Jacki Kellum is a painter and writer who is currently working from her studio in Water Valley, Mississippi. Her debut picture book, The Donkey’s Song, was published by Doubleday for Young Readers – [a division of Penguin – Random House Children’s Books], in October of 2022: https://www.rhcbooks.com/books/669337
Jacki essentially has master’s degrees in both writing and art, and she taught art for many years. During that time, she was named National Teacher of the Year. Until last fall, she taught writing at Northark College, and she offers workshops, school visits, and story hours both virtually and on location. She currently is a contributing editor for the North Mississippi Herald, where she is publishing excerpts for the memoir she is writing: Churches in the Wildwood.
As you view the following video, please note that until recently, I lived in New Jersey and afterward, in the Ozark Mountains.
Hoops, Jana. “Author of ‘The Donkey’s Song’ Talks Looking for Magic in Life.” The Clarion-Ledger, 4 Dec. 2022, pp. 3B, 6B.
“‘The greatest thrill of my entire year was when I joined all the other kids in town, and we donned bed sheets and bath towels to become the angels and shepherds who surrounded Baby Jesus during the annual Christmas pageant. On one night each year, my life became a Broadway play, and I experienced, firsthand, the magic of a miraculous transformation.’”
“In what one reviewer has called ‘a sweet and gentle introduction to the nativity story,’ author/painter Jacki Kellum has captured the wonder of the first Christmas night, told for children in a different perspective: through the eyes and ears of a tender little donkey.
“With mentions of the scented pine, warm candlelight and sounds of angels, the donkey happens to be the one that brought the Christ child’s parents to Bethlehem that night. The gentle rhythm of the prose and the moonlit images of the artwork bring the miracle of Christmas, and its hope and comfort, to readers of all ages. …
“With roots in Mississippi during and since her college years, Kellum plans to someday return to Mississippi permanently. ‘I have not lived in Mississippi for the past 30 years, but I plan to move back to this state as soon as possible,’ she said. ‘Before I even moved to Mississippi, it was my home. Mississippi has always been my home.’
“Below she discusses her new children’s book:
“As an artist and writer from a small Missouri Delta town along the Mississippi River and who has also spent time in Mississippi, please share how your years in the Magnolia State influenced your art and your writing.
‘I grew up in a tiny Missouri Delta town of the Mississippi River. I say that I grew up in the middle of a cotton patch, and that is not far from the truth. I have written several stories about life near the Mississippi River, and the part of that river from St. Louis down to New Orleans runs through my veins. For several years, I lived in an Atlantic Ocean town in New Jersey, and I told the folks there that the sandy beaches in New Jersey were okay but that I wanted my ashes cast across the Mississippi River because that river would always be my home.
‘When it was a much smaller school than it is now, I attended college at Ole Miss. Oxford seemed like a city to me, but Ole Miss was a small enough school that I became connected to people from all over the state of Mississippi. While I was at Ole Miss, my college job was that of serving as a tour guide at Faulkner’s home Rowan Oak. I spent many quiet, rainy days alone at Rowan Oak, and that may have been the beginning of my own becoming of a Mississippi writer. For a few years, I also lived in Belhaven—very near the home of Eudora Welty. Mississippi has been more than a state to me. It is part of my spirit—part of the beating of my heart.
‘After college, I taught art at St. Andrew’s lower school, and every Christmas, I had the children there create almost life-sized drawings of the animals and people who were part of the nativity scene. I stuffed the drawings so that they would stand alone, and a large room at St. Andrew’s became a walk-into Christmas creche. Later, I had my private students create the same thing for the zoo. We called that event Christmas at the Zoo, and Mississippi Magazine wrote a fabulous feature story about that.’
“‘The Donkey’s Song’ is your first illustrated children’s book (is that right?). Please give us a short description of the story this book tells.
The Donkey’s Song is my first published picture book. It tells about how the poor and lowly donkey who carried Mary to Bethlehem perceived of all that he saw, smelled, and heard while in the stable where Jesus was born. Through that experience, the donkey was changed. He had experienced magic—a miracle. I like to say that I am that donkey. I look for the magic in life.
“Please elaborate on why you consider yourself to be that donkey:
‘As I said before, I grew up in the middle of a cotton patch. There was no movie theater in my hometown. There wasn’t even a McDonald’s where I grew up. My childhood was determined by cotton, and my calendar was punctuated by the various stages of its growth cycle. The winter was slow and cold. Spring was a quiet awakening, and summer was a time of growth. During fall, the roads were lined with wagons in ant-like procession, going to and coming from the gins. Living became the everyday humming of the harvesting of cotton. There was not much excitement in my childhood town. The greatest thrill of my entire year was when I joined all the other kids in town, and we donned bed sheets and bath towels to become the angels and shepherds who surrounded Baby Jesus during the annual Christmas pageant. On one night each year, my life became a Broadway play,
and I experienced, firsthand, the magic of a miraculous transformation. On that one night each year, I was a million miles away from my cotton patches, and I was planted squarely into a dream. That ability to dream changed my life.
“Tell me about the magnificent artwork in the book, highlighted with beautiful colors, details and settings.
“The Donkey’s Song was illustrated by the incredibly talented Sydney Hanson, who is a New York Times best-selling illustrator. She also does art for animated films. Everything about the publishing of The Donkey’s Song is miraculous. Sydney’s art for “our” book is one of the greatest miracles of all. The Donkey’s Song is the perfect teaming of art with text. Sydney Hanson perfectly captured the miraculous dream vision of the story.
“What projects are you working on now, and what do you think the future holds for your upcoming creative endeavors?
‘There’s a brief enchanted moment, as the moonlight turns to day,
When the bullfrogs hoot and holler and the gator lets them play.’
‘That is the opening of one of my stories about life along the Mississippi River. I have already written several picture books that I plan to submit for publication in 2023. Most of them are about my life in small-town America and how I, through my imagination, found ways to turn my simple childhood into a parade. Here is a sample:
“Piccadilly piccolo
Pipes into the air.
I wash my face and brush my teeth
And quickly comb my hair.
“It’s early in the morning.
Clarinets a-swoon,
I grab my cat and call my dog.
Parade is coming soon.”
‘When I was a child, my house was on a gravel road, and during the fall, the high school band practiced marching on my road.
“My heart begins to twitter,
I wait and watch my street.
Now, I see it coming,
My toes pick up the beat.
“The majorettes a-twirling,
A crispy tune a-curling,
A party is unfurling,
A-tapping of my feet.”
“My plans for future projects also include writing [more] stories about animals, events, and places in the Bible, all from a child’s perspective. My goal in life is to show people that magic in life is not about how much money you spend. It is about how you see the little things that happen around you every day of your life.”
Hoops, Jana. “Author of ‘The Donkey’s Song’ Talks Looking for Magic in Life.” The Clarion-Ledger, 4 Dec. 2022, pp. 3B, 6B.