Bookish Influences: how childhood shapes your future

Carrie Mortleman
Aug 24, 2017 · 5 min read

This week, being Book Week in Australia, has led to some deep personal reflection.

I’ve been an author / illustrator for 2.5 fantastic years now (I know, I’m a baby seal in an ocean of polar bears and killer whales) but I never really considered, until this week, what influenced me, what created my style? I always assumed it came from within — like a ray of shining light, a moment of clarity, something within myself that was unique.

Now I wonder, am I just another hack?

But I realised this week something my mother always said to me: “Give me the boy of 1 to 5 and I’ll make you the man.” As in, your childhood shapes your life.

This week I’ve chosen 5 books from my childhood and why they influenced me and only now, as I sit to write this article, can I clearly draw the comparisons and uses in my own work.

1. ABC by Dr Seuss
  1. ABC by Dr Seuss

An all-time fav for me & my girls, a timeless masterpiece that crosses generations. I liked it for the alliteration & the rhyme. For the clever words. For the simple but dramatic drawings. The emotion captured in so few colours.

Hellie the Hovercraft Elephant by Carrie Mortleman

How did it influence my work? My illustration style is very different! But the silly wee wee, the distraught expression and the thumping rhyme and rhythm of “A bump on my rump, oh dear!” is with thanks to the good doctor’s influence.

A kids book has to have a beat.

2. Daniel the Reluctant Duck

2. Daniel the Reluctant Duck by Denise Burt

but most importantly to me Photography by Haworth Bartram

I adored this story as I had an older brother named Daniel — it was personal.

What I loved more than anything was the real photos, the real duck. I would reach out and stroke the feathers and imagine the tactile senses, the softness, the little sounds he would make as I petted him. It was just, so, real!

And he was such a loveable character, filled with fear but determined to succeed.

This has clearly had a huge influence on my style! I’ve been a long-time photographer and terrible at drawing. So I had to play to my strengths; simple outlines laid with great photographic textures. Play-dough and glitter, ribbons, rocks, shiny sparkly paper, anything that was interesting I made, grabbed, bought and used for interesting effect on my 7 alien characters.

Triantiwontigongolope

3. Triantiwontigongolope by C.J Dennis

Purely for the great big word and the break-up of syllables to teach you how to say it. I LOVE big words. I LOVE learning difficult things. Challenge your mind, be educated eloquent and unique!

I consistently use big words in my kids books and love it when children stop me to ask what it means. This is learning!

My favourite implementation in one of my books is rhyming hilarious with precarious:

So they stopped for a bounce and a hop.

“This bouncing is hilarious!

But now, I think we should stop!

because jumping on clouds is precarious.”

Green Egss & Ham by Dr Seuss

4. Green Eggs & Ham by Dr Seuss

Friendship, perseverance, the moral message was what really got me in another fav from the good Doc ; Try it and you may I say! Now there’s a motto for life. Don’t be afraid.

It’s been a huge influence in my stories with Hellie who is a magic, fairy floss, flying elephant, and Queek who is nothing special at all, just a little sugar mouse. But his skill is his friendship, his loyalty, his encouragement, his imagination!

He is the one who creates the excitement, who has the ideas, who makes the adventures happen.

The 2 protagonist model creating interest, conflict, resolution and balance.

There’s a Sea in My Bedroom

5. There’s a Sea in my Bedroom by Margaret Wild

And last but not least this absolutely stunningly illustrated book filled with vivid and wonderful imagination.

Oh to be able to draw or paint like that…

The story takes a little boy’s fear of the ocean and helps him overcome it with the use of his vivid imagination. It makes fear palatable to the young mind and gives them a way to surpass it.

It’s a constant theme in my books, overcoming fear, having a wild imagination, and the importance of a good friendship.

Like my snake, generally a fairly frightful creature. But construct him from rainbow choccies and the kids in school readings are reaching out to touch him and grab him and pretend to gobble him up.

So, in summary, I am not a hack. I am a very fortunate person, to have had such a range and variety of books in my childhood. My parents gave me the gift of imagination and I have pulled together the threads in my own unique way.

I’m proud. It takes a year to write & illustrate a children’s picture book. It’s hard work. But so very rewarding.

So read a book to your youngster tonight with the knowledge that you are adding a new building block, a new dimension, a new school of thought to their wonderful brains.

By Carrie Mortleman — Author & Illustrator of Hellie the Hovercraft Elephant & Queek’s Race in Outer Space — available now on amazon

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Carrie Mortleman

Written by

I am a wingless fairy, a tail-less mermaid, and all-round creative soul. Current project is http://kck.st/2zmaUL6 Kickstarter children’s invisible books.

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