Ever wanted to know what happens when you launch a bear into space? Children’s book author Deborah Abela and illustrator Marjorie Crosby-Fairall did, so they created a picture book in order to find out …
Today, they’re both on the blog to tell us all about how their new picture book, Bear in Space, came into being. Read on!
DEBORAH: Hi I’m Deborah and I’ve written 27 books about spies, soccer, flooded cities, pesky wolves, spelling bees, WW2 and bears.
MARJORIE: Hi I’m Marjorie and I illustrate picture books. Lately I’ve been drawing mice, dinosaurs, hippos and bears in space.
DEBORAH: In 2015, a group of authors and illustrators went to Taronga Park Zoo, Sydney, for a day of drawing and writing. We saw a sun bear called Mr Hobbs, who was rescued from poachers in Cambodia.
MARJORIE: Standing outside the bear sanctuary, Deb gave three creative prompts: Bear Declared Hero, Hunt for Missing Bear, and First Bear in Space. You can guess which one I chose. I loved the idea of this heavy bear floating weightlessly in space, taking in the wonders.
DEBORAH: When I saw Marjorie’s drawing, I wondered why he was there and why he looked so happy. I asked Marjorie if I could write Bear’s story and she agreed. About ten minutes after I’d sent the story to Marjorie, she wrote back. Turns out, I’d written about her son!
MARJORIE: When I read Deb’s story it gave me chills. Meet my son Cavan. In so many ways he was the inspiration for my Bear. When he was little he was quirky and analytical and absolutely obsessed with space.
Much like Bear, Cavan collected space facts and compiled them into books. These drawings are from a book he called, “The Beginning”. They may look like random scribbles but they’re actually packed with space facts.
DEBORAH: As a kids’ author and teacher, I’ve always been intrigued by the kids who are different. The ones who don’t quite fit in. Partly because I was that kid when I was younger. I was picked on and bullied for being the child of a migrant. I had slurs, insults, rocks thrown at me, simply because I wasn’t like the others.
I wanted to write a story where difference is celebrated and let kids know that what makes them different is also what makes them unique!
So, what’s the story of Bear in Space?
Bear doesn’t always feel at home on earth. He doesn’t quite get the other bears and they often don’t understand him. So he disappears into books, especially about space. When he builds a rocket, and flies into space, no one laughs at him or calls him names, but soon he’s lonely, until something extraordinary happens.
DEBORAH: I sent the book to Linsay Knight, who was my very first publisher in 2002 with the Max Remy Superspy series. She said she loved it but there was no third act. When I re-read it, I knew she was right! Marjorie and I used thumbnails to work out the rest of the story.
MARJORIE: Creating a picture book is a lot like putting together a movie. The images are static but with each page turn, the spread leads onto the next, so the storytelling is fluid. Most illustrators use thumbnails to begin a book and these small scratchy drawings are where you can experiment with different ideas.
DEBORAH: Poring over the thumbnails, we made sure the story flowed and had a strong structure…including that ending. We spoke about pacing and page turns, character and emotional beats, colour palates and white space.
It was also wonderful to sit with an illustrator and see how she approaches a manuscript.
MARJORIE: Linsay contacted me to discuss the illustrations. She asked what would Bear look like and what he’d be wearing. The original Bear sketch from the zoo wasn’t intended for a picture book. I needed to rework him so he had more childlike proportions. Cavan was again my inspiration. He would wear a papier mache space helmet, oxygen tanks made out of drink bottles, and some yellow rain boots while he walked around the house in an exaggerated low gravity moonwalk.
DEBORAH: Around that time, Walker Books decided they wanted to publish the story!
MARJORIE: It was now time to turn it into a real book! We already had our thumbnails as a roadmap for the book but I now had to take those ideas, refine them through several stages of roughs, to the final art.
DEBORAH: Sometimes it takes one person to make us feel not so alone. Bear in Space is about being different and the importance of having friends who love you just the way you are. If you’d like to write to me, find teachers notes or find out more, click here.
MARJORIE: You can find me here. Check out the activity page to find Bear in Space colouring sheets. (And don’t forget to build your own rocket!)
—Bear in Space by Deborah Abela & Marjorie Crosby-Fairall (Walker Books Australia) is out now.
Bear in Space
Bear has plans to change his world, one space adventure at a time, and discovers just how far you can go with someone by your side.
Bear is different. When he dreams of going into space, the other bears laugh. But Bear has plans to change his world, one space adventure at a time. In space he feels at home, but also alone, until something extraordinary happens...
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