Aaron Becker's Blog, page 17

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha” Day 4 of 10: ResearchWhen I...

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha”
Day 4 of 10: Research

When I wrote Journey, the research I did was only to fuel my imagination. I wanted the story to be grounded in reality, but not of reality. I borrowed pieces of Florence, Italy, Fuedal Japan, and Ancient Cairo. How they mashed logically together wasn’t a big concern. As long as it felt fantastical.

But with the story I was developing for “A Stone for Sascha,” history was key. I knew librarians, teachers, and their clever students would be scouring my illustrations for the details within. I had no idea where to begin. I was telling the story of a stone that began thousands of years ago and traveled the world to end in the hands of a young girl circa 2017. 30,000 years and 3 continents? No problem. (insert nervous laugh)_

I looked at trade routes. I wanted the stone’s path to be plausible. I researched civilizations and vast time periods of ancient human history. How could traders in Africa have moved their goods eastwards? Would there be a civilization vast enough to make such trade possible during the centuries in question? Eventually I found my route, not just across geography, but time as well.

Once I had that figured out, I began to research each civilization. I wanted the costumes to be accurate; their architecture. Even the dogs that appear in various spreads reflect breeds that would have been present in those regions during those times. Like the best puzzles, my research was difficult but gratifying. I found that I had to make a few concessions for the sake of good storytelling. The wardrobe of the Hawaiians reflects more traditional garb than the western clothing they would have been wearing by the mid-nineteenth century. The pirates that steal their treasure are wearing costumes not befitting the period. But this was a wordless book and I occasionally found myself needing to use visual symbols that immediately told the reader what was happening. There’s nothing worse than relying on research and losing your audience. For the most part, though, I was able to keep the history accurate and tell the story I needed to tell.

A pile of reference, however, is not a book. Now I had a story to create.

–

Come back tomorrow for part 5: Drawing on Glass. In the meantime, it’s not too late to pre-order your signed copy of “A Stone for Sascha” from my local indie, The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, MA. Give them a call and let them know to whom you’d like it inscribed. They can ship it anywhere in the USA. “A Stone for Sascha” publishes Tuesday, May 8th.

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha” Day 3 of 10: Tales from...

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha”

Day 3 of 10: Tales from Andalucia

Back home in the United States, sitting in my art studio, I
remembered the church and the ornate placard on its wall that told of its
history as a roman structure, and after that a mosque of Al Andalus, and after
that a church of the Catholic conquistadors. I thought about the stones in the
structure: shaped and reshaped by people, used and reused by people, who like
me, were just momentary visitors; blinks in geologic time. Clearly, these rocks
must hold some sort of wisdom beyond our own.

And then the idea came: What story would a stone tell of its
lifetime, of its travels through time and place? What might it see and know?

Figuring out where to start is always the hardest part. Or,
in this case, when to start. At first I stuck with the familiar: Stonehenge, a
farmer’s wall, an English castle. This path felt predictable, so I challenged
myself to look deeper into history. What if the stone in my story began
somewhere more ancient? After all, humans have been using stone a lot longer than
the megalithic structures discovered across England. Sure enough, there is
evidence of stone circles in Africa and the fertile crescent that predate those
in England by more than 20,000 years. Suddenly, I had to find a route that
would take the stone along ancient trading routes from Africa through the Red
Sea onto Asia and beyond. As my mind wondered, I started to feel a sense of
possibility. Now the real work began…

–

Come back tomorrow for part 4: Research. In the meantime,
it’s not too late to pre-order your signed copy of “A Stone for Sascha” from my
local indie, The Odyssey Bookshop (https://www.odysseybks.com/aaron-becker-books).
Give them a call and let them know to whom you’d like it inscribed. They can
ship it anywhere in the USA. “A Stone for Sascha” publishes Tuesday, May 8th.

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha” Day 2 of 10: The Germinating...

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha”

Day 2 of 10: The Germinating Seed

In March, 2015, my family and I were living in Granada,
Spain, on a sabbatical abroad. Inspiration was everywhere: in the Alhambra’s
gardens and architecture, in the narrow cobblestone streets to my daughter’s
school, in the distant peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains, in the cool cave
dwellings down the path from our house rental.

A church caught my eye. Its rocks had long ago been the
foundation of a mosque, and before that, an ancient Roman ruin. This structure
had witnessed hundreds of years of human civilization, and here I was just a
temporary visitor, witnessing a mere moment of the ancient city’s life.

My family and I kept traveling around Europe, we toured
windy castles, biked along ancient canals, napped in meadows of wildflowers. It
was idyllic, and when we returned home I was full of inspiration..

I didn’t know it at the time, but all of these experiences
were the seed of something that would take more than a year to birth, going
through it’s own transformation along the way from idea to book.

–

Come back tomorrow for part 3: Tales from Andalucia. In the
meantime, it’s not too late to pre-order your signed copy of “A Stone for
Sascha” from my local indie, The Odyssey Bookshop (https://www.odysseybks.com/aaron-becker-books).
Give them a call and let them know to whom you’d like it inscribed. They can
ship it anywhere in the USA. “A Stone for Sascha” publishes Tuesday, May 8th.

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha” Day 1 of 10: A Box of BooksA...

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha”

Day 1 of 10: A Box of Books

A heavy box arrived today at my doorstep, full of shiny new
books. I know what’s inside and soon you will too! But even though I know, it
still feels like a mystery … how did a little idea in my head turn into
something real to share with the world?

For the next ten days, to celebrate the publication of “A
Stone for Sascha” (May 8th), I’ll be going back in time (not unlike
the story itself!) to share some of the book’s process from conception to
sketches to final art and design.

You can pre-order a signed copy from my local indie, The
Odyssey Bookshop ( https://www.odysseybks.com/aaron-becker-books). Give them a
call and let them know to whom you’d like it inscribed. They can ship it
anywhere in the USA.

Special thanks to the folks at Candlewick who made this video...

Special thanks to the folks at Candlewick who made this video possible!

It is really amazing to read the interpretations reviewers have...

It is really amazing to read the interpretations reviewers have found in the pages of this wordless book. Personally, I can’t wait to hear what the kids have to say.

I’ll be visiting some area schools and these book stores next...

I’ll be visiting some area schools and these book stores next month to help celebrate the release of “A Stone for Sascha”, my new wordless book.

A short documentary chronicling the making of “A Stone for...

A short documentary chronicling the making of “A Stone for Sascha”, which publishes just around the corner on May 8th!

The process of making a book is filled with surprises,...

The process of making a book is filled with surprises, frustrations, joys, and all that you might expect with a creative endeavor that stretches over many years of work. Often it is a cloudy journey with unpredictable ups and downs. But one thing is always certain, and I’m sure this goes for anyone who makes books for kids. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, like holding that finished hard-bound book for the first time and realizing the small idea that sprouted long ago has grown into something tangible soon to make its way into the curious hands of an open-eyed reader. “A Stone for Sascha” publishes May 8th.

My next book(!) Publishes May 8th. Pre-order your signed copy...

My next book(!) Publishes May 8th. Pre-order your signed copy today through my local indie, Odyssey Books. https://www.odysseybks.com/aaron-becker-books