Happy April Everyone!
Spring is around the corner and nothing could be more exhilarating and inspiring
than going for a long run in our beautiful towns of Hingham and Norwell
Massachusetts. Snow on the ground and ice covered lakes make a great show case
for reddish maple tops just coming into bud and the vernal pools that are full
of life and are a mahogany green from the tannins from the fallen leaves. Our
turtle pond which we built during the year I wrote and illustrated MOSSY is
still covered with snow. We are anxiously awaiting for the ice to melt to see if
our eight Koi - goldfish survived the winter. Every month I take a little time
to give you a snapshot on how my new book is progressing here is the report on
GINGERBREAD CHRISTMAS.
In a week or so, I’ll be traveling to New York to meet with my editor, Margaret
about GINGERBREAD CHRISTMAS. I have done two gingerbread books in the past, THE
GINGERBREAD BABY in 1999 and GINGERBREAD FRIENDS in 2008. They both have fold
out pages near the end of the book, and in my new story, there will be a fold
out Christmas tree, covered with ornaments including lots of cookie ornaments.
The Gingerbread Baby will be running away as usual and he picks a hiding place
on the tree. I will make it nearly impossible to figure out which ornament in
the Gingerbread Baby who has the biggest challenge of his life, being quiet and
being perfectly still. I remember that when I was little, it was very hard to be
quiet and perfectly still.
When I was in fifth grade and took up playing the clarinet I could never imagine
the hours and hours I have spent as an adult, not playing, but listening to
classical music. My husband, Joe Hearne plays the double-bass in the Boston
Symphony Orchestra and I almost always get a ticket to the weekly performance. I
wrote and illustrated BERLIOZ THE BEAR about a bass playing bear, and I'm using
music as an important element again in GINGERBREAD CHRISTMAS. In my story, Matti
bakes gingerbread instruments, including a bass and a clarinet. He peeks in the
oven before they are baked and they come out alive and playing! I won't be
writing a musical accompaniment to my book, but have allowed space for an
overture, which is a musical introduction, a march, a waltz, and a dreamy aria,
which is a song for one or two people
Artists do not like doing the same thing twice, so I am exploring border ideas
that involve baking, which would be in keeping with the subject matter, but
ideas that I haven't done before. I think there will be some intense research in
that area. I love chocolate, but I like a lighter feel to my books and dark
chocolaty brown would work as an accent color, but not as the whole border.
Since the book is set in Switzerland, and we are planning a trip in late summer,
I hope to find some special European confections that will ad flavor to the
book!
I have almost finished a miniature, cartoon-like version of my book, called a
dummy, and I am looking forward to going over it with my editor in New York in a
few weeks. This is when the story is still flexible and easy to change. My
favorite part is painting the finished pictures and I have to remind myself to
be patient.
Good luck with your creative projects.
Your friend, Jan Brett