Sarah Mackenzie (00:00): It's like a little prologue almost right before the title page. Matt Tavares (00:03): Yeah, the cold open, yeah. Sarah Mackenzie (00:04): Yeah, exactly, exactly. We do it all the time in podcasting, we have a cold open. We probably had one on this episode. Matt Tavares (00:09): Yeah, we can do a cold open about a cold open. Sarah Mackenzie (00:12): That's, oh, my gosh, amazing. Tara, I hope you're taking notes. Hey there, I'm Sarah Mackenzie and this is the Read-Aloud Revival, the show that helps you make meaningful and lasting connections with your kids through books. Listen, there is no shortage of Christmas picture books out there but, I'll be honest, I am pretty picky when it comes to Christmas picture books. For a book to be worthy of my kid's Christmas stack or for it to be worthy to be on a Read-Aloud Revival Christmas book list, it's got to be excellent. For a book to be worth choosing for Read-Aloud Revival's Christmas School, it's got to be a bridge beyond excellent. That's why I'm excited to talk to author and illustrator Matt Tavares today. (01:11): Matt Tavares is the bestselling author and illustrator of so many beloved books for children including Zachary's Ball, Becoming Babe Ruth, Growing Up Pedro, lots of sports-related picture books and a few of my favorite Christmas picture books, the Dasher series and, one of my tippy-top all-time favorites, Red and Lulu. Matt lives with his family in Maine and he's here today to talk about some of my all-time favorite Christmas books. Matt, welcome to the Read-Aloud Revival, we're so happy to have you here. Matt Tavares (01:50): Thank you. Happy to be here. Sarah Mackenzie (01:52): So, first things first. I have to tell you, I was so delighted on your website, I read that, from the time you were very young, your mother read to you every night and I was like, "Well, let's just start there." Tell me about that. Matt Tavares (02:05): Oh, yeah, that's my first introduction to children's books was just my mom reading every night and helping me fall in love with books. And there are some books I still hear the story in her voice when I look at them now so, yeah, that's definitely a- Sarah Mackenzie (02:21): Do you like favorites? Was there a favorite you can think of I loved it when she read that one to me? Matt Tavares (02:25): My one favorite that I really remember that wasn't just a standard that everyone knows is Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber. Sarah Mackenzie (02:31): Oh, yes, I love that book. Matt Tavares (02:33): I love that book. Just about a kid going for a sleepover, worrying about whether to bring his teddy bear and it was just such a good read-aloud. Sarah Mackenzie (02:43): I actually remember that book from my childhood as well and we have it on our shelf so I've read it to my kids and love that one too. Matt Tavares (02:49): Oh, nice. Sarah Mackenzie (02:50): But I don't think as many people know about it. We'll have to put that one in the show notes for [inaudible 00:02:53]. Matt Tavares (02:52): One really cool thing, early in my career, I was at a book festival and I sat next to Bernard Waber for the signing. So, it was he's just sitting, I had him sign my copy and got to just hang out with him for those couple hours. It was pretty surreal for me. Sarah Mackenzie (03:11): Yeah. And then you get the opportunity to be like, "Wow, I'm doing the same thing for kids that he did for me really," [inaudible 00:03:17]. Matt Tavares (03:16): Yeah, yes, pretty special. Sarah Mackenzie (03:19): That's special. You write and illustrate, of course, you illustrate some books written by others. It seems like, more lately, you're writing and illustrating your own books, all doing both pieces of that. Is there one part that comes more easily to you or naturally to you than the other, the writing or the illustrating? Matt Tavares (03:34): Yeah. The illustrating has always been the easier part for me, that's what takes most of the time too. I wouldn't say it's easy but it's, for a lot of the books, once I got past the writing and I could focus on the illustrating, that's when I felt, all right, now I'm doing something I know how to do where the writing was a bit more of a struggle. Although I feel like I've gotten to where I'm ... I love the books where I do both and they are so intertwined that I feel like they're more all part of the same process now than I used to. It's really just you're telling a story, it's going to be told with words and pictures and figure out which parts are told with words and which parts are told with pictures and it all jumbles together. Sarah Mackenzie (04:22): Yeah. Do you find yourself going back and editing the writing after you've done more illustrating like, "Oh, I guess I don't need to say that because I just did that story telling." Matt Tavares (04:29): Exactly. Sarah Mackenzie (04:29): Yeah. Matt Tavares (04:29): Yup, yup. Usually, my first drafts are longer and then, as I figure out which parts of the story will be told with pictures, I realize I don't need those words and I don't need those words and I just hack away at it until you're left with just the words that you need to go along with the pictures to tell the story. Sarah Mackenzie (04:49): Well, not very many picture book creators have as many Christmas books as you do. Tomie dePaola had a lot of Christmas books, he's a good friend of mine before he passed and- Matt Tavares (04:59): Mm-hmm, yeah. No, he's great. Sarah Mackenzie (05:00): Yes. I love his ... I just feel like you can tell the man loves Christmas just based on his collection of Christmas picture books. So, I don't know if there's anyone else. Jan Brett has quite a few but- Matt Tavares (05:10): Yup, she's got a bunch. Sarah Mackenzie (05:11): ... next to them, I feel like you've got quite a collection of Christmas specific picture books. So, I'm curious as to what draws you to making books about Christmas. Matt Tavares (05:22): Yeah, it has worked out that way, it wasn't really the plan but I just think ... It's such a magical time of year and it's such a time for families to be together and read together and so I think that has led me to ... It's something I keep coming back to especially now with the Dasher books where I have a series that's built around Santa's reindeer, there always has to be Christmas connection with those books. Sarah Mackenzie (05:48): Yes, I love that so much. Actually, Dasher, I remember, I'm going to hold it up here for our viewers so they can see it. When it first came out, I think it was 2019, does that sound about right? Matt Tavares (05:58): Yup. Sarah Mackenzie (05:58): Yeah. And of course then there is ... Ooh, I should have had them all stacked up in the right. See, you have so many Christmas picture books that I've got them all stacked up here and I've got a- Matt Tavares (06:05): Nice. Sarah Mackenzie (06:07): ... [inaudible 00:06:06] Dasher Can't Wait for Christmas, of course, and then the brand-new, fresh on the shelves, Dasher and the Polar Bear. Matt Tavares (06:14): Yes. Sarah Mackenzie (06:14): As a picture book writer myself, I'm so curious as to how you decide or how you know when a book Dasher needs another story. How does that work for you? Matt Tavares (06:25): This is actually my first book that's ever become a series and, when I wrote Dasher, I wasn't thinking of it as a series, it was just its own story. Mostly, it was the response to that book was so beyond anything I had done before and, when I was on tour for Dasher, I just kept getting the question are there going to be more Dasher books and it was ... At first I was like, "No, I think this is its own thing and I hadn't really thought of other stories," but the more people asked about it, it just felt like maybe there should be more Dasher books. Sarah Mackenzie (06:59): Yeah. What would Dasher do? Matt Tavares (07:00): Yeah, right. What could happen next? And I was a little stuck for a while because I felt like, the idea for Dasher, it's an origin story about Santa's reindeer, it tells the story of how Santa's reindeer became Santa's reindeer. So, it's a big idea where I felt, all right, if I do a sequel, it has to be equally as big and so I was trying to go further back how Santa ended up at the North Pole and it got confusing to where it was and my editor helped me, reel me in a little bit and just think, all right, let's just think what could happen next with these characters and then I started coming up with ideas that I thought made a lot more sense for books. Sarah Mackenzie (07:44): Do you think there'll be more? Can you ... Matt Tavares (07:47): I know there will be more because I'm just starting final art for the next one. Sarah Mackenzie (07:52): Okay. Okay, amazing. Matt Tavares (07:52): Yeah, there will be at least two more Dasher books after- Sarah Mackenzie (07:57): So fun, okay. Matt Tavares (07:58): ... Dasher and the Polar Bear, yes. Sarah Mackenzie (08:00): Fabulous. Okay, and then ... So, you work, of course, I assume this and I think, our viewers and listeners, we talk about picture book making enough here that we all know you have to be working on these books at different times of the year. Is it weird or strange or difficult to be making a Christmas book, working on the sketches or the art in summer or- Matt Tavares (08:19): Yes. I have gotten used to it to where I can get into snowy winter mode even if it's a nice July summer day. But that was definitely a weird thing especially ... I remember when I was illustrating 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, which was the first Christmas book I did, it was my second book I ever did, I set up a Christmas tree in my basement and it was just a fake tree and I got all the ornaments and I