The Rhythm and the Rhyme

Celebrated Australian children's book author Mem Fox spoke along with noted English illustrator Helen Oxenbury at the Washington Post on Monday, October 13 in honor of their newly released picture book, Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. Talking with energy and animation, Fox discussed the secrets of writing for children, to a group of about 200 book lovers.

Both presenters gave a captivating behind-the-scenes look at the book's origins and offered insightful answers to questions fielded by the audience. Fox has written 30 picture books for children, many having sold more than a million copies.

When talking about the secrets of writing successful books for children, Fox noted that kids want to be assured that they are loved. "They love rhyme, rhythm and repetition", she said "because it's predictable. It makes them feel safe," she added. When adults write for children, Fox claims, they must get the rhythm right. One way to get it is through reading aloud. Mem Fox is the author of Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever.

The reception was sponsored by several DC area non-profits including The Children's Book Guild of Washington, DC; Reach Out and Read; DC Learns, The Reading Connection and The Women's National Book Association, who among other things supports the role of women in the community of the book.

Much More Than Words

I started teaching "More Than Words" yesterday - Pyramid Atlantic Art Center's new after school program at Silver Spring International Middle School. 20 Art Club kids signed up, encouraged by art teacher Gabrielle Morcate. Over the next ten weeks, as lead teacher, I will collaborate with storyteller, Ellouise Schoettler with the assistance of master papermaker Gretchen Schermerhorn.

Using storytelling, printmaking and bookmaking "More Than Words" aims to help young people to develop their literary and visual arts skills and allows them to draw upon personal experiences. When asked to develop an outline for the program, I immediately thought of the upcoming election and how this is such an important and exciting time in history. And even though these children are too young to vote, I wanted to find a way to include them in this important political debate so that their voices could be heard through their art.

So I thought we could challenge young people to identify, examine, and dissect key words that emerge in the presidential campaign, and make visual and literary statements about what America is and should be. Through storytelling, the words become the vehicle for recovered memories and experiences. And through words and images, they can examine America through the eyes of women, the poor, immigrants and racial and ethnic minorities.

Each week we will take a key word or concept from the campaign for exploration. Last night our word was "change." We discussed the power of words and how initially Barack Obama positioned himself as the candidate of change with the slogan "Change We Can Believe In. It's interesting because when John McCain declared "Change Is Coming" in his acceptance speech at the Republican convention, the debate made a shift. Now when Obama speaks, a podium sign reads "Change We Need."

We went on to discuss what changes the candidates were talking about. Many themes emerged including the war, the economy, race and women. They were then urged to create cut paper collages from pictures in magazines, newspapers and scrap paper about the word "change." The teens cut, and assembled and pasted with zeal. The resulting collages were awesome. I was impressed with their use of color and composition and how they really examined their feelings about the issues. I'm excited about next weeks class and how master storyteller Ellouise will weave story into the mix.

Me, Myself and I Transformed

I concluded my 12 week art program with teen girls at a detention facility this week, facilitated by the arts organization Class Acts Arts, in Silver Spring, Maryland, which places professional artists from all over the world in correctional facilities to teach. During the duration of the program we created several artists books, made origami, created pop up cards, experimented with tie dye, marbelized paper and wrote poetry and stories. Most of the projects were introspective in that I wanted them to exam their lives and choices. One entitled "My Natural Disaster" challenged them to look at the Tsunami in Indonesia and imagine what it would have been like, stranded on a make shift raft for 8 days.

I wanted our last project to be on a larger scale, so the last two weeks we created a painted mural on tyvek, which was originally titled, "Me, Myself and I". Later the girls changed the name to "We Are All in This Together." I projected their silhouettes on the tyvek and had them trace the outlines. I was struck by the fact that few of the figures had arms. One teen pointedly told me, "Arms... I don't have arms. I'm locked up".

Disaster Reflections

One thing I've been reminded of this year is that, given a chance, young people can and will create amazing works of art that reflect their inner triumphs and turmoil's. I came to this revelation once again while conducting a series of art workshops with at-risk teenage girls through Class Acts Arts, Inc., a non-profit arts outreach and presenting organization serving diverse populations in the DC metropolitan area. And even though at times the teens are reluctant to try new ways of expressing themselves, after the initial discomfort, they always manage to jump right in.

Some of the projects I led this summer with these teens included a paper mural that challenged them to imagine what it would be like to experience certain natural disasters like a Tsunami. I shared a newspaper article with them about a teenager in Thailand who was one of the few survivors in his family. He managed to survive while clinging to a make-shift raft for eight days. Another project, encouraged them to create a simple artists book using collage. They wrote about difficult life experiences and invited the reader to talk a walk in their shoes. In the course of the summer we have explored several paper decorating techniques using salt and plastic wrap; have created marbleized paper; origami; pop up cards and have made several artists books including a modified accordion book incorporating oil pastel and watercolor, examining the notion of "The Me Nobody Knows".

At the end of several sessions, many of the girls were anxious to share what they created in the workshops with a special person in their lives. I think the workshops have been valuable because they not only allow these teens to express themselves through language art and visual art, but also increase their self esteem and awareness.

To make arts experiences possible for those who normally don't have access is vital. For me personally, the smiles generated from the girls after completing a challenging project make it all worthwhile.