Tiny Windows to the World

 When I was young, I had pen pals from around the world. I was curious about the lives that other kids led – their hobbies, their studies and their countries. I received letters from Egypt, France and the Netherlands, addressed in flowing cursive handwriting or scrawled in pencil. Most envelopes bore many multicolored stamps on which exotic plants bloomed, wild animals ran and tropical birds flew. Others portrayed great palaces, pyramids and remote deserts. I was fascinated by these tiny windows that opened onto strange new worlds. I would dream about visiting these faraway places that had chosen an elephant, a camel, a mosque or a pagoda, a glorious piece of art or a regal monarch to represent their country.

All these evocative images came back to me when Canada Post proposed to create two stamps featuring art from my series of Stella and Sam books. I was thrilled, having never envisioned that the characters I had created 15 years ago would one day have the honor of being on a stamp. I was especially proud and happy that these stamps would underline the importance of children's literature in Canada as well as promoting literacy.

The stamps were beautifully and meticulously designed by Peter Scott of q30 Design. The two images were cropped to place the focus on Stella hanging upside down from a tree, and on Stella, Sam and Fred sharing a book together. 

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Notice how Stella's curly hair flows outside of the image, a tiny exquisite detail that creates movement and a sense of space. The same could be said about the boat in the background sailing off the stamp or the branch of the tree reaching out beyond the border of the drawing, shaking its leaves in the wind. I was amazed that the images would be so clear and so true to the originals even after being so greatly reduced in size.

I was very happy about the choice of images, because, to me, they perfectly reflect Stella and Sam's personalities, as well as some of the intense joys of childhood – the exuberance and playfulness of Stella hanging upside down from a branch and the sweet, gentle sibling relationship between Stella and Sam as they read a book together.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if these stamps encouraged children to write letters, share books with their friends and siblings or hang upside down and pretend they are bats?

Petites fenêtres sur le monde

À l'adolescence, j'avais des correspondants aux quatre coins du monde! Je trouvais leurs noms dans les petites annonces de la célèbre revue de bandes dessinées, Pilote. J'étais curieuse et avide de savoir comment vivaient les jeunes ailleurs dans le monde. Quels étaient leurs passe-temps ? Leur musique préférée ? À quoi rêvaient-ils ? Je recevais des lettres d'un peu partout, de l'Egypte, de l'Afrique, de la France ou de la Hollande, entre autres. Les enveloppes étaient toujours ornées de plusieurs timbres multicolores. On y retrouvait des plantes exotiques, des bêtes sauvages ou des oiseaux tropicaux. D'autres arboraient d'immenses palais, des pyramides ou de vastes déserts. J'étais fascinée par ces petites fenêtres qui s'ouvraient sur des mondes insolites et inconnus.  Je rêvais de voyager dans ces pays qui avaient choisi un éléphant ou un chameau, une mosquée ou une pagode, une oeuvre d'art ou un roi pour représenter leur pays.

Ces images inspirantes qui me permettaient de voyager dans mon imaginaire me sont revenues lorsque Poste Canada a proposé la création de deux timbres à l'effigie des héros de ma série de livres Stella et Sacha. Cette proposition me ravissait, je n'avais jamais imaginé que ces petits personnages que j'avais créés il y a quinze ans, en quelques coups de pinceaux et avec mes mots, auraient l'honneur de représenter le Canada sur des timbres. Mais j'étais surtout heureuse et fière parce que ces timbres allaient souligner l'importance de la littérature pour enfants, tout en faisant la promotion de la lecture.

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Je suis très heureuse du choix des dessins. Ils représentent bien les personnalités de Stella et de Sacha. L’exubérance et la joie de vivre de Stella, suspendue à l'envers dans une branche d'arbre, imitant une chauve-souris… Et la douce ambiance de partage et d'amitié fraternelle entre Stella et Sacha qui lisent un livre ensemble. 