just had it set up down there so I could go down there and draw it and take reference photos and everything. But it was just funny having a Christmas tree up for 10 months and just being in Christmas mode. Sarah Mackenzie (08:59): Yeah, some Christmas music on while you're painting. Matt Tavares (08:59): Yeah, because you have to get in the spirit. Sarah Mackenzie (09:03): Yeah. So, I mentioned that Tomie dePaola was a good friend of mine and, the last time I visited his studio before he passed, he was working on ... On his table was the cover for Christina's Carol which is his last Christmas picture book and it was August. But I didn't even think to ask him at the time like, "Oh, does it feel strange? It's beautiful, sunny outside and you're drawing the bleak midwinter and painting the bleak midwinter." But yeah, I bet. I think, people in magazines and stuff, they're always working seasons ahead. We actually, at Read-Aloud Revival, we're working seasons ahead on our family book club so- Matt Tavares (09:39): Yeah, you get used to that. Sarah Mackenzie (09:39): ... we work on Christmas school all year long so you just get used to it, yeah. Matt Tavares (09:43): Yup. And sometimes it lines up so I'm working on a nice snowy scene and it's snowing outside but, yeah, a lot of times, it's 90 degrees out and I'm drawing the North Pole. Sarah Mackenzie (09:54): Because your other picture books, a lot of them are around sports. I feel like the joy comes through when an author or illustrator is making books about things they're just naturally curious, interested and love. Matt Tavares (10:05): Mm-hmm, yeah. I think that it takes so long to make a book, it helps if it's something you are passionate about, already have that interest. I guess I have done a few books where it's a subject that I never would've thought of, especially ones where I'm the illustrator and someone else is the author. And that's interesting too where it's something I feel like I'm learning about a whole new thing that I didn't really have much interest or knowledge in before, that's also been nice. Sarah Mackenzie (10:33): Yeah, a different kind of invigorating. So, I have a 22-year-old daughter who's a senior at the Savannah College of Art and Design- Matt Tavares (10:40): Oh, nice. Sarah Mackenzie (10:41): ... getting a degree in sequential art, actually, which I read ... I believe that you had said in an interview some years ago that, basically, the thing that pulled you into picture books was your being drawn to visual storytelling or sequence of pictures. Is that right? Matt Tavares (10:57): Yeah, yeah. I was a studio art major in college, it was a liberal arts school, college in Maine and so I didn't have any specific illustration courses, it was all just fundamental drawing, painting, color theory, sculpting, things like that. But yeah, I was doing these, I would do three or four pencil drawings that told a story and I was just thinking that picture book illustration seemed like something where I could do that. There was no sequential art, even, class when I was doing that so that'd be amazing to major in that. Sarah Mackenzie (11:34): Yeah, I think she feels pretty lucky. Matt Tavares (11:39): Yeah, that's awesome. But yeah, I always loved drawing people and pictures that told stories so that led me towards illustration. Sarah Mackenzie (11:45): So, one of the things that we are talking about a lot around here at Read-Aloud Revival are these books that connect us as family members and, a lot of times, it's reading books to a wide variety of ages. I think, most parents, we usually tend to read to our kids who can't read to themselves but we're always talking about the joy and connection that happens when you're reading aloud even with kids who can read on their own, teenagers, older. Matt Tavares (12:08): Yeah. Sarah Mackenzie (12:09): And one of the things I read that you had said to somebody somewhere along the line is that, when you're making a picture book, you're not really thinking about the age like I'm making this for a four to 8-year-old or something but that you're making books that appeal to readers, grownups and kids alike. Is that still true? Is that something that you feel like is still accurate? Matt Tavares (12:34): I think so. I guess that's something I think has changed over the course of my career where I think I have tried to pay more attention to who's going to be reading the book where, early in my career, I feel like I just made books that I thought were good and hope that other people would like them. Sarah Mackenzie (12:49): Which has its own magic, I think. Matt Tavares (12:51): Yeah, which I think is- Sarah Mackenzie (12:51): Which is why, Zachary's Ball, everybody loves because you just made a book that you loved, yeah. Matt Tavares (12:55): Yeah. Right, yeah. I guess I've made ... I did Hoops which is a graphic novel then