 |
 |
Between the Lines |
 |
How I Became a Pirate
Melinda Long
Illustrated by David Shannon
|
|
Biography |
|
Melinda Long is a teacher and the author of several picture books. She lives in Greenville, South Carolina.
David Shannon is the illustrator of many successful picture books. His numerous awards include a Caldecott Honor for No, David! He lives in Burbank, California.
|
| Interview with Melinda Long—Author of How I Became a Pirate | |
Q: At the end of the story, Jeremy is wearing a bandanna and a Pirates soccer shirt. This suggests that even though he has decided against being a pirate, he hangs on to a part of his dream. Do you feel that elements of our childhood fantasies carry over into our "real" lives
A: I think that, in part, everything we do as children, fantasy or not, prepares us for our roles in the “real” world. As a kid I played house, teacher, pirate, hero, damsel in distress, and a lot more. Even though I was only playing, I carried many of those concepts and personality traits over into everyday life. When I read The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, I was so impressed that the young girls in those stories could be average schoolchildren and heroines at the same time. I wanted to be courageous and diligent, just like them, and I think those characters helped me to become what I am.
Q: What is it about pirates that makes them the "stuff of legend" and inspires so many people to want to take a turn as one?
A: Pirates, at least the stereotypical ones, were extremely cool. They did what they wanted all day long, not giving a thought to dental hygiene, cholesterol, or political correctness. They also swung around on ropes in great costumes, buried treasures, and spoke some of the coolest slang ever. Who wouldn’t want to give that lifestyle a try? From the reading I’ve done recently, I’ve found that the pirate lifestyle was a lot tougher than you might think, but I can’t let the facts get in the way of enjoying my fantasy pirates.
Q: Does this book cater only to an audience of young boys, or can young girls relate to it as well?
A: I hope that girls will enjoy it, too. I loved playing pirate as a little girl, including burying treasures like pretty rocks, buttons, and my mother’s earrings. After all, Anne Bonney, Mary Reede, and Grace O’Malley were notorious for their pirating skills.
Q: Your first two books were about your own life experiences, and you mention that you and your brother spent many hours in "pretend adventures." Is this story also autobiographical?
A: Well, I’ve already told you about playing pirate as a kid. I don’t know if the story is really autobiographical, but I recognize my own behavior in many of Jeremy Jacob’s acts and words. I think it’s nearly impossible for a writer to keep his or her own life out of the stories he or she writes.
Q: How important do you, as a parent and teacher, feel imaginary adventures are to a child's development?
A: Imaginary adventures help us to grow in so many ways. They stretch our brains, broaden our personalities, and give us the framework we need to be problem-solving adults. My brother, Mark, and I used to love to watch reruns of Batman on TV. Then we’d go outside wearing towels for capes, and play. Mark was always Batman and I was usually Batgirl. Just like the TV characters, we found creative ways to solve the dilemmas we pretended to face. I am still a pretty good problem solver.
Q: As a teacher, you are obviously very familiar with the process of giving lessons. What do you hope your story will provide for children—entertainment,
reading experience, or something else?
A: As a teacher, a little part of me insists that this will be an excellent chance for children to practice their reading skills. Mainly, though, I just want to share my joy of adventure and the fun of a good story with children and their parents.
Q: You seem to have a wonderful sense of humor. What do you attribute it to, and how does humor figure into your stories?
A: Both of my parents have great senses of humor, and I find that I tend to be drawn to people who make me laugh. I even married a man who keeps me in giggles most of the time. I think that a sense of humor can carry you through a lot of tough times. Even Shakespeare’s tragedies had comic relief. If I couldn’t put a little humor into my writing, I probably wouldn’t be able to write.
|
| Interview with David Shannon—Illustrator of How I Became a Pirate | |
Q: You seem to use elements of caricature without making any character appear entirely unrealistic. How do you accomplish this?
A: I'm not really sure. It's just how I pictured the characters in my head. The drawing aspect of the pictures is pretty silly and distorted, but the rendering or painting of the drawings is more realistic. I wanted the pirates to be funny, but I also wanted them to be cool-looking and "piratey."
Q: Your artwork is very colorful. Do you consciously plan the spatial arrangement and the use of color in your illustrations, or do design and color flow naturally and unconsciously onto the canvas?
A: Composition and color usually entail a large amount of conscious planning. I try to make every element of a picture reinforce the story as a single painting, and as a part of the whole book, so a lot of thought goes into the perspective, viewpoint, color, and tone of each piece. Sometimes I get lucky and the picture seems to just pop right out, but other times I really have to hack away at it until it works.
Q: The image in which the pirates are crowded into a dinghy calls to mind, the painting Washington Crossing the Delaware. And toward the end of the book there is an illustration of Jeremy waving farewell to the sailors while standing onshore, which also somehow seems nostalgic. Do you refer to other works of art for inspiration?
A: I don't generally use specific pieces for inspiration. You can probably tell I'm a big fan of N. C. Wyeth, but I'm influenced by all kinds of stuff (and not just pictures): movies, music, whatever. Mostly it just comes out unconsciously. I once did a poster for a Broadway show called Accidental Death of an Anarchist. The image was kind of a nutty-looking human time bomb, with sticks of dynamite for arms and legs, and a clock timer with a face on it for the head. The face always seemed familiar to me, but it wasn't until several years later that I realized it resembled Grandfather Clock from Captain Kangaroo!
Q: How difficult was it for you to develop the initial paintings of each character? Was it any easier to paint subsequent scenes?
A: I drew a bunch of character studies to begin with, so I knew what the characters looked like, but the first few paintings took a long time to finish because I had to figure out what color everything was. There were all these group scenes of the pirates, and I had to figure out how to make all the colors work together and emphasize the right part of each picture. One thing I did was take photocopies of the sketches and roughly indicate what color everything was. But you can't really tell until you start painting, and sometimes I had to go back and change earlier paintings.
Q: What do you find to be the most fun—and the most rewarding—illustration techniques? Did this book afford you an opportunity to apply any
of them?
A: I like to have fun when I illustrate a book—with the characters, the story, pushing paint around. Some books have been more fun to work on than
others, but I had a blast with this one
Q: In an interview, you once said, "The words tell one part of the story and the pictures tell another part." How does that perspective apply to this book?
A: First of all, I had a terrific story to work with in Melinda's words. There are all kinds of childhood fantasies and realities contained in her story. I tried to emphasize and expand on those kinds of things—wouldn't it be fun to have a pillow fight with big ol' pirates, but can you imagine how smelly and uncomfortable it would be to sleep over at their house? And of course, I wanted to bring Jeremy and the pirates to life visually and give each of them lots of individual personality—my daughter and I even named them.
Q: How would you describe the difference between your illustrations in How I Became a Pirate and those in No, David!?
A: The drawing style in No, David! is more childlike and simple and in general the pieces are looser and more spontaneous. No David! Left a lot of room for "happy accidents." For instance, I could smear some paint on an illustration, and decide it looked good! How I Became a Pirate required more realism and detail to tell the story—specific settings, costumes, action—but that was fun. I mean, after all, they're pirates!
|
|
|
