Book collaboration takes flight
Carol Duffy (left) and Sue Thorp (second from right) sign their work at their book launch last Friday. Photo: Supplied.
BY ELISE VOLLWEILER
It was many decades ago now, but Carol Duffy can still vividly recall the outing that took her from her urban Christchurch school’s concrete playground and into the city’s botanical gardens.
There, her teacher taught her to recognise the different birds by the sounds they made and the way they moved, and “I was absolutely fascinated”, Carol says.
Carol, a former teacher herself, has written a stable of books, with the latest two released at Te Noninga Kumu-Motueka Library earlier this month.
One of these is a chapter book named ‘Dragonfree Deals,’ the third installment in her “Dragonfree” series. The other is called ‘Tūī in a Kōwhai,’ a picture book created in collaboration with local artist Sue Thorp.
Sue, who taught art at Motueka High School, has become a full-time artist in retirement.
This is the first time she has worked in the world of picture books, and she said that as a printmaker, painter, and linear drawing artist, she had to do a lot of research into the craft of becoming an illustrator.
She says that the birds were a delight to draw in intense ink pencils.
“Capturing the character and feelings of the birds took some practice.”
In planning the book, it was important to both Sue and Carol that the text was well reflected by the accompanying pictures, to make it seamless for pre-schoolers and early readers to follow the story.
Carol trained as a specific learning difficulty – or SPELD – teacher in the 1990s and collaborated with three other educators to create the after-school literacy programme Winning With Words 22 years ago.
A passion for Carol is ensuring that the books are dyslexia-friendly.
This means bigger gaps between the letters, words, and lines, and no words that are split into two with hyphens.
The font is also carefully selected to keep the books as accessible as possible.
“I have spent a long time helping those children, and I just want more books to be available to all of them.”
About 30 people attended the book launch, with several books, as well as the bird-themed card game that Carol has created, and purchased for the attendees’ children and grandchildren.
The books and games are available at Potter’s Patch and the Motueka Floral Studio, and at Tasteology in Upper Moutere. Carol says she welcomes inquiries about giving author talks to schools.