This story, written during an artist residency in Edmonton Alberta, is near and dear to my heart for several reasons. When I first heard about the true story of moon trees I was immediately fascinated, and I thought this would be a great story to explore with the grade 2/3 students at my artist residency at Brander Gardens School.
We started off by brainstorming as many ideas for the trees as possible, and then we collectively decided which ones would make it into the story. The students then helped me decide what the illustrations would look like while I sketched out their ideas. Personally, I think the illustrations turned out great.
Originally I was against the ideas of the breakdancing trees, but choosing to keep them or not turned out to a very important decision, as it marked to what extent I was writing stories with the students’ help, and to what extent the students were writing stories with me as a guide. We obviously chose to keep the breakdancing trees, and I’m glad we did. It was a wonderful moment of letting go of my own idea of how a story should go, and I’ve come to embrace the chaotic creativity of the students’ minds.
