TitleTales

Author Interview: Jim Aylesworth

BWI: How do you decide who will illustrate your stories? Do you work closely with the illustrator?

JA: Typically, the illustrators are chosen by the editors. The publishing companies pay for everything and retain complete control of this aspect of making books. The best that I can do as the author is to hint around about who I think might be a good illustrator. And typically, once an artist is chosen, I don’t get the chance work directly with that person. The editors do that too. But when I’m lucky, I’ll be working with an editor who will seek out my advice and input. Those editors please me the most of course.

BWI: Does it, or did it, at the beginning of your career, ever bother you that you don’t have much control over the pictures that will accompany your story? Have you ever been really disappointed by an artist’s interpretation?

JA: I’ve been a published writer for nearly thirty years now, and I think I’ve had about every emotion possible when it comes to the illustrations in my books. And yes, there is at least something in each of my books that I would change if I could. But at the same time, there are lots of wonderful things in illustrations of my books that I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. I do know that everyone involved is trying their very best to make a great book—sometimes it works out better than at other times.

BWI: Is there a particular illustrator you’d most like to work with again?

JA: I’ve been very lucky to have had some of the very best illustrators in the business: Glen Rounds, Ted Rand, Stephen Gammell, Wendy Anderson Halperin, Barbara McClintock, Henry Cole, Michael Hague… My dreams are filled with new books illustrated by artists like these.

BWI: Over the years have you noticed any changes in the types of picture books that young children enjoy, or do you find that kids are kids?

JA: Over the years, the state of the art of books for children has grown dramatically, and books are more beautifully illustrated now than ever before. That’s very true. But I also know that if the story is a good one, children will like it no matter if it’s illustrated in an old fashioned way or in a splashy new way.

BWI: Since your author page promotes the opportunity for readers to write to you, what reader letters have been among your favorites?

JA: As a former first grade teacher, I’m very good at the school and library visit thing. I meet lots and lots of young book lovers across America, and I do get lots of enthusiastic letters. Some of my favorites are those that include a drawing of my visit and of me reading aloud. They are often amazingly and amusingly detailed.

BWI: Which of your books is your personal favorite?

JA: If you were to ask a teacher which is their favorite child in the class, they would find it very hard to answer. Most would say, “I love them all, but all for different reasons.” It’s like that too for me and my books. In terms of genre, I especially love ABC books like Old Black Fly, fantasies like Little Bitty Mousie, retold folktales like The Gingerbread Man, literary folktales like The Full Belly Bowl, poetry like The Burger and the Hot Dog. Next year, a new book will represent a new genre for me. It’s a biography entitled Our Abe Lincoln. I have high hopes for it.

BWI: Who has been your favorite character in your books?

JA: This too is a hard question to answer. But if forced to choose, I might select a character that is too smart to be tricked by the trickster, like Hanna Brody in Hanna’s Hog or the wise teacher in The Tale of Tricky Fox.

BWI: Do you tend to hear from old students with kids of their own now? More than you think you would if you had not become a children’s book writer?

JA: Yes, because of my books, I do get to hear from a great many of my former students. And I do enjoy it! Teachers are all so curious about just how things have turned out. Many of my old kids have kids of their own, and a good number are teachers. Recently, I had the honor of being invited to visit schools in New Jersey. I was asked to come by the Superintendent of Schools—a former first grader!

BWI: As a teacher still visiting young students, are you more of the “books are magical objects to be treated with care, respect, and awe” school, or the “worn out, ripped up, battered books means they did their jobs properly” one?

JA: I think it’s better to teach children by good example that books are special and need to be lovingly cared for.

BWI: What do you miss most about day to day life in the classroom?

JA: I so loved the challenge of teaching first graders how to read. It’s an amazing process, and I miss it. Nowadays, there are still lots and lots of children in my life, but I don’t get to know anyone like I did before as a classroom teacher. So as well, I miss the family like relationships that developed every year for so many years.

BWI: Several of your books are retelling of folktales. Are any of these tales favorites of yours? What do you feel that children take away from folktales?

JA: My favorite folktales are the Trickster tales, especially those in which the Trickster gets tricked with his own trick—the biter gets bit tales. Over all, I hope that children take from these stories the joy of language itself. My retellings are filled with rhymes, repetition, little songs… fun!

BWI: Where does your seemingly vast familiarity with folktales come from?

JA: As a teacher, I read to my kids almost every single day. Quickly, I learned to love the books as much as the kids did. By reading, I learned. Over time, I learned enough to become an adjunct college professor. I taught the children during the school day and adults, mostly teachers, in the evenings and in the summers. When you teach, you learn. And the more I taught, the more I learned. My field of course was Children’s Literature, and one of the courses I taught was Folklore.

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