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If I Were the Moon By Jesse Terry |
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If you want to buy a great book for a child probably in the age range of
two to six years old, Riveting Riffs Magazine would recommend If I
Were the Moon, with the story by singer and songwriter Jesse Terry
and beautifully illustrated by Jacqueline East.
The book was first a song with the same title and the feedback
from Jesse Terry’s fans was he should adapt it to a book, which is
exactly what he did during the COVID pandemic. They were connected
through the publisher Schiffer Publishing Ltd. and the publishing
imprint Schiffer Kids.
Let’s start with the song Jesse, “The song is an honest expression of
emotion and it was written for my daughter Lily. It was a song that came
out quickly and it felt beautiful. When I sang it live, people started
saying that should be a children’s book. That is how it came about.
The more you write you start coming back to themes that you realize are
important to you and that resonate with you. There were themes about
family, but I don’t think there were any in the children’s book realm.
Even this one happened organically. It wasn’t intended to be a
children’s book.
When COVID hit the lives of everybody changed in an instant. We were
thinking about different projects that we could pivot to. My wife works
in live events and she lost her job. I remembered what my fans had said
in their feedback to this song. I thought that sounded like a really
great idea and I became passionate about creating this book.
For those who purchase the book, which is also available at Jesse
Terry’s concerts, they receive a bonus, because they can download for
free the song and the sheet music from the Jesse Terry website.
The cover of the book is illustrated in pastel colors, against a darker
blue canvas, with gold lettering announcing the title. The blonde-haired
child on the swing is based on Jesse Terry’s daughter Lily, right down
to her rain boots and clothes. Accompanying her on the swing, moored by
moonbeams, are a baby elephant and bunny, with the kindly white moon
looking down on them.
As for why and the how of the title If I Were the Moon, he explains,
“That was a line / title that just fell out. I was staying with my
family at a condo in Wildwood, New Jersey and you could see the ocean
from the balcony and the moon was really bright and shining down that
night. ‘If I were the moon,’ just
popped out. It took several months for me to figure out what I wanted to
do with that. I think you have to be aware when your mind thinks
something is interesting or when it makes your mind perk up. It took a
little while for me to figure out what I wanted the song to be about. I
thought personifying the moon for my daughter would be great. You want
to protect your children and you almost need a higher power to do that,
because life is so crazy. Things can change your life in an instant.”
As for connecting with Jacqueline East, Jesse Terry says, “Our publisher
sent us a few names of illustrators, but they also said you can use
whoever you want. Do your research and we did, but it turned out we fell
in love with Jacqueline’s work. We knew that she would be perfect. We
wrote to her and we called her over in Bristol, England and we had our
fingers crossed that she would say yes and she did.
Like Schiffer Publishing, Jacqueline has been at this for a long time.
She has illustrated and written books for decades. She was very generous
with her knowledge. I learned the whole process from storyboarding to
what eventually became the full paintings. It was very new to me. At one
point I asked Jacqueline a question and she said, ‘I am not the author
you know (he chuckles). I am the illustrator. I think of it as
co-writing a song, but in a co-writing situation you will say let’s
bring in this guy, because he is the best melody writer I have ever
heard. He is not the strongest lyricist, but he is the best melody
writer. I felt like for me I had the story, and I had the words, but
what Jacqueline did was a whole other thing. I would tell her what I was
envisioning and then she created it. It was really magical to see these
paintings come in. They are watercolor paintings. At one point I said to
her this might be a stupid idea, but can you do a scene where you can
see underwater and also overwater? She said yes. I can do that! That is
one of my favorite illustrations in the book. There are dolphins below
the water and Lily and her animal friends are in the rowboat up top and
the moon is up top. Jacqueline was so cool, because I said is there a
little mouse poking up from behind a leaf? In the underwater scene there
is a little octopus down at the bottom and some jelly fish. Everything
seemed to fit seamlessly. She has a knack for composition and the
incredible art that she (creates).”
Part of the magic with this book is every time you read it and look at
the illustrations you notice something you had not seen before, because
Jacqueline East put so much detail into her illustrations. Maybe it is a
goose wearing a sailing cap, perhaps a bird sliding down a moonbeam, the
little green turtles or starfish. To be both cute and reinforcing
safety, not only is Lily wearing a bicycle riding helmet, but so are the
goose, the elephant and the bunny.
