Interview with author Marla Stewart Konrad
by Marjorie Coughlan*

Marla Stewart Konrad is the author of a series of Early Reader photo-illustrated picture books published by Tundra Books in collaboration with World Vision Canada, which includes the titles I Like to Play, Mom and Me and Grand..

Marla has worked for World Vision for more than fifteen years, as a communications and Public Relations professional. Over the years, she has become keenly interested in global issues and developed a particular concern for the well-being of children. She is also the author of the picture book Just Like You: Beautiful Babies Around the World.

Marla lives near Toronto, Canada with her family.
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You have lived in several countries and on different continents – has this shaped who you are?

Yes, it definitely has. When I was growing up, I didn’t have the opportunity to travel outside North America, so my exposure to other cultures and my understanding of the wider world was very limited.

When I was in my twenties, I spent two years living in Hong Kong – my first real opportunity to travel (and live) overseas. I worked alongside local people, learned a bit of Cantonese, and lived in a 30-storey apartment building in one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Coming from suburban Canada, at first I found it stressful and frenetic and overwhelming. Over time, I grew to love the pace, the culture, and the vibrancy of Hong Kong, China and the other Asian countries I had the opportunity to visit.

That was my first long-term exposure to another culture, and it changed me. It changed the direction of my life, it broadened my worldview, and it enriched me in ways I can’t even begin to explain.

I’ve also had the opportunity to travel and to be exposed to other cultural realities through my work with the international non-profit, World Vision. I’ve been immersed in the stories and situations of children and families from every imaginable culture.

All of that has influenced my thinking and writing.

All the royalties from your World Vision Early Readers series go to World Vision, as well as a portion of your illustrated picture book, Just Like You: Beautiful Babies Around the World.  What, for you, is particularly special about World Vision?

World Vision’s work with children is very close to my heart, and I’m so delighted that these books can contribute to the amazing work they do.

Having worked for World Vision for such a long period of time and having seen their work overseas and met children and families, I really appreciate the approach they take. It’s a very partnership-based approach where children, families and communities are all very involved in deciding on priorities for their community. And, while the neediest children are often the ones who become sponsored children, the sponsorship benefits cascade out to help siblings, parents, and the other children and families in the area. Ultimately, the goal is to help empower the community so they can carry on the good work after World Vision leaves the area.

What first prompted you to write for young children?

I dabbled at creative writing for many years, but it wasn’t until I had children of my own that I worked at it more diligently. My kids and I were regular visitors to the library, and I kept a huge stack of books beside each of their beds. When we read together, I loved the books and had as much fun looking at the illustrations and reading the text as they did. When I realized how much I enjoyed the genre, I decided to try my hand at it.

There are now four titles in the World Vision Early Readers series of picture books illustrated with photographs.  They provide a wonderful global window for young children, with photographs from all over the world and text that is meaningful to each individual reader, regardless of where they come from.  What inspired you to find this formula?

All of us wear many hats – in our work, our communities, and with our families and friends. These books came about when I started to draw some links between my work life and my role as a mom. I had worked for World Vision for many years, but it wasn’t until I became a mom and began looking for children’s books that demonstrated life in other cultures that I saw the link between my two roles.

I wanted to read books to my children that presented other cultures in positive and affirming ways. While there are some books out there that do that, I couldn’t find very many. It occurred to me that World Vision had a wonderful archive of photographs just waiting to be delved into, so I began to envision photo-filled early readers with simple text. I started working with Tundra Books on the project and the outcome was four lovely books that celebrate the diversity of life and cultures all around the world. 

What do you hope children will take away with them from these books?

I tried very intentionally in these books to communicate through both the text and the photos the joy and dignity of children and families from every culture. I’d love it if the books helped open children’s eyes and worldviews when they read about and see photos from other cultures.

If the books can provide an “aha” moment for a child to realize that children and families live in very different ways, I’d be delighted. I don’t want them to be troubled by the cares of the world, I just want their eyes to be opened to the bigger world around them.

Can you tell us a bit about the World Vision photo archive?

World Vision’s photo library has thousands of images from almost every country. In the four World Vision Early Readers, I’ve selected images from dozens of photographers from around the world. Most are World Vision staff members. Some are trained photographers, but many are not.

When exploring children’s games for I Like to Play, what struck you as particular similarities or differences in the way children play around the world?

