Two and-a-half years ago, motivated by love, curiosity as to whether I could do it, and vengefulness towards some unbearable kids’ books that I was having to read at the time, I wrote a children’s story. The plot was inspired by a gruelling holiday in Iceland, along with some details about Icelandic folklore and geography that I’d come across.
I read Maisie’s Iceland Adventure to Girl – Maisie is her middle name – and she drew a picture of the characters. The next Christmas, I got the text and her illustration made into a hardback book and gave it to her. In an embarrassing move that I should have foreseen, Girl immediately wanted to bring the book in to school after Christmas to show everyone. But not only did her kind teacher show interest, she read the whole book to the class. The following year, it was brought into school, and kindly read out, again. Not Glastonbury, but I was delighted.
Here is that book, with my ludicrous typeface and exclamation mark. The blue thing is a whale tail, by the way.
This September, the school PTA put out a call for pandemic-resistant fundraising ideas, and Wife had the idea that we could get copies of the book made and sell them to parents. Tantalised by the thought of people having little choice but to buy and read my work of genius, I agreed, and the school was very supportive. When I told Girl what we were doing, she looked at me wide-eyed: ‘Are we going to be famous?’
Why not. ‘Yes!’ I replied.
I loved the first cover illustration at the time, but I knew that Girl, whose skills were now two years more advanced, could nail something special if I got her in the right mood. After a so-so, pressurised attempt one evening, she came down the stairs later and brandished another. ‘Yes, this is the one!’ I said. Boy’s drawing isn’t far behind Girl’s, so we got him to do one for the back cover, which he banged out first time.
Wife sent the pictures to an animator she knows through her work, Eileen Neill, to see what she might do with them. Here are the kids’ pictures, alongside the ones Eileen sent back to us a few days later.
Art and design are sorcery to me, so I have no idea how she managed it – putting all that depth and life, and a little more tidiness, into what are still essentially the original drawings. At first I thought the stars which Girl put ‘under’ the mountains should’ve been cut, but now I think they have a lovely dreaminess which is perfect for the story. These graphic artists – they always outdo your best imaginings.
And so, off my little book goes into the world, all 250 copies. It contains travel and parties, and quite a few hugs, so it’s either a perfect tale for our times, or a terrible one. In any case, hopefully people will judge it by its cover.
David Mitchell 