Day 5: Roger Roth & Chris Raschka
On the final day of the Summer Conference, we were blessed with two highly successful and talented individuals. Roger Roth and Chris Raschka shared with us stories of their lives, struggles with creating and editing a story, and what or who inspires them.
Roger Roth is an illustrator of several children's books including The Giraffe That Walked to Paris, The Roller Coaster Kid, and The American Story. He has also written a few of his own books such as Star of the Week and Fishing for Methuselah.
Roger was raised in a very creative family where he was encouraged to pursue his artistic passions. He attended Pratt University in 1980 and has been working on illustrations since 1982. Most of the books Roger has created were based on situations he has experienced; for instance, the main character in Star of the Week is based on his adopted daughter.
Some of my favorite pieces from his presentation include:
"Children's books show that child within all of us that shares a sense of mystery and the unknown. If we don't keep that wonder, we lose it."
The American Story took two years to illustrate. It would have taken longer, but Random House kept sending boxes of reference photos and materials Roger could work from.
He likes to hide his wife, child, and dog somewhere in his books. Darlene and Eden can be found in Fishing for Methuselah and The Roller Coaster Kid.
Owns a drawing board that is over 100 years old and has created more than 7,000 drawings on it.
Chris Raschka has illustrated and written numerous books for children. He has been awarded two Caldecott Medals - one for Hello, Goodbye Window and one for A Ball for Daisy, as well as a Caldecott Honor for Yo! Yes?.
During Chris' presentation, he discussed the structure and importance of visual storytelling and the ongoing battle with an editor when creating a children's book. Chris told us he rewrote A Ball for Daisy a total of seven times before his editor approved of the story. He believes that storytelling and the experience of reading a children's book is not a linear process, but more of a multisided experience between the reader or child, the book, and the teacher or parent reading to the child.
Some highlights from Chris' presentation include:
"Children learn more vocabulary from wordless picture books than books with words." This is because children have to describe what they are seeing in the book rather than being told what is going on.
Worked on A Ball for Daisy for ten years. The story was inspired by his son losing his favorite yellow ball because a neighborhood dog accidentally broke it.
Two of the different versions of A Ball for Daisy were considered to be a little too shocking or saddening to children, and the fourth version of the story was never shown to the editor before Chris began working on the finalized pieces of artwork.
Believes reading a book is a group project but is also a personal experience for everyone.
From stories of ice fishing in Wisconsin to reenacting A Ball for Daisy on stage, Friday was filled with wonderful memorable moments. Chris and Roger were excellent presenters, and Friday's events were an amazing way to end the Mazza Museum's annual Summer Conference.
