BOOK NO, POTTY NO! ED. BABALIBRI

Il piccolo Gaspare si trova davanti a un grave dilemma: continuare a fare pupù nel pannolino (e non poter giocare con il fratello Simone) oppure decidersi a prendere in considerazione il vasino. Mamma e papà fanno del proprio meglio per convincerlo ma, sulle prime, sembra che quello strano oggetto non ispiri a Gaspare la minima fiducia. Però, dopo averci giocato per un po’ (complice anche il gatto di casa) Gaspare si concede un esperimento. E finalmente il successo arriva! Tutti in famiglia sono entusiasti. Tranne Simone…
Stephanie Blake
Nasce negli Stati Uniti. A sette anni si trasferisce in Francia dove studia per diventare interprete. Ma la sua vera passione sono i libri per bambini. Decide quindi di intraprendere questa strada e ne fa la sua professione. Vive a Parigi.

CONTINUE READING
Babalibri interviewed, Stephanie Blake, in order to get to know her more closely.

Stephanie, where did you grow up, what studies did you do, how did you come to children's books?

I came to France when I was seven years old from the United States. The books of my childhood are therefore Anglo-Saxon: Dr. Seuss, Richard Scarry, William Steig, Margaret Wise Brown, A.A. Milne, Maurice Sendak, Tomi Ungerer (not quite Anglo-Saxon, but almost!). Then there was C.S. Lewis, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and especially Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking a source of inspiration for dealing with my childhood anxieties. I was bilingual in English/French, so I was thinking of becoming an interpreter. I therefore took up Chinese language studies, graduated, and left for Beijing for three months. But at the end of the day, all this did not interest me that much. My real passion was children's books. I think the birth of my first child pushed me down this path.

What do you think are the most important aspects to keep in mind when you want to write a children's book?

One should never forget whom one is addressing: CHILDREN! It may sound trite, but in the beginning I was more concerned about the artistic side of my books, the graphics, the colors, the "art" aspect (in a sense the narcissistic part of the craft) that I forgot the ultimate goal: to tell stories to children. Why do you write for children? What are the purposes? And finally, without falling into moralizing: what can you tell children? For me only one thing: make them laugh....

Are the adventures of Simone (your main character) the same as those of Stephanie as a child, in a kind of autobiography or do they belong to childhood in a broader sense?

I draw a lot from my own children and other people's children: then I delve into the child theme. To draw Simone's expressions, I often start from a personal frustration, anger or other emotion so that the expression is conveyed in the most appropriate way, so that it can become almost real...

Do you have an anecdote that happened to you while working with children?

Once, I came to a kindergarten classroom. The children had built sculptures of Simone, some large, some small. Simone was everywhere. The children were very excited about the event and were waiting for me like a messiah, sitting composed. But when I entered the classroom, they all started crying, got up and looked everywhere, and I saw the disappointment in their eyes, "But where is Simone? Who is this lady?"