January / February 2002 Vol. 34, no. 1

Exploring Nature through Books

Josiane Polidori
Research and Information Services

From left to right: Alfonsina Clemente, children’s librarian, Ludmila Zeman, illustrator, Michel Noël, author, and Josiane Polidori, Head, Canadian Children’s Literature Service. Copyright/Source

Last September, a series of children's literary activities was organized around the Read Up On It thematic kit entitled The Nature of Words.

Mr. Roch Carrier, National Librarian, welcomed children from École Sainte-Marie and the St. Isidore Catholic School and offered them several books for their school libraries. The students came to take part in literary workshops and meet some of the authors and illustrators featured in Read Up On It. They also had the opportunity to tour The Nature of Words exhibition, which featured a selection of works described in the kit. The school children admired some original illustrations by Ludmila Zeman  -  one of her illustrations taken from the book The First Red Maple Leaf (Tundra Books) adorns the cover of Read Up On It. Also on display were several watercolours by Christiane Gaudette that appear in the book Opération Papillon, by Jean-Pierre Guillet (Éditions Pierre Tisseyre).

The children from Grades four, five and six at École Sainte-Marie, accompanied by their teachers, principal Paul Richardson and many parents, listened attentively to Michel Noël as he shared stories with them. The writer, whose text La beauté, la poésie, la vie deals with the theme chosen for this year's kit, spent part of his youth in the logging camps of Haute-Gatineau. He explained to the children how he came to love the forest and particularly how his Algonquin forebears showed him the importance of respecting nature. Michel Noël replied with humour to the children's questions about inspiration and about his work as a writer. He revealed one of his secrets to them: work. The teachers and parents seemed to value his comments.

Michel Noël gives students from École Sainte-Marie tips on writing. Copyright/Source

The children from École Sainte-Marie saw the short animated film Le maître du ciel, produced by illustrator Ludmila Zeman for the National Film Board. Ms. Zeman gave a workshop on her animation and illustration techniques. She manipulated several paperboard marionettes, which she uses both to move her characters in her animated films and to provide reference points for properly positioning her characters in her illustrated books. The children were able to move the sharp-toothed jaws, the terrible wings and the giant claws on the puppet of the monster Humbaba from the book La revanche d’Ishtar. Ludmila Zeman also talked about the research she did when she was working on her books that draw from Mesopotamian mythology. As part of her research on the Gilgamesh trilogy, she toured the Salle des Lions at the Louvre Museum as well as the British Museum. One of the works consulted was borrowed from the Saint-Laurent Municipal Library through the National Library of Canada's Interlibrary Loan Service. The École Sainte-Marie school children left with a model of a horse based on a frieze in the city of Uruk. Now it's their turn to invent fabulous characters or let themselves be lulled to sleep by legends from far-off countries.

Illustrator Jan Thornhill with students from St. Isidore Catholic School. Copyright/Source

The activities organized for St. Isidore Catholic School were just as interesting. Under the guidance of Ann Avdovich, Grade-three children, their parents and teachers were enchanted by the tales of C.J. Taylor and the illustrations by Jan Thornhill.

C.J. Taylor is a Mohawk artist who draws inspiration for writing and illustrating children's books from the legends of different Aboriginal nations. The school children sitting at C.J. Taylor's feet were attentive as they looked at the slides of her illustrations and listened quietly to her as she related the legends of several nations, particularly those of the Arapaho, Abenaki and Seneca. The storyteller spoke to the children about the traditions of the Mohawk people and answered their questions.

The children also had the chance to see and touch some objects in illustrator and naturalist Jan Thornhill's "Museum in a Suitcase." This renowned illustrator, who has illustrated, among other things, the book A Tree in a Forest, talked to the children about her love of nature and drawing. Her very lively presentation was interspersed with anecdotes and puzzles; slides of her illustrations and nature photographs allowed her to put her words into pictures. The school children were taught how important a tree’s life cycle is to a forest. Jan Thornhill described to them the 210 years of a maple tree's life. During her many walks in the forest, the illustrator collects a multitude of extraordinary items, for example, animals' claws, the bones of members of the deer family, and many other intriguing objects. Beaver pelts, dried mice and mounted bats made the rounds from tiny hand to tiny hand. The slogan of the day was FORBIDDEN NOT TO TOUCH!