Beth Anderson, Children's Writer

The Importance of Wonder and Play

by Jami Gigot

Sometimes taking some time to do a few rough sketches can be the springboard for new ideas. My latest book, The World In Our Backyard, is a lyrical picture book that got it’s start from a particular image in my mind. I had been thinking a lot about the relativity of scale, and made a quick illustration of a child peering through a clover patch at a group of insects. I had a thought of how that clover patch would seem like a forest to the tiny creatures inhabiting that world. From that first image, a concept grew. If a clover patch could be a forest, perhaps a pile of dirt could be a mountain, or a paddling pool could be an ocean and so on. I sketched out these ideas, but wasn’t quite sure how to build a story out of them or what direction to go.

So I started brainstorming. I played around even more with the initial idea of scale, I tried incorporating different types of outdoor spaces, and I tried variations of pacing and mood. I even had a draft where I incorporated the various seasons into the text. But there was always something that wasn’t quite working. I realized that I had to figure out what was the heart of the story I was trying to tell. When I boiled things down, I realized that there were three main things that I wanted to express;

First, a sense of wonder of our natural world.

Our world is a mind-boggling amazing place and I wanted to capture that. For inspiration, I spent time walking around the shared spaces in my neighbourhood just simply observing. I tapped into many of my own memories of childhood like playing games outside, making snow forts, and playing imaginary games in my grandmother’s pool. I thought about playing with my children, how we watch insects, look for slugs on our walks in the woods, or find shapes in the clouds. I think that in today’s world of constant distraction from electronic devices, it is more important than ever to be curious and get outside and explore.

Secondly, the importance of using ourimagination. 

Imaginative play is so vitally important. It helps children’s development, and grows their creativity. To get this idea across, I expanded some of my spreads to be more playful and fanciful, For example, when one of my characters dives into the paddling pool, the illustration depicts her swimming in an underwater scene filled with sea creatures. On another a sandbox becomes a desert. This part of the process was great fun and helped me push my own creative thinking as I found new ways to show how kids might use their imaginations while they play.

Finally, I wanted to stress that this idea of playing outside and exploring our imaginations is accessible to everyone regardless of where you live.

It was very important to me that the story expanded the definition of backyard to include not just the typical idea of a suburban, country, or small city backyard, but also balconies, and shared spaces like parks, sidewalks, and community gardens. Everyone should have access to a safe space outside that they can play.

Thinking about these ideas and really leaning into the heart of what my story was about helped me move forward in my writing, while digging deep into my feelings and memories helped me capture the sense of wonder I was going for. Perhaps it could help you on your writing journey as well!