you really have to think, all right, this is a middle grade graphic novel, it's going to be maybe second graders through fifth graders or sixth graders and try to think of, okay, those are the kids reading it. Where, with my picture books, I do try to always imagine myself reading this to a group of families at a bookstore. Who's going to be following the story? I might have a sentence that I think is really beautiful but I might think, all right, three-year-olds are going to not be interested in hearing all my beautiful language, they just want me to tell the story. Sarah Mackenzie (13:36): Poetic, yeah. Matt Tavares (13:37): Yeah. So, I have tried to be. I think that's something I've learned over the years is I do want to think about who's reading the book and how it's going to be used and whether it will work as a read-aloud for a parent reading to little kids at bedtime. Some of my earlier books, I illustrated a couple fairy tales that are probably 3,000 words or longer- Sarah Mackenzie (14:04): Oh, wow, yeah. Matt Tavares (14:05): ... and I remember hearing from someone saying, "Hey, Matt, you're killing me with these books. We don't have time, it takes a half hour to read." Sarah Mackenzie (14:14): I'm trying to put my kids to bed and I really don't want to take 3,000 words to get there. Matt Tavares (14:18): Yeah, and there's a place for books like that. They were beautifully produced and classic old fairy tales but, if you're writing a picture book that you want to be a bedtime story for families, including little kids, you have to be aware of how long it takes to read and what kind of language you're including. Sarah Mackenzie (14:39): So, most of your books, I was just flipping through ... I should have looked at this beforehand but I was looking, trying to look at the colophon. Do you use oil paint, gouache? What do you do? What do use? Matt Tavares (14:49): It's changed over the years too. So, for the first Dasher book, I used mostly watercolor and gouache and it was a kitchen sink here and there where I was using some black pencil and some white pencil here and there but it was mostly watercolor and gouache and some ink too. For the subsequent Dasher books, the final art is actually digital where I've gotten more comfortable working that way over the years and so, for some of it, I had the digital files from the first book. So, for me to match colors to keep that blue of the sky and the watercolor texture, a lot of those I took from the first book and then incorporated them with my digital painting which is something I've really ... It's a new tool that I can use, it just gives me a lot more flexibility where ... I've had pictures where, if I show it to my art director and she thinks it looks too snowy, if it's all on paper, I've got to do the whole picture over again. Sarah Mackenzie (15:58): Start over, yes. Matt Tavares (15:59): Where, if I painted it digitally, I can go to the snow layer and make some changes just there. So, yeah, the medium has changed but, overall, I think they still look pretty similar and- Sarah Mackenzie (16:10): They do, yeah. Matt Tavares (16:11): ... I'm really still- Sarah Mackenzie (16:12): I wouldn't have actually realized there was a transition to digital. Gosh, I just love them so much. Okay, here's the other thing. Matt Tavares (16:17): That's good. I'm still drawing the same way. Sarah Mackenzie (16:18): Yeah, right. Matt Tavares (16:19): Sometimes people hear digital and they think you're using AI- Sarah Mackenzie (16:23): Making a cartoon or something, yeah. Matt Tavares (16:23): ... or there's a robot that's doing it for you. I'm still just sitting here drawing, I'm just drawing on a screen instead of a piece of paper. I'm still building it up in layers the same way. Sarah Mackenzie (16:33): Yeah. And then I know there's a lot of illustrators who they'll do paintings and then they convert them into digital so they can move them around and mess with colors and layers and things that way which feels like the best of both worlds. Matt Tavares (16:42): Yeah, yeah. A lot of illustrators now, it's the hybrid process where you can use both. Sarah Mackenzie (16:48): Yeah. This was one of your older Christmas books, the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and I find this astounding that I think you did this one in just pencil and ink maybe. Matt Tavares (16:58): Yup. It's just pencil. Sarah Mackenzie (17:01): Oh, my gosh, okay. How on earth did you make these illustrations in just pencil? It is mind-boggling to me, it's amazing. Matt Tavares (17:07): I had a lot more patience back then, I was young. They took a long time, yeah. Sarah Mackenzie (17:14): I can't imagine. Oh, my gosh, are you kidding? Yes, I'm sure they took a long time. It also just is amazing to me that what can be done, what is possible with enough skill with just a pencil. Matt Tavares (17:27): Well, thank you. Sarah Mackenzie (17:27): Yeah. Matt Tavares (17:28): I think it's good for kids to see that too. You don't need fancy computer programs or expensive anything to make art or to make good art, that was just all pencils and paper. I found a certain kind of paper that I love called coquille board, Chris Van Allsberg had used it for a book called The Widow's Broom which I loved. And I saw that book in college, when I first saw it, I was trying to figure out what is that, how do they get that texture and it turns out it was this old-fashioned paper called coquille board, it had this squiggly line texture built into it. So, I ended up finding that and using it for 'Twas the Night Before Christmas which gives it that texture that you see in the pictures. Sarah Mackenzie (18:17): Oh, interesting. A toothy feel almost kind of to the paper? Matt Tavares (18:17): Yeah, it almost makes it look like stipple art where it's built into the paper. Sarah Mackenzie (18:24): That's so cool, okay. I told you this before we hopped on air and probably most people at Read-Aloud Revival know this is my favorite book of yours because I've been talking nonstop about it especially this year since we're featuring it for Christmas school. Matt Tavares (18:36): Nice. Sarah Mackenzie (18:37): Red and Lulu which I just think is such a masterpiece, I love so ... I want to talk about so many little different things I noticed about this book. But the first question I have for you is there's so many of New York City landmarks in here. There's the Empire State Building, New York Public Library, Central Park, the Prometheus statue, just nonstop, you feel like you're being immersed in Christmas in New York. And when I first saw this book, I was at an independent bookstore, it was the year it came out and they had it featured and I pulled it off the shelf and I was like, "Oh, this illustrator loves New York City." Am I right? Matt Tavares (19:15): I do, yeah. I live in Maine so I'm a Boston person but I love going down to New York especially at Christmastime, it's magical. Sarah Mackenzie (19:26): First of all, we'll tell our viewers and listeners who maybe aren't familiar with the book yet just a little bit about the premise of Red and Lulu. Do you want to just share a little bit about what the book's about and then we can dive in a little more? Matt Tavares (19:37): Sure, yeah. So, it's about a pair of cardinals who live in a big, beautiful evergreen tree and they become separated when their tree is chopped down and taken away. So, Red has to go on an adventure to try to find Lulu and it turns out that the tree was taken to New York City and it's being set up as the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. So, it's sort of a Christmas story, sort of a love story. That was my first book that the characters were animals- Sarah Mackenzie (20:09): Oh, yeah. Matt Tavares (20:09): ... and it was really interesting to see the response to that book where so many people connected to it in different ways that were surprising to me which made me want to do more animal books which really led me to make Dasher after that. Sarah Mackenzie (20:25): Well, speaking of all the Christmas decorations that are up at the wrong time of year, I've had a Christmas tree over here since September to get ready for Christmas school. Matt Tavares (20:32): Nice. Sarah Mackenzie (20:32): But I found something this year at the store and, when I saw it, it's my new favorite Christmas. Matt Tavares (20:36): Oh, nice. Sarah Mackenzie (20:37): I was like, "Oh, look, it's Red." Matt Tavares (20:38): It's a big cardinal, yeah. Sarah Mackenzie (20:39): And I was like, "I wonder if they have Lulu around here." They didn't have Lulu but ... You know? Matt Tavares (20:43): You don't see a lot of female cardinal merchandise, it's all the male cardinal. Sarah Mackenzie (20:48): Yes, it's the flashy- Matt Tavares (20:49): There's not a lot of Lulu's out there. Sarah Mackenzie (20:55): I wonder if you remember where the idea came from? Did it come from, oh, the Rockefeller tree? Did it come from- Matt Tavares (21:01): Yeah. Sarah Mackenzie (21:01): ... something else? Yeah. Matt Tavares (21:03): This was one where it was really two unrelated ideas that ended up combining where I had the idea to do a non-fiction picture book about the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree because, at the time, I was doing mostly non-fiction picture books. So, I wrote a draft of that and it really just told the whole story of how they find the tree, how they get it to the city, how they set it up and how many lights and just the whole ending with the big tree lighting in early December. So, I sent that in to Candlewick and my editor said they liked it but they felt like it needed more of a narrative to pull the child reader through the book so they asked if I could maybe