Photo by Maurice Aubrey
Heidi Aubrey is the author and illustrator of the new children's picture book Ada and the Goat. She lives near Portland, Oregon.
Q: What inspired you to create Ada and the Goat?
A: Growing up, there was this old cabin down the road. It was from the 1920s or ’30s, and it had gone a little wild – moss and weeds on the roof. A woman lived there, and she had goats that would climb on top of a lean-to shed alongside the house.
I was enchanted by that little world. I would feed her goats crabapples. A goat even escaped and followed me home one afternoon!
I’d long wanted to do something with that memory, as I was so fond of all those goats.
Q: The Booklist review of the book says, “The narrative is well-suited to reading aloud, and children will be pleased to discover that the illustrations alone reveal the most unexpected twist in the story. A charming picture book.” What do you think of that description?
A: I was very gratified to read that review. I delight in how picture books play word against picture, and that neither has the entire story to tell. I put a lot of thought into what the images said, what the words did or didn’t reveal, and what suspense or surprise you could build with the page turn.
Picture books are designed to be experienced again and again, so I like to develop little visual cues or additional story elements that may be discovered on the second or third read – or later!
Q: Did you work on the text first or the art first, or both simultaneously?
A: I worked in images first – it’s an approach I learned from Marla Frazee, who was a great mentor to me at ArtCenter College of Design.
I build the story in small thumbnail images that fit on one page so the entire thing is right in front of me. Sometimes I add a few text notes as these thumbnails develop, but I focus on getting the emotional arc down in pictures.
When the piece is feeling coherent, I expand the work into a sketch dummy and refine the illustrations. I keep these drawings fairly simple and loose, which makes the whole thing easy to adjust.
When the picture-story is working at the sketch dummy stage, I then add the words. And that sometimes tells me I need to further adjust the images. This is where I balance the two.
If I’m having trouble with a story, I will sometimes strip off the text and take the entire thing back to thumbnails to rework.
I did that many times for Ada and the Goat.
Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Ada and the goat?
A: The journey of their relationship has a number of surprises for both of them, and, clearly, plenty of opportunities for conflict! By the end, they both end up in places they didn’t expect.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I have a few stories that I’m in process with. My work at this point very much centers on the natural world – its patterns, challenges, and beauty. That’s about all I can say just now. But readers can find some of the characters I’m exploring on my portfolio website!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: The book just launched, and we had a fantastic event at Green Bean Books here in Portland, Oregon. It was my first time sharing the story with a group like that, and it was incredibly meaningful. I’m looking forward to meeting other young readers.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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