Blog Tour: Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton

"Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of one's desires but by the removal of desire.....No man is free who is not master of himself."

So says Epictetus, the Stoic Greek philosopher. But try telling that to a dog. A playful, rambunctious dog, who says he will be good--who hopes to be good! But who just can't help himself when tempted with cake, Cat, and dirt.

Author and illustrator Chris Haughton has followed up the quietly reassuring Little Owl Lost with this slightly more frenzied offering about George, a dog who, when faced with temptation gives in wholeheartedly. The story reads like a cumulative tale: Harry (not a dog) is going out, and he has commanded George to be good. George agrees, promising to not just be good but to be "very good". Yet George seems aware of his limitations, because Harry is no sooner out the door than George has gone from "I'll be very good," to, "I hope I'll be good." Each temptation is met against a serene backdrop of white space, as if reduced to a single, focused moment as dog eyes cake/Cat/dirt. "What will George do?" the narrator asks. The turn of the page, the assault of neon orange, and the words, "Oh no, George!" says it all. Harry eventually comes home, and George must face what he has done.

The charm of the book is that the reader knows what's coming, but it's still funny. The delicious anticipation of answering each "What will George do?" with a turn of the page to reveal--oh no!--a big mess, never gets old. Which is also what makes the ending so rewarding for the reader (more about that in the author interview.)  Haughton's use of bright orange each time George gives in to temptation is a wonderful way to visualize the madness which must take hold of this poor dog when he tries to be good but just can't make it.

The story ends with a cliffhanger, of sorts, but the back cover is, I think, the true conclusion. It is a picture of George, the recipient of a group hug from Harry and Cat. George is naughty. George is weak. But George is also loved. It's a wonderfully reassuring way to end the book, particularly for children who might very well see themselves in George.

It has been my pleasure to kick off the blog tour for Oh No, George. Be sure to visit the book's other stops in the US, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

14th	UK	Playing by the Book
15th	NZ	Christ Church Kids
16th	UK	Wam Bahm
19th	US	There’s a Book
20th	AUS	My Little Bookcase
21st	US	Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
22nd	UK	Being a Mummy
23rd	AUS	The Book Chook

As part of the tour, Chris took the time to answer some questions about Oh No, George!

Chris Haught

NJFK: The title Oh No, George! really sets the tone of the book from the very beginning; a sense of inevitable mishap despite good intentions. And it is easy to see from the repetition of the phrase within the story why it makes a good title. But I thought the book could have also been called What Will George Do? based on the number of times George is faced with temptation, and the reader is asked to predict his response (particularly at the end.) Could you tell a bit about how you settled on the book's title?

CH: Yes! That was the other title that I was thinking of using. The very reasons you describe are what I liked about "Oh No, George!" The inevitable disaster combined with the worried face makes a more interesting image and picture in the mind. ‘What will George do?’ probably describes the book better but just didn’t seem to have as much comedy.

NJFK: I'm not a dog owner, but I am a parent, and I remember a time when my toddler's behaviour was not unlike George's. How intentional was the connection between dog and child when you were writing the book? Or did you just set out to write a funny book about a dog, and any similarity to childlike behaviour is mere serendipity?

CH: I set out to just write a simple funny story that is hopefully easy to relate to. When we can see George’s thought process weighing up whether he should eat the cake I think its something we can all empathise with whether you are a toddler or an adult. It seemed funnier to have that dilemma through the eyes and thoughts of a dog than a child or human. It’s true though that the things he enjoys doing and his level of self-control are probably about similar to a toddler’s. I think that helps give him his charm, he isn’t a complicated dog!

NJFK: Can you explain a little bit about how you created the illustrations? How do pencil and digital media work together?

CH: My drawings are quite rough and sketchy when I scan them in. What I am looking for in the sketch is a good expression or pose and I often find that the rougher and quicker it is made the more expressive it is. I colour and tweak the sketch and add the details on the computer while trying to retain the expressiveness of the original drawing.

NJFK: I love the quote by Epictetus at the beginning of the book. I went back and checked, and there is also a quote from Robinson Crusoe at the beginning of your previous picture book, Little Owl Lost. In each case the literary reference brings a sense of gravitas to what might otherwise be viewed as just a "simple" picture book story. Where did you get the idea to include these references? And were they in any way starting points for your stories (because we know that picture books are never merely "simple"!)

CH: They weren’t starting points, I came up with them after I came up with the stories in both cases. I was looking for ways to add something more to Little Owl Lost, a little epigraph or something to add a little more meaning. It was a friend that suggested looking at Crusoe. I looked around and found a great line that basically says ‘you don’t know what you’ve got until its gone’ but of course in great 18th Century English, I just liked the thought of putting an eloquent epigraph from Defoe alongside my little story about an owl falling out of a tree. They are so different but whether you are Robinson Crusoe or an owl who has fallen out of his nest its probably true to say you don’t appreciate what you’ve got until it’s gone.