I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise, but what struck me through the photos was the fact that children don’t need expensive toys or complicated games to have fun. They can take a few sticks, a bit of paper and string and create a kite, a car, a boat...

Here in North America, you often hear parents lament about the expensive toys they have bought their children, only to find that the children are less interested in the expensive toy and more interested in the giant box the toy came in!

Another similarity is the resourcefulness of children. A friend of mine has a homemade soccer ball she brought home from Kenya that’s made of bright green grocery bags wound together and tied up with string. Kids are incredibly resourceful when it comes to playing, no matter what culture they are from.

The other thing that shines through in the photographs is the joy of friendship: if children have a friend, anywhere can be or become a place to play.

Unlike the other three books in the series, there are no adults featured in I Like to Play – was this a conscious decision? What perspective do you think it presents, both in terms of playing and compared with the other books?

It wasn’t a conscious decision at all. In fact, it never occurred to me until now that there’s not a single adult represented in I Like to Play! My only observation about this is that, for better or worse, in most cultures, adults don’t take much time to play with their kids. In some cultures, it's because they are so busy trying to eke out a living, that there’s no time. In other cultures, many adults are so busy with their Blackberries and to-do lists that playing with children is not a high priority.

When I compare the adult presence in the other three books in the series, adults are much more crucial to the themes. Mom and Me celebrates moms and children; Grand celebrates the role of grandparents; and Getting There looks at the variety of ways children and their families get around. Adults play a key role in each of those books. I Like to Play is the only one that is solely child-centered.

What reactions have you had from children to the books?

Children love looking at the photographs. I’ve had parents of very young children tell me their child will spends lots of time examining each photograph, noticing every detail, and talking about something that has captured their attention.

When I’ve read the books during elementary school visits, children are captivated by what they see in the photographs: the clothing, the backgrounds, the different cultural elements that show through. One of my favourite school visits was to a school that was made up almost entirely of new immigrants to Canada. Many of the children recognized their own home countries and customs in the book and they added lots of thoughts to the discussion time.

Do you have any plans to expand the series further?

I’ve had some preliminary discussions with Tundra Books, the publisher, about whether we might be able to collaborate on one or two more titles in this series, but we haven’t finalized anything yet.

In the meantime, there is free curriculum already developed for Getting There and Mom and Me and curriculum in the works for I Like to Play and Grand. My hope is that elementary school teachers will be able to make really good use of the series, especially when they talk about our global community.

Your other book that has come out this year is Just Like You: Beautiful Babies Around the World – it also focuses on both individual and global perspectives.  Was it a very different process for you, writing an illustrated book as opposed to your World Vision series?

Yes, Just Like You was a very different book. So much of the work on the World Vision Early Readers series was in selecting the photographs and clustering them into themes. While I was very intentional and careful to write the text at an age-appropriate level, the text itself is very minimal.

For Just Like You, most of my work was spent writing the text, and it took me several months of writing to get the text just right. When it came time to illustrate the book, the art director at Zondervan, my publisher, handled that process. The artist, Lin Wang, did an amazing job of capturing the different cultures. Somehow, even though I wasn’t involved in the process, she seems to have read my mind and captured exactly what I was hoping for.

In your Foreword to the book you say that Just Like You came about because of your own experience of becoming a mother and then evolved to encompass babies around the world.  What have your children’s reactions been to the book?

My kids are now past the age of reading picture books, but they are still delighted with it. There’s a phrase in the book that gets repeated: “You were everything I wanted, because I wanted a baby....just like you.” They all know that I had them in mind when I wrote the book, but they’re old enough to celebrate with me the fact that that little phrase is going to be repeated in homes all over the world to celebrate the lives of many, many other children.

Do they have a global outlook in their reading?

My children read a lot and we are regular visitors at our local library, always on the lookout for something fresh. I love to see them reading in every genre. That includes books that portray life in other cultures, but also books that take them to other time periods, fantasy, classics...

What are you working on at the moment?

I have begun work on a young adult novel – a genre I never expected to write in, but the ideas continue to take shape in my mind, so I feel compelled to get them down and see where the story takes me.

I have several other picture books and early readers nearly finished, so I will be looking for publishers for those soon.

*Marjorie Coughlan is PaperTigers' Associate Editor .

Posted June 2010, links updated May 2011

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