From: Lee Wardlaw Jaffurs <lwardlaw>
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 10:32:07 -0700

Accuracy in illustrations should be held to standards as high as that for text.>

I agree. And it's important in certain types of fiction, too.

When I first saw the artwork for my adaptation of the Hawaiian folktale
_Punia and the King of Sharks_ (Dial, 1997), I felt like I'd been conked on the head by a coconut. The illustrations were lush and lovely, but it was obvious the artist hadn't done quite enough research. Instead of a Hawaiian village, he'd drawn Tahitian huts; pineapples and hibiscus 'grew' on every page, despite the fact that they weren't introduced to the Hawaiian Islands until several hundred years after my story took place; the lobsters the boy, Punia, stole from the King of Sharks were New England lobsters, not spiny Pacific, etc., etc.

To save the project, I traveled to the Bishop Museum in Hawaii and bought the books on the Hawaiian culture published and used by their Department of Education to teach Hawaiian history in the schools. I sent them to the illustrator, and the artwork is completely accurate now - -and stunning. But I hate to think what would've happened if I hadn't been allowed a peek at the art before the book went to press . . .

Lee Wardlaw lee at leewardlaw.com www.leewardlaw.com
Received on Tue 23 Apr 2002 12:32:07 PM CDT