So we started on the next project, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time — an interactive children’s book.
When I was younger, I dreamed of the time I could tell fractured fairy tales (such as “Cinderella Shaves Her Head” — an expression of my longing for a mohawk in the 80s?) on a touch-screen device with moving illustrations. Not fully animated, more like photostereograms.
Now is that time! Though the iPad received a modest reception with adults, the collective touch-screen / tablet devices are quickly catching on with children, including mine.
We are happy to start work on the iPad book…
Breakfasts Around The World
This is a personal project that I hope will have a wider appeal, based on one of my family’s greatest interests — breakfast food. Two characters travel around the world (in a robot rocket, of course) to find out what other people have for breakfast.
Though this book is meant to be entertainment, it will touch on a lot of topics that kids are naturally interested in.
* Geography
* Other kids from other cultures
* Trying new foods
* Different kinds of weather
* Urban vs rural lifestyles
* Cooking, making (we’ll have kid-friendly recipes that parents and children can make together)
There are a lot of unknowns about this project.
I have reservations, of course. I’ve never worked on a project that takes more than two people before. I’ve never had to convey my ideas to an artist, or hire an artist in the first place. Do I need someone to help do the interface, or are my ideas good enough? Or, can I find an artist who is also good at interactive interfaces?
Social issues abound…
While I was writing the frame story, I started wondering about how I would depict breakfasts in those countries everyone (in the US, at least) thinks of as poor or 3rd world.
This is an entertainment book — I want to depict cuisine accurately, but it’s not my intention to teach anything, especially other people’s pain and suffering. I don’t have an agenda other than to provide a delightful experience for young children and their parents. It’s a feel-good book, not a feel-bad book!
Would I come under fire because I depict, y’know, “starving kids from Africa” as smiling and having enough to eat for breakfast? Should I say anything about poverty, scarcity, bad farming, etc? If I don’t, will I be accused of being so out of touch as to be compared to Marie Antoinette?
I realize that this is a children’s book, but as a parent, I also realize that the book has to appeal to parents, as well. The same reason that the Sesame Street of old would include so much adult humor. It was by design.
And, of course, regardless of social issues, the biggest question of all: will this actually be a good book?
Only time will tell. Time to make a demo!