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Wendy's Comments: Ark in the Park
 Wendy's Comments:
My first thought for Ark was an image for a picture book, of a small crowded
pet store - a warm, dark cave of a room. I'm not quite sure how that grew
into a ship in full sail, filling two city blocks!
But even once the ark appeared, I thought that it was going to be a story
about a child coming to terms with never being allowed a pet of her own. It
wasn't until I'd finished several drafts that I realised what the real theme
was and where it had come from.
As a Canadian child living in France, it seemed to me that I was the only
person I knew without grandparents living in the same village, which made me
extremely envious! Luckily, however, the tiny house we rented had such a
huge garden that the owners continued to spend all their free time looking
after it, and in the process, adopted my sister and me as grandchildren. M.
Gunther was tall and serious; Memere was 'short and plump with lively
hands'; they both had an exceptional love of life and all it had to offer.
(They both died a few years ago, but I have a wonderful picture of Memere
dancing at her ninetieth birthday party.)
Apart from fulfilling the need of a young child for extended family, the
greatest gift they gave me was that of exploring another culture in a loving
environment. One of my clearest memories is the taste and feel of a sugar
cube, dunked in M. Gunther's black coffee until the last crumbs dissolved -
definitely not a typical Anglo-Canadian snack.
But the book itself is very much the product of a partnership. Kerry
Millard's love of life floods her artwork with a sense of joy and
celebration, and of course her own experiences have influenced her
interpretation - even something as apparently unrelated as the Sydney bush
fires, which led to the framed portrait of Sophie and the Noahs on the last
page. Preparing to evacuate her home, Kerry realised that the first thing
everyone packed was the family photos. 'That was one thing the Noahs didn't
have,' she said, 'so I gave them one.'
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