Susie Spikol is the author of the new children's book The Book of Fairies. Her other books include Forest Magic for Kids. She is also an educator and a naturalist, and she lives in New Hampshire.
Q: What inspired you to write The Book of Fairies?
A: So many things inspired me to write this book, starting with a version of it that I wrote when I was about 8. I don’t have the physical copy of it anymore, but it was still so vivid in my heart and memory. I never left it behind.
Having a chance to revisit and write it 40-plus years later was a gift. It gave me a chance to remember and relive a truly magical time in my life, when my friends and I searched the nooks and crannies of my Brooklyn neighborhood for fairies, gnomes, pirates, and even witches, all inspired by the books we read and the world we could imagine. I wanted to share that feeling with the kids of today.
Another reason I felt drawn to write The Book of Fairies is my work as a naturalist. I spend most of my days outside with children, exploring the natural world, and digging into the science of how nature works.
But children also want and need time to imagine the impossible, to pretend, play, and to connect creatively to the natural world. That, to me, is the real work of childhood.
My hope is that The Book of Fairies inspires children of all ages to play and pretend. That is the juice of childhood, and when it can happen outside, where most fairies live, I think it gives children a way to fall deeply in love with nature and all it has to offer us both in physical experiences and our vast imaginations.
And finally, I still love fairies! Their mythology and folklore, and how they have been throughout time the protectors of the natural world. We need fairies now more than ever to remind us of our responsibility to nature.
Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?
A: I revisited some of the books that most inspired me as a child and adolescent, including Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee, A Field Guide to the Little People by Nancy Arrowsmith and George Morse, and The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves and Other Little People by Thomas Keightley.
I also spent time recalling the many wonderful fairy tales my mother would tell me as we lay out on a blanket under the stars during our summer vacations in Vermont.
I talked with the many children I’m lucky enough to work with regularly. As we built fairy homes, I’d listen to their play, and it inspired me. That might have been my favorite part of researching the book.
The Book of Fairies is full of fairies drawn from Eastern and Western European folklore, but it is also filled with fairies of my invention and my students’ imaginations.
Fairies, with their deep connection to the natural world, can help a child make sense of things they don’t yet understand in nature. For example, why are there rainbows in bubbles? Perhaps it is because of the Bubblinis, little fairies that live inside each bubble and give the bubble a rainbow tint from the inside out. This is one of the fairies I imagined when I was a child.
Something I knew but still surprised me is how dangerous and dark fairies can be in folklore. They are untamed and wild. These aren’t the kind and gentle fairy godmothers or the sweet fae of movies and Disney book fame.
These are the changelings who replace your peaceful baby with a screaming monstrous being, or Jenny Greenteeth who will drag you down into the muck and drown you.
I didn’t include the dark side of fairies in my children’s book. However, during my research, I often thought about the darker aspects of fairy lore and felt drawn to the dangerous, mischievous power they contain. Like nature itself, fairies are as unpredictable and dangerous as thunderstorms.
Q: What do you think Renia Metallinou’s illustrations add to the book?
A: Oh, Renia’s illustrations are lush and whimsical. They are endearing, bringing the fairies to visual life, giving each kind its own personality on the page.
Q: Of the various fairies you write about, do you have any particular favorites?
A: Of course! I’ve always been a fan of the cheeky, prankster fairies, like the Knockers who live in caves and mines and play tricks on miners or the Pixies who take delight in confusing people and love to sprinkle pixie dust on farm animals just to see them fly for a few minutes.
The Will-o'-the-Wisps, a mysterious glowing fairy, was one that my mother loved to tell stories about. We’d go out late at night into our summer meadow and as we watched the fireflies, she would tell me that some of those lights weren’t from the flies but they were actually the magical Will-o’-the-Wisps.
I’m very fond of the fairies I dreamed up when I was a kid, some of whom made it into the book, like the Quill Riders, tiny fairies who ride on the back of the bird they are bonded to and the Auroras who paint the sunrise.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m currently working on more about fairies and magic in a picture book and a middle-grade reader. I love blending fairies and other magical beings with nature and science.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Thank you for this!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
No comments:
Post a Comment