Who would have thought that a picture book about garbage collection could be so bright and winsome but that's exactly what mother-daughter author-illustrator team: Anne and Louise Jordan have created. Discover more in this revealing Q & A with them.
Why write a book about garbage and
recycling trucks?
We both love
trucks, and garbage and recycling trucks are especially cool. It never gets old
watching trucks pick up bins with their grabbers and empty them into their
hoppers. Plus, kids love garbage trucks and there aren’t too many books about
them out there.
How is this book different from other truck books on the market?
The main difference is the
focus on the environment. Not only is the story eco-friendly; so is the book
itself. Unlike most children’s books that are printed overseas and coated in
plastic, Sunny the Sideloader is printed in North America with vegetable
inks on 100% PCW recycled text without plastic laminates.
Also, most truck books are marketed only to boys. We wanted Sunny the Sideloader to be for everyone. That’s why we used a rainbow of colors and included all kinds of fun elements that you don’t usually see in truck books— things like dogs, flowers, gardens, dancers, and butterflies.
What
message would you like readers to take away from this book?
We hope Sunny
will encourage people to think about their own waste. Our ultimate dream would
be for readers to become inspired to take a new environmental action. Like what
if a family read our book and decided to try composting? That would be amazing!
We
also hope kids will get the idea that everyone makes mistakes and that’s ok.
Sunny the Sideloader has a very unique illustration style. Can you tell us about your process and why you chose this medium?
We built the
city of Workerville on a 1:18 scale using a combination of repurposed, bought,
and found materials (such as cardboard, clay, sticks, and rocks.) For example,
we made watermelons out of pecans and traffic cones out of icing tips. And we
used cardboard. Lots and lots of cardboard. When we were done, we photographed
our scenes. And finally, we used an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to add skies,
grass and speech bubbles. We chose this medium because it was a lot more
fun than drawing trucks! And the great thing is we can reuse the set.
Does that mean we can expect more Clean Machines books in the future?
Yes,
definitely! We’re working on the second one right now.
