The first ingredient of any picture book is a story. After we find our stories, we writers need to polish them a bit–but the effort begins with a story. I am an advocate of looking within for our stories–at looking at the memories from our pasts. I have recently studied the massive library of Tomie dePaola’s children’s books, and I believe that all of his writing is somehow linked to his past. I’ll explain that later.

The Baby Sister –
Image Credit dePaola on Amazon

Several of DePaola’s picture books are deliberately autobiographical, and his book The Baby Sister is one of those books. It is important to note, however, that the master author-illustrator didn’t try to writer about his entire life in that book. Rather, he focused on one tiny sliver of his life–a brief moment–and from that moment, he created a beautiful picture book.

The Baby Sister is about the birth of his younger sister–not his youngest sister, who came along later.  He doesn’t try to explain that in his story. He simply jumps in at the time when he and his family were preparing for this younger sister. And again, he didn’t offer his readers nine months of preparations. He finds the morsel that would become his picture book within his memories of the family’s preparation of the nursery.

He tells the readers that his mother made curtains for the nursery and stacked snow-white diapers on the shelves,

Image Credit dePaola on Amazon
Image from The Baby Sister

He briefly mentions that his father and his older brother painted the room and the crib.

The nougat of truth lies within the fact that the young Tommy was too small to do either of those tasks. What could this tiny little boy do for his baby sister?

Image Credit dePaola on Amazon
Image from The Baby Sister

Tommy gave the baby his art.

As I said, this snippet from DePaola’s life might seem insignificant–it represents a slice of time–but within a few words, Tomie dePaola has allowed the reader to begin to comprehend several impotant things about Tomie dePaola.

In reading biographies about dePaola, I learned that Tomie dePaola always felt like the black sheep of his family. His older brother was more of a regular guy than Tomie was, and Tomie always felt that he was small–compared to his brother, and that is the true story that Tomie is telling the reader.–that is the tidbit that gives Tomie’s story the punch that is necessary to make this tale memorable.

Image Credit dePaola on Amazon
Image from The Frienly Beasts

Tomie dePaola told essentially the same story in his picture book The Friendly Beasts.

I also believe that his book The Friendly Beasts was autobiographical. The story of that book retells the traditional carol “What can I give Him, small as I am….” And that is what Tomie is asking in his book The Baby Sister.

Mondays are important–they are the first days of every work week. For writers, they might be the first days of the rest of your lives. Join me every Monday, as I offer a bit of inspiration for writers.

My tip for today:

Begin to rewind the moments of your life. You may need to create a mental or an actual family tree.

Image Credit dePaola on Amazon|
Image from The Baby Sister

Image Credit dePaola on Amazon
Image from The Baby Sister

Whatever it takes, I suggest that you begin to excavate the bits of history that have comprised your past.
From somewhere within those memories, the starts of many stories are waiting for you. Harvest your past.