From the moment I originally learnt of this illustrated book, I knew I wanted to dig a bit deeper behind the collection of stories based on our Biblical past and get inside the head of the writer who illustrated it! Originally, I misunderstood this to be a picture book rather than a chapter book – the beauty of it being the latter is that it’s a starting point for children to become engaged with reading a fuller length novel whilst discovering a bit about their religious heritage and the women who lived through the strength of their faith.
The problems they faced are counter-point and relatable to their contemporary peers, and the way in which Ms Greenwood has approached the stories as a whole is right in line with younger readers who are growing through their curiosities to reach into literature to seek not only more knowledge on what implores them to read but to seek a way to understand more of history through the craft of stories.
Stories have such an enriched way of illuminating what we cannot yet fathom to imagine, and in this particular case, the illustrations and the context of the short stories walk hand in hand to beautifully bring the Biblical past to vibrant life! Thus, it was my happy delight to converse with Ms Greenwood about what inspired her towards creating this collection of shorts and the process in which she gave the project!
Be faithful, like Sarah
Be prayerful, like Hannah
Be brave, like Esther
This easy-to-read chapter book shares beautifully illustrated stories, including those of:
Eve,
Rebekah,
Ruth and Naomi,
Sariah,
Abish and the Queen,
Mary Magdalene,
Lucy Mack Smith,
and Emma Hale SmithFull of examples of integrity and courage, this book is the perfect way to reinforce lessons learned in Primary and share scripture stories that will become a gospel foundation to last a lifetime.
How did you put the idea of ‘Scripture Princesses’ together to create an illustrated novel for children and young adults who are seeking more information about the strong women of the Biblical past? It’s such an impressive display of artistry and biographical sketching to inspire young minds to seek more information after they read this edition.
Greenwood responds: Thank you! I work for publisher Cedar Fort as a graphic designer, and Cedar Fort is very supportive of their employees creating books and products. I had been thinking about what type of book I could create for Cedar Fort that would combine my interests and artistic skills with their market strengths for several years, when this one jelled in my mind. I created a one chapter book proposal, and Cedar Fort accepted it.
I wanted to create a book for girls that explores women in the scriptures, because when you are a girl reading the scriptures, it can sometimes feel like there are lots of men doing things, and not very many women. I wanted to show girls that there ARE women in the scriptures, and that those women had lives we can be inspired by.
I have recently come to realise this is the case, as I reviewed I Can Pray Everyday whose author is a retired Editor from Cedar Fort! I definitely agree with you – when your young and still sorting out the world as much as our place inside it, it’s oft-times a bit confusing to understand the historical past or the Biblical past by what is left behind for us to focus on. I broached this myself on my review of Scripture Princesses as this is one of the reasons I loved what you gave us! It’s definitely the kind of book I wished had been created when I was a young girl!
What was your selection process in choosing the 16 women featured in the book? How did you approach drawing their likeness as your original illustrations are wonderfully spread throughout the pages?
Greenwood responds: I wanted each women to have a name, and I wanted to represent women from each of the LDS “standard works”—our scriptural cannon. That narrowed the field immediately. I also wanted to give an overall historical story, with each one in chronological order. As I worked on the character designs for each woman, I read their stories in the scriptures very carefully, and tried to get a feel for what their personalities might have been like. I also researched the clothing of the times, and tried to be accurate where I could. Costume history is one of my loves. How people dressed is so connected to how they lived.
Hmm, that’s interesting – I found this to be rooted in the history of Christianity moreso than focused on LDS standards. I think LDS overlaps with other Protestant faiths more than you might realise because for me (as a non-LDS Protestant) it was air apparent that this collection of stories were containing the women I grew up curious about as a young girl in Sunday School. In fact, only a short few were unknown to me, and mostly it was the last two focused on: the Smith women.
I hadn’t mentioned how your organised the stories nor in how you referenced their stories in full via the scriptures themselves – I was so keen on sharing what cheered my spirit as I read the shorts that I left out a few particulars! Laughs. You definitely nailed the historical accuracy in clothing from what I could gather from your lovely illustrations! Your research spoke volumes on behalf of how intricate and connected your art merged into your narratives!
Is there going to be a compliment colouring book for the book as you had expressed some members of the blog tour are featuring colouring pages based on the illustrations? Is this part of your expansion of where this project is leading you to go by creating inspirational children’s materials and stories?
Greenwood responds: There will be a coloring book! I was very excited that my company was willing to put out some Scripture Princesses merchandise! It’s up for pre-order on Barnes & Noble, though without the cover at this time.
The coloring book will have illustrations from the book at full 8.5×11 size, with a few new additions. There is also a cute puzzle with eight of the ladies coming in December. Free coloring pages are available on my website for downloading and printing right now.
Wicked sweet, Ms Greenwood! I knew as soon as I pulled up your website and caught sight of the book outside it’s bubbler mailer, this was going to be a collection that could fuse into more tangible resources for children! Congratulations, and a puzzle, no less! Puzzles are wicked fun! I definitely mentioned the colouring book as a compliment to the book on my review!
You are a multimedia artist who has created a niche for herself in both illustrated stories and comics. What do you love the most by combining art with the craft of story-telling?
Greenwood responds: Art with words—comics and illustrated stories—can be very powerful. My favorite are slow-building graphic novels, like some Japanese manga, with plenty of pages to develop the characters and relationships. But I’ve discovered it’s a very painstaking and laborious process to create comics, and I’m not very fast at it. I’ve decided to give straight prose a try. My next project is to attempt a novel! Wish me luck. I’m hoping that I’ll prove a faster writer than I am a comic maker. I’ll still create art, but I need to find a balance.
