Freedom for Hens!

Author and illustrator Carol Thompson treats us, this week, with her ~

NOTES FROM THE ARTIST’S BLOCK

Hello there Armadillo readers! I’m an illustrator and writer, mainly of children’s picture books.

Most days I walk down the garden path to my studio, or ‘the Artist’s Block’. This is where I face the blank piece of paper, try and make up stories, turning the words into pictures and into a picture book. I love the combination of words and pictures, and seeing the book take shape, from rough, tentative sketches to finished art. Sometimes, my pictures can illustrate aspects of the story that the words don’t tell.

Children often ask me “where do you get your ideas from?” I say, “from everywhere, films I’ve watched, cartoons, tales from my family, but especially my own childhood.”

Something I’ve noticed is that some illustrators, and writers, (including me!) bring their own life experiences into their work. It’s not always obvious. In mine and our wider family, we have experience of adoption, so I’ve some understanding that for some kids a sense of ‘not belonging, who am I like, where do I fit in?’ can be a difficult world to navigate.

So I’ve been thinking about stories that have themes of feeling different, not fitting in, and self-acceptance. Here’s one tale that I’ve always found both sad and joyful. Written quite a long time ago, by Hans Christian Anderson, who was a famous writer of Fairy Tales ~

ONCE UPON A TIME, a small bird with stubby brown feathers was bullied for the way he looked. “Get out of town!” shouted a gang of mean birds, “you’re not like us, you don’t fit in.” The little bird ran away, sad and unhappy for a long time, and all through the winter, he hid amongst the reeds, afraid that others might see him, scared of what they might say.

But one day… a flock of swans came gliding by and spotted him.

“WOW! What a beautiful swan you are” they cried. “You belong with us.” He looked down at his stubby brown feathers – then looked into the lake at his reflection and saw that, amazingly, he really was a swan – with his head held high, and a snowy white back, he glided along, he was just like the other swans in the flock!

This always touches my heart, the little bird was an outsider, the story shows the importance of self-acceptance and finding your true identity, be kind to others, don’t be mean! When you gaze into the eyes of a character on a page, you make a deep connection which builds empathy and understanding.

I was lucky enough to see Paddington in Peru recently, at the cinema. Of course, before he was in films, he was a character in a picturebook, a refugee from South America. The book was written by Michael Bond and illustrated by Peggy Fortnum:

Paddington sets off with the Brown family to search for his beloved Aunt lucy, deep into the Amazon jungle. There was one heart-stopping moment for me in the film. Along with Aunt Lucy, he finds a whole tribe of bears, just like him, who love him and want him to stay.

The whole cinema was tense with anticipation, as silently, Paddington grapples with the question of who he is ... and will he stay with the bears? ... He chooses the Brown family and London as his home.

In a gentle way the film explores the all-important question of ‘where do we belong?’ Paddington chooses the place and people who were kind to him, took him in and gave him a safe place to live, who accepted his differences as an untidy refugee, a marmalade loving Bear. The Browns are his family. And comparing this Paddington story to that of the little duckling – I think now, that it would have been a much happier outcome if the mean birds had accepted the shy little bird with stubby brown feathers, in the first place!

I wonder if you agree with this?!

As the great Bear says, “If we’re kind and polite, the world will be right.”

And, talking of birds, I’ve just written and illustrated my own book – Little Gwen, Rescue Hen.

It published this month, but I’ve had the idea for a long time. After I spent some time looking after a friend’s rescue hens, watching them return to health in their natural environment, I began working on it. This was during the pandemic lockdown, which somehow suited the story of a lockdown hen!

Here’s a taster…

AT THE CHICKEN FARM, it’s a hard life for a small brown hen, in the overcrowded cages. Every day is the same, laying egg after egg, until one day, she is too tired to lay even one more egg.

But her life is about to change, when one day she is lifted up, and taken out of the cages, safely inside a cardboard box. Inside the dark box, she’s anxious and quiet. Where is she going…?

Two kind people are taking her to her new home. “We’ll take care of you, little hen, we’re taking you home with us.”

Slowly, and nervously, she comes out into a strange new world, where for the first time she feels the sun, the grass beneath her feet, pecks a dewdrop, loves her dustbath.

Her feathers begin to grow back, she has space, food, hen friends and a safe place to sleep. Just as all hens should!

Just imagine how you would feel if you were a hen, and you were shut in a cage, no room to turn around, no space to run and play with your friends. Imagine not being free to run … you would not be a happy hen.

FREEDOM for HENS!