Photo by Roberto Falck
Kate Hosford is the author of the new children's picture book You and I Are Stars and Night. Her other books include Infinity and Me. She lives in Brooklyn.
Q: What inspired you to write You and I Are Stars and Night?
A: This book is a poem written in rhyming couplets. The process of writing in rhyme is always freeing for me; while my logical brain is working on meter and rhyme, my subconscious in coming up with a story.
I started with an image in my head of the wind calling out to a mother in the middle of the night. The mother or caretaker then wakes her child, and the two of them run down to the sea. I wrote the first stanza while thinking of this image: The wind is calling, hear it sweep / through our village fast asleep. / Will you sail away with me? / You and I are salt and sea.
I then knew that I had launched caretaker and child on an adventure where the caretaker would express her bond with her child in a different way at the end of each stanza, according to the content of the spread: you and I are boat and sail, glow and flame, blue and sky, etc.
It was fun deciding what they would do next: they brave a storm, discover an island, swim with mermaids, and explore an enchanted forest. The adventures continue until it’s time to home and finish the bedtime routine. The book ends with the biggest adventure of all, as caretaker and child drift into dreamland on a larger boat.
Q: What do you think Richard Jones’s illustrations add to the story?
A: I am over the moon about Richard’s artwork, and in awe of the tremendous amount of thought that went into each of these beautiful illustrations.
Richard took the first stanza of the story and set it during a very late bathtime. Once the caretaker asks the child to sail away with her, the floor dissolves into the sea, the bathtub becomes a boat, the child’s towel becomes a sail, and two of the bath toys come to life.
This blurring of reality and fantasy happens throughout the book, which makes the story both complex and magical.
Richard has done a tremendous amount of world-building here, and his lush and textured illustrations contain all sorts of families and pairs of creatures who underscore the message that none of us goes through life alone. After many readings, I am still finding hidden treasures in his artwork.
Q: What do you hope kids (and adults) take away from the book?
A: I hope they will appreciate this magical adventure that takes place in the middle of the bedtime routine and will enjoy the love metaphors. I hope that readers will find these metaphors playful, varied and meaningful.
Perhaps they will find a page that best expresses the bond they share with someone else, or perhaps they will make up their own love metaphors.
But most of all, I hope these metaphors serve as a refrain, repeatedly assuring children that there will always be someone who loves them and wants to go on the journey of life with them; they don’t have to travel alone.
I also hope readers like the twist at the end, when caretaker and child drift into dreamland together.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am working on picture books, poetry collections, and a middle grade ballet novel about friendship in a competitive environment.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I’m happy to say that so far the reviews for this book have been lovely. I was thrilled with this line from The Horn Book review: “Tender without being saccharine and fanciful without any dramatics, this is the epitome of a bedtime book.”
I worked hard to avoid falling into the saccharine zone, which is sometimes a challenge when writing about love, so it’s gratifying to be recognized for that.
I welcome feedback on the activity kit from readers (contact me here through my website). I also look forward to visiting lots of schools and hearing what children have to say about love and friendship.
Thank you for doing this interview with me, Deborah!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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