I’m not going to put much of a story here because I have one later,
about meeting Marla Frazee,
so on to the book!
Title: The Farmer and The Clown
Published by: Beach Lane Books, 2014
Written by: Marla Frazee
Illustrated by: Marla Frazee
Word Count: zero (wordless)
Pages: 32
In one word: Connection
In one sentence: When a little clown tumbles off the train and onto the farm of a plain farmer, what sort of a connection will they make?
Favorite pages:
Likes:
I love the contrasts in this book.
The bleak landscape, the colorful circus train,
the farmer and the clown.
Each picture tells a story and invites discussion.
I love how the characters grow and change in the course of just one day is it? Which makes sense, because you’d hope they’d be back as soon as they could for the little clown. I’m all about how little moments can turn into huge things, and this is a picture book example of that.
I love that it’s wordless. I think there are so many moments in this book that words can’t describe, but we get it.
The last page!
What will happen next?
I’m a HUGE fan of Marla Frazee’s art. I love her style, how fun and action backed and immersive it is. And cozy. Looking at it just makes you feel good; I don’t know how else to describe it.
Learns:
Wordless works!
Take something and it’s opposite or near opposite and stick them together and see what happens!
If you write about the universal (in this case, new friends) everyone will relate to it.
Meet Marla Frazee!
I met Marla (for the second time, first time was at my first SCBWI conference four years ago!) at Hicklebee’s yesterday, and it was so much fun!
She had this GREAT little projector and showed off some of her early art:
This was her first book:
Her first collaboration was with her best friend. They made this book together:
She talked about her studio in the backyard. A great spot to go and work!
She talked about Rollercoaster, her awesome book about…well, a rollercoaster.
Her family was on a road trip and ALL her three sons would talk about were rollercoasters! She had great pictures of the three of them in different places during the roadtrip, with speech bubbles saying, “rollercoasters” so when she got home the thought maybe she’s write a book about a rollercoaster.
She said she actually met with a roller coaster designer to get the coaster right. And that the book is really about the girl in the front, being brave by riding the rollercoaster for the first time.
“I would NOT have been brave enough to do that as a girl,” she said. “I was a very nervous kid in kindergarden. A lot of my books are about doing something for the first time.” Fun fact: The Rollercoaster is named Rocket, after her beloved studiomate and dog.
I love this book! Have you read it? It’s a MUST for new parents!
A Couple of Boys have the Best Week Ever is another awesome one, Caldecott Honor winner, and a story pulled from her own life!
She kept asking the kids questions….did they like to draw books?
Or write books? Did they do that at school? At home? Both?
I loved when she was giving them advice….it felt like they were learning these awesome secrets.
Some of it:
“Kids can read pictures better than grownups…I love that they can find the story in all the pictures.”
“Try and write something different than you draw.” This one was related to A Couple of Boys have the Best Week Ever, where many times the words are saying one thing while the pictures are saying the opposite.
She talked about the Clementine books, which originally was a three book series when she signed on. The 7th book comes out in the spring, with Clementine ending her third grade year. Fun fact: At LEAST once a book, Clementine sits across the desk from her principal. Marla based the principal on her kindergarden teacher, who she was really afraid of at the time. Now, getting to know this character, she’s not afraid anymore! “And it only took 50 years,” she joked.
She talked about Stars,
a picture book she’s illustrated,
and showed us a couple of pages from it.
If you’ve read it, check out the snowflake page. She said it took her three weeks to paint!
She talked about All the World, another awesome book she illustrated (and received a Caldecott Honor for!) and said how she put so much of what she loves into the illustrations.
The oak tree, the grandpa, rain, farmer’s markets, even her favorite cars!
She also talked about Boot and Shoe, one about look alike dogs who hang out on different porches until a squirrel comes along to shake things up. She said originally everyone was worried that no one would be able to tell the dogs apart. You’ll have to look at the illustrations to see how to tell one from the other, but here’s a hint: Check out their legs and look at their names 🙂
She talked about this page:
And said that she loves that, in books, you can see movement but the picture’s not actually moving.
Then she started talking about The Farmer and the Clown.
She spent a lot of time playing around with different types of paints and colors, trying to get it just right. She didn’t originally intend for it to be wordless; it just ended up that way!
Someone asked her how she got the idea. She went to a high school clown show (the high school that her sons had gone to) and it was so cool. They pantomimed everything and it made her think about clowns for a long time. But things didn’t work, she tried many different drafts and ideas. Then one day she got a picture in her head of a happy clown and a grouchy farmer holding hands. Why were they holding hands? This book is the answer to that question.
I love how in this spread the clown is telling the Farmer what just happened.
She showed us the last picture and we had a discussion about whether the monkey fell off or jumped off, then she talked about how that last page evolved. Originally the farmer had the clown’s hat on but was jumping up, kicking his heels, only that didn’t seem true. He wouldn’t really feel that happy, and she knew that. So she tried drawing how he really felt, and then it was too sad to end the book like that! So then the monkey arrived the in sketch. This way the farmer still gets to have his quiet, pensive moment, but he’s got a surprise.
Will there be a sequel?
“I don’t think so,” she said. “The Farmer and the Monkey might not go so well.”
I got to talk to her as I got my book signed,
and before the presentation, since I’d been there 30 minutes early due to getting the time mixed up.
I told her about my book and how I’m excited and also wanting to sell another one.
She reminded me I have a great agent with a great agency,
and a great publisher.
She said when she first started out,
it seemed like it would take FOREVER for a book to come out,
or to get another project,
and now it’s sort of snowballed and become her career.
That was some excellent advice to be hearing.
I’m so glad she was able to come to Hicklebee’s!
Whew.
What a post!
What did you read today?
Thursday!
One more day til Friday and the weekend
(and a chili cook off that I’m taking part in!)
Have a good one, see you tomorrow!
KE
That was almost as good as being there! Thanks for sharing. I got to see Marla Frazee speak about her book “God got a Dog”. I remember she was a lot of fun in the signing line.
I think one of the best reviews on my site is of her book, “Boot and Shoe”. We had a lot of fun with it.