14 Comments

That pile of leaves reminds me of a kid version of Marjory the Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock. (I love it!)

Also: "You don’t have to work like everyone else. Your process is valid." Amen.

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Okay this is the BEST compliment I could ever receive. Thank you, Sarah!

And yes, I totally needed that reminder. I'd been feeling so nervous that while working on my current book, my brain hadn't come up with any new ideas (when I'm usually an idea queen). And Arnold Lobel helped me. I always seem to find something I really need from these studies!

P.S. Me too haha

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Such a delightful post, Rachel! :)

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Thank you, Elayne ❤️

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;)

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I love that pile of leaves! And Lobel has so many wise words of wisdom! Thanks for sharing them in one place. I am definitely going to return to them for inspiration.

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Thank you!!! And every time I collect things about a creator's process in these posts, I'm thinking at the end, "I hope Taylor writes a post about this soon." haha

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This is awesome. He’s one of my favs.

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Thank you, Jacob. Same! What are some of your favorite Lobel books and/or frog and toad stories?

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Oh jeez. I think all of them is the best answer. I reallly love their dynamic. I love the calendar story when Frog rips off months to get Toad out of the house. But the right answer is their friendship which is every story 😂

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Haha, I agree -- I swear every story has something I need right when I read it.

The calendar one is such a good one!!!

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What a time capsule that interview is. It makes sense how layered and expressive his drawings are based on his tracing paper method. All that care really comes through. I grew up with Mouse Soup and Mouse Tales and Arnold Lobel made the recordings for them, too, which I listened to over and over--he really was an entertainer at heart. My husband was given Owl at Home by his grandparents in 1982 and now we read that copy to my son.

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I'm so glad you checked out that interview! Seeing his tracing paper process was fascinating AND it was so cool that he was in the middle of making THE Owl at Home -- trying to figure out the cover. And oh my goodness, I need to listen to those recordings -- what a special memory. Thank you for sharing :)

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P.S. I'm glad you don't have rabies.

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