BIO

With each new picture-book project, Robert Sabuda challenges himself with a new artistic technique. Whether he uses mosaic as in SAINT VALENTINE or faux stained glass as in ARTHUR AND THE SWORD, he has consistently proven himself to be one of the most innovative illustrators in the field today. His book TUTANKHAMEN'S GIFTwas a New York Times Book Review Notable Book, and he recently received the Society of Children's Book Authors and Illustrators' Golden Kite Award for his delicate cut-paper illustrations in THE PAPER DRAGON. Mr. Sabuda is an associate professor at the Pratt Institute and lives in New York City.

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AUTHOR TALK

October 2003

In this interview Robert Sabuda, who has established himself as one of today's most innovative and inventive creators of children's books, talks about his latest creation, an outstanding pop-up version of ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. He also describes the process of writing and assembling a pop-up book and lets readers know what the subject of his next work will be.

Q: Why did you decide to do a pop-up version of Lewis Carroll's classic story, ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND?

RS: After traveling back in time (100 years) to explore the world of THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ, it only seemed natural to go back a bit more and explore Alice's journey! I just love the idea of a character being thrown completely out of their element and then being able to share their failures and victories as they try to find their way back home.

Q: Did you read ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND when you were younger?

RS: Yes, I did, and I couldn't believe how mean all the adults were to her! I realize we're reading the story now from a 21st century perspective, but it's difficult for me to understand how the grown-ups could be so nasty to her. This made me like the story even more since I knew at the end she would realize how unimportant all of the adults were!

Q: The text in your pop-up is a faithful adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic story and the illustrations are done in the style of John Tenniel, the original illustrator of ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. Why was it important to you to pay tribute to the classic story?

RS: I'm a firm believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." As far as I'm concerned, there really is no way to improve on the original. It can only be reinterpreted (and very subtly at that) for a new generation of readers and listeners.

Q: Since your pop-up version of ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND is so faithful to the original, did you find it difficult to put your own artistic interpretation into it?

RS: Not at all! When you have creative geniuses like Lewis Carroll and John Tenniel as guides, there's no way to get lost on an artistic path. I was only inspired to make my work even better to match what they had so lovingly put on paper.

Q: How did you decide which scenes to illustrate from the story?

RS: I think that most of us who are familiar with the story think of it in terms of individual scenes of, well, to put it nicely, strange lunacy! Yes, there is wonderful word play in the text, but there's nothing like the image of a baby turning into a pig. So I picked the best moments of weirdness I could find to create the pop-ups.

Q: Which pop-ups were the most difficult to create?

RS: All those cards on the last page took forever to work out. And since I'm so detail oriented I wanted to make sure that I didn't repeat a card's face the wrong number of times, so there are exactly two full decks of playing cards (minus jokers) on that spread. Who knew a deck of cards could cause so much trouble!

Q: How long did you work on ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND?

RS: A typical pop-up book can take between eight months and two years to complete. ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND (thankfully!) fell somewhere in between at about a year.

Q: You have illustrated and paper engineered holiday-themed pop-up books such as THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS and THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS, as well as pop-up adaptations of classic stories, such as THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ. Do you prefer one type more?

RS: I don't have a preference as long as I'm interested in the story or subject. It has to be a pop-up book that I would have liked when I was a boy. Someone once told me I should make a pop-up book about motorcycles. Well, I guess I could, but motorcycles don't really interest me, so I know I would never do a book like that.

Q: Do you know what your next pop-up book will be?

RS: America has been going through such challenges over the past few years that I've decided to pay tribute to it. My next book is tentatively titled AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL.

© Copyright, 2003. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. All rights reserved.

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