TRIBAL ALPHABET - Interview with Claudia Pearson

Illustrations: Claudia Pearson

Text: Nan Richardson

Publisher: Umbrage Editions(May 1, 2008)


In artist Claudia Pearson’s debut creation for children, Tribal Alphabet, extraordinary illustrations come alive to celebrate the diversity of tribal communities and world's indigenous heritages.

As you can see for yourself in the lookybook feature above, Claudia’s artistic splendor is so beautifully reflected not only on the cover page drawing, (which itself beckons readers to discover what the book has to offer) but also in the lively and inspiring scenes she captures on every page of the book – from first till the very end filled with strikingly meaningful, and beautifully composed pictures.

A is for Australian Aborigine , B is for Basque, C is for Cherokee, D is for Dogon……J is for Jarwa(from Andaman Islands of India)are some of the names of the different tribes from different parts of the world that go alphabetically from page to page all the way till Z is for Zulu. Honestly, the stunning artwork coupled with the names of each tribe and the simple, informative text set in rhyme to describe tribal lifestyle and culture – enchanting learning galore!

And… for someone like me, who along with my 6 yr old, was hearing the names of some of these tribes for the very first time, you can only imagine how exciting and enlightening the entire read-aloud session must have been for the two of us.

The world map in the beginning (with minor misprints), and a glossary of tribal facts in the end are extra perks giving you a complete package that can truly spark your children’s interests in world geography, and also serve as a neat introduction to anthropology. The book can stir your little one’s imagination and create a curiosity for diversity in the world - expanding their horizon of learning about cultures from parts of the world beyond the reach of so many of us.

This delightful book is ideal for parents and educators from any country, and is a wonderful eye-opener to diversity in every nook and corner of the world. Yes, diversity, but the key take-away from the book is clearly that there are more things people and cultures have in common than they do have differences.

Of course, we at Saffron Tree, love this kind of book!

Having said why we love Tribal Alphabet, we cannot be more excited for ourselves. Reason being, Claudia Pearson sweetly accepted our invitation to do an interview in order to share with our readers a neat discussion of what it was like illustrating her very first book, Tribal Alphabet.

Please find below the full interview with Claudia Pearson.

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1)What did you find as the most challenging and fun parts in illustrating your book, Tribal Alphabet?

The first biggest challenge was making sure that we had fairly represented the diversity of the world. We could have easily done 10 different tribes for each letter and still had more left over. Once we had agreed on each letter we then needed to make sure that all our information about each group was accurate and up to date. The point of the book was to show traditional cultures and obviously a good number of these people have adapted to modern times so we had to make sure we didn't appear condescending in anyway.

Once the text was fact checked by our anthropologist I was free to start researching the images and that's when the fun began.
I have traveled a great deal and have always been inspired by traditional clothing, textiles, artwork etc.. so it was a dream come true to delve in to the life's of these wonderfully rich people and paint them in a way that showed their beauty.


2) When the reader looks at the pictures of the different activities that the people are involved in different tribal settings, it's almost like you are inside the book watching them do all the stuff. You have done an amazing job making your pictures look very realistic, and the expressions pop out so beautifully. How difficult was it for you to create these drawings?

I have to say that thanks to the internet it is much easier these days to find so many documentations of worldwide cultures.
Narrowing the images down and extracting the fundamentals of each tribe was the tricky part but we'd decided on the activities that would appeal to children so that directed me.Portraying the people accurately was extremely important to me and I'm glad that you think I've done a good job.


3) Could you give our readers an idea about the techniques involved in illustrating your book?

I go through several stages in the process. The first is compiling files of images I find on each tribe. This then enables me to get ideas for composition and the elements I want to include.

I then do a small dummy version of the book so I can see which spread works together and how I will vary the flow of the book.
I begin by pulling images into photoshop and laying them out roughly to get inspiration.
I then start sketching in pencil taking into consideration what has come before and will come after. Once I am happy with a page I start painting in acrylic. I find it mixes nicely and produces the flat, opaque color that I love.
The colors of the landscapes, skin tones, textiles shape the tones in each painting.


4)You are obviously teaching families that is important to appreciate the unique cultures/communities of our world. This is in addition to a great opportunity to introduce a neat topic about anthropoligical research /introduction to world geography, for slightly older children in elementary/middle grades. And as you already know at Saffron Tree, we want to encourage parents to read eclectic and diverse children's literature starting at an early age. How important, as a parent and illustrator, do you feel reading stories and books focusing on different cultures help children develop a well-rounded understanding of the world?

I feel as if without reading this kind of literature children will never understand such basic things as the community that surrounds them.
We have chosen to raise our 2 boys in Brooklyn which are culturally very diverse and have always selected books for them based on developing their understanding of the world around them. If they can make the connection with other cultures outside of America then they can understand people who have moved from these countries to make the US their home. I am British and my husband is American and already our children understand that they come from 2 different countries.
I hope that it will teach them tolerance and a love for difference in the way that my parents did.

Thank you so much, Claudia for taking the time to answer all our questions. We wish you all the very best in your career creating more and more special books like Tribal Alphabet for children all over the world.

AMADI'S SNOWMAN

Publisher: Tilbury House, Publishers, Maine, USA
Author: Katia Novet Saint-Lot
Illustrator: Dimitrea Tokunbo

What is a snowman doing on the front cover of a book bearing what I think looks like an African boy in a village setting? Little did I know that it was curiosity of this nature that was the basis for the transformation in young Amadi's life, the central character in the book Amadi's Snowman.