J'ai été étonnée que ces timbres, conçus par Peter Scott de Q30 Design, reflètent si fidèlement les couleurs des dessins originaux et

l'esprit de mon univers, jusque dans les moindres détails. Remarquez les cheveux de Stella qui débordent de l'image comme si le vent soufflait doucement, ou le voilier qui semble vouloir s'évader sur des mers lointaines en dehors du cadre. L'attention portée à ces petits détails donne une impression d'espace et de fluidité.

Quel plaisir d'imaginer ces timbres voyageant à travers le monde et, qui sait, inspirant peut-être des enfants à écrire des lettres ou à partager un livre avec un ami ...

Snow in Calgary

Fall was transformed into winter as I flew to Calgary to participate in the Kaleidoscope Conference. Kaleidoscope is a great conference where school librarians and teachers meet to discuss and listen to authors and illustrators talking about their creative process, as well as their books as well and ways to promote the joy and desire to read to children. We heard Kathi Appelt, Avi, Marty Chan, Timothy Basil Ering, Richard Scrimger, Tololwa Mollel, to name a few; a wonderful palette of  inspiring writers. We all received our official white cowboy hats during the White Hat Ceremony, a very curious and special event that, to my knowledge, only exists in Calgary.

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I had also been asked to create the Kaleidoscope poster with the theme "twisting the lens", or how new technologies, digital formats, e-books, the internet, apps, and electronic devices are changing the literary landscape by creating new and different pictures as you 'twist the lens'.

Here is an excerpt of my keynote presentation that described, in part, my thoughts and creative process to produce the Kaleidoscope Poster:

What goes on in a child's mind as he or she reads a book?

I think of how stories span the past and present. How they open windows to every part of the world. I think of the contemplative time that a child can enjoy while reading a book; an all-absorbing timelessness that evolves from quietly making connections between words and pictures, recognizing emotions and feelings, identifying with humans, animals or trees.

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A time when the child doesn't have to do something - push a button, click a mouse, touch a screen! The child only has to turn pages and immerse himself in another world, following his own rythm of understanding, of absorption. He is not being bombarded by frenetic, insistant music, images and non-stop action. There are no hyperlinks that invite a distraction. The child is in control.

A book is a place of refuge, of discovery of one's self.

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 Finally, I think that throughout this whirlwind of change, this period of transition, of multiplied and varied reading platforms, one thing would remain the same: children, and adults for that matter, would always need and love and hunger for stories.

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 And it will always be up to the creators to give them this opportunity to nourish their minds and souls.

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So from sketch to sketch, and with these thoughts and images in mind, I created this timeless, ageless child, who is 'reading' and absorbing the world. Words dance in his mind connecting with images, the past becomes part of his present and flows into the future. The child's thoughts and feelings find a space to wander and explore between the art and the words. He sees the world through his own lens and he can twist it as fast or as slowly as he wants. He can stop and delight in that particular moment,

The child becomes part of the universe.

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Kaleidoscope Poster

Fall in Providence Rhode Island

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Handmade poster above my signing table

In October, I attended the wonderful Rhode Island Festival of Children’s Books and Authors in beautiful Providence, RI. It is a one-day event at the Lincoln School and attracts hundreds of children, parents, school librarians and book-lovers. The festival is a fantastic community event that also entices well-known authors and illustrators from all over the United States to present their stories and/or illustrations. As the only Canadian author, I understood why all these authors came: we were met with a warm welcome, and interest, curiosity and enthusiasm.

I was presenting Caramba and Henry and my new book, Stella! A Treasury, and met with many fans of my books. It’s always exciting to present a new book and in the case of Stella! A Treasury I was thrilled to see how people reacted to a book that contains all the Stella stories...

They seemed as thrilled as I was as a child when discovering anthologies of all the books of my favorite authors, for example the Babar series by Jean de Brunhoff. I would lie in bed or snuggle in my favorite armchair and pour over every word and detail of the illustrations. It was like a book that never ended! It was as if the characters lived in my house, became my friends and read me their stories over and over again.

