ARMANDO'S ISLAND: Interview With Author Marsha Diane Arnold

CREATIVE EDITIONS, 2023

HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY to a new and important picture book, ARMANDO'S ISLAND, and to its creators, Marsha Diane Arnold and illustrator, Anne Yvonne Gilbert. 

Marsha Diane Arnold

 It has been my pleasure and an honor to review this impressive new offering (HERE) and several other previous titles by Arnold, HERE and HERE. She has kindly agreed to discuss some of my questions and I'm delighted to share that conversation with readers today, on LAUNCH DAY for ARMANDO's ISLAND.

SB: Thanks for taking time to respond to my questions, Marsha. ARMANDO’S ISLAND is such a lovely, lush, and important new picture book that I’m imagining you are quite busy celebrating its release today. I'll get right into it so you can go back to cake and tropical treats!.

Which came first for you in this writing- the topic of the rainforest, the character Armando, or something else? Readers love hearing the story behind a story.

 

MDA:  

First, I should explain that I wrote this story over twenty years ago. I don’t have a lot of my early notes. I’ve always loved nature and wildlife. I feel most at home in nature, surrounded by wildlife. I’ve been involved for decades with organizations that work to preserve nature and our precious wildlife. For me to write a story, a fable really, about the destruction of the rainforest, was not a big leap. To answer your question, I started with the rainforest and its wildlife

SB:  From that response, I wonder if you could share more about your research process and decisions in terms of writing fiction or nonfiction, writing realistic contemporary or taking a slightly fantastical/magical approach? How did you “land” on the storytelling approach here?

 

MDA:

I’m a storyteller at heart. I enjoy writing fiction stories and I often use anthropomorphic animals.  I feel young children naturally relate to stories and talking animals. In my Lights Out, also from Creative Company, I wanted to write about how light pollution affects animals, but I didn’t want to do it with non-fiction. I chose to write the tale of a group of animals, searching together for Darkness, trying to escape the constant light that surrounded them. So too I decided to write a fable-like story of the rainforest and its destruction. 

 

My memory is that I wrote this story fairly quickly and didn’t research extensively. I already knew what was happening in the rainforest. I already knew a bit about the wildlife that lived in the rainforest. I needed a setting and I did think about other places, like Indonesia, but the wildlife of the Amazon rainforest called to me. 

 

But your questions caused me to think again. I have almost no notes on my computer, but I wrote the story over two decades ago. I searched my file cabinet and lo and behold! There, in a drawer rarely opened, was a long forgotten file entitled Armando’s Island. In it I found a 1993 note from the World Wildlife fund about tropical rain forests! I found a brochure from the Rainforest Alliance, information from Amazon Watch, and notes I’d taken from other books about the rainforest. I was probably collecting information for years before I sat down to write. This often happens with me. An idea tumbles in my head for months or years, I collect information as I come across it, and finally sit down to write the story.

 

SB: An aside... I recently moved and downsized many things, but transported some of my own writing files (hard copies), even ones I hadn't opened for years. Your response encourages me to think that I might one day be glad i did. Thank you.

 Back to the subject at hand...

Do you dream of the rainforest, of visiting it, of returning to it? Do other habitats and global destinations call to you?

MDA: 

My husband and I had a tiny casita in Costa Rica for a time. It was near the forest. Toucans, peccaries, and monkeys surrounded us. To me, that was heaven. And yes, I’d love to visit more rainforests around the world. The setting of my first book, Heart of a Tiger, was India, yet I’ve never visited. Besides the Amazon, I’ve longed to visit India and see a tiger in the wild.

 

SB: My review mentioned the challenges felt by individual protectors standing strong against more wealthy and powerful forces. Would you share your thoughts about that, and about how young readers might retain their purpose and determination when feeling very small or helpless?

 

MDA: I think we all feel small and helpless against the forces of destruction. My May 2023 book One Small Thing had this exact theme. It’s a “cozy” book, even though Raccoon loses his home to a lightning strike in it. The other animals don’t know how to help, until they each realize that they don’t have to do something big.  Just one small thing will benefit. All those small things together can make a big difference. Each of us can do “one small thing” to help the rainforest, whether it’s eating local beef and fruits or avoiding products with palm oil. Perhaps, most importantly, we can start by learning about the rainforests and their wildlife. When we learn about them, we will care. Only when we care, will we have the will to do something.

 

I’m currently working on an Activity Guide for Armando’s Island. That will be one way to learn about the rainforest and how to protect it. I hoped to have the guide on my website by launch day, but it is likely to be available be early September as schools resume.

 

SB: Is there something else about this book that you’d like readers to know?

 

MDA: 

The illustrations are magnificent. As my grandson says, “They’re so detailed.” Anne Yvonne Gilbert is a world-renowned illustrator and I am humbled to have had her do the illustrations for Armando’s Island. If you, like me, can’t fly off to a rainforest right now, just open Armando’s Island and sit for awhile with the beautiful wildlife Anne Yvonne has painted.

 

SB: I can't wait to do that very thing. (I reviewed a file of the book.) My preordered copy should arrive today!

I have no doubt that you are busy celebrating the release of this wonderful new book, but you are also likely to be involved in writing/planning for new works and upcoming releases. Are you able to share any news or hint at some sprouts?

