Jeanne Willis

What Are Little Girls Made of?
Jeanne Willis

About Author

Jeanne Willis is one of our best-loved authors of children's books, and has written for television, although her earlier jobs have included being a reptile vet's assistant, and working in an advertising agency. She has two children.

Interview

WHAT ARE LITTLE GIRLS MADE OF?: NURSERY RHYMES FOR FEMINIST TIMES

NOSY CROW

SEPTEMBER 2020


If you've put aside traditional nursery rhymes as dated and stereotyped, now's the time to revisit them with this new collection of funny, inspiring revised nursery rhymes by JEANNE WILLIS, illustrated by ISABELLE FOLLATH.

Look out for spider-loving, sheep-rescuing, book-reading, pirate-fighting and scooter-fixing girls - and boys who are 'much the same' - to share with young children and to inspire them in their own ungendered playtime, or encourage them to create their own versions.

JEANNE WILLIS and illustrator ISABELLE FOLLATH tell us more about WHAT ARE LITTLE GIRLS MADE OF?: NURSERY RHYMES FOR FEMINIST TIMES.

 

Q&A with JEANNE WILLIS:

Q: Can you tell us a little about your new book, What Are Little Girls Made Of?


A: 'What Are Little Girls Made Of? ' is a book of contemporary verse based on classic nursery rhymes, tweaked to expel the notion that girls are made from the same ingredients as fairy cakes and must be light, fluffy and golden to be 'nice.'

 

Q: Did you have any favourite nursery rhymes as a child?


A: My favourite nursery rhyme as a child was Pop Goes The Weasel - I assumed the weasel had flatulence and while weasel farts probably squeak rather than pop, the fact that this one farted in public in the City Square and the Eagle struck me as hilarious.

I realise now that 'popping your weasel' (and stoat) is cockney slang for pawning your coat for beer money but in defence of my four year old self, if a weasel ate half a pound of twopenny rice, half a pound of treacle and washed it all down with a pint of Pig's Ear, imagine how gassy he would be.

 

Q: Why did you want to create your own versions of these nursery rhymes for today's young children?


A: I wanted to create my own versions of the nursery rhymes because as a child, I couldn't relate to the way girls were depicted - they seemed like another species. I thought Miss Muffet was silly for being scared of spiders, I didn't see why Polly and Suki had to make tea and thanks to Curly Locks, I dreaded the idea of marriage. I had terrible visions of being forced to sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam when all I really wanted to do was feed the swine, but the old rhymes dictated otherwise - girls just sat by the fire warming their pretty little toes, so I decided I didn't want to be one and asked my mother to call me Geoffrey.

In fairness, if I felt indignant and confused at the way girls were portrayed, who knows how it coloured my judgement of boys, who were largely represented as pig-stealing, pie-eating cat killers - thank goodness for Little Johnny Stout who rescuedpoor pussy from the well, giving me hope that boys were not all horrible beasts.

I think Isabelle Follath's illustrations are perfect for this book - her style really compliments the contemporary rhymes and retains a lovely feeling of tradition without resorting to sterotypes.

 

Q: How did you decide which nursery rhymes to include in these retellings?


A: Some of the rhymes included in the retellings were obvious choices, eg 'Where are you going to, my pretty maid?' because the maid has been brain-washed into believing that her face is her fortune, long before selfies were invented and double-whammy, it turns out her admirer is a gold digger.

'Georgie Porgie' had to be included - kissing someone without permission felt very 'Me Too' and 'Little Miss Muffet' had to be in the mix - I finally cured of her arachnophobia.

 

Q: Are you planning to rewrite any more - perhaps to revisit some nursery rhymes for boys?


A: I'd love to revisit nursery rhymes for boys and send them some positive messages. They seem to get a lot of negative press simply for being male, which is a bit like saying all dogs are smelly, vicious and wee on the rug - not true, not fair.

 

Q: How would you encourage children to write their own revisions?


A: It might be fun if children chose a nursery rhyme and wrote their own revisions - or maybe they could tackle ageism as a kindness to me. Older women in nursery rhymes are mostly terrifying - they live in shoes, beat their children, starve their dogs and don't get me started on the old lady who swallowed a fly and a spider that wriggled and jiggled inside her. I almost threw up when she swallowed a horse. She died (of course) - I still have nightmares.

 

Q: How would you like children to see themselves in What are Little Girls Made Of?


A: After reading 'What Are Little Girls Made Of?' I'd like children to feel that regardless of gender, there's no right or wrong way to 'be' and that we should accept each other for who we are and play nicely together - or A-tishoo, A-tishoo, we all fall down...

 


Q&A with ISABELLE FOLLATH


Q: What kinds of illustration work do you do?


A: I used to do illustrations for advertising, fashion magazines and adult non-fiction books. Nowadays I mainly illustrate picture books and children's fiction, which is all I ever dreamed of. How lucky am I?

 

Q: What drew you to Jeanne Willis's text, as an illustrator?


A: In classic nursery rhymes, girls and women often play a rather passive or weak role. Jeanne's new rhymes are so empowering, clever and have a great sense of humour, I was thrilled to be asked to illustrate a classic theme with a contemporary, modern twist.

 

Q: Do you have any favourites from her nursery rhyme retellings?


A: It's hard to pick a favourite, I really love them all! If I have to pick one, it's What Are Little Girls Made Of?. I was never fond of the sugar and spice part in the original rhyme, Jeanne's version with 'sun and rain and heart and brain' is empowering for girls as well as for boys.

 

Q: How did you want your illustrations to support the text?


A: I wanted to create a little world with a classic, vintage feel, full of magic and play, where children can hopefully find lots of little things they can relate to.

 

Q: You give lots of visual clues in your illustrations, showing children in a way that doesn't define their play by gender. Can you share some examples of these?


A: There's girls fighting pirates, fixing scooters, flying to space and boys wearing princess dresses, dancing ballet and baking cakes.

In my personal experience, little children (when left to themselves) do love to try out everything without thinking about whether it's appropriate for their gender. I have a wonderful Halloween photo of my daughter and her cousin, where she dressed up as pirate and he dressed up as a princess, pink dress, jewellery, crown and all.

 

Q: Do you have a favourite spread in the collection?


A: I love Diddle Diddle Dumpling; the shadowy monsters were tremendous fun to draw!

 

Q: How did you create the images for What are Little Girls Made Of?


A: I mainly use watercolor, gouache and coloured pencil to create my illustrations. I use Photoshop though to do colour changes, to clean up unwanted bits and to add some small details.

 

Q: What else are you working on?


A: At the moment I'm working on some black/white illustrations for a couple of children's fiction series and I have some exciting new picture projects to come. I'm also trying to finish a book dummy with my own picture book story, which is not an easy thing to do. I hope I will be able finish this eventually...

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