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The festival day ended with a lovely supper hosted by Chris Van Allsburg and his wife, Lisa. I've always been such a fan of his work so I was thrilled to meet the author of The Garden of Abdul Gazasi, a book that I read many, many times and which was a source of inspiration at the beginning of my career. I also met Pam Muñoz Ryan, author of the enchanting The Dreamer, Harry Bliss and many others.

A Tree Full of Stories (voir ci-dessous Un arbre qui raconte)

Last fall, I was approached by The Jewish Public Library of Montreal to create a permanent signage for their Children's Library. They wanted an image that would underline the importance of a children's library, entice children to enter and celebrate the joy of reading. The illustration would be enlarged and printed on three vertical banners and hung at the entrance to the Norman Berman Children's Library. I have often been invited to give many talks at this wonderful, pro-active, community-oriented library, from presenting at their huge Young Author's Conference to more intimate talks for their  Mother-Daughter Book Club. I have always been impressed by the dedication and energy of the librarians who work there. I wanted to represent this energy with a dynamic, vibrant, colourful image. I also wanted it to be playful and humorous. Libraries are full to the brim with stories, so my illustration had to tell a story. I wanted children to stop and immerse themselves in my picture, "reading" it in the smallest details . . .

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MLG JPL poster

(click on the image to see a larger version)

Did you notice the little grinning boy wearing a cape and plucking a star from the sky?

What about the boy who should be flying a kite but is actually "flying" a book opened to the "How to Build a Kite" page? Did you see Shelley the Turtle (a much loved resident of the Library), reading Shelley, A Turtle's Life? Or the young girl reading Romeo and Juliet just above a leaf that spells amour?

Books are full of words, so I also decided that I would draw words in the picture in English, French, Hebrew and Yiddish. (I must admit I did have to ask for help with the Hebrew and Yiddish.) I drew the illustration in pencil, painted in watercolour and working with handmade Japanese paper, cut out and painstakingly glued every one of the leaves!

I  realize that this is exactly the way I work when I create the illustrations for my books: details and substories abound, every character and animal or object has a role . . .

I think this is the way very young children see the world. Everything has a story to tell.

Un arbre qui raconte...

L'automne dernier, la Bibliothèque publique juive m'a proposé de créer une illustration pour la Bibliothèque des enfants Norman Berman. Ils voulaient une image qui soulignerait l'importance d'une bibliothèque pour enfants, une image qui capterait immédiatement l'intérêt des enfants et qui célèbrerait la joie de lire. Cette illustration serait agrandie et imprimée sur trois bannières verticales et serait placée à l'entrée de la bibliothèque.

Au fil des ans, j'ai souvent été invitée à lire et à faire de présentations dans cette  merveilleuse bibliothèque très active et dynamique. J'ai donné des ateliers lors de leur Conférence pour jeunes auteurs ainsi que des présentations plus intimes au Club de lecture Mère-Fille. J'ai été impressionné par l'énergie et le dévouement des bibliothécaires qui y travaillent. J'ai voulu représenter cette énergie par une image colorée et vibrante. J'ai voulu que mon illustration soit drôle et fantaisiste. Les bibliothèques sont remplies d'histoires alors mon dessin devait raconter une histoire... ou plusieurs. Je voulais que les enfants plongent dans mon dessin et qu'ils le lisent dans ses plus petits détails.

Avez-vous remarqué le petit bonhomme souriant qui cueille une étoile du haut de l'arbre? Ou la jeune fille qui lit Romeo et Juliette perchée au-dessus d'une feuille où s'inscrit le mot 'amour'? La famille de lapins-lecteurs? Autant de petites histoires . . .

Les livres sont pleins de beaux mots, de mots étranges ou de mots qui piquent notre curiosité, j'ai donc décidé d'inscrire des mots sur les feuilles de l'arbre en anglais, français, hébreu et yiddish. Mon illustration a été crée à l'aquarelle et au crayon. En travaillant avec du papier japonais fait-main j'ai découpé et collé chaque feuille de cet immense arbre.

Des heures de travail.