add some characters. So, I tried for a while to figure out some human characters. Usually, the tree is found in someone's yard because a Norway spruce is not native to the Northeastern United States. So, it's usually there's a story behind it which, a lot of times, you'll see on the Today Show. On the day of the tree lighting, they'll have like, "Oh, this is the story of the tree and the family who donated it." (22:10): So, I tried that for a while and it just got too complicated where you have all this intergenerational story of this family to the point where it's not really about the tree anymore. So, then totally separate from that, I just have always loved seeing cardinals in my yard and, when my kids were little, we would find ... If we saw the bright red male cardinal, we'd look around to try to find the female cardinal and, a lot of times, they're together because they pair up for life. So, I had this totally different idea of what if they became separated and one had to find the other. So, at some point in that process, I got the idea, well, what if the cardinals live in the tree, the tree gets taken away that causes them to become separated and then I could have this beautiful reunion in the city and it came together to become this whole different thing than what it was going to be. Really, it ended up not being as much about the tree, more about these birds. Sarah Mackenzie (23:08): Yeah, yeah. And the tree ends up being a setting, really, but a setting almost feels like a separate character almost because we can see it having its own journey too so it's multi-layered. Matt Tavares (23:19): Yup. Sarah Mackenzie (23:19): One of the things I love is how you used the contrast between how saturated Red's red is against the backdrops. So, one of the things I point out to the kids when we're reading this for Christmas school is just how different Red looks from his settings, from the background and that's what really ... We know exactly where to look. As an artist, you've really guided our eye right to ... We know exactly who to follow. There's a lot of things, especially in some of these city scenes, there's a lot going on but we always know where Red is. I wonder, was there any point in your process where you felt like you exaggerated that, maybe muted down the background or changed the color palette that you chose or is that just like Red was so red that it made it easy? Matt Tavares (24:11): Yeah, that's definitely something I was thinking about. At one point, I played around with making the book black and white except for Red. Sarah Mackenzie (24:18): Oh, yeah. Matt Tavares (24:20): But then I realized I didn't need to do that, really, because the color worked out because, that time of year in the Northeast, it's bleak, there's not a lot of color. And when you see a bright red cardinal in winter or in November and everything is ... The leaves have fallen, everything is brown and gray and then here's this bright red bird, it's so striking so I felt like ... But I did try to mute the other colors so he would really pop but then, at the end, that's when all the color comes back and you see the lights on the trees and then it's spring and there's color when they're back together. So, yeah, color played a part in the story. Sarah Mackenzie (25:04): Yeah, I love it so much. Okay, something else that I noticed. Because I've worked with enough art directors on picture books now, I'm wondering if this was something you did intentionally or something that your art director worked with you on. I am just curious as to where this ... One of the things I'm pointing out to kids as they're reading is that Red is always pointing to the right all the way through the story. So, he's leading you through, constantly pointing to the right, making you turn the pages, you're on a journey, you're on a journey. And the single time that Red is not pointing right is the beat right before Red finds Lulu. Matt Tavares (25:39): Yeah, because he's looking back. Sarah Mackenzie (25:40): Yes. Matt Tavares (25:40): Yeah, yeah. Sarah Mackenzie (25:41): He's perched so he's not moving because, all these other ones too, he's moving, moving, moving, he's never stopping and constantly pointing and just movement and then, all of a sudden, boom, we stop. And this wordless spread, I think, on this side also makes the reader pause for a second. I always think it's so interesting to point out to kids and adult readers too that a wordless spread instantly makes you stay longer on that page. It's the illustrator's tool to make ... Their cinematic tool, that pause like something's about to happen. If we had music, something would be happening here with the music. And then, of course, we have Red and Lulu and now he's pointing back toward her. So, I just am so curious to know if that was something you did on purpose or ... Matt Tavares (26:23): Yeah, that's