a quick-step and a samba.
Together they twirled and whirled and skipped and dipped.
Through the park,
over rooftops,
down laneways,
beneath city lights.
Freddy could not stop dancing.
From ‘grrr’ to ‘yay’: Creative collaboration may not be easy, but the results can be satisfying and unique.
Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. It instigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheeplike passivity, and sets us at noting and contriving… Conflict is the sine qua non of reflection and ingenuity. John Dewey, American educator and philosopher.
Baker and Smith don’t always agree, but is this really such a bad thing? Short of stomping and screaming, a bit of disagreement can be a productive and positive force, and here’s two reasons why. See if you agree with us.
1. It forces us not to be lazy with our work
Sometimes one of us has worked hard on some particular words and the reaction from Baker or Smith is “Meh! It’s just not doing it for me”. Or “the words look good but they don’t make emotional sense”. Or “I can’t imagine that character saying that”. And the reaction is usually right. Our first choice is not always our best choice – and if it is, we’ve had to actively justify it rather than letting a hackneyed image or a cliched word slide through. We’re always reminded of the lesson of the great writing instructor Robert McKee who says (wildly paraphrasing here) that amateurs can never edit their work because they fall in love with their first draft; professionals are never satisfied.
2. Difference creates stronger work
Baker is a flitterer, Smith is a craftsman. Baker is a generalist, Smith is a specialist. Baker likes big ideas, Smith can happily work away on details for hours. Baker’s into laissez-faire (is that a fancy French word for lazy?) and Smith likes to work at it. We drive each other nuts on a regular basis.
But when it comes to building a story, Baker is inspired by the big ideas she loves to collect (teleology anyone?), Smith picks up the ball and turns a concept into a beautifully written first draft – but one that we definitely won’t fall in love with. Baker likes to refine and revise, checking the logic seeing what doesn’t fit, what’s missing, where the rhythm is out, where the grammar is wrong. Smith is never happy with the final draft and will keep pushing for improvement, even if it means junking 17 versions and starting the story from scratch. Baker likes to rescue the best parts of early drafts and meld them with the new story. And refine and revise again until eventually we have a story that hopefully children will love to read.
A kinder teacher of three-year-olds saw an art activity I did with some
children aged four and asked if I could do it with her class. Fine motor
skills are not as developed in three-year-olds, so I suggested making a fun
exercise around something that the ‘threes’ were captivated by. ‘What do
they like drawing?’ I asked. ‘Rainbows!’ came the instant response.
This series of concentric circles could be handled by small fingers
(with a little help of course), and were then pasted on top of one another
from large to small. A simple activity, it touched on colours and sequence,
and when folded in half the seven pasted circles transformed into
DIY take home rainbows.
Below is a writing exercise that grew out of the 100 ideas exercise we did together. The tale plays on different applications of the word ‘time’, and there is a surprising hero to boot.
One time,
I went to a park.
Next time,
I took my ball.
This time,
People came to play.
And over time,
a crowd gathered.
’Game time!’
Two teams squared off.
‘Game on!’
A whistle blew.
Scissor kicks.
Short flicks.
Sporty tricks.
No goal.
Muddy park.
Scuff marks.
It’s nearly dark –
but still no goal
‘Time is running out. We need a goal, quick!’
A splash,
a flap,
thump and a quack, then …
My team’s golden boot struck luck
‘Goooaal’.
The whistle blew once more.
‘Full time!’
‘Time’s up!’
‘Home time!’
‘It’s bath time!
’
‘Same time, next time?’
‘YES’, everyone agreed.
And I will bring my ball again,
and two golden boots for duck.
Recently we grappled with a boy character in one of our rough stories. The boy was doing boy-like things with boy-like behaviour, but something was missing from the drafts. We changed the boy character into a dog of uncertain heritage, and voila! The story still worked, and now the character was free to move about in exciting, unexpected ways.
Just how far should the boy be morphed when visualised? Should he be rendered as a regular dog with a collar? A smart casual town dog? Should he have a hint of residual boyishness? After some scribbles, the character had a resolution, of sorts. He would be an upright dog in a pair of sparkling red shoes of course! Although, maybe, he is still actually, kind of a boy underneath that fur – on the inside, waiting to break out. That’s not my read, he looks dog enough to me. Besides, some cigar chomping joker once said that inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.
Alphabet books have been a part of children’s reading experience forever.
These days, they revolve around a concept or theme, and perhaps incorporate a simple story. It’s not A is for Apple anymore. We set ourselves this holiday season challenge; write an ABC using an A-Z of onomatopoeia and create a story from the sounds using as few words as possible. Here goes …
AHHH!
I was snug in bed when …
BOOM!
Mum stormed in the room.
CLAP! CLAP!
‘Get up. Get out of bed.’ she said.
DONG! DONG!
‘You’re late for school!’
EEEK!
I Jumped up.
FWOOSH!
Ran out the room.
GULP!
Ate breakfast.
HIC!
Ate too quick.
ICK
And felt quite sick.
JIGGLE, JIGGLE
All squirmy and wriggly.
KONK! KLUNK! KRACK!
‘Oh, oh!’ There goes the vase.
‘LA LA LA’
‘I Didn’t break it … promise.’
‘MEOW’
‘It was Cat.’
NIGGLE, NIGGLE
‘Cat pushed Duck.’
‘OOPS’
‘I mean Duck bumped Pig.’
And Mum said, ‘Wait on, I’m not too sure about this, because …’
‘PURR’
‘Cat is asleep.’
‘QUACK!’
‘Duck is in the pond and …’
ROLY POLY
‘The pigs are all in the mud.’
So, are you really sure?’
SIGH
‘Ok,’ I said. ‘It wasn’t Cat, it wasn’t Duck,
and not one Pig was involved. It was me … I broke the vase.’
TEE HEE HEE
‘I know,’ said Mum.
UMM
‘I’ll fix it, don’t worry. Hurry, you’re late for school!’
VROOM!
The school bus rumbled downhill.
WHOOSH!
I chased after it.
XXXXT!
The door opened.
YIKES!
‘Phew,’ I made it in.
ZOOM!
Still wearing my pyjamas.
bakersmith 