 |
Karen
B. Winnick |
Interview with Karen
Winnick:
“Books Implore
Us To Go After Our Dreams”
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
Though she always wanted
to bring toge ther her training and talent in art and writing,
the publication of Mr. Lincoln’s
Whiskers (1996), which she composed and illustrated, proved
to Karen B. Winnick that she could make her mark in the crowded
world of children’s literature by pursuing her love of
history. Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers tells the story
of 11-year-old Grace Bedell who, much to the surprise and dubious
expectations of everyone around her about getting a reply,
writes to the then still shorn Lincoln in October 1860 about
growing a beard. The tale is historically grounded, imaginatively
encapsulated in a fictional universe, and enhanced with flat
color oil painting that, like the text itself, remains faithful
to the style of the time. In the ensuing decade, Ms. Winnick
has continued to write picture books for children, mainly ages
4-9, solidifying her reputation as an author/illustrator who
understands the need for getting children to start and stay
with reading. If the Potter books achieve that goal, she’s
all for them, she says, but, of course, she hopes her own contributions
will succeed in that regard.
It’s not unusual for children’s books authors
to supply their own artwork, but it’s not that common
to find such authors focusing on American history. Winnick
fans certainly know about her passion for animals who always
figure in her books—she herself has six dogs, not to
mention other pets, and a book she’s working on now has
to do with elephant and the year 1806—but adult readers
may not be aware of the extent of research that goes into crafting
her narratives. Sybil’s Night Ride, for example,
follows young Sybil Ludington, who braved the night elements
to alert her colonial neighbors about oncoming British troops,
and Cassie’s Sweet Berry Pie<, A Civil War
Story, recreates a story about an ingenious young girl’s
use of blackberries to fool Yankee soldiers bearing down upon
her home. Both tales of daring-do feature a young heroine who
faces fearful consequences alone. Though families then were
large, youngsters were often left on their own.
Ms. Winnick admirably
attends to period details: what people wore, how they spoke
(no contractions in the 1700s), what they ate, what they
did (tanning, for instance.) Lovely old maps grace the endpapers
of these books, and adults themselves will likely be as instructed
and entertained as children. History matters: “What happened then has an impact on our lives
today,” she points out. Not that parents of girls today
may not be particularly pleased that champions of courage in
Winnick World are heroines. Though herself the mother of three
boys, Karen Winnick asks rhetorically, how many classic children’s
books featured girls? How many emphasized how animals “teach
us so much about ourselves?”
The multi-talented Ms. Winnick traces her love of reading,
art, writing, history, children and animals to her parents.
She serves on the Board of Commissioners for the Los Angeles
Zoo, among numerous other institutions, studied art at Syracuse
University, painting and education at NYU (she taught art history
to elementary school children for 9 years), and design at the
School of Visual Arts. Later, at UCLA, she added poetry to
her store of creative talents, and theatre, producing Kindertransport, a
play about children in Germany who were sent by train to England
during the War. It’s a subject that she mulls over for
a children’s picture book but she is savvy enough to
want to do something special in this much-visited area. Meanwhile,
she continues to write and, once a week, to visit grades K-5,
with the aim of “demystifying” the process of writing
and illustrating children’s books and encouraging youngsters
to strike out early on their own. What do the kids ask her?
Well, one—but only one—wanted to know if she ever
met Abraham Lincoln (in her mind’s eye, of course!)#
