- The idea for FOX came to me several years ago when I was talking with Christine Baker from Gallimard. Her daughter had just left for a six month journey far from home. It got me thinking about how life is composed of a series of separations and how important the early ones are to the success of the later ones, how confidence is acquired, and how small experiences build to become larger ones. In the animal world this is a natural and gradual transition, guided by instinct, nature and surroundings, stripped to the bare essentials of survival.
- Growing up in Maine I passed much of my time in nature, which for me has always been a constant reminder of who we really are and the larger fabric of which we are a part. Wildlife and beauty were abundant, and the the rhythm of the seasons was marked and often dramatic. These settings and ideas have often found their their way into my work.
- Living in France and Italy has offered me new landscapes, colors and people which over the years I have integrated into my life, partly ithrough my writing and my books. As a foreigner I am very aware of differing cultures, the give and take among them, as well as the conflicts. But even so, in my personal life I choose to think of a common heritage that links us all, something that surmounts variations in space, time, and being. I suppose these are bigger idea that reflect in smaller ways in my work.
- I wrote a YA novel which was set in Rome, my home for many years and the origin of much of what I love, including my husband and my children. It was born of a desire to share with others, but also of a great appreciation of my surroundings. Much of the setting was real and I enjoyed the challenge of conveying a sense of place and feeling through words. Sometimes I compose my own settings. Other times they are depicted directly, but more often there is a melding of the two–imaginary journeys through real places and real journeys through imaginary places.
- Georg and I met through a mutual friend when we were both living in Rome. He was a artist at the time and I’d been doing picture books for some years. I saw an exhibition of his and liked what he did. Then I met him and discovered his interest in childrens’ books. I admire Georg’s ability to depict color and mood and I think his illustrations reflect a certain sensitivity to place and feeling that complement my writing. From our first book, we have always constructed a thoughful give and take dialogue which begins with the text and continues to the completion of final art, often changing words or pictures as we progress. This is lucky because that doesn’t happen often. But I think it can make a difference in the final vision of a book.
- One of the books I remember from childhood is Virginia Burton’s The Little House in which a house is moved from the city back to the country. I loved her depiction of the seasons and the life of the house, and was awed by the rapid construction of the city. I read (or was read) all of Robert McCloskey’s books. A Time of Wonder was my favorite. I had a summer house not far from Owl’s Head (Maine) and I knew the sound of “growing ferns, pushing aside dead leaves, unrolling their fiddleheads…”. Blueberries for Sal is another book I remember. Like Sal I picked blueberries every day through the summer months and though I never met a bear, there were grass snakes, rabbits, and plenty of other creatures. When I began to read myself, I went through all of Thorton Burgess, The Wind in the Willows, E.B. White’s books, Pippi Longstocking. I loved animal stories and I admired Stuart Little’s pluck and humor.
- There are writers whom I like enormously– Alice McDermott, Anne Tyler, Carol Shields, Kazuo Ishiguro. For young people I like Suzanne Fisher Staples But the truth is I don’t read fiction all that much and I don’t have a large opportunity to see what other people are writing for children and young people. I actually tend to read a lot of scientific books! Cookbooks seem to inspire me in unknown and mysterious way. I like to browse through them, reading bits and pieces. One of my all time favorites is Bert Greene’s Green on Greens which offers memorable anecdotes about vegetables and their roots. But to put it briefly, and probably somewhat tritely, most of my inspiration comes from life itself.
- Yes, since I was about three.
- Many of my books are products of my own childhood, family, and extended family and the people we’ve known and places we’ve seen. Having children (I have two boys) has simply offered me more material to work from as I watch them grow, make and break their attachements, and come into their own–much like FOX.