Amadi is a native of the Igbo tribe of Nigeria in Africa. The story is set in a hamlet in Nigeria, boasting marketplaces and friendly faces amidst which Amadi is raised by his hardworking mother.

What we come to understand after the introductory pages is Amadi's impregnable resistance to learn to read. He strongly believes that the ability to read is unneeded for an Igbo boy whose stereotyped ambition is to grow up to be a business man. Wandering at the marketplace, Amadi chances upon his friend Chima furtively buried in a book. It is now that Amadi's eyes fall upon an image of a boy bundled up in clothes next to a strange animal with a nose that looked like a carrot. Everywhere around, the ground and trees sparkled, blinding white. To some of us the image of a boy and a snowman could seem effortlessly digestible but to an Igbo man in Africa whose land is drenched in sun all through the year, this can sure seem hard to gulp. His ignorance is dispelled by Chima, who now seems to be the all-knowing idol to Amadi. But Chima soon takes off abandoning the book and poor Amadi who stands there with a whole lot of questions queued up in his head. This incident sows the seeds for Amadi's genuine enthusiasm to read, to learn, and to discover.

Amadi's quest does not end here. He begins to realize the existence of a lot more beyond his small world, like the snow and snowman. But they are all going to be out of reach if he did not know to read. The climax is when Amadi finds the same book in his house, gifted to him by Mrs. Chikodili, his tutor whom he is seen avoiding all through. You can tell Mrs.Chikodili I'll learn how to read are Amadi's final words in the book.

The depiction of the life of a rural African boy can itself be intriguing to urban children. The rustic scenes painted in warm earth tones come as a bonus, thanks to Dimitrea Tokunbo. The book is also overly apt for Saffron Tree for more than one reason - not only is it truly multicultural as in being a story about a tribal boy in Africa and created by a well-traveled author who now lives in India, but it is also one that spoons children the motivation to learn to read.

The initial resistance to read that Amadi exudes is probably a feeling that all young children might be able to relate to and the fact that the story can eventually inspire them to read is the most wonderful and powerful thing about this book! Nothing says this like when my 4 year old worriedly and hurriedly ensured "Ma, I know to read, right? I will know to read much better on my own, right?" as I slowly closed the book.Thumbs up to Katia Novet for this neat package! Literacy is a heavy subject and to translate it to young children is a daunting task. But looks like Katia Novet has effortlessly and wonderfully accomplished this endeavour.

Today is International Day of Non-violence...

MARCHING TO FREEDOM
Author: Subhadra Sen Gupta
Illustrator: Tapas Guha
Publisher: Pratham Books, India

Age Group: 11-14 years

For today's children Gandhi is just a face on our currency note or a picture in a dull history book. But what he stood for is something that I feel all children should value —tolerance and non-violence. - Subhadra Sen Gupta

Ample reason to write a book on Mahatma Gandhi for children. And today seems adequate enough to review this book from Pratham Books.

The setting is the Sabarmati Ashram in the western state of Gujarat in India, which Gandhi and his followers called home during the Freedom Struggle in India. Dhani is a 9 year old boy being raised in the ashram by his Gandhian parents. Dhani also seems to be responsible for taking care of Binni, the goat, who is his incessant companion and whose milk seems to be a part of Gandhi's morning diet.

Dhani is portrayed as a cheery little boy skipping around the ashram premises, inquisitive, eager to know, and quizzical. Dhani senses a plan brewing in the ashram and the tale kicks off with his attempts to find out more about it. Persistent as he is, Dhani learns from his mother of a march near the sea and learns a lot more from Bindha, also a resident working in the garden. Bindha neatly lays out the details and discloses Gandhi's idea of walking across Gujarat with his men, to a coastal place called Dandi to make salt.

It is but natural for Dhani to innocently clarify "Why will they make salt? You can buy it in every shop! Walking for a month! Why don't they take a bus or train to Dandi instead?" Questions that children might echo.This is when Binda explains the salt tax and the restraint to make sea salt imposed by the British, and the purpose of the march as a form of non-violent protest.

Impressed by Gandhi's ideas and motivated by the unfairness of the issue, Dhani is eager to participate, eager enough to follow Gandhi during his morning walk the next day to get his permission to join him. The simple yet well-chosen explanation that Gandhi adopts in order to convince Dhani to happily stay home completes the fiction.

The two pages of simple facts on the Dandi March of 1930 that flagged off the Non Cooperation Movement in India probably makes the book appropriate for the 11-14 years age group as the book claims. The book itself was written to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the event.

I talk a lot to children in schools and I found that though they like historical fiction, they dislike history!, shares the author who bears a reputation for creating historical fiction. Her resume includes a list of well-known publishers, and same is the case with the illustrator Tapas Guha. The sugar coated presentation of a piece of Indian history that teaches non-violence undoubtedly deserves our appreciation. This book also seems to be a part of a series called "Once upon an India".


I seem to be stumbling upon books on Mahatma Gandhi lately, and I think this post will be a befitting place to add pointers to them for it may help parents around the world to introduce to children the ideas of non-violence and tolerance. And needless to say, a great leader such as Mahatma Gandhi.

A man called Bapu also from Pratham Books
Picture Gandhi - Tulika Publishers

AND My Gandhi Scrapbook - Tulika Publishers, both available here