Balance is the word I selected for myself for 2015 – we each strive to acquire it and we each have to find our own route towards what it truly means for each of us to live a balanced life. In this, I definitely respect your inclination to highlight your strengths and work towards taking on projects that encourage them rather than hindering yourself with a task that might prove to be too taxing to finish. I definitely wish you good luck on the novel – will it have illustrated plates sprinkled throughout or are you attempting to step outside your illustrations and write it as complete narrative prose? Hmm,.. either way, the muse is strong inside you!
I loved the research you conducted to bring a truism to your artwork not only for the fashions vindictive of the time in which the women were living but an honest portrayal of how they would have been seen. Do you have a particular favourite style of clothing and cultural heritage you uncovered from your research?
Greenwood responds: Discovering Puabi of Ur, who was found buried in the 1920s with 52 of her servants, covered in gold jewelry, was fascinating. I based Sarah’s costume off of Puabi’s. Esther was a real challenge, but I was determined! I have rarely seen her portrayed in true Persian fashion from the time. We don’t have many resources for what the women were wearing, but we have a lot for the men. You can check out my Pinterest board for the Achaemenid Persian Empire.
How keenly interesting how you walked back through history and pulled out remnants of a guide to authenticate the illustrations! I found this most fascinating – especially your dedication!
Did any of the women surprise you by their grit of trust and their strength of faith through adversity? Did one of their stories strike you as one that stood out from the others?
Greenwood responds: I was originally only going to have 15 women featured in the book. I wasn’t going to include Hannah. Her story has always upset me, especially now as I am also dealing with infertility. But as I researched Mary, the mother of Jesus, I discovered Mary’s Magnificat is considered to be inspired by Hannah’s prayer/song recorded in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. Hannah is a woman with a 10 verse monologue recorded in the Old Testament! The Lord softened my heart, and I realized I had to include her. Though she gave up her son to the Lord, she was able to see him yearly, and he grew to become one of the greatest prophets of Israel.
I admit, I didn’t yet read Hannah’s story – I was approaching this collection like I would a regular short story anthology and guided myself through where my intuition led me to read. I am sorry your being dealt such a strong tribulation to work through. I do hope motherhood will be in your life even if the manner in which you become a Mum might be a different path than you’ve planned. I can sympathise with alternative paths to mothering children and hope you will be blessed in this regard. Truly incredible how Hannah’s story shined out a bit of an emotional release for you – we never know why we are being guided towards one person’s story over another until the pieces connect inside our hearts.
As you gave such a beautiful gateway text into reading more biographical fiction based on the women of the Biblical past, do you hope this will continue to inspire young girls and young women the chance to dig deeper into their life stories via other writers who are bringing these women to life in epic Biblical historical fiction? Do you plan to extend one of their stories into your own variant of the genre?
Greenwood responds: I hope most that readers will want to read the original stories in the scriptures. I haven’t read much Biblical historical fiction, though I should. I don’t have plans at the moment to write scripture-based historical fiction, but if I do, it will likely be inspired by the Book of Mormon. There are a lot of quickly sketched stories there that could be fascinating to flesh out.
I think you should write whichever stories alight in your spirit and mind to tell. I was approaching this from my Protestant history and path, but of course, this makes sense you would focus on the stories in the Book of Morman. Honestly, I’m quite an open-minded reader and book blogger – to me, all the stories that fall under INSPY or Inspirational Fiction are rooted in faith and are across religions and beliefs. It’s merely an umbrella for all faith-based stories, and I think in some ways I was using the term Biblical Historical Fiction to encompass the same meaning, whether your background is similar to mine or rooted in LDS. We’re saying the same thing, just differently.
What uplifts your spirit the most whilst your not writing, conducting research or creating art?
Greenwood responds: Reading my scriptures, praying, and being involved in my church activities uplift me, and I’ve been working on connecting more with the Spirit as I do those. I love to read novels as well, or more specifically, I love to listen to them–I adore audiobooks because I can work on art projects or clean at the same time. I also love spending time with my wonderful husband.
Ah, audiobooks! A recent discovery of mine – one that I look forward to expanding on as I truly love how theatrical some of the voice casts create the stories! Even if they are not an ensemble but one voice actor, it’s incredible the way in which the stories are electrified! I mentioned this a bit on my Q&A with Mary McNear recently as she shares the same passion as us!
Thank you, Jorie!
You’re most welcome! And, thank you for being willing to answer a few of my questions whilst I was delayed a bit to post my review whilst I awaited the arrival of the book! I truly appreciated being on your blog tour and celebrating Scripture Princesses with you! They truly will spark a heap joy in the lives of children and adults who find them! Many creative blessings to you!
Converse via: #illustratednovel, #KidsLit, #EarlyReader OR #ChapterBooks
Also: #INSPY (for Inspirational Fiction readers) + #LDSFiction + #LDSKids
This Blog Tour Stop is courtesy of Cedar Fort, Inc.:
Visit the Virtual Road Map to visit other readerly insights & guest author features:
Be sure to look for the FREE printables being showcased on the tour!
I had the pleasure of reviewing Scripture Princesses too!
Find out what I am hosting next via Cedar Fort in 2015!
Visit with me again soon!
Similar to blog tours where I feature book reviews, as I choose to highlight an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog. I provide the questions for interviews and topics for the guest posts; wherein I receive the responses back from publicists and authors directly. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them; I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers.
{SOURCES: Author photograph, Author Biography, Book Synopsis and Book Cover of “Scripture Princesses”, Blog Tour Badge and Cedar Fort badge were provided by Cedar Fort Publishing & Media and used with permission. Conversations with the Bookish Banner created by Jorie in Canva. Comment Box Banner made by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers and My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded due to the codes provided by Twitter.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2015.
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