En fait, je travaille de la même manière lorsque je crée les illustrations de mes livres. Elles débordent de détails et petites histoires complices des enfants. Chaque personnage, chaque animal, chaque objet ont un rôle. Tous racontent une histoire. Je crois que c'est ainsi que les enfants voient le monde. Qui sait?

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Summer in the City: a new book in the Travels with My Family series

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This month, the third book in the Travels with My Family Trilogy, Summer in the City, is coming out. This trio of books was written with my husband David Homel, in the often funny and ironic first-person voice of Charlie, the eldest son. When we wrote the initial book, Travels with my Family, we wanted to tell and relive our family's traveling stories, summer vacations and adventures, when we traveled across Canada and the USA and on to Mexico with our two boys (and our cat), crammed into an old car between suitcases, books and fishing nets.In On the Road Again! we wrote nostalgically about a year spent in a tiny village in the South of France where Charlie and Max discovered with delight the quirkiness and strangeness of French rural life, from being chased by bulls in the village square to being caught in rush-hour sheep traffic.

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OnTheRoadAgainBC

Traveling has always been a priority for our family. And when we couldn't travel because of work or other reasons, we traveled in our own city of Montreal, discovering anew the place we love.

This is exactly what happens in Summer in the City. Charlie and Max, deprived of their annual trip of wild adventures and mishaps in one part of the world or another, explore the alleyways and backyards, the parks and streets of their neighborhood and its surrounding areas. Charlie, thinking he will die of boredom if he spends the summer in his hometown with his brother in tow, discovers that there are adventures to be had after all. From creating  a detective agency for lost cats to a wildly unsuccessful dog-walking business,

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spying on aliens, members of the Mafia or hundred-year-old supposed axe murderers, or camping in the wilds of their backyard and skateboarding on a moonlit night,

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Charlie also manages to save his brother from jail (after a spectacular bread-truck robbery) and his father from drowning on the expressway during the Storm of The Century...

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It was a challenge to write Summer in the City after the exotic adventures of Travels with My Family and On the Road Again! But then I remembered when I was young, how endless summer felt. How glorious! No school, no homework, just days and days of fun stretching out before me. Books to read, games to play, swimming at the pool, picnics in the park or just doing nothing.

This is what inspired Summer in the City, because having time to daydream, to think, to invent stories and adventures feeds children’s imaginations, and leads them to discover themselves and the world around them.

We gave Charlie the time to create his own perfect summer.

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A new welcome to Marie-Louise Gay's World, en Francais

Bienvenue! Depuis déjà vingt-cinq ans j’ai la joie d’écrire des histoires pour les enfants et les jeunes et de créer des personnages qui vivent entre les pages de mes livres. À commencer par Stella, Sacha et leur chien Fred qui découvrent le monde avec joie et ravissement, en passant par Caramba et son insupportable petit frère, Henri.Il y aussi Charlie et Max qui vivent des aventures rocambolesques en voyageant avec leurs parents. Ou encoreLoïc et sa petite peste de soeur, Louise, jusqu’à Roselyne Rutabaga, une jeune lapine déterminée à creuser jusqu’en Antartique pour voir un pingouin… Toute une galerie de personnages!

J’adore écrire avec les mots et les images. J’ai lu mes histoires à d’innombrables enfants aux quatres coins du monde et je suis toujours aussi ébahie et ravie devant leur émerveillement et leur imagination sans bornes.

Je crois que chaque enfant devrait avoir un accès facile aux livres ainsi qu’à l’expérience de lire uniquement pour le doux plaisir de lire.

En lisant un livre à un enfant, on partage les mots, les images et l’émotion.

On lui offre le plaisir de lire.

On transforme sa vie…

Welcome to Marie-Louise Gay’s world!

For twenty-five years I have had the joy of writing many stories for children and of creating the characters that live in the pages of my books, from Stella and Sam, to Caramba and his tiny and terrible new brother Henry; from Charlie and Max who have many wild adventures while travelling with their family to Jack and his adoring and pesky sister, Louise and to Roslyn Rutabaga, a muddy and determined young rabbit with dreams to fulfill.

