Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour: A Talk with Laura Gehl and Alexandra Colombo About My Body Can

I am pleased to announce that once again I am participating in the Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour happening all this week (with a full roster of participants happening here). That means getting a chance to speak with one of the winners of the Sydney Taylor Award, which is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.

Each site on the blog tour gets to interview a different author/illustrator team about their winner. My title is the picture book Honor winner My Body Can by Laura Gehl, illustrated by Alexandra Colombo. Today, we’re talking with the creators about their win and about the book itself.

Betsy Bird: Laura! Congratulations on your Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor! We’ll get into your book in question in a moment here, but you know that everyone wants to hear about how you got “the call”. Where were you and what was it like?

Laura Gehl: I was in the middle of dinner with my family. I don’t usually answer calls from unknown numbers, especially during dinner, but I saw a Chicago area code, and one of my sons goes to the University of Chicago. I thought it might be some kind of kid-related emergency, so I picked up. Needless to say, it was much better news! Getting to hear from the committee members exactly what they loved about MY BODY CAN was affirming and marvelous.

BB: And Alexandra! Congratulations to you too on this Sydney Taylor Honor win! How did you hear about receiving this award? And what was your reaction?

Alexandra Columbo: Melanie Koss called me to inform me of the award, but since I don’t speak very good English, I asked her if she could explain it to me in more detail via email.  At first I couldn’t believe it, but when I realized what it meant I was very excited.

BB: That’s lovely! So, Laura, tell us a little bit about how MY BODY CAN came to be. Where did it come from and how did you get the idea for it in the first place? 

Laura: I think MY BODY CAN germinated from the convergence of two different threads in my life. As a mom, I’ve always wanted my four kids to feel good about their bodies, and I’ve thought (AKA worried) extensively about how to encourage this. That was the first thread. The second thread was that I watched my mom become ill and need a wheelchair. That experience left me with a lot of gratitude for everything my own body can do, and for all the things that my mom and I could still do together. I remember us going exploring in Maine. My mom was in her wheelchair, and I was walking. We went down various country roads, and we found a little store selling blueberries and ice cream. We talked, and ate, and laughed. I was so thankful that we could do all those things together despite her illness.

BB: And Alexandra, tell us a little bit about your decision to work on MY BODY CAN. What was it about the book that appealed to you?

Alexandra: What struck me most about “My Body Can” was the powerful and important message that, no matter how healthy your body is, with the strength of your emotions and willpower, you can do so many things.

BB: MY BODY CAN is one of those titles that I often consider to be one of the most difficult to write. You have to teach without being didactic, using a minimal number of words. Laura, was this the kind of book that you figured out instantly or did it take a couple of drafts before you got it just right? And what was the editing process like?

Laura: I appreciate you saying that, because I think many people see a book like this and think it is easy to write! I definitely went through a LOT of drafts. As far as the editing process, the draft that I sold to Apples & Honey had a number of Jewish holidays, but not as many as appear in the published book. That draft also had a few spreads devoted to negative things that happen with all of our bodies—like getting hurt, and crying—and how we can recover from those things, and help each other recover. In working with my editor, Rabbi Debbie Bodin Cohen (who is also a wonderful picture book author herself), we added in more Jewish holidays, and we decided to keep the whole book on a positive note.

BB: And Alexandra, did you work with Laura at all on getting the images of the book just right or did you work more with the Art Director for this title?

Alexandra: I worked with both Laura and the art director Debbie, both on the study of the book’s characters and on the various internal scenes. Their advice and suggestions were truly helpful, and it was a great team effort.

BB: Laura, the idea to tie the different uses of different kinds of bodies in with Jewish holidays, but without specifically naming those holidays in the text, is incredibly interesting. Was there a point at which you named them and then took that part of the book away or was it always a series of unnamed holidays?

Laura: No, the holidays were always unnamed. My favorite picture books are those where the art is essential to understanding the whole story, and that was the goal with this book. Isn’t it amazing that if you just heard the words of this story, you wouldn’t know it was a Jewish book at all? I also hope that leaving the holidays unnamed makes MY BODY CAN feel personal and relevant to every kid who reads it, including kids who are not Jewish and Jewish kids who don’t celebrate all of these holidays. Yes, the kids in the book are Jewish, and we see them celebrating Jewish holidays. But from building to dancing to hide and seek, the actions of the characters are universal actions that any kid of any religion or culture might undertake.

BB: Turning the question to Alexandra now, how did you decide what aspects to highlight and what parts of the holidays to show when you did the art for this book?

Alexandra: As for the scenes of the various Jewish holidays, Laura and Debbie advised me on which details to represent. They also sent me reference images to help me better understand the scenes and represent them as best as possible.

BB: Laura, were you aware of the work of Alexandra Colombo before you wrote the book? What do you think about the final product?

Laura: No, I wasn’t familiar with Alexandra’s work before, but her illustrations in MY BODY CAN are absolutely delightful. I particularly love all the details she added that enhance the reading experience, such as the charming outfits she gave the kids, the pets that appear on several spreads, and the stuffed animals that turn up again and again.

BB: Alexandra, can you tell us a little bit about how you came to make the art? Is there some mixed media in there? Or is it entirely digital? 

Alexandra: The images were created entirely digitally with Photoshop and its brushes which reproduce the various mixed techniques, pastels, chalks etc.

BB: Finally, and this is to both of you, I can see you have some other books on the horizon. What titles can we look forward to seeing from you?

Laura: I have three board books coming out this spring!

ODD BUGS (Abrams), illustrated by Gareth Lucas, joins ODD BEASTS and ODD BIRDS in the Curious Critters series. Researching the very weirdest insects in the world for this book brought me a lot of joy.

Starting off a new series with Barefoot Books, BUNNIES KNOW AND GROW and PUPPIES KNOW AND GROW, illustrated by Amy Schimler-Safford, will be available in both English and bilingual English/Spanish editions. These books are designed to help young readers understand what animals know how to do from the moment they are born (a lot!), and what they learn how to do in their first few weeks and months of life.

I also have a new Jewish picture book coming out in May with Rocky Pond Books/Penguin Random House. BECCA AND BUBBE’S BUCKET LIST, illustrated by Sarah Lynn Baker, is filled with all the joys of summer and grandmothers. Everyone who knows me knows how much I love ice cream, and BECCA AND BUBBE’S BUCKET LIST starts and ends at an ice cream shop!

I’ll finish by saying that the illustrations in all four of these books are truly spectacular, and I hope everyone reading this will check them out!  Thank you so much for interviewing me, Betsy!

Alexandra: I’m currently working on 4 American books, 

“Can Mud Be That?!”

“Freddy, the Happiest Penguin”

“Too Many Chickens”

“Andy and his big question”

And 4 English Scholastic books.

In addition I would like to thank my agency, Bright Agency, for giving me the opportunity to create this book, the publishing house, and the author for choosing me for this project. The book is dedicated to a dear friend of mine, Ines, who inspired me the colors and drawings. Ines had been living with a prosthetic leg and was in a wheelchair for 15 years due to a serious illness. Ines taught me that there are no obstacles, despite the limitations the body may have. With willpower, positivity, love, and respect for life, she lived a life of warmth, courage, and hope.  And these are exactly the values ​​I hope this book will pass to all the children and parents who read it. Thank you so much.

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Big time thanks to both Laura and Alexandra for taking the time to answer my questions here today. My Body Can is, of course, available wherever good books are sold. Thanks too to Talya Sokoll and the team behind the Sydney Taylor Book Award Tour for setting this up. You can follow along with the other winners here, if you’re curious.

Filed under: Interviews