I love books.  And I love attending book talks by authors I enjoy reading.  Before my boys were born, I dragged my husband and other friends to join me at a wide array of book talks, and often I attended them by myself.  I enjoy hearing about authors’ writing processes and where they draw their inspiration.  I enjoy hearing them talk about stories that I’ve enjoyed reading, and what they’re working on next.  My love of stories extends to hearing storytellers discuss their craft.

Fast forward to now: both of my boys are book lovers.  My 9-year-old goes nowhere without a book in tow, and my 4-year-old likewise spends large amounts of time perusing books on his own (in addition to the time we spend reading together, of course).  I have no doubt that someday they’ll enjoy joining me at various author talks, but at the moment they’re both a bit young for the books I read on my own.

That said, our library has hosted a couple of author talks aimed at children.  I took my boys to see Eric Litwin, author of Pete the Cat: I Love my White Shoes, when he was in town.  This past weekend we were lucky enough to see David Wiesner.

The talk was wonderful.  Wiesner discussed his creative process.  He walked through how he progresses from a vague notion, to testing every idea out on paper in rough sketches, to detailed drawings, to a finished project.  Wiesner showed examples of his story maps, and how his stories grow, develop, and change throughout his work.  He talked about books taking him from one to almost four years to complete.  In short, he walked us through his work as a storyteller.

One of the things we found most inspiring in his talk were his pictures of his early artwork.  He showed drawings and paintings from when he was 5, 7, 9, 10, and so on.  And, as he pointed out, they looked like the work of almost every other child of that age.  He spoke about how he grew as an artist and his work improved because he practiced.  Wiesner said anything that you love to do, if you practice and practice and practice and practice, you can become good at.

He rightfully pointed out that being good at something isn’t necessarily the result of an inborn talent, as much as it is devoting the time to becoming skilled at it.  It was a good take away for all of us.

We love that we have opportunities like this, and will certainly take advantage of the next book talk by a children’s book author.  And I’m sure that before I know it, we’ll all be heading to author talks targeted at more-mature audiences together.

In case you’re not familiar with his work, our collection of WIesner books includes the following:

Tuesday.  This was the first Wiesner book we encountered.  In it, Tuesday-night magic gives a pond full of frogs the ability to fly into town on their lily pads.  This book is basically wordless, but full of fun and imagination.  This book was a daily read in our house for a long time; my oldest son even made up a song to go along with this story.

Flotsam.  This is my favorite Wiesner book (so far).  It’s wordless, but tells the story of a boy who finds an underwater camera washed up on the beach.  His discoveries when he develops the enclosed roll of film are extraordinary.  The details in the illustrations are whimsical and splendid.

June 29, 1999.  Gigantic vegetables fall to the ground throughout the United States.  Are they are result of a young girl’s science experiment or did they come from another source?  Contains a nod to Douglas Adams.

Sector 7.  An imaginative tail about where clouds come from and how they get their shapes. This is my 9-year-old’s favorite Wiesner book.

The Three Pigs.  A postmodern take on the classic tale of The Three Little Pigs.  In this version, the pigs escape from their story and rewrite the ending for themselves (and their new friends).

Mr. Wuffles.  Cats, aliens, and insects.  What happens if aliens come to earth, but humans aren’t the lifeform they counter?  Here’s one fun take on this question.  This is my 4-year-old’s top Wiesner pick.

Art & Max. A misunderstanding of words leads to unexpected results when one lizard artist paints another, and then tries to remedy the situation.  The fixing attempts snowball into greater and greater silliness, until it all finally ends up all right.

I Got It!  Wiesner’s latest book involves those intense seconds between the time a baseball is hit and the moment someone catches it – and many imaginary ways that the catch could unexpectedly go wrong.

Free Fall.  An illustrated dream, where all sorts of unexpected things occur as one encounter flows into the next.

Plus, there are two Wiesner books we haven’t read:

Hurricane.  I haven’t seen this one before, but we’re now keeping our eyes open for it.

Fish Girl.  Fish Girl is a coming-of-age story set in graphic novel format.  I’ll be looking for this book for my 9-year-old.