I have never thought about how illustration transmits information in children's nonfiction before this salon, and it was illuminating to learn about how the veracity of details in illustration are debated in the kid lit community. Authors Mara Rockliff, Brian Floca, Sophie Blackall and editor Nicole Raymond sat down with Youth Materials Specialist Betsy Bird in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building to discuss the idiosyncrasies of kid lit pictures. But first, they each gave a presentation about illustration and their books.

Does True Nonfiction Even Exist?

Rockliff started writing historical fiction books, then moved towards nonfiction books. She pointed out that everyone has a perspective, and no nonfiction is completely nonfiction. She is very determined when researching books to get the information that she needs. Working with illustrators is interesting to her. Each illustrator has his or her unique style. The feel of the book is important when determining which illustrator will work well with it. For example, a lighthearted book works well with cartoon illustrations. Authors are not always certain that everything that is depicted in illustrations actually happened. Invented dialog may be in illustrations in nonfiction. There are plausible and implausible events depicted in children's nonfiction, and the illustrations are not meant to be interpreted literally. In children's writers' circles, there are arguments about what exactly constitutes fiction and nonfiction. This is not concerned with where items are shelved; on the contrary, it is more about historical authenticity. She does not want readers to feel betrayed by a lack of truthfulness is her stories. Rockliff prefers not to use invented dialog much because she finds it to be very problematic.

How Editors Ensure Accuracy

Raymond is Rockliff's editor. She finds that authors and illustrators approach the subject of the book differently. What happens at the publishing house is that they receive a manuscript, then form a committee to search for an illustrator. They discuss which themes they would like to highlight in the art. Of course, the final choice does depend somewhat on scheduling, who is available, and who wants to take on the book, which can take a year of more of the authors' and illustrators' lives. They have fact checkers to ensure that the pictures accurately portray the historical period and what took place. Sometimes, experts are consulted for their opinions about tricky subjects.

Informational Books

Floca wrote the Caldecott Medal winning 2014 book, Locomotive. He prefers the term informational to the term nonfiction. To him, illustrations are restagings and approximations of what occurred, and readers understand this fact. This author has a cache of electronic files that belong to each book that he is working on, and some of them are specific to a particular image. When doing research for Ballet for Martha, Floca discovered that the Library of Congress has archived images from the production of Appalachian Spring, which is the ballet at the center of this book. He saw the Martha Graham Dance Company perform, which was very enlightening. However, he wanted to create a dance from the 1940s, not today, with believable costumes and sets. Over the years, the costumes and sets have changed. For Locomotive, he visited the places that are depicted in the book, and he learned a lot about engineering.

Does Humor Supercede Accuracy?

Blackall has illustrated twenty children's books. Sometimes, the compulsion for her to put in a joke outweighs what she knows happened. She loves to tell stories. For illustrating the book, Finding Winnie, she went to the Zoological Society of London Archives for research on the bear that the story actually happened to. There was a missing headlight on the truck that the actual bear rode in, but she wanted to focus on the journey and not the missing headlight, so she put two headlights on the truck in the picture. Blackall put a map of London Zoo in the book. It took weeks for her to find out how the buildings looked in 1914. She put a penguin in with the seals because she thought it was funny, even though the seals and penguins were separated by 1914.

Bird discussed the line between nonfiction and fiction. She asked if the panelists did different things in fiction than they did when illustrating and writing nonfiction works.

Rockliff cares about the truth. She draws the line in fiction by refusing to change historical facts. Some nonfiction books go past where she would draw the line, but some of them are very successful and popular. Some books are predicated on imaginary occurrences, and she does not agree with this. She researches about 25 topics for each book that she writes. Sometimes, she finds out information that does not support her thesis for a book; in that case, she abandons the book. 

Raymond believes that false stories do not make good nonfiction picture books. However, if some portions of books are inaccurate, they can be edited out so that the books can be published. Her publishing house has an obligation to fact check information (make sure it is true), and invented dialogue must be assessed on an individual basis.

Blackall likes to give context notes at the end of the book to help explain the illustrations to readers.

Floca thinks that it is beneficial to contemplate the purpose of authors and illustrators. He makes the illustrations representative of real things, and there is not much dialogue in his books. 

Historical Fiction Versus Nonfiction

Bird commented that some of the panelists have illustrated by nonfiction and historical fiction. She wanted to know how the standards for nonfiction differ from those for historical fiction.

Floca attempts to avoid writing books that the readers would question the authenticy of.

Blackall stated that the standards for nonfiction and historical fiction are not much different for her. Her standards for accuracy are much different than others' standards. Some readers write angry letters challenging the accuracy of her works (eg, the soldiers uniforms in one of her stories did not look standard uniforms of that particular time period). However, she does not get much criticism from kids.

Raymond said that both nonfiction and fiction need the correct feel of the historical period that is being depicted. However, the two genres represent what happened differently. However, things like time period and clothing are depicted similarly in historical fiction and nonfiction.

Rockliff gets criticized for being too literal with her books. She started her writing career in textbook publishing, where she was trained that certain things about a book will prevent schools from purchasing the book. She is happy to discover much about the personal lives of the historical figures when writing about them.

Raymond emphasized the importance of producing age-appropriate books for kids. There are debates within her publishing house about what to include and omit in each book.

Blackall once was asked to remove a pipe; it was sad for her to remove it since she very much wanted it to be in the picture. Apparently, the editor did not want smoking to appear in the book.

Bird believes that editors' names and fact checkers' names should appear in books alongside the authors' and illustrators' names to provide accountability for the works. Some fact checkers are not good at their jobs.

Floca was delighted to receive a call from Apollo 12 informing him that they were impressed with the accuracy of his book, Moonshot: the Flight of Apollo 11.

Raymond stated that every publishing house works differently. She works as an intermediary between the author and designer/illustrator of a book.

Audience Questions

Bird opened up the floor to audience questions.

I asked if the panel could comment on how photography versus illustration is used in children's books.

Blackall opined that photographs are documents of an exact moment in time.

Bird said that photographs are frequently staged. In addition, photographs can be shot from different angles, and they reflect the artistry of the photographer.

Floca added that photographs can be taken out of context and misinterpreted.

Another audience member asked if there was a difference between the author/illustrator relationship during the book creation process in nonfiction versus fiction.

Raymond mentioned that nonfiction books require much more research. Fiction provides more freedom for the authors and illustrators. However, the relationship between the two depends on how the publishing house manages that.

Floca actually got in a room and discussed the book with the other players for Ballet for Martha, one of the books that he illustrated. That was fitting because the story of the ballet was about collaboration. 

Blackall draws plausible activities in her books if they make better drawings. In one book, a food historian described two ways that a baking activity could have happened. She was left with a choice of which option to draw in the book.

Someone asked which research tools the panels favor.

Raymond loves to go to a museum or the place where the event happened. In addition, internet and library research is helpful.

Floca warned that some web sites are not trustworthy, and he is often required to verify information with more reputable sources.

Rockliff opined that it depends what you what to find out and what information is available. Databases and internet research are great.

Upcoming Children's Literary Salon

Sunday, April 12, 2015
Judaism and Children's Literature
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
South Court Auditorium
2–3 pm

• Books on children's literature
• Sophie Blackall's web site
• Brian Floca's web site
• Mara Rockliff's web site