No Conditions for Care: A Talk with Larissa Theule About The Sweater

I know, I know. Spring is nearly upon us. The birds are singing more (my robins prefer 2 a.m. outside my window on rainy days, alas). The daffodils are blooming, while the tulips are considering making an appearance. And the temperatures?

Look, I’m not gonna lie to you. The high in the Chicago area today is a balmy 38. Thirty…. eight. So yeah. I’m wearing a sweater to work. What’s more, I am timing this particular article of clothing to my interview today with Larissa Theule about her very excellent (and sweater-adjacent) title called (you guessed it) The Sweater: A Story of Community. Out right now, the book really isn’t actually really about knitwear. It’s about a community coming together to support someone who is escaping a bad situation and who, in this case, isn’t prepared for the colder temperatures. Is it any wonder than in an age of unhoused refugees coming to cold climates, like my Chicago area, I find this story warming? We talk with the creator about the book’s broader meanings:

Betsy Bird: Larissa! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions here today. The Sweater is one of those picture books that left me thinking and pondering long after I put it down. Could you give us a bit of a rundown on its origins? Where did this book come from for you? 

Larissa Theule: Hi, Betsy, thanks for having me. I’ve been a Fuse #8 reader for a long time and it’s fun to see the view from this side.

I owe the story of The Sweater to my sister-in-law Olena. Some years ago, Olena’s parents immigrated from Ukraine to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and did the heroic work of restarting their lives in a new country. Family and friends supported them, and donated household essentials so they could furnish their home. The community effort prompted Olena to tell me that in Ukraine they have a saying, “A thread from everyone makes a sweater for the one in need.” And so, The Sweater fell into my lap.

BB: Beautifully said. And you’ve a turn of phrase that is consistently interesting in this book. For example, when Holly the raccoon first encounters the little bird, the book reads, “It was plain to see he’d been through some things.” What’s the advantage of keeping the bird’s history open to interpretation vs. being specific about its past? 

Larissa: The openness of the little bird’s history expands a reader’s ability to empathize with him. Maybe he lost his home and family to a wildfire. Maybe his friends deserted him when he needed them most. Maybe he is responsible for his own sorrow. A reader can bring their own hurt to the little bird’s story. The line serves another purpose, too. It tells us that Holly has no conditions to her care. She doesn’t know or need to know the specifics of the little bird’s plight in order to care for him, and so neither do we.

BB: And that specificity of language is much of the book’s charm. Tell us about the drafts that this went through. Were there many edits or is this essentially the same as the first edition? What did editing this book look like for you?

Larissa: I love revision and the story went through many drafts while it was with me, and then a couple more with Tamar Brazis at Viking. It was while working with Tamar that the last line showed up, “Every creature belonged to the whole,” echoing an earlier line, “Every gift mattered to the whole.” In retrospect, a lot of the revision was in pursuit of that echo because it brings the little bird’s journey into full view: he is a gift to those who welcomed him.

BB: I love that way of tying the narrative together. In terms of the art, you were paired with Teagan White on this book. Teagan’s art has such a very specific look to it. Were you aware of their art prior to this book? What do you think their style brings to the story that no other illustrator could bring?

Larissa: Teagan is brilliant, truly. I was familiar with their picture book illustrations before The Sweater, but I had not known that they are also an outsider naturalist with an astonishing gift for drawing nature in all its intricate beauty. (Check out their work.) The Sweater feels rooted in a sense of place but also like it exists outside of time, and I think Teagan’s singular understanding and respect for land and nature make that possible—along with their adorable animals, cozy homes, covetable sweaters, and gorgeous color palette, of course. One of my favorite illustration details is that the little bird is a Swainson’s thrush, which Teagan chose for its beautiful flute-like song that spirals upward—a fitting hero for this story.

BB: I’m curious about how much input you had over the art in some specific sections. For example, there’s a sequence in the book where the winter wind is blowing hard and different animals are dealing with it in different ways. The book says that sometimes they “tried out fresh styles.” Did you have any input over which character this line refers to, or did Teagan surprise you?

Larissa: The text had little in the way art notes, so Teagan’s choices were a wonderful surprise. I didn’t know that Holly would be a raccoon, for example, and once I saw that she was a raccoon, I thought, “Well of course she is.” The same is true for the character who tries out fresh styles. A surprise, and, of course!

BB: An excellent attitude. Your choice of subject matter in your picture books is always keen. What are you working on next? What can we hope to see in the future?

Larissa: I think I’m in a playing-around era. I’m fussing with nonfiction I’m curious about and exploring some other stuff too. But next up for me is Steel (Candlewick), the third book in the Material Marvels series, which Priscilla Tey is illustrating and which promises to be great fun.

Thank you for having me, Betsy!

Many thanks to Larissa for taking the time to answer my questions today. Thanks too the Jaleesa Davis and the team at Penguin Young Readers for helping to put this together. The Sweater: A Story of Community is on shelves everywhere right now, so no need to wait. Find a copy and cozy up!

Filed under: Interviews