Meet-the-Author Recording with Carmen Agra Deedy and Brian Lies
Wombat Said Come In |
Carmen Agra Deedy and Brian Lies introduce and share some of the backstory for creating Wombat Said Come In.
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Carmen Deedy: Hi. I'm Carmen Agra Deedy, and I'm the author of Wombat Said Come In.
Brian Lies: And I'm Brian Lies, the illustrator of Carmen's Wombat Said Come In.
Carmen Deedy: So, many of you will remember that just before the pandemic, when all stayed home around the world, just before that there were news items about Australian fires. They were spreading as only wild fires can, swiftly, mercilessly. And when the fires started to go out, or be put out, there were animal rescuers who went into various areas and were surprised, surprised is a very gentle word, more like astounded, to discover that many wombats had survived by staying in their burrows.
Now, that wasn't that unusual. However, other animals had survived because of Wombat, who's a portly little creature, a marsupial, and who has very, very extensive tunnels through his burrows, her burrows allowed other animals to come in and shelter until the fire and the trouble passed. The wombat is kind of a shy little creature in the real world. So in the story, I kind of wanted him to be sort of like this fellow that has a very comfortable little home and he's a goodhearted soul and he's happy to let the first one in.
And then the second one and oh, the third one I suppose, and well, what's one more? The fourth one. But of course they're not always well behaved. I love the idea that this poor little fellow, he's just so bighearted, but he's being tried to the limit. By the time that the little sugar glider comes zooming in. I think he's just had enough.
The other thing that influenced the book, and I didn't realize it until I was writing it, which it seems really silly now in retrospect, is that I came to the United States when I was three years old as a refugee along with my parents, and I came to a liberal southern town called Decatur. That town specifically, and the people in it took in so many, over a hundred families, that all came traumatized and with nothing, literally with nothing. We didn't even have a suitcase. And they said, "Come in." They found us jobs, they found us sponsors. They found us furnishings and clothes and toys. And so that greatly influenced the crafting of the story. Do I want children to take anything away from this? If there were anything I would say that even when the world is on fire, you can still do one good thing.
Brian Lies: I've wanted to illustrate something by Carmen for years. Now doing a book like this, which is clearly fiction, I suppose one would say you don't really need to do research, but I hadn't done a lot of Australian animals in stories before, mostly American and European. So I did have to learn the shapes of the various critters and wallabies and sugar gliders and koalas and things like that. So I did some realistic drawings of them first, but then I always back away a little bit from the realistic and turn them into sort of human characters. It was fun to do the research, but a lot of it really was imagination research.
Carmen Deedy: And now Brian and I are going to lead to you from Wombat Said Come In, just a few pages. Ready? Story time.
Wombat was not worried. No, not a tittle. Fire had passed over his burrow before. Best, he thought, to shelter under my crazy quilt until the trouble passes. But as it often does, trouble came knocking. Hello, Wombat.
Brian Lies: On this spread, we see Wombat in his burrow standing with crazy quilt thrown over his shoulders, three Anzac biscuits or cookies to Americans on a plate and a mug of tea looking a little bit concerned upwards as he's clearly hearing a call from a friend.
Carmen Deedy: Let me turn the page. Outside was his friend Wallaby, his eyes wide with fright? Help Wombat, I can't reach my home. May I stay with you for a while? Wombat hesitated only for one tick of the clock. Then Wombat said, "Come in." Wombat said, "Come in. From smoke and din and howling wind come in my friend. Come in." Brian, you were telling us about these wonderful pictures.
Brian Lies: The first part we see a very, very concerned looking Wallaby coming down the slope towards Wombat's front door, which is open. Wombat has one paw up on the door jamb. Everything above is kind of crisped and black. And on this the other page, Wombat is ushering wallaby in with a kind look on his face. Come in.
This Meet-the-Author Recording with Carmen Agra Deedy and Brian Lies was exclusively created in December 2022 by TeachingBooks with thanks to Peachtree.