I love to write with words and pictures. I have read to countless children around the world and am astounded at their enthusiasm, wonder and boundless imagination.

I strongly believe that every child should have access to books and experience the pleasure of reading.

Read to a child.

Share the story, the pictures and the emotion.

Change a child’s life.

This August, CARAMBA will meet his new baby brother, HENRY!

“. . . Caramba had always wished for a brother. A brother he could go fishing with. A brother to collect caterpillars with. A brother who would love his cheese omelets A brother who would share all his secrets. But Caramba never imagined a brother like Henry . . .”

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Caramba and Henry Back Cover

Caramba is in for a big surprise . . . But, while we wait for the arrival of my new book Caramba and Henry, I thought it would be interesting to look at a short animation of Caramba’s attempts to fly in the first book as well as the swooping and loop-de-looping antics of Caramba’s friends . . .

I also want to thank all the inventive and enthusiastic first grade teachers and librarians across Canada who enjoyed reading Caramba with their students and created drawing and writing projects to extend the pleasure of reading…

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A la fin de l’été, CARAMBA rencontrera son petit frère, HENRI!

“. . . Caramba a toujours rêvé d’avoir un petit frère. Un petit frère qu’il emmènerait à la pêche. Un petit frère qui chercherait des chenilles de toutes les couleurs avec lui.

Un petit frère qui adorerait ses omelettes au fromage et partagerait avec lui tous ses secrets. Mais jamais Caramba n’aurait pu imaginer un frère comme Henri . . .”

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Il va sans dire que Caramba sera très surpris! . . . Mais en attendant de lire les aventures de Caramba et Henri, j’ai pensé qu’il serait intéressant de voir Caramba en action . . . (voir le petit vidéo ci-dessus)

Je tiens aussi à remercier les enseignant(e)s et bibliothècaires à travers le Canada qui ont lu Caramba avec leurs élèves de première année et ont su explorer les dessins et l’histoire en créant des projets fabuleux avec leurs élèves, prolongeant ainsi le plaisir de lire . . .

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Photo gallery

Filming a special video at home for Teaching Books: [slideshow]

How Stella and Sam became TV stars

I have been asked quite often how Stella and Sam became TV stars. What was my role in their transformation? How did I participate in this transformation? Am I happy with the results? It certainly wasn’t done overnight! About 10 years ago, Groundwood Books and I started receiving offers to do an animated series with my Stella and Sam characters and stories. At that time, there were only two Stella books: Stella, Star of the Sea and Stella, Queen of the Snow. For various reasons, these deals fell through. One thing was most important for me: I wanted to have creative approval and work with the production, especially at the beginning.

I also did not want to sell book publishing rights based on the drawings and stories in the animated series. And I wanted a production company that would respect the books that I had created and would choose to stay as close as possible to the original concept.

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Stella and Sam reading#2

But in retrospect, the most important reason was that I had just started my series of books and had not sufficiently developed my characters and ideas. When Radical Sheep Productions came along and professed their interest and enthusiasm, I had, by then, written and illustrated four Stella books and two Sam books. I had created their world and fleshed out their characters and their relationship to one another. Fred had taken on a more prominent role. Stella and Sam inhabited their world fully, had a unique language and an original perspective of the natural world around them. I had developed Stella’s creativity, her imagination, her love of nature and discovery. I created Sam’s curiosity, his timidity, his secret fears and his sense of wonder. Stella and Sam were ready to leave their first home and explore other places.

