The Three Brothers

Writing about Climate Change for Children

I never know where a story will lead me. When I started writing and illustrating the story that evolved into The Three Brothers, I had no idea where I was going, and certainly had no idea of writing a story about climate change.  

After writing and illustrating Stella, Queen of the Snow  about 15 years ago and, more recently, illustrating Houndsley and Catina and the Quiet Time, I've always wanted to plunge back into the delight of illustrating winter scenes. There is something about trying to find colour, movement and light in a white landscape that enchants me. But you'll agree that that is not a strong plot line.

Here are the first sketches that eventually inspired my story :

These two little characters walking in the snowy woods, seemingly surrounded by woodland creatures, which they do not see. "...I can't wait to see a wolf..." says one of the characters. As they tramped through the snow or hid in a huge hollowed-out tree trunk, I asked myself why wouldn't they see them and I started thinking of the disappearance or the extinction of certain species of animals due to the change in weather and the'natural' disasters. Which led me to wonder how to explain climate change to very young children without scaring them to death. Of course, I could have written a non-fiction pedagogical book about climate change for children but I would rather let more knowledgeable authors or scientists write these books with more clarity than I ever could.

Children are curious, observant and have an incredible power of imagination.

Children listen to adult conversations floating over their heads or in the background of their busy little lives. They absorb the anxiety, the stress and the unanswered questions of the adults. They interpret what they hear in their own way.

Children are also pro-active, they want to solve problems. And this is what the three brothers do: They find an inventive, whimsical way to 'solve' the problem or to provide an answer to their questions.

And I tried to make their imagination 'visible' by rendering the wild animals invisible or transparent and incorporated in the natural world.

If you look closely you will see that the trees, the snow, the sky are inhabited by the spirit of the disappeared animals, or is it a figment of the children's imagination?

With the story of the The Three Brothers, I wanted to give a voice and a certain power to very small children to have them think and wonder and communicate in their own way about what is happening to our world.