"Farmhouse" by Sophie Blackall
Author and Illustrator, Sophie Blackall has given us a beautiful storybook about the importance of stories themselves. Her subject: an old house that she came upon in the woods. Through her work, Blackall imagines the people who were born and grew old in the house. She creates animals that moved in when the house was later abandoned. Finally, she shares her own story, the discovery of the house, and how she created this treasure of a book.
How "Farmhouse" was made!
Using bits of tattered curtains that she found in the real farmhouse, scraps of old newsprint, layers of wallpaper, and paint, she manages to fill every page with startling and intimate details. As with the layers in her illustrations, the layers in this story about storytelling run deep.
Like an archeologist communicating with respect and true artistry, Blackwell leaves the reader, young or old, with a palpable connection to a family's life set in a time and place that are now long gone. She does all this while masterfully reminding the reader that they too have a story to tell that is as rich and as unforgettable as the ones she has captured here.
Why I loved it!
This book reminds me of my mother. If you know my mother you will know that she loves treasure, just not the kind you are thinking of. My mother has this uncanny gift (like a hawk spotting its prey from miles above) to spot treasure: a single lost earring wedged into a sidewalk crack, a china doll missing its arms in the wall of our house, a framed photo of a friendly looking gorilla on the bottom shelf at the thrift shop.
Mom & Me circa 1973
Wonder Woman was found on a fence post.
The earrings she spotted on the sidewalk.
Later, she found two tiny but REAL diamonds in about the same place!
Look at all these treasures!
These are just a few. If you were to open any drawer in her house you would find little surprises, little bits of wonder that signify for me the playfulness that resides in her and, just like Blackall, her abiding love of a good story.
Do You Love A Great Story?
In my mother's case, it is not, after all, the trinket or the treasure that fascinates her, but the child who decided he was too old for the gorilla picture, or the person a hundred years ago who dropped their doll in the house and looked for it for ages.
Like Blackall, my mother has a reverence for lives lived before hers and a curiosity infused with humor and creativity toward the people that she meets. This book review is for my mother and all the mothers who are themselves bridges between the past and future, recording each trinket and treasure, and always making sure that our stories are told.
What's your story?
Do you have a story to tell? Have you, perhaps found a little trinket and wondered where and who it came from? I hope that you will find a copy of "Farmhouse," to read and treasure and that it will inspire your own adventures in storytelling.