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Felix #3A

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Ivy #3B

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Owen #3C

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Pattycake #3D

The first thing to do when creating a TV series (apart from finding money to finance it) is to write what is known as the “bible.” This bible is a precise compilation and description of the characters, their personalities, their qualities and faults. It is also a description of the world they will live in, the type of adventures they will have. The writers as well as the animators will consult this bible. I very much wanted to be involved in the creation of the bible since it sets the tone for the whole series. And I did collaborate extensively on it. At a certain point and after much debate, it was decided that we also needed new characters that were not in the original books. I then created Felix, Ivy, Owen and Pattycake and we wrote them into the bible. Here are the color sketches I did of them:But how do you translate very detailed pencil, watercolor and collage illustrations that lie quietly on the page, waiting to be read and poured over and over again by small children, to another platform where computer images are created to move and talk and dance and play — all this without betraying the original concept? I guess the answer to that is to find artists who will respect the original work. Mercury Filmworks created the computer images of the characters, the landscapes, the colors, the movements and the visual identity of the show. They stayed as close as possible to the art in my books. For example, they scanned some of my watercolor washes and incorporated them into the computer images. The same was true for the handmade Japanese paper I used for collage and texture in my illustrations: they were scanned and used as tree or bark textures, tablecloths, carpets, wallpaper or even Sam’s iconic pith helmet. But Mercury also had to create the backgrounds: the landscapes and houses and interiors, part of which did not exist in my books. Again, I was called upon to approve these images.

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Fred front and back #4A

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4 #4B

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Stella profile #4C

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Stella back & front #4D

Mercury Filmworks, of course, had my books as examples to work with, but I also provided more detailed sketches with many comments, probably too many, and directions:

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Freds_Rotation #5A

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Sam_Rotation #5B

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stellaROtation #5C

It is important, when you create an animated character, for him or her to be able to turn 360 degrees, so Mercury Filmworks designed the turnarounds from my sketches:

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And they studied the different movements or positions:

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Line_up_w_BG #7

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At the same time, we had to create size line-ups so that we could compare the characters’ proportions to each other and with the background: While all the visuals were being created, the stories started coming in. First the premises (a general idea, a synopsis), the outlines (a developed 3 to 5 page synopsis), then the first, second and third drafts. At this point, I was reading and commenting on the outlines and first drafts. For one season, there had to be 26 eleven-minute scripts. This kept me busy as I was also revising and commenting on the visuals. Simultaneously, as the scripts were finalized, storyboards were drawn:

At the same time, Radical Sheep was auditioning for the voices of Stella and Sam and the other characters and sending me samples of the best voices. Since we really wanted to have children’s voices, it was important to find unique and original ones. Rachel Marcus, with her lovely, clear and joyful voice, got the role of Stella, and five-year-old Miles Johnson with his cute, hesitant rhythms plays Sam. In fact, the only adult voice in the show is Fred’s, cleverly barked, whimpered and growled by Tony Daniels. (You can see and listen to a video of the actors recording in studio . . .)

As soon as the voices were recorded for each episode, a leica or animatic was produced with the storyboard stills adding voices and sound effects.

Then the animation could begin…the music was created…and voilà!

Two years later you have a show!

As you can see, I was quite involved as a creative consultant every step of the way. I enjoyed the experience of working with a team instead of working by myself as the author and illustrator of my books. I also appreciated the learning curve because even if I had studied animation when I was in college, and understood the underlying principles of animation, the technological progress was staggering and there was a lot of catching up to do.

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Stella Snow# 10

I am very pleased with the result. I feel that a very special show has been created for children. A show that focuses on imagination and creativity and the natural wonders of the world. Stella and Sam and their friends play outside, they have adventures, they create new worlds and they interact with each other. Children will not see any technology in Stella and Sam’s world: no TV, iPod or electronic games. But they will see books, crayons, paper and glue and cardboard boxes. They will see flying kites and paper airplanes, mountains being conquered and oceans being crossed. They will examine insects and spy on rabbits and foxes. They will watch Stella and Sam run and skip, roar with laughter and ask questions about the world. Stella and Sam have many exciting adventures, but sometimes they’ll just sit and watch a sunset. That to me is the most important aspect of the Sam and Stella show: there is time for a slower rhythm, a time for introspection, a time to lie back and breathe and look at the snowflakes falling . . . (credit: from Stella, Queen of the Snow)