For George I originally wanted to quote something from ‘the difficulty of being good’ by Gurcharan Das or from Buddhism about control of one’s mind but eventually settled on that one from the stoic philosopher Epictetus. I like the quotes and it’s something I want to continue in future books.

NJFK: At the end of the book you give the reader one more chance to predict what George does, but you don't reveal the answer. Do you know if he dug through the trash and just aren't saying, or are you giving the reader the opportunity to continue the story?

CH: I didn’t want to finish it. It would be too simple (and dishonest!) to have him be good at the end and too much of an easy gag to have him dive into the rubbish. The ending is neither and so it leaves everyone wondering what happens next. I was unsure about leaving it open but my sister who is a teacher of very young children loved the idea that it is left open so that afterwards they can have a class discussion. In the readings I have done we have great fun after the story deciding what George will do.

Personally I think he probably jumped in the rubbish. Sometimes there are things at the very bottom of the rubbish bin that smell so good it’s hard not have a little rummage!

NJFK: Which picture book illustrators do you particularly admire or whose work you especially enjoy?

CH: I like Leo Lionni for his simplicity, whenever I feel I’m overcomplicating something I will look at some of his books and see how it can be done more simply. I really love Kitty Crowther and Beatrice Alemagna's work for their drawn details and patterns. I love the humour of Tom Gauld, Neal Layton and Ed Vere. Many of my favourite illustrators are French; Chamo, Marc Boutavant, Olivier Tallec. There are so many nice young books for the very young published with Thierry Magnier and editions memo in France:
http://www.editions-thierry-magnier.com/
http://www.editions-memo.fr/

NJFK: Are there any authors you would like to work with, or do you prefer illustrating your own work?

CH: I think I would prefer to keep writing my own books. I’d feel uncomfortable working with a writer on a picture book because the process I have found to work for me involves working with the text and images at the same time and it’s very back and forth. I can’t really think of another way of really making it work for me. I think I would drive anyone else involved crazy!

Win me!

A big thank you to Chris Haughton for taking the time to answer my questions, and also to the folks at Candlewick for providing me with a copy of the book to preview. As one last special bonus, I am pleased to offer a signed print from Oh No, George! (as seen above.) To be entered in the give away, all you have to do is leave a comment or share this post via twitter or facebook (and make sure you let me know about it!)

Update: Congratulations to Carol Rasco, the winner of the Chris Haughton print! 

Author Interview: Krista Russell

New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1851

With the establishment of time and place, Krista Russell sets the stage for her debut novel, Chasing the Nightbird. This historical adventure for middle grade readers (or anyone with an interest in the history of whaling) tells the story of Lucky Valera, a fourteen year old boy who has grown up at sea, working on whaling ships with his father. After his father's death, Lucky plans to continue working as a whaler, until the appearance of an unknown step-brother, Fernando Fortuna.

A landlubber through and through, Fortuna forces Lucky into a sort of endentured servitude to pay off a debt owed him by their father. Lucky has no intention of working for his brother, particularly when he finds himself laboring in a textile mill, and is constantly scheming to get back out to sea and reconnect with the Nightbird. But encounters with Emmeline, a Quaker girl involved in the Abolitionist movement, and a fugitive slave named Daniel, force Lucky to change his plans.

As a Cape Verdean, Lucky suddenly finds himself at risk of losing his physical freedom--not simply his economic freedom--when slave catchers come to New Bedford to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act. Having always lived as a free citizen, Lucky does not identify himself with Daniel (although there is a lovely moment when Daniel sings The Drinking Gourd and Lucky mentions that sailors navigate by the Big Dipper as well.) Lucky might wish nothing more than to return to sea, but fate and circumstances conspire against him.

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Not Just For Kids: I have to start by saying how much I love the lyricism of the book's title. Did you come up with it or was it a collaboration between you and your editor? Other than the image which it creates in my mind of pursuing an actual bird (which of course isn't what the book is about, despite the ubiquitous Delph,) so much of the story is about pursuit: Daniel pursing freedom, Lucky pursuing freedom, Emmeline pursuing social justice, the slave catchers pursuing runaway slaves, Fortuna pursuing wealth, and Lucky's initial desire to actually track down and catch-up with the Nightbird. Was that a theme that you were consciously developing as you wrote the story? How did the story change from what you originally set out to write (if it changed at all?)

