Snowboy and the Last Standing Tree is a poignant eco-conscious story, and a vivid portrayal of a child's imaginative play. Greedy Greenbackboy’s got an idea for a game. He wants Snowboy to help him cut down all the trees in the forest and catch all the fish in the deep and ever-moving ocean. But Snowboy recognizes the importance of life in the natural world around him and, in this evocatively told tale, has to trust his instinct to protect, rather than destroy…
We’re excited to welcome Hiawyn Oram to the Picture Book Party blog for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Snowboy and the Last Standing Tree
INSPIRATION
I was inspired to write SNOWBOY when I
came across what is apparently a saying from a Midwestern Native American tribe
called the Osages. It goes, ‘When the
last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only
then will we realize that we cannot eat money.’ It seemed to me to say something
beyond the general, once-removed panic about global warming and climate change and
directly connect our living, breathing future with the way we treat the natural
world around us. It hit me as truly down-to-earth; a poignant, wise and
heartfelt observation from personal experience and it caught my attention in
such a way that I couldn’t leave it alone.
I had to make it into a picture book story for children that might sew a
few seeds for thought and also contain some interesting layers for the adults
who might be reading it to or with them.
WRITING
Having had the inspiration and idea, I sat down and began to write – and
write and write. It came as easily as
breathing which isn’t always the way with a new idea but is always the best way
because it means the idea has arrived in a form that I call ‘whole’. Even the name for the main character came
easily and naturally - Snowboy - to
imply his innocence and purity. By the
same token, the antagonist needed a name that symbolised what he stood for – greed for money! I called him Greenbackboy despite knowing
that ‘green back’ is very old-fashioned slang for the American dollar. I knew today’s kids would probably never have
heard of it but that was OK; it was strange,
veiled and uncomfortable enough to fit.
My enthusiasm for the story knew no bounds and so did the writing. However, a picture book story has to be
controlled; it has to work with its illustrations in a certain format with a designated
number of pages. It cannot be any old length the writer feels like. Even so I submitted the long, enthusiastic
version to my editor at Walker Books and together we gradually worked and honed
until we had a text that was short and tight enough to leave a lot of space for
the illustrations to play their crucial part in bringing the ideas and ultimately
the book to life.
ILLUSTRATION
When
it came to an illustrator, I was extremely lucky. My editor offered the text to Birgitta Sif -
a most talented artist and an author too – and to my absolute delight she
wanted to do it. Her early, rough, black and white sketches
immediately enchanted and she had some very original interpretations, uniquely
her own, that I would never have imagined in a million years. For example, she depicts Snowboy’s Ice
Troopers who, along with the Polar Bear King are part of his team, as burden-bearing,
forever-loyal, little pigs. For me,
this is the magical process of making a picture book when the pictures
contribute visual elements that speak their own language, adding to the story
in ways words can’t or don’t and ultimately make the book more than the sum of
its parts.
Here are more of Birgitta’s irresistible,
early sketches:
HEROISM
For me, Snowboy is a rare hero. He isn’t big, strong and full of ZAP,
SPLAT and POW. He’s small, innocent and thoughtful. But, innocent and trusting
as he is, he understands when something must be wrong and quietly stands up for
what his instinct tells him must be right. In this way, in this story, he saves
the world from the danger and destructiveness of Greenbackboy’s game – the
Fantasy of Ka-Ching. I have been
wondering about what small but heroic actions each of us, in our own ways, can
take to help save the world from damage.
Here are a few thoughts from me. It would great to hear your ideas
too.
1. Eat good, natural food that’s farmed, grown, fished or produced
without pesticides, chemicals and preservatives, anti-biotics and steroids. All
of these ‘nasties’ are poisoning us and our earth.
2. Grow our own food and/or encourage grown-ups to do it.
3. Stop using plastic bags and/or ask parents to stop! They go into land-fills deep in the ground when
they’re thrown out and take about 1,000 years to decompose. What is that doing
to the earth we depend on?
4. SAVE OUR SEAS. Never, ever,
ever leave a plastic bag or any plastic items like plastic cups and bottles on
or near a beach. More than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped, arrives or is
blown into our oceans every year. This is killing sea-life. For example,
sea-turtles, amongst other sea species, mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, eat
them and die. The huge sea birds called
Albatrosses dive down and catch them, thinking they’re edible food, and then
take them back to their nests to feed their babies with! See www.plasticoceans.org
5. Respect and preserve nature wherever and whenever we can. Left
alone, nature works its own miracles and will keep us and the earth living and
breathing.
6. Think and talk about the idea that making money at the expense of
others and the future of our earth isn’t that clever. Could it be short-sighted and plain GREEDY?
STORY TELLING
Finally, in this blog, let’s think about story telling. Walker Books, the
publisher of SNOWBOY asked me if I have any advice for aspiring young authors
and illustrators. Well, I’m sure you all
have your own strong ideas about this but what I always say is… write or draw about
something you know or something you feel strongly about or something that fires
your imagination and takes you and your readers and viewers beyond the
ordinary. Why not? Why not throw ideas
and stories into the world that are different, uniquely you, whether completely
true or completely imaginary? I
suspect that anything any of us can imagine will, sooner or later, become
possible. Even if I’m wrong, story-telling is the oldest of the arts and it
keeps our minds and hearts alive and connected. We always need to hear what
others think, feel and experience. So
never stop telling your own stories, whatever they are, in any form you like
and as freely as they come to you... any time, any day.
Pick up a copy of Snowboy and the Last Standing Tree in your local bookshop and come back to the Picture Book Party tomorrow for a guest post from the illustrator Birgitta Sif!
WIN!
We have three copies of Snowboy and the Last Standing Tree to give away! To enter, just email us your idea for a small but heroic action we can all take to help save the world from damage. Direct emails to competitions@walker.co.uk with ‘Snowboy' in the subject line. We'll pick our five favourite ideas and post them to Twitter, if your idea is picked you win a copy of the book!
Competition closes on 15th December 2017. Terms and conditions apply.
Hiawyn Oram has been writing children's books for more than 20 years and has more than 90 books published to date, including the picture books Angry Arthur, The Good Mood Hunt and Filbert, the Good Little Fiend,illustrated by Jimmy Liao. She has won the Japanese Picture Book Award and the Prix du Livre Culturel. She lives in West London. Find her on Twitter as @hiawynoram.