something I learned early on as a picture book illustrator is you do try to make the action go left to right because that's how we read and that's how ... When you're going to see what happens next, you turn the page and that's over to the right so it feels wrong if there's a spread where the action is going right to left unless you do it on purpose. Unless there's a moment where, all right, now the character has stopped and he is turned around looking back, then it makes sense for him to be facing left because it feels like he's looking back, he's not looking towards the next thing he's going to. It's nice when people notice that stuff. When you make books, sometimes you spend a year on a book and then people read it in 10 minutes and say, "Oh, that was cute," you know? Sarah Mackenzie (27:07): Yeah. Matt Tavares (27:07): So, I appreciate that you're noticing all this stuff. Sarah Mackenzie (27:11): Well, there's another thing too that I just ... I love it when picture book authors and illustrators do this, it's a little prologue almost right before the title page. Matt Tavares (27:21): Yeah, the cold open, yeah. Sarah Mackenzie (27:21): Yeah, exactly, exactly. We do it all the time in podcasting, we have a cold open. We probably had one on this episode. Matt Tavares (27:26): Yeah. We can do a cold open about a cold open. Sarah Mackenzie (27:29): That's, oh, my gosh, amazing. Okay. So, in this cold open, we have a man filling up his bird feeder at his house and, of course, there's so much foreshadowing things going on because we see the tree that's going to be used as the Rockefeller Center tree and things. And then, at the end and on the ... Oh, gosh, I cannot get enough of this stuff, it's so fun. On the very back, we're now in the same location, of course, completely different season, same man filling up the same bird feeder and there's a couple beacons of hope that I think are so subtle and so sweet. The new tree that's been planted which you never mentioned, it's not a part of the story that then they planted new tree. Matt Tavares (28:10): It's just told with the picture, yeah. Sarah Mackenzie (28:11): Yeah. And then I didn't even notice this until I was showing it to some kids and we were talking about this page, those two little birds in the back. I'm like, "Who are they and what is their story?" Matt Tavares (28:22): An interesting thing about those two birds in the sky is, as I was finishing that last picture, I don't know how it happened but I somehow spilled two little drops of paint or ink and I don't know what it was but I looked down and I was like, "Oh, no," on the sky, after I'd painted the sky. So, I turned them into little birds. Sarah Mackenzie (28:42): Amazing. Matt Tavares (28:43): And then I was like, "Oh, that's perfect because there's two birds coming to the new tree now." I could have removed them digitally probably. This was all watercolor but I could have asked my publisher to remove them but then I decided it actually was nice to have those two birds there. Sarah Mackenzie (28:59): I love that. It's a serendipitous- Matt Tavares (28:59): It's a happy accident, yes. Sarah Mackenzie (29:01): Happy accident, exactly. I love it so much. Oh, gosh. Well, this book, all of your Christmas books, I think they're all worth adding to your home collection. So, viewers and listeners, we're going to put all of our favorite Matt Tavares books in the show notes, readaloudrevival.com/274, so you can go grab those. What I love about Matt's books in particular is exactly what I was just showing you which is you could just read it in 10 minutes or you can take a second and look a little bit closer because there's always extra going on behind the scenes and I just, oh, I just couldn't ... I love them so much. Matt Tavares (29:39): Thank you. Sarah Mackenzie (29:40): Matt, since we're just coming up on Christmas and we're talking about Christmas books, I am wondering if you have a favorite Christmas tradition. Matt Tavares (29:46): A favorite Christmas tradition? One that I love that my kids have started in recent years, my daughters are 21 and 18 now. Sarah Mackenzie (29:55): Okay, yeah. Matt Tavares (29:57): On Christmas Eve, they get a stack of my Christmas books and take turns reading them and it's usually just them, my wife and I, my mother-in-law is usually there and it's just this silly ... They're in their Christmas pyjamas and they read them half making fun of the books and making fun of me. Sarah Mackenzie (30:22): As only your daughter's can, right? Matt Tavares (30:23): Doing silly voices. Yeah, right. But it's also this pretty special thing that we do every year that I always get a kick out of it but it's just fun to ... Yup. Sarah Mackenzie (30:36): Okay. Do you know about the ... There's an Icelandic tradition, Christmas tradition called jolabokaflod. Do you know about that? Matt Tavares (30:41): I