Picture perfect
Sharing the joy of reading with a child is the perfect opportunity to find a quiet moment for family time during the busy festive period, the illustrator and writer Marie-louise Fitzpatrick tells Jess O’sullivan
Ask anyone to recount their earliest memory and it will usually include snuggling up to a loved one and cracking open a storybook. You may recall every brightly coloured picture and each sentence, read over and over, of your favourite childhood book. “Reading to kids is so important. It is their rst experience of learning to follow a storyline, and the pictures help them to read through images,” says award-winning Irish writer and illustrator Marie-louise Fitzpatrick. “But not only this, it’s about taking the time, family time, to sit and share something together. Christmas is so very busy, that taking the time to read to a child is something they will remember and appreciate more than anything in years to come.”
The importance of family time at Christmas is at the very heart of the illustrated story running through this year’s Christmas edition of the RTÉ Guide, something which began when thoughts of Christmas were far from the minds of most people. However, when you’re in charge of one of the biggest-selling Irish magazines of the year, your thoughts turn to the ‘C’ word not long a er midsummer.“i was sitting in my o ce in July, thinking about the cover of the Christmas issue - yes, that’s how early we start – and I thought, ‘I would love it to be a story, something people would sit and read together’” says the managing editor, Catherine Lee. “I knew we’d be taking a big chance trying something so di erent, but I also knew that it would be worth it to have something really special sitting in almost 300,000 homes over Christmas. I was familiar with Marie-louise Fitzpatrick’s work, so she was top of my list when trying to nd someone to make this a reality.” Marie-louise has written and illustrated more than 16 children’s books, but knew this was going to be challenging. “I was aware that the RTÉ Guide has never done anything like this before and it was scary, thinking, ‘What if it doesn’t work?’ I woke up at night sometimes and couldn’t go to sleep again.” e fact that the job caused Marie-louise to lose some valuable slumber is ironic, given that the story she created is about a family who can’t sleep. “When the story begins, we meet a little girl named Hannah, her little brother Boo, her mum and dad and of course, the family dog, Bailey.
They’re very excited about it being Christmas Eve, but there is one problem, they cannot sleep. And they know that Santa won’t visit if they are awake.”
Totally unfazed in the face of a Christmas crisis, Hannah, takes charge of tiring each family member out, one by one, so that they will all be asleep by the time the man in red comes to town. Having a strong little girl as the hero of the story is something that was important both to Marie-louise and the RTÉ Guide team. “is year we celebrated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the vote in Ireland,” she explains. “Hannah might be very young, but she has the chance to help her family. Santa is always watching, but what Hannah doesn’t know is that Santa is giving her the opportunity to shine – she just has to take it, and she does.”
What is special about Marie-louise is that she is both an illustrator and writer, so the stories she creates – both words and pictures – are entirely hers. She says that both parts are equally important. “e words are extremely important in a picture book. As a writer, you are trying to nd the best words, the best sound and rhythm. You don’t just throw down any old sentence.
It’s got to be the perfect sentence. But you can tell a story without words, as in my most recent book, Owl Bat Bat Owl. Kids will completely understand, as sometimes images can tell you more about what’s going on than words.”
For this issue, Marie-louise drew loose pencil sketches for the inside, but the cover was the mammoth task or “the scary bit” as she says herself. “I had to create something that looked like the beginning of a picture book, but that wasn’t too childish. In the end, I put 21 pieces of original art work together and then combined them in Photoshop to create what you see on the front.”
Most Irish people will understand Marie-louise’s nerves, but she had to explain the signi cance to her husband, Michael Emberley, who is also a well-known illustrator. Michael is from the United States and didn’t grow up spending his Christmas poring over the RTÉ Guide like she did. “I was beyond excited, but he didn’t quite get why. I told him we all got it from childhood at Christmas. At home, we would all pull it o each other to get a look. But he nally got it.”
Despite usually working alone, her next project is with her husband and due out in 2020. “Nine years ago we were in co ee shop and Michael came up with the idea for the book we’re working on now. It’s taken so long because every time we’ve considered working together we’ve had a row. Finally, I asked if I could do the main illustration on it, but we’re both feeding into the whole thing. It’s quite an unusual book in that there’s only one sentence in it.”
Marie-louise will be taking a well-earned break this Christmas before getting back to work, but she hopes this story will capture the imagination of the nation and start a tradition of its own. “Hopefully, the RTÉ Guide is going to do this for many years to come with lots of di erent talented Irish writers and illustrators. But if it does, I’ll always get to say that I did the very rst one.”