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Interviews with Janet S. Wong and Margaret Chodos-Irvine,
creators of Hide & Seek |
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Biography |
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| Janet S. Wong has written many award-winning books for young readers, including two others illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine. She lives in Medina, Washington.
Margaret Chodos-Irvine is the illustrator of several highly praised children's books, including the Caldecott Honor–winning Ella Sarah Gets Dressed, which she also wrote. She lives in Seattle, Washington. |
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Synopsis |
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| It's a hide-and-seek day! Where's the best hiding place? Here? Or here? Or maybe here! Better find one lickety-split ( … one … two … ) because Daddy is counting ( … three … four … ) while cookies are baking ( … five … six … ). Is this the spot? ( … seven … eight … ) Ready … or not!
Introduces simple counting skills. |
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Interview with Janet S. Wong, author of Hide & Seek |
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Q: Your newest picture book illustrates a game of hide-and-seek between a father and a son while the cookies bake. It also helps children practice counting from one to ten. What’s your personal connection to Hide & Seek?
A: Margaret Chodos-Irvine and I were having lunch a couple of years ago, and she mentioned that she wanted to do a "concept book"—a counting book, perhaps. I started thinking about various "natural" contexts for counting, and it occurred to me that the game of hide-and-seek is a very natural context. Children happily count from one to ten (or twenty or fifty or one hundred) while playing hide-and-seek, and the counting is just part of the game, not a math exercise or a chore.
Once I’d settled on the idea of writing about this game, a flood of memories came back to me, mainly of places that my son used to like to hide. And the giggling, memories of giggling coming out of a closet, came back, too. I find that my memories are mainly visual, so memories I can smell or hear are a special treat.
One of the great things about hide-and-seek is that the game eats up time, especially the painful slow passing of time when something you want to happen is happening too slowly. When cookies are in the oven, fifteen minutes can seem like an hour. Unless, of course, you can distract yourself with something—until the oven bell rings!
Q: What makes Hide & Seek a one-of-a-kind picture book?
A: Of course it is the pictures, Margaret Chodos-Irvine’s illustrations. Margaret’s art is so elegant and yet accessible, bold yet subtle.
Also, I love the way Margaret cleverly created a game within the book. Each page contains a certain number of things that correspond to the number and the color of the number in the box. For instance, the page with the burgundy number two contains two burgundy things, the flowers. It also contains two orange-red shoes, but we have to look for the thing(s) that match the color of the number within the box, not the color of the box. The page with the pink three contains three pink Styrofoam "peanuts." The black five corresponds to five flies hovering above the trash can. Very little ones—as young as eighteen months old—can understand this. And yet kindergartners love to quickly zoom in on this game, too.
Q: You’ve created two other books with illustrator Margaret Chodos-Irvine: Buzz (Harcourt, 2000) and Apple Pie Fourth of July (Harcourt, 2002). What do you appreciate most about her artistry?
A: I like the way Margaret thinks. Her art is not merely decorative; it adds to the story, often telling a story of its own. For instance, I never would have thought to insert the "seek the colored items game" into Hide & Seek. In Buzz, the bee travels into and then, at the end, out of the book. The parade images on the end pages of Apple Pie Fourth of July pick up the parade motif from the story and create a message of empowerment and imagination: "Children: make your own parade!"
Q: You started your career as a lawyer—with a degree from Yale Law School—and then made the leap to being a children’s book author. What inspired this life change?
A: Many lawyers do good work, but I did not feel that I was one of those. I felt that my work was rather antagonistic and depressing, unfortunately, as most labor relations/employment law work is. One day I was browsing for a gift for my cousin, shopping in a little independent children’s bookstore, and I found myself with an armload of books I wanted to buy for myself, not for my cousin. Right then the idea hit me: Someone wrote these books. Why couldn’t I become one of those people?
It took me a year and a half of lots of research, writing, and rejection letters before I got published. People often give up too soon, I think. Aspiring writers get a few rejection letters and quit. Two things that I did right away helped me become published: first, I started going to SCBWI [The Society of Children’s Book Writer’s & Illustrators] meetings and conferences (www.scbwi.org), and then I took a writing class through UCLA Extension. Having a support group of other children’s writers is really important.
Q: On your Web site, www.JanetWong.com, you talk about listening to your grandpa’s stories about his life in China and his dog Susie. How do those childhood memories help you write children’s books?
A: When I first started writing, I thought that the best children’s books were about "make believe," and I felt that I should try to write that way. For myself, though, the best writing comes from real-life memories, childhood memories and memories of my family’s stories. So many of us have family stories that we could—and should—tell!
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Interview with Margaret Chodos-Irvine, illustrator of Hide & Seek |
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Q: When you first read the manuscript for Hide & Seek by Janet S. Wong, what did you envision for illustrations, and how did it evolve during the creative process?
A: I got to see the manuscript as it progressed. Janet asked my opinion about the imagery before she sent it to Jeannette Larson, our editor. Janet also sent me copies of all the revisions, so I was able to add my input to the editorial process, which is a rare treat for an illustrator, I think.
Q: You have a distinct artistic style. What is your technique?
A: I am a printmaker. For my children’s books, I use a variety of relief printmaking techniques, which I lump together and call "collagraph." This involves cutting shapes out of various flat materials (poster board, vinyl, plastic lace, textured wallpaper, to name a few), inking them up with relief inks, and then transferring the inks to a piece of printmaking paper with the help of my press. Each print gets run through the press many times to build up layers of color and texture. I also do some stenciling and stamping to add details to my images.
Q: As noted in Janet’s interview, this is your third collaboration together. What do you appreciate most about her storytelling?
A: I love Janet’s sense of rhythm and sound. Her stories have a musical quality to them. They really are written more like poems, than stories.
Q: For Harcourt, you’ve illustrated and/or written six picture books, including your own Caldecott Honor Book Ella Sarah Gets Dressed. What inspired you to write and illustrate Ella Sarah?
A: I have a daughter, now 10, who always had her own, very definite, opinions about clothing. When she was a toddler, we would argue in the mornings about what she would wear. Someone suggested that I write a children’s book about that experience, and Ella Sarah Gets Dressed was the result.
Q: Along with your illustration work, what other creative outlets do you have?
A: I just love to make stuff, and I am happiest when I have something craft oriented to do in my free time. Currently, I sew, I knit, I make jam. I have been known to get completely involved in such projects as making jewelry bookmarks, or crafting light-switch covers out of biscuit tins and found objects, but lately I have been too busy illustrating books to take on anything too involved.
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