September
02
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Making Tree Books by Sophie Blackall
I spent a great deal of my childhood up a tree with a book. My brother was usually in the tree next door, also with a book. We had a brilliantly designed, poorly executed rope, pulley and basket system between trees to exchange books. (We were in our Famous Five period, and fortunately Enid Blyton was prolific enough to keep us fueled.) We only ever read paperback books in trees. For one thing, the book exchange was precarious, and many books went flying down to no man’s land between the branches. Also, my tree was a pink peppercorn and oozed sticky sap. Also, also, we didn’t always remember to bring our books down with us, and even though this was South Australia, it sometimes rained.
We read our hardcover books indoors. We never wrote our names in them, or folded down corners. We treated dust jackets with respect. What were the indoor books? Most of the set of Beatrix Potter. A few Dr. Seuss. Where the Wild Things Are. The Elephant and the Bad Baby. Books with pictures.
I loved both reading experiences. Curled up in an armchair on a rainy day, poring over the watercolors of Mr McGregor’s garden was probably when I first considered becoming an illustrator. Squishing a mosquito between pages 124 and 125 of Five Go to Smuggler’s Top was a permanent reminder of a good catch and a great Summer.
As an adult, I spend most of my waking hours talking about, writing about, thinking about and making picture books. I consider six different paper stocks with an art director. I beg an editor for an extra spread. For a bit of spot lamination. And, trying my luck, for embossing and die-cuts and a ribbon. But here’s my confession: I treat all my books as tree books*. I would do away with the dust jacket altogether. I like finding crumbs and messages in margins. I like reading a book which has been previously dog-eared, especially by someone I love. I have even torn a book in half to share with a fellow book-starved traveller (Great Expectations, on a train in China.)
The printed book is a tactile object. We connect with the story within its pages, and sometimes leave traces of our own stories behind.
And Two Boys Booed is a picture book with paper flaps, which is as tactile as can be. I hope that kids will read Judith Viorst’s brilliant words, and want to lift those flaps, and wake the boy up and make the teacher clap her hands. And I hope they like doing it so much that the flaps fall right off and their calm and competent teacher/librarian/parent will mend it with tape, that the book will be battered and loved.
Here’s to making indoor books to be read in trees.
*I do respect library books, I promise.
Sophie Blackall is a Brooklyn based Australian artist. She has illustrated over twenty books for children, including Ruby’s Wish (Chronicle Books, 2003) which won the Ezra Jack Keats Award, Meet Wild Boars (Henry Holt, 2005) which won a BCCB Blue Ribbon Picture Book Award and the Founders Award from the Society of Illustrators, Big Red Lollipop (Viking, 2010) which was a New York Times Top Ten Picture Book for 2010, and the ongoing Ivy and Bean series (Chronicle Books), which has over a million copies in print. Visit her online at SophieBlackall.com.
Nerdy Book Club 
I completely and totally love this post. I am a treater of all books as outdoor books kind of person. I also love to see where someone else dogeared them. Books are useful things, thus should be used. Thank you for brightening up my foggy Maine morning as I get ready to greet my 2nd graders whom I let borrow books without checking them out. Here’s to bringing books outdoors!
PS My 7 year old daughter loves your illustrations and compares her outfits to Ivy or Bean’s illustrated outfits before she goes outside to climb trees.
Love her post and the imagery of her and her brothers perched in trees reading. Should be made into a movie!!
I can’t wait to read this book! I’m a fan of yours and Viorsts. It looks wonderful.
Growing up, I didn’t have tree books- rather I had tub books. On my shelves there are still a few of my most read, most loved books which are all wrinkled because they had been dropped in the water multiple times. And my kids love nothing more than reading my old books and finding my favorite passages that I had underlined.
See, this is why, while I’ve been setting up my own blogs for launch and haven’t kept up with posts for 2 weeks (400+ left after deleting), though overwhelmed and also want to delete the 400+, I won’t. I would’ve missed this gem!!!
Sophie, love your work, but now after reading this, love your style! I’m a tactile book person and SO loved reading your take on it, especially the account of you and your brother in the trees! That is a “story” in itself! I’m suggesting, in fact, that you make it into a wordless picture book 😀 😀 😀 Thanks for this!
Love several aspects of your post, especially the comment “The printed book is a tactile object.” and the idea of “tree books”. I prefer a beautifully crafted pottery mug over a paper cup for the same reason I prefer a book over a nook. Also, as a ten year old I spent more than a fair part of my summer with books, in and under trees. I sooo connect with and support your thoughts. Bravo!