The Big Backyard Plan by Kirsten Ealand
and Laura Stitzel
Published by Affirm Press
Guest Author & Illustrator Post by Kirsten Ealand and Laura Stitzel
Thank you for speaking to Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords blog about your picture book The Big Backyard Plan, Kirsten and Laura.
The Big Backyard Plan is a story about four friends – Azumi, Theo, Bree and Jack who live side-by-side and back-to-back.
They love being neighbours but come up with a brilliant plan to make it even more fun – imagine if, instead of sharing backyard fences, they could share one BIG backyard! But first they need a plan to convince their grown-ups …
It’s a joyful picture book about best friends, big dreams, community and making the world a better place one good idea at a time – starting in your own backyard.
The Inspiration
Kirsten: The Big Backyard Plan was inspired by an idea I had as a child. I remember jumping on the trampoline in our suburban Sydney backyard and thinking about all the other houses around us and how they also all had trampolines (and lawn mowers and tool sheds and totem tennis etc) and how most of these things probably weren’t being used very much. I can clearly remember thinking – what if each house, instead of having its own items, shared these items between houses? This seemed like a way less wasteful and more environmentally friendly system to me. So The Big Backyard Plan explores this idea and shows the fun, excitement and spirit that can be felt when families learn to embrace sharing as a way of life.
In some ways I have put this idea to the test in my own life. My husband and I moved to a rural landshare community nearly twenty-five years ago, just before our first child was born. The nearly 100-acre property is shared between ten families, and though we all have our own house sites and look after our own bit of forest etc, we share the roads, water supply and swimming dam and meet to make collective decisions about the community. So I’ve dedicated The Big Backyard Plan to my husband and children and to all our neighbours on the community for coming along on this rural landshare adventure with me. It’s not quite sharing backyards, but it’s pretty close.
The Writing Process
Kirsten: So, when I started writing for kids, I had this idea in the back of my mind. I thought the premise would make a great picture book, but I wasn’t sure how to approach it. Then one day the first two lines just popped into my head with the meter exactly as it is in the final book.
Name and name and name and Jack
lived side-by-side and back-to-back.
I knew it was four kid’s names, but ‘Jack’ was the only name that came at first as obviously it had to rhyme with ‘back’. So quite handily, those first lines determined that it would be in rhyme, set the rhyme scheme and meter, and gave me a structure to write the narrative. I hadn’t imagined it would be in rhyme, but it added fun and a lovely rhythm that really fitted the tone of the story, so I kept it.
For any aspiring writers who find it helpful to know about timelines, I wrote the first draft of this story in November 2021, pitched version #69 to Tash Besliev from Affirm Press at Kid Lit Vic in May 2022, and Version #77 was contracted in March 2023.
First Impressions of the Story
Laura:
I assumed this story was based on yard-sharing during the COVID Lockdowns. I had heard a few cute stories about gates being inserted into fences to allow children to share their outdoor spaces. Little did I know it had been a part of Kirsten’s life a lot longer than that!
I loved this story from the start. I used to cook up all kinds of schemes with my friends when I was a kid – imagine if one of them actually panned out! On the other hand – I was a little overwhelmed. There are four main characters, each with their own houses and families. It seemed like a lot to tackle in one book.
I love filling my illustrations with little moments and interactions between characters that perhaps don’t reveal themselves on the first read. This comes from a childhood love of Where’s Wally and the works of Graeme Base. I loved that I could stare at those books for hours and still see new things every time I picked them up. I knew that this would have to be my approach for this book – to create an overarching visual story that showed the big events, but fill it with tiny moments that add up to a much bigger picture.
I also thought a lot about another childhood favourite – Window by Jeannie Baker and it’s more recent companion, Belonging. The way each book contains such a huge transition in small increments was a powerful influence for me.
Illustration Process
Laura:
I started out by sketching the four kids, and building a home life for them. I had some loose instructions on the children’s ethnicity, but everything else was up to me. For example – I decided Bree would be from a single parent household, Theo is part of a large Islander family, Jack is from a multi-generational household, Azumi has two dads, and so on.
I decided on the size and style of each house. I built a model out of cardboard and recycled boxes to help with continuity, scale and perspective. I had the help of my talented partner who is a set builder to make the houses. The roofs on Australian houses are deceptively complex! I added furniture, pot plants, a chicken coop, a pool, sheds and of course – removable fences. This felt like something between playing with dollhouses and being an architect.
In the last four spreads of the book, the fences have come down and the shared yards changes and develops. I used my cardboard village to shift furniture from one space to another, move pot plants, add in a bigger chicken coop, repurpose the sheds, and so on. This change happens incrementally, and I use a slightly wider perspective as the book progresses, so reference photos were key.
After taking all my photos, I used them to loosely map out the space where each illustration takes place. Then I added the characters, animals and plants, keeping in mind their progressing friendships as the story develops.
Here are some images of this process for one of the spreads:
First impressions of the Illustrations
Kirsten: The first illustrations I saw were not really ‘roughs’ at all and were just stunning! They were so thoughtful and detailed and except for some editorial tweaks they really didn’t change much at all. Besides being extremely talented, Laura has brought so much heart to the narrative. I always imagined a diverse group of kids and families, but Laura exceeded all my hopes and I think so many kids will be able to see something of themselves or their family in this book.
I also really wanted the end result of the kid’s big idea – sharing yards – to be better for everyone in the families, not just the kids. I think that’s the hall mark of a really great idea, that everyone wins in some way. I just love how Laura has portrayed this with such a variety of heartwarming and joyful interactions between families and between different family members. The teenage brother is a good example of what I mean, so look out for that. And the last few spreads are just so joyous!
Hopes for this book
Kirsten: I love how bold these kids are with their ideas and plans, how they work together to try to convince others of the merits of their idea and how they persevere and are resilient and adaptable when things don’t go according to plan. To manage and adapt to a climate-changed future, today’s kids are going to need all these qualities.
There are many alternative, compelling futures – so I think we need to start telling these stories now – including picture books like The Big Backyard Plan – to inspire and shape futures that feel better (and in this case, are more fun) than what we are living in now.
For me, The Big Backyard Plan is a very hopeful story – showing just one way to rethink our families and communities to live in a more sustainable way, and I would like kids who read this book to feel empowered to dream big, think outside the box and believe in their ability to make positive change.
Laura:
There is an abundance of children’s books that give instructions on sharing, friendship and caring for the environment. I think the best books deliver these lessons in the ‘spoonful of sugar’ of an engaging story. I love how so much happens in this book. Every character and environment has a narrative arc. I truly hope that it lights up our reader’s imaginations – then they will inevitably learn something along the way.
*****
About the author: Kirsten Ealand lives in a little patch of rainforest in northern NSW with her family and a slightly concerning number of geckos. She writes fresh, relatable books for kids, exploring themes of friendship and the environment, that she hopes will spark wonder, empathy and conversations. When not writing, she enjoys gardening and exploring in her camper, and works in her regional public library getting kids excited about books and reading.
About the illustrator: Laura Stitzel is an author, illustrator and animator from Melbourne. She is a picture book creator who works in a combination of watercolour, ink and digital painting. She has also worked on animated television shows for PBS, Disney, Warner Bros, Netflix, ABC and more.
The Big Backyard Plan at Affirm Press
Guest author post about Like a Gannet by Kirsten Ealand (illustrated by Deb Hudson) at Paperbark Words blog
paperbarkwords.blog 