THINGS ARE LOOKING UP
Book reveals the secrets of a preschool girl gone viral
Parker Looks Up Parker Curry and Jessica Curry Simon and Schuster WASHINGTON The author of Washington’s latest tell-all memoir has been scheduling publicity interviews around nap time.
Her name is Parker Curry. She is four years old.
“That’s what I’m here for,” Parker announced recently, sitting down on a tiny chair at the West End Library. “I’m talking about my book for my interview.”
Parker, you might recall, hijacked the internet last year after a stranger photographed her staring up at a portrait of Michelle Obama at the National Portrait Gallery. Ellen Degeneres had Parker on her show. The former first lady invited her over to dance.
A star was born.
Now, with the help of her mother, Jessica, Parker is for the first time giving a behind-the-scenes account of the seminal moment in her very short life by penning — or crayoning — Parker Looks Up, an illustrated children’s book released by a Simon and Schuster imprint.
Parker agreed to a sit-down interview in exchange for a croissant.
“I didn’t just write it,” she said. “I wrote it.”
How long did it take? “It was a few months,” she guessed.
What was the hardest part? “Writing it,” she said.
Why is her story so important? “It inspired everybody,” she said. Indeed, it did.
As the image went viral, viewers marvelled at the wonder on Parker’s face as the pint-sized black girl gazed at the first African-american first lady in U.S. history. “This is what America is all about,” someone tweeted. “This young girl can now dream about being someone like Michelle Obama.”
Parker Looks Up reveals just how happenstance the moment was. That early March day had been dreary and rainy. Parker, then 2, had skipped dance class to visit the museum with her even littler sister Ava. There, they met up with Parker’s best friend Gia.
“Once inside,” Parker and her mom to write, “the friends hurried down a long hall, looking at the paintings all around them.”
Prancing horses. Bushy moustaches. Native Americans.
Of course, they found the play room.
“After Gia stuck purple hair onto the easel and Parker added a pirate hat and sunglasses, it was time to go home,” the book says.
On the way out, the girls spotted a portrait of dancers in tutus. Tutus! They raced to see them. Then Parker saw Obama.
“She froze in her tracks, spellbound,” the book says.
And she still is.
“Michelle Obama inspired me,” Parker said in her interview as a group of non-author children gathered for story time. “And now I’m inspiring the world.” Profound.
Then she strolled away for a bit, allowing Jessica, a 31-yearold stay-at-home mom who blogs about parenthood from the family’s home near the library, to tell the back story to the back-story book.
After the photo went viral, Parker got a manager and a literary agent. Karen Nagel, a longtime children’s editor with Simon and Schuster, got in touch. The picture touched her deeply.
A children’s book would be perfect not only to inspire children, but also to preserve the moment for Parker and provide some money for the future.
“I just don’t think we listen to children enough for their perception, their wisdom and their truth,” Nagel said. “This experience speaks to Parker’s truth and literally to the first time she saw herself. There is just a profound awareness of that transcends the everyday. You take the personal and make it universal. And I hope that’s what this book does.”
Parker, who attends pre-kindergarten where she is learning Chinese, returned to the table with a Fancy Nancy book. She had another question for this reporter: “Do you know how to read?”
This reporter: “You know, I’m just learning.”
Parker: “Would you read it to me?”
At this point, Parker plopped down in this reporter’s lap. He reads the book, of course. They get to the word “boutique” as Nancy continues on in one of her fancy adventures.
This reporter: “Do you like fancy stores?”
Parker: “One day I went to Las Vegas and guess what? I passed a Coco Chanel store. Then I told my mommy and I went in. I couldn’t resist.”
This reporter: “Coco Chanel is hard to resist.”
Parker: “They gave me a bag and a sticker.”
This reporter: “No way!” Parker: “Yes way!”
With nap time looming, Parker had time for just a couple more questions — such as what she’s going to be when she grows up.
“I’m gonna be president and everybody’s gonna put my photo up,” she said. “Guess what?” she asked.
The night before she had an amazing dream.
“I was in the Michelle Obama portrait.”
Parker paused for reflection. “Now can I eat my croissant?” The Washington Post