Childrens Book Author McPhail at the Malden Library on Saturday

When I heard that the Malden Reads Committee had voted for “The Soloist” as the adult selection with its themes of homelessness and the redemptive power of music, I immediately thought of David McPhail’s “The Teddy Bear” and “Mole Music” as possible children’s selections. Much of McPhail’s work is imbued with kindness, compassion, generosity and friendship. The worlds that David McPhail creates in his books are wonderfully inspiring, filled with gentle warmth, and sometimes they pose quite deep philosophical issues. When the Malden Reads Committee responded enthusiastically to these two children’s books, I was pleased and looked forward to the prospect of introducing David McPhail’s creative vision with the Malden community.

My first encounter with the work of David McPhail occurred when I was working at Little, Brown in 1990, the year that they published his picture book “Lost!” In this marvelous story, a young boy, while walking in Boston, encounters a bear, who is crying because he is lost. The boy very kindly takes the bear around in an effort to find the bear’s home and ultimately succeeds in getting the bear back to familiar surroundings. When my children were young, we loved reading this story and recognizing Boston landmarks in the pictures. Poring over David McPhail’s illustrations is fun because of the wonderful details they contain.

One question that children’s book authors are frequently asked is “Where do you get your ideas?” In a 2006 film interview (“David McPhail: the Film,” produced by Peter Vandermark for Weston Woods) McPhail answers this question by explaining that “there are stories out there, like radio waves, and my brain is tuned to collect some of them, to catch them. I’ll start getting a little buzz, like there’s a story in me, trying to come out.” As for his illustrations, McPhail explains in “Drawing Lessons from a Bear” that “the pictures I see in my head are fuzzy and out of focus. That’s why I draw them—so I can better see what they look like.”

McPhail reveals his inspiration for “The Teddy Bear” on the jacket flap of the hardcover book. One winter evening, while parking at an art school that he was visiting in Portland, Maine, he noticed a homeless man stand up in a dumpster and then close the lid over himself. Under the man’s arm was a teddy bear. This image stayed with McPhail and was the seed that would germinate into “The Teddy Bear.”

The first few times that I read this picture book aloud, I remember that my voice wavered and my eyes welled with tears at the end when the boy realizes what his teddy bear means to the man and lets him keep the bear. The boy’s compassion and kindness created a surge of emotion within me, and I think it is important for children to experience how the written word—how art itself—has the power to affect us emotionally, by touching our souls and inspiring us.

About 12 years ago, McPhail decided that he wanted to put more of himself and his emotions into his work. His first attempt was “Mole Music,” which explores the desire to create and also introduces the philosophical question “What is art?” McPhail deliberately leaves this question open ended for readers to ponder, “Is music music if you only sit and play by yourself in a closed room? Is that still music? Is art art if you just sit and draw all day and fill sketchbooks as I do and no one ever sees them? Or does it not come to life until someone hears that music, until someone reads your book, someone looks at your drawings?”

Over the past 40 years, McPhail has written and illustrated dozens of children’s books. He graduated from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School in 1966 and lived for many years with his family in Newburyport, which is also where he grew up. He now lives in southern New Hampshire and has four children, three stepchildren, and six grandchildren.

We are delighted that David McPhail will be visiting the Malden Public Library on Saturday, April 23, at 3:00 p.m. One of the things he enjoys most about being an author and illustrator is the sense that through the books he creates, “someone somewhere is quietly connecting with me.” He would be delighted to meet his readers and answer their questions (which can be written in advance, if you’d like, and dropped off at the Children’s Room desk) as well as sign copies of his books that families may bring in. If you have any questions, feel free to call the Children’s Room of the Malden Public Library at 781-388-0803 or visit www.maldenreads.org.

Rebecca Smith is the Children’s Librarian at the Malden Public Library. She can be reached at rsmith@maldenpubliclibrary.com.