don't know about that. Sarah Mackenzie (30:43): Okay. So, we did a podcast episode on this and we always air it every Christmas because it's so fun. But there is this Icelandic tradition, I think I'm saying it right but I could be saying it wrong, called jolabokaflod and it's basically the idea that, in Iceland, reading and Christmas book gifting is a major cultural tradition. And so, every family basically receives this catalog every holiday season with all of the new books that are coming out from all these different publishers and things and then people will gift each other a new book for jolabokaflod and then spend ... I think it's Christmas Eve. I think, traditionally, they would spend Christmas Eve, everyone's reading together, basically, around the fire or whatever. Matt Tavares (31:21): Nice. Sarah Mackenzie (31:21): So, we always like to talk about jolabokaflod at Read-Aloud Revival because I do it usually that ... You know that week between Christmas and New Year's where nobody's expecting you to do anything but that's the perfect reading week, I think. Matt Tavares (31:31): Yeah, right. Sarah Mackenzie (31:32): So, we'll choose a day for jolabokaflod and everybody gets a new book as a gift and we're reading, drinking hot chocolate. Matt Tavares (31:39): That's awesome. Sarah Mackenzie (31:39): And I feel like your description of what your kids do, your grown kids now do with your books is your own Matt Tavares jolabokaflod probably. Matt Tavares (31:48): Totally, yeah. That's a great, that's a good tradition. Sarah Mackenzie (31:52): Well, thank you so very much for coming to chat with me. It's been just a delight to get to meet you finally after loving your books for so long. Matt Tavares (32:00): My pleasure. Thank you for having me. Sarah Mackenzie (32:00): And remember, Dasher and the Polar Bear is brand new so you definitely want to check this one out. All the Dasher books are just fabulous. Like I said, I think all of these books are excellent to add to your permanent Christmas jolabokaflod collection. All right, we'll see you next time. (32:17): Hey, show notes for this episode are at readaloudrevival/274. That's where you're going to see a whole bunch of my own favorite Matt Tavares picture books and I can't wait for you to get your hands on these especially Red and Lulu. I hope you're joining us for Christmas school, it's going to be a great deep dive into that particularly fabulous book. Now, let's hear from the kids about the books they're loving lately. Casey (32:45): My name is Casey, I live in Southern Oregon and I'm eight years old. The book I recommend is Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell because it is suspenseful, it makes you want to read more. Here is a trailer of it. Speaker 4 (33:05): Okay. Casey (33:05): Feo's life is extraordinary, she and her mother train domesticated wolves to fend for themselves in the snowy wilderness of Russia. She loves working with the wolves especially the three that have been wild but refuse to leave her. They're half wild, not pets but not everyone is enamored with the wolves especially General Rakov who intends to take everything Feo loves and soon in order to save her mother. Feo must travel through the icy woods to St. Petersburg and learn to trust strangers whose lives have been similarly tainted by the General's cruel deeds. Kaylin (33:53): I am Kaylin, age 12 and I'm from Southern Oregon. I recommend the Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger because they're hilarious books full of mystery and adventure and they make you want to keep reading. Speaker 6 (34:06): Hi, my name is [inaudible 00:34:10] and I am from [inaudible 00:34:11], Texas. Speaker 7 (34:12): How old are you? Speaker 6 (34:14): Three. Speaker 7 (34:14): What's your favorite book? Speaker 6 (34:15): My favorite book is the [inaudible 00:34:20] one. Speaker 7 (34:23): What was it? Speaker 6 (34:23): The construction one. Speaker 7 (34:26): Construction ones? Speaker 6 (34:28): I like the T-Rex because I like to learn their sharp teeth. Speaker 7 (34:32): You like T-Rex's and sharp teeth. You like dinosaur books. You like Dinosaur Dancing? Speaker 6 (34:37): Yeah. Emma Jean (34:38): My name is Emma Jean and I'm age 10 and I recommend Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell and I recommend it because, not only does it have a guide of magical creatures at the back, but it's also full of mystery, adventure and magic. And I personally think, the way it starts the book, its first sentence is really cool. It says it was a very fine day until something tried to eat him and I think that's a very intriguing way to start a book. Sarah Mackenzie (35:14): Thank you so very much, kids. I'll be back in two weeks with another episode. But in the meantime, you know what to do. Go make meaningful and lasting connections with your kids through books.