Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits of Aotearoa writers, and guests. This week: Ruth Paul, children’s author and creator of HELP! A Monster Ate My Story, a new play for families.
The book I wish I’d written
They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel. It’s a brilliantly simple way of presenting the complex idea of perspective, and how we all see the world differently. It’s also about art, and perfectly demonstrates the concept of a good picture book being greater than the sum of its parts.
Everyone should read
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, because dystopia is really that close and surprising.
The book I want to be buried with
I am going to ignore the coffin and reframe this as “The book I want to be locked-up in solitary confinement with.” This will be a book I could memorise from start to finish, the words providing sustenance, solace and escape. A big ask requiring a big book, leading to: The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese.
The first book I remember reading by myself
Could be Charlotte’s Web, or Alfred Hitchcock’s The Three Investigators series. OR … shhhh … the Henry Miller books I got out of Island Bay library and scoured for the filthy bits. To this day, I have no idea about the rest of his writing.
I wish I’d never read
Well, Henry Miller as a primary school student, for the anatomical and grammatical confusion. But the writing community is small here and as for any other books I wish I’d never read, well, I would never say.
However, a few years back I was on a writing course in Pennsylvania when they opened the mic for a “literary complaints” session. “Aha,” I thought. “I don’t know a soul here. This is my moment!” I got up and did a wildly successful 10 minutes on all the poo-focussed picture books I hated. But afterwards, as I was congratulating myself on being so witty, people kept asking me to say “poo” again, and it occurred to me that perhaps my accent was what they found so hilarious.
To explain: Americans say “poop” like “toot”, all very cute and polite, whereas we make the word sound like a cross between itself and a fart. Honestly, they couldn’t get enough.
It’s a crime against language to …
… not care enough about the words and images in picture books that we offer tamariki. It can be the cheap, fast, market-driven slop with hyper-googly-eyed characters and fluorescent/primary palettes, or (sorry to say) earnest self-published didactic texts with no real story and slightly-creepy or terrifying illustrations. A widely held assumption is that because picture books are easy to read they must be easy to create, but for any picture-book of quality this is sadly untrue.
The book that haunts me
Prophet Song, again. And The Shadow King by Maaza Mengabe (to be read before or after Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.)
The book that made me cry
John Greene’s The Fault in Our Stars. And Bambi, always Bambi – the cheap book that came out with the movie, like the kind I just slated above.
The book that made me laugh
I love a funny book! Top five are: Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood, Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre, and The Wheels on the Bus illustrated by Paul O. Zelensky, for the pull-the-flap spread of the babies on the bus going “waah waah waah!” and the mums’ eyes rolling back at the same time as the babies scream … delightful.
The book I never admit I’ve read
Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules For Life, which I bought it from Unity where they must have been giving me the side-eye. Mind you, I bought Hillbilly Elegy there, too, a while back. Do you think the staff keep a secret tally of what you are reading, and gossip about it at Friday drinks?
The book character I identify with most
Pippi Longstocking – because who doesn’t want to lift a horse? Once I visited a school during their Book Week dressed as Pippi Longstocking because I thought it was their book-character dress-up day. But in fact it was their cultural dress-up day. I think I convinced them all that stripy tights are a big thing in Copenhagen.
The book character I never believed
Those posh kids in Narnia. Sorry everyone.
Encounter with an author
I once went on a Storylines tour in a small van with Anthony Browne, Colin Thompson and Gavin Bishop (Gavin can back me up on this). Each of these towering male titans of the children’s picture book world could not have been more different. Colin took a strange dislike to Anthony, especially his very fine head of hair, and got slightly hysterical when Gavin mentioned that some of his artwork was kept in a “hermetically sealed” container. From then on, Colin sat in the back of the van spitting out one rude ditty after another under his breath. If you cross my palm with silver I can probably tell you more.
Or – I once went four-wheel driving through a desert in Sharjah with two Caldecott winners, Brendan Wenzel and Carol Boston Weatherford and although I really wanted to be impressive and interesting I just screamed the entire time.
Or – once, Stacy Gregg and I got Tessa Duder tipsy on a mini champagne bottle in a van at the end of a book tour. She told us everything. That’s right, NZ kid-lit peeps: me and Stacy know it all now, so be sure never to cross us.
Best thing about reading
With novels, I love the slowing down of my thoughts, the quieting of my brain. It is exactly the opposite of what happens when I’m doomscrolling. After a few minutes of focus all other considerations drop away and for five/10/15 minutes I’m somewhere else.
With picture books, I love the way my brain has to invent connections between the words and the pictures, the stretch it has to make to animate the images, and the leaps it takes as I turn from one page to the next. It’s like riding a bike – all these little subconscious motions that once learned become second-nature. A good picture book is like free-wheelin’ with the wind at your back. I could write a country song about it.
Best food memory from a book
Not exactly a food memory but a taste/smell memory: Perfume by Patrick Süskind, at the very beginning where the baby is born under the stinking fish table in a stinking market.
PS: There is a huge pile of extraordinary, amazing books that spring to mind that I forgot to mention. Just – thank you to everyone who ever wrote or illustrated a book that I happen to have read. You have added to my life in ways you can never imagine.
HELP! A Monster Ate My Story written by, and starring, Ruth Paul is on at Circa Theatre, Wellington between April 7-19. Ruth Paul is the author of many books, including Ghost Kiwi ($21, Scholastic) and Hatch & Match ($19, Walker Books).
