Lulu Delacre
Children's Literature, recently produced a post card using the art from a delightful new book Salsa Stories by award winning author/illustrator Lulu Delacre.
Lulu publishes a newsletter, Arrozo con Leche, and the following is taken from a recent issue. She describes how her book came about and has some suggestions for teachers and students. Lulu is also running a writing contest - see the end of this article for details.
Children's Literature: Please tell our visitors a little about your new book.
Lulu: I'm thrilled that my newest book, Salsa Stories, is here! I must say it turned out to be something quite different from what I had originally envisioned. The idea that certain foods could unlock memories of the past inspired me. But how I would turn that thought into a book, was something that eluded me for a long while.
Then, it occurred to me how among Latinos, food plays an integral role in any kind of gathering. I love to cook and share a good meal with friends and family. And I know it is often around the dinner table that the best stories are told. As I struggled to give shape to this unformed idea, my editor suggested I write stories that featured the many Latino foods I so love. And I did. From there I created the frame story of Carmen Teresa, and the book took shape.
I hope this collection of heartwarming stories and delicious recipes will be enjoyed by people of every culture.
Children's Literature: The art in this book is quite different from several of your other books. What prompted the choice of linocuts?
Lulu: Choosing a style and medium to illustrate Salsa Stories was not easy. The book had to be done in black and white, but the stories I had written were so full of color!
However, I'm known to love a challenge, so I decided to use textures as my colors. I could have chosen pencil, black ink, grey washes, or scratchboard as my medium. But given the fact that many of the stories are set in Latin America in the 1940's, and I admire the woodcut illustrations of that time, I opted to carve linoleum blocks for my illustrations. This brought another challenge-for the last time I had used a printing press was in art school twenty-three years before!
When Scholastic asked for a sample, I carved the linocut to illustrate the story Birthday Piñata. In doing so I created as many colors as I could with textures. Fortunately everybody at the publishing house liked the chosen style and technique. Linocut is not a commonly used medium among children's book illustrators. And I'm sure the fact that it takes so long to carve each block has something to do with it. It took me one week to carve and print each full illustration for the book.
Children's Literature: After reading your book students might enjoy some activities of their own. Do you have any suggestions?
Lulu: Here are two suggested teacher/student activities:
First, read the story, Birthday Piñata, out loud to your group.
Then, hand out copies of the illustration along with sheets of thin white paper. Have the children place the white sheet on top of the copy. With color pencils they can now choose a color for each texture they see. When all are done compare the results.
Have the kids illustrate another scene from the story with black felt pen. Encourage them to achieve color with textures, as in the pictures of the book.
You can visit Lulu at her own Web site http://www.luludelacre.com/
Updated 2002
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If you're interested in reviewing children's and young adult books, then send a resume and writing sample to marilyn@childrenslit.com.