 

MDA: The truth is that I’ve had two books come out this year and with all the PR for those, plus the manuscript consultations I do for other writers, I’ve had little time to work on my own projects. However, I did sell a manuscript in January that I am very excited about. It hasn’t been announced, so sadly, I can’t share about it quite yet. It is non-fiction, most unusual for me, but it’s not about a person or an animal. Wait until you see! Look for it in spring 2025! 

 

I do have several stories I am eager to begin work on or finish up. A couple of those are about animals. Probably not a surprise.

 

Thank you so much, Sandy, for your interest in my work and the rainforest!

 

SB: Diane, I am so grateful for having this opportunity to share the book and your responses with readers here. Thank you again for sharing your time and thoughts. Congratulations on the importance and success of this latest release, and the upcoming new title-- I'm so excited to learn more!

Readers, you can read my recent review HERE, and praise from others HERE, and HERE.

 

Marsha Diane Arnold

Website: www.marshadianearnold.com

Social media access:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarshaDArnold/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshaDianeArnoldAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshadianearnoldauthor/

 

 

 

 

 

ARMANDO'S ISLAND: Trust Your Values

 

CREATIVE EDITIONS, 2023

Author Marsha Diane Arnold has produced another sure-to-be-classic picture book, ARMANDO'S ISLAND,  whose narrative and illustrations will entrance readers of any age. The cover itself is an invitation to immerse ourselves in the incomparable home of flora, fauna, and a young character who is wise beyond his years.

Readers first meet Armando as he breaks the fourth wall by aiming his gaze at YOU, the reader, who has found him in his home. Arnold's direct yet lyrical text incorporates accurate rainforest terms and descriptions, nestled within a heart-tugging fictional tale about the power of purpose in Armando's life. By connecting so strongly with readers through text and images, they, too, will experience that purpose. Rich with sensory detail, even though written as a third person narrative, the unfolding text channels Armando's daily life so intimately that it opens readers to sensing "the leaves crunching beneath him", "mud squishing between toes", and the intimate connection he feels to this leafy refuge.

From the pre-narrative note about Armando's responsibility for a specific small tract within the rainforest, to the title page art which gently frames his home in a heart-shaped form, the mood is set to fall in love with the rainforest and root for everything Armando loves. Even before the main text begins.

Within the first few page turns we note that Armando has grown from a boy to a young man who treasures those early years of his life and the ways in which the rainforest continues to offer him peace and security. He (through the high-stakes text) perceives whirring chainsaws, rumbling trucks, flames, and other ominous signs closing in from all directions. This raises the stakes for him and for readers. Within single lines of text, various creatures "no longer..." (text describes typical behaviors), providing information about rainforest inhabitants while sustaining emotional investment and growing concern for their welfare.

In a classic "storymagician" approach, three sets of "others" make their ways to Armando to offer every conceivable option in exchange for his increasingly isolated "island" of rainforest. In each case Armando considers, respectfully, but declines. In each case, surrounding parcels that are lost to development lead creatures from those areas to take refuge within Armando's territory. The conclusion does not surprise, in terms of Armando's choices or the resulting effect on the wildlife. Instead it affirms and reassures readers. If anything manages to suspend belief it is that his rights and wishes prevailed, since that is so seldom the case when money and power are involved. This, though, merits our trust and confidence, since a single read-through will leave us with shock and chagrin that ANYONE would destroy such a treasure. I can't imagine anyone reading this book only once. EVERYONE must move through cynicism to believe, and HOPE, as Armando does, that the siren song of rainforest awareness might one day reawaken in those who have lost sight of what has real value. 

Back matter provides brief paragraphs about some of the animals whose presence and behaviors appear within the narrative. 

I can't resist spending some moments on the incredibly skilled and beguiling illustrations of Anne Yvonne Gilbert.  The intricate details, layered lives, emotional energy, and delightful demeanors that weave themselves into each scene invite readers to experience indirectly as many elements of a rainforest habitat as those who live within it. Any single spread could be displayed as a work  of art, yet the shifting perspectives, maturing Armando, distressed and desperate animals, and determined intruders contribute immensely to the page-turning power of this story. Although I often insist on not having favorites among many decades of picture book loves, I will always include Lynne Cherry's THE GREAT KAPOK TREE: A Tale of the Rainforest among my "Best of ALL Time" listings. (Clarion Books, 2000). If you haven't read it, please do, and consider "voicing" the animals who speak in the boy's dream in ways that mirror their natural sounds. Feel the urgency of those desperate KAPOK TREE residents as they beg for protection of their singular, remarkable home. It, too, is a sort of island of survival within a rainforest. 

ARMANDO'S ISLAND stands strong and proud in the long wake of this classic picture book. It offers just as much allure and emotional depth while informing and inviting participation by the reader in important decisions about the preservation of the rainforest. In this case, the animals speak only through their compelling expressions and natural impulse to seek survival within a shrinking habitat. Armando is wide awake to the reality of what is being offered to him and what the consequences of his choices would mean. This new offering, like Cherry's more fanciful account, is informational fiction at its best.

Aramano's Island is available for preorder HERE.  I am grateful to Marsha Diane Arnold for agreeing to respond to several questions and will share our conversation in a future post on August 8, the release date. I hope you'll check in to see what she has to say about writing this remarkable text.