Ashley Spires is an award-winning illustrator and author. She lives in British Columbia, and while in
high school discovered her love of creativity as a Highland dancer, and drummer
in a Scottish pipe band. Even will all her success
as a children’s book creator, Spires admitted to having “imposter syndrome”.
Looking at her body of work that includes graphic novels and picture
books is more than enough evidence that her talent is real.
IMAGINATION & WORLD BUILDING
Imagine a world that has a lonely Sasquatch living in a land of humans who realizes life would be better with a friend. And then he discovers there’s another Sasquatch coming to a town nearby!
In Larf , Spires adds layers of visual humor to her text. In an early scene a family sees the sasquatch on TV but deny his existence. When he’s off to meet the other Sasquatch, he wears a beret and scarf as his disguise. Ridiculously funny!
The artwork description from the very beginning sets the tone and gives readers a hint at the hilarious voice used throughout the book.
“The artwork in this book was rendered in vegetable-based watercolor, biodegradable ink, recycled paper collage, and a dollop of organic Sasquatch Detangler and Conditioning Shampoo. This book is vegetarian, vegan and sasquatch friendly.”
Imagine a character that is physically small, considerate, and generous. Now imagine that character as a wannabe pirate! What would it take to fit in that world?
“Small Saul was hardly a natural pirate. Being rough and touch just wasn’t in his nature.”
In Small Saul, Spires keeps Saul true to himself. It’s the secondary pirate characters that initially rejected him who learn to accept Saul for who he is. And her illustrations reinforce just how out-of-place Saul is among pirates.
“But it didn’t take long for other pirates to notice that something was different about Small Saul.”
PUT STEAM IN YOUR STORY
The world
in The Most Magnificent Thing has
a lot of STEAM in it! This is a story about what it takes to create something
from an idea. From the very beginning Spires shows us the girl believes in
herself and her idea. Whether you are creating a drawing, writing a story or
building a ‘thing’, there is a process. And often frustration is part of that
process.
She knows just how it
will work.
All she has to do is make
it, and she makes things all the time. Easy-peasy !”
She uses
vocabulary found in STEAM activities to show what “make” is such as “tinkers
and hammers and measures,” “smoothes and
wrenches and fiddles,” “examines,” “twists and tweaks and fastens,” and
“studies” .
And when
the girl fails over and over the scenes show the girl’s utter frustration so readers feel those same feelings.
Her hands feel too BIG to
work, and her brain is too full of all the not-right things.”
Fairy Science doesn’t release until
the fall but is another example of how Spires used STEAM in her premise. What if a fairy used science to solve a problem instead of magic?
This is unusual because Esther
is a fairy and fairies are all about magic.
They use magic wands and
they mix magic positions. Some fairies even make magical fairy dust.
Esther is pretty sure
that’s just dandruff.”
ADDING HUMOR WITH SPEECH BUBBLES
Over-Scheduled
Andrew is about one very busy chickadee. In
each scene reveals Andrew’s motivation for adding one more thing to his already busy
schedule. Spires uses speech bubbles throughout the book to create
tension, and frantic energy in place of narration while adding humor. The
pacing allows readers to feel his exhaustion.
As Andrew’s voice got stronger, so
did his arguments.
He won so many of his debates
that Calvin suggested he use his smarts for the chess club.”
“Andrew was busy. Three days a
week he stayed after school for one of his clubs.”
The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do is about overcoming fear. Scenes reveal the character’s struggle
to overcome that fear. Again, Spires uses speech bubbles throughout the book to create tension, energy and humor in
place of narration. In a couple places she uses thought bubbles to show Lou’s
thinking.
And anyway, the
cat needs a walk.
Also, she read
once that you shouldn’t climb so soon after eating.
There are SO MANY
REASONS not to try.”
Great collection! Thanks for putting Ashley's books together and letting us take a look at them.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking I need to get all of these on my desk for a good look see. Thanks for this post, Keila. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteOk, thank you for this list. Can't wait to dig into this for continued summer reads with my nieces and nephews.
ReplyDeleteI love all these examples. I’ve read some but will surely check out the others.
ReplyDeleteWow! Spires is a prolific, imaginative writer/illustrator--a perfect combination for picture book creations that motivate, inspire and challenge children. Thank you for introducing her to my "bookshelf"! I'll be on the search for Spires' books in our library and beyond. I'm already intrigued with each story and haven't even turned a page! THANK YOU!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Keila! These books sound wonderful...and I don't have a single one. Off to the library (or the bookstore!) for me. :)
ReplyDeleteOhhh - I love The Most Magnificent Thing! I'm excited to dive into Ashley's other books! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete