This past summer I met Daria Peoples-Riley at Highlights Foundation Summer Camp. On our last night, we all headed over to the Executive Director's family farm for a cookout. Daria, Matthew Winner, and I were in the same van for the trip. Daria pulled out her copy of her about to be released picture book, I Got Next. It's the sequel to her book This is It.
Title: I Got Next
Author and Illustrator: Daria People-Riley
Publisher: Greenwillow Books, 2019
When I got home, I ordered both books. There are so many kids I would love to share these books with. They are inspiring, encouraging, and filled with rhythm, poetry, and joy.
In the van, Daria mentioned that she wished there was a way to teach people how to read the books with the rhythm, poetry, and joy that is infused throughout. You see there are some videos of people reading the book. The readers do a beautiful job of enunciating and reading each page slowly for someone looking will be able to linger over the images. The problem with that is these books are more like music and when you read the story without the music, you leave part of that story in the book. (my thoughts.)
To give you a sense of the rhythm, here is the flap cover text:
It's Game day!
Time to put
your game face on.
Shake shake 'em.
Playground play, 'em.
Work hard.
Don't quit.
And leave your heart
on the court
because
YOU
GOT
NEXT!
I emailed Daria and asked if I could interview her for this post. She graciously agreed and a I sent her a few questions.
What would you tell readers to help them get the rhythm?
I think in order for readers to understand the rhythm and rhyming in THIS IS IT and I GOT NEXT they should research the rhetorical devices deeply rooted in African traditions. One of the stylistic devices I use in my books, through voice and structure, both in text and visually is call and response. Call and response is the foundation for many African American oral traditions. It is a dialogue between the speaker and the audience, the author and the reader.
Some stories have an obvious tune based on a song that we know. Others are like these two books where the text size, the punctuation, the images provide clues to the voice of the story. This is a part of why we fall in love with a story and want to share it with the world. As librarians, parents, and teachers, we should have the courage to give each story we read the energy it deserves. It helps children become engaged with the story, and encourages them to want to read even more stories.
The end pages in I Got Next are beautiful and filled with symbols and portraits. Why did you choose this for the end pages? There is so much there to look at and wonder about.
I’m happy to hear this. I think this is exactly the purpose of public art, to make us pause, reflect and wonder, and maybe even wander into our own imagination. I chose to create a mural for the end pages because I imagined it would exist in the neighborhood where my hero lives, a reminder to him of the heroes and heroines whose lives he should use as mentor texts. Their stories of resilience and contribution should inspire him to put his game face on and use his gifts and abilities to work hard and to be a leader on the court, and in extension, in his community.
Would you share a little bit about your illustration style and process?
My illustration style is a result of me learning to work with the materials and knowledge I gain as I grow as an artist through my life experiences and through trial and error.
When I began, I enjoyed painting, but lacked the education of traditional art school training. I didn’t know things like how to prepare paper for a painting or the elements of composition or really the “right” way to do anything. Pretty much everything I learned about illustration was more or less a result of playing and experimenting with mediums and various processes.
My introduction to art was photography, so I learned Photoshop as a result and used it as apart of my process. Because of Photoshop, I think about the composition of an illustration in layers which is the way Photoshop is structured.
I begin by painting individual layers, scan, or photograph the layers, and then composite them in Photoshop, from the background to foreground. If I mess up, it’s no big deal because I can just paint the layer over again until it can be added to the composition in Photoshop.
I used this process for both THIS IS IT and I GOT NEXT. I paint in watercolor, gouache, and ink. For the portraits in I GOT NEXT, I drew those using charcoal.
Many people ask me if I call my style collage. I guess it is in a non-traditional way, but as I grow as an artist, I find myself moving away from Photoshop, primarily because I don’t really like using the computer as much these days. I do, however, like the idea of collage, so I’m experimenting with ways to retain my style while using a new process that doesn’t always include Photoshop or drastically limits my use of it.
How did these stories come to you; through words or images first?
All of my stories (up to this point) come through the inspiration of a protagonist who wants me to tell his or her story. When I sit down to tell it, some spreads come as words, others as images and after it’s gone through the revision process, both words and images tell the whole story.
More Questions?
I could have asked her many more questions, but a book, once released into the world, is a partnership of the author, illustrator, and reader. We as the readers get to make our own interpretations and bring our individuality into each story we read.
Why I love these books:
For their poetry, their encouragement, and because I can easily see myself sharing them with loads of kids.
I love that the characters in these picture books are older. I love reading picture books to school aged children. They have the ability to see the layers within the stories and use their own imaginations to create art and stories of their own.
Daria uses a shadow person as the other character in the book. I have thought a lot about that. The shadow looks like the character, but it could also be the shadow of an important person in the child's life. Our shadows can be uplifting and our shadows have the potential of trying to tear us down. I believe this comes from who we have in our lives and how they talk to us each day. As adults and parents who connect with children, it is our opportunity to help each child we encounter develop their positive uplifting shadow.
Activities and Resources:
Check out the trailer for this is it. A celebration of individuality, self-expression and dance.
I had to laugh when I opened my email for the latest episode of The Children's Book Podcast and saw that it is an interview with Daria Peoples-Riley on the same week that I was working on my Perfect Picture Book Friday post of her books. I guess connections made at Highlights Foundation are really strong.
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Be sure to check out Susanna Hill's Blog where you can look for reviews by book, title, and by themes. And you can check out her weekly #PPBF post along with links to many more wonderful posts here.