He says, “I documented how I wanted them to be painted, what kind of
light I wanted and what type of scene I wanted. I would sometimes see a
photograph and I would say don’t paint this, but this is kind of vibe.
Maybe if I was writing a song with a great melody writer I would say, I
want something that is like say Brian Wilson, but not that. That is the
vibe.
I think (pastel colors) is more Jacqueline’s personal style. I did tell
her I wanted the moon lit and the really dark indigos, but I think if
you look at Jacqueline’s work, she has a certain palette and style, even
though she is very versatile and does a lot of different things. I love
her style. I always think of music analogies, but if you hire a guitar
player to play on your folk album, you don’t hire the Punk guy and say,
can you play something more like James Taylor or Bonnie Raitt. It was
really important to find the person who resonated with us.”
Writing a book is obviously different than writing a song, so we
wondered how Jesse Terry needed to adapt his writing style.
“Yes, definitely we went through that. It is a whole new thing. It’s not
just like adding lyrics to a song, Jacqueline you go paint this. We
added some lines to the book as well. When you are filling in more of
the blanks it is a very different experience. It has to be appealing to
children. It has to be something that is digestible for both an older
person and a four-year-old. It was a whole new experience for me. I
don’t know how to even talk about that.
I enjoy the process of creating art, letting things go and then putting
them out into the world. I don’t always understand it,” he says.
And Lily, what does she think?
“She had heard the songs and it helped as she got older and as artwork
started to come in. Jacqueline used real photographs of outfits Lily was
wearing to develop this character in the book. Even when she was just
three Lily would say that’s Lily, that’s Lily. She has always known that
it is about her and that she is in the book and she has always been
tickled by that. Now I think she has a sense of pride and she
understands more of it every day. She talks about it at school and with
her friends. I like that it is an evolving thing that she will treasure
for her whole life.”
There are some public book readings planned for If I Were the Moon.
“We are just setting some of those up now. We have some in Florida and
we are going to do some local readings. We have wonderful bookstores
near us. We are very lucky that we have some of the best. Since Schiffer
is a worldwide publisher, we are also working with the team over in
Europe to set up readings across the pond later this year. That is all
about to start happening and I will have to tell you how it goes. I
think it will be really good. I love that I can play the song and the
majority of the words are the same and I can show people how the book
began.
The response to the book so far has been great. We did a pre-sale for
signed and personalized books and we sold (a lot). People would send me
messages of what they wanted me to write. I have also played a few shows
since the book has been out and it has sold really well at the shows. It
is an interesting thing and a physical item that you can sell. I think
people still want to hold something even if they are not into CDs.
Reading a physical book can transport you to another place and time and
I am not sure if a tablet does that the same way,” he says.
Might there be some other Jesse Terry songs that we see turning into
books in the future?
“I think there might be one more. I am definitely into the idea of
writing more books. We just had a son and I feel it wouldn’t be fair to
him, if he wasn’t in a book as well. We don’t want to cause any issues
of jealousy. We also have canvases of art all over our place. It is
beautiful art, but I definitely want it to be balanced for him. I am
thinking of how the next one will be and how I will do it. I could go
down the same path and write a song for him.
The thing I like about this song and the book as well, is it is written
as one of my normal songs. It was written as an adult song that everyone
can relate to. I love that this came about organically. I love Raffi,
but I didn’t set out to write a Raffi song and I don’t intend on doing
that the next time,” says Jesse Terry.
As for the journey this book may take, any thoughts?
“I hope it is really successful and brings people a lot of joy and
comfort. It was written as a message of comfort and empowerment for my
daughter. I hope it inspires those feelings not just in my daughter, but
in many people around the globe, young and old,” he says.
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friend of mine introduced us to their publisher and they said don’t get
your hopes up, because this is a longshot. They (the publisher) got
right back to us and said, we love it and we would like to offer you a
book deal. It was an organic and easy thing, which rarely happens in the
arts world. Schiffer Publishing have been amazing to us as first-time
authors. They held our hand. There is an artform to everything and the
nitty gritty that only the experts know.”