Krista Russell

Krista Russell: I love the title, too! I wish I could take credit for it, but it came from Jessica Alexander, my brilliant editor at Peachtree. The original title was A Following Sea, but the marketing folks at Peachtree thought it sounded too adult (on reflection, I had to agree). I tried for weeks to come up with a good alternative, but nothing sounded right. As soon as Jessica suggested Chasing the Nightbird, I knew she’d found the book’s title.

I’m not sure I was conscious of the theme of pursuit until Jessica suggested the title. I added the line where Emmeline says “Keep chasing your precious Nightbird. And good riddance!” (along with other references to the ship and where she’d be) at that time.

NJFK: Having grown up in the Boston area, I really identified with Lucky's connection to the sea. I loved the bit at the beginning, during his first day in the mill, when Lucky is trying to center himself by finding the harbor, and his distress at being so land-locked within the walls of the mill. I lived for six years in England, and 4 1/2 of those years were spent in Derby. You are probably not familiar with Derby, but it is in the Midlands, smack in the middle--about as far from the sea as you can get. That's unfortunate when you think that England is an island! Having never lived more than twenty minutes from the shore my entire life, it was an adjustment.

KR: I grew up in MA and in Kennebunkport, ME and I sooo identify with the land-locked feeling. Atlanta’s fatal flaw is that it’s a 4 hour drive from the beach :). We have lovely lakes nearby, but it’s not the same, is it?   


 NJFK: I was unaware of New Bedford's mill history (I always think of Lowell when thinking of mills.) I like how you represented the two cultures in the town: whaling culture and mill culture. While they are not necessarily in conflict with each other, as a reader I got the impression that they were rival businesses competing for the economic heart of the city. Is this true? And that clash of culture comes through in other aspects of the story; Lucky certainly looks down on "land-lubbers" at the start, and Fortuna has turned his back on the sea and the life of their father. And then there is Brisco [the mill manager] who repeatedly refers to Lucky as lazy and incompetent simply because he can't keep up with the more experienced spinners. How much research did you have to do into the two industries?

KR: I found the contrast between the whaling and textile industries really interesting and enjoyed researching both. What happened in New Bedford reflected what was happening in the US (more so in northern states) during the Industrial Revolution. The mills came to New Bedford during the golden age of whaling, but grew as whaling began to wane – finally becoming the engine driving the city’s economy.

Just as New Bedford’s identity had begun to change, our country was facing an identity crisis – illustrated by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. I was interested in this theme, and how our beliefs, experiences, and the groups we belong to shape our identities. 

NJFK: Did Quakers settle in New Bedford because the city was tolerant, or did New Bedford become a tolerant place because of the presence of the Quakers?

KR: Great question! Some of the founding families of New Bedford were Quaker, and more came over from Nantucket (where whaling had started) after a fire in 1846 destroyed Nantucket’s commercial district and sandbars made it hard for the increasingly larger whaleships to dock.

I had attributed New Bedford’s prominence in the abolitionist movement and its reputation as a safe haven for runaway slaves (who made up a higher percentage of the population than in New York or Boston) to Quakerism. But I found that the whaling industry and the whalemen themselves also played an important role.

I was fascinated that men who lived by the whalemen’s commandments (tongue-in-cheek though they may have been) were also active in the abolitionist movement. Although many captains and ship owners were Quaker (hard to picture them embracing the whalemen's commandments) the average sailor was not. A whaleship formed its own society (understandable given that the average whaling voyage was over 3 years) and in many ways a more egalitarian one. The work was so dangerous and the crew so dependent on one another for survival, that judgments tended to be made based on ability rather than skin color. It seemed to me that when prejudice existed it tended to be green hand (landlubber) vs. experienced sailor. Have you ever seen the show Deadliest Catch? The same dynamic exists today.

NJFK: How much research did you have to do into sailor suspicions? They are so ingrained in Lucky's philosophy. And what about the whalemen's commandments? What is their source?

KR: I did a good bit of research on sailor’s superstitions – mainly because I was intrigued by how suspicious they are (I love that a black cat is good luck to a sailor). But also because I was trying to get a feel for the world and worldview of a whaleman. The whalemen’s commandments came from Black Hands, White Sails, an amazing book about the history of African-American whalers by Patricia C. and Frederick L. McKissack. I’d been struggling with building a compelling main character, and as soon as I read the commandments I knew I’d found Lucky.

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Readers, you should go and find Lucky, too. Chasing the Nightbird is a satisfying read with strong characters and thought-provoking contrasts between freedom and slavery, land and sea, plans and destiny.

Thank you to Krista Russell for kindly answering my questions and Blue Slip Media for providing me with a copy of the ARC.