‘This is the story of Tabitha Ruth, who wanted a pony and got…’ So begins the first page of Pony, The Moose, one of two books I’ve spent the past six months illustrating. And while I have enjoyed the time in my studio this summer bringing paintbrush to paper day after day, nothing beats the sight of a captive audience before a page turn and… ‘a moose!’
Last Wednesday I got to share the story of Tabitha and her pet Moose with a wider audience at Beaverdale Books, the beloved indie shop in the eponymous neighborhood. It had been over five years since I last stood in the back of the store turning the pages of my first book, Odd Animal ABC’s for an audience of toddlers, adults, and everything in between. Despite the time between, it felt natural to me to resume the role of reader. Though the illustrations, not the words are mine, it’s prose I could recite by heart now so familiar am I with Pony’s rhyming cadence.
“Nothing beats the sight of a captive audience before a page turn.”
I grew up in a house of readers, of bedtime stories as a child and later books hidden under the covers as a teenager late at night. From those early read-alouds my parents instilled in me both a love of reading and an appreciation of a book read aloud well. Books after all are meant to be shared. Just as the picture book making process is shared among creators, so too should the final product. It’s that magic moment when words and pictures come together, spoken aloud and seen by more than one pair of eyes. Or in the case of my book launch party, more than one pair of antlers!
