Coming this fall from Oxford University Press, it’s How to Draw the World: Harold and the Purple Crayon, and the Making of a Children’s Classic. That’s right! It’s my small book about Crockett Johnson’s even smaller one.
I’ve made a book trailer for it.
I’ll share more about the book in the coming months.
But making the trailer is a story in itself. It’s just over a minute long, but took many hours to make.
See that guitar at the beginning? I asked my friend, Kansas State University Distinguished Professor & guitarist extraordinaire Wayne Goins, if he had a guitar I could borrow — ideally one similar to those that Prince played. He said that yes, he had a custom-built purple one. But he’d given it to Coach Bill Snyder as a retirement present a few years ago. He’d ask the Snyders if he could borrow it for my video shoot.
If you’re not from the US or don’t follow college football, I must add here that Coach Snyder is a legend — an inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, and the coach who led K-State’s Wildcats out of many losing seasons to becoming one of the best teams in the Big 12 Conference. The stadium is now named for him. He is easily the most famous person in Manhattan, Kansas.
So, on Saturday morning, when Wayne and I picked up the guitar from Coach Snyder at his house, that was a big deal. Coach Snyder and his wife Sharon invited us in, and I explained why I wanted a purple guitar in my book trailer video. (The answer is in the opening seconds of the video.) Though I can imagine that this must have seemed a quixotic project (to say the least), neither displayed any skepticism. Rather, they asked to see the video once I’d finished.
To record the voice-over, I borrowed a microphone and portable sound-absorption panels from my friend Margery Punnett, Emmy-winning broadcaster and professional podcaster. I don’t know why I haven’t thought to invest in these before. They are marvelous! I’m returning these to her this afternoon and am going to order my own.
To help with the recording in Kansas State University’s new Sunderland Innovation Lab, Margery introduced me to Dawson Wagner, MA student in Mass Comm. He and I spent over an hour in the studio yesterday, generating the footage that you see above.
The book itself is 30 short chapters about Crockett Johnson’s classic picture book — which, as you may know, is the subject of a feature film adaptation that will be released this Friday.
There’s much more to say about my book, the series that it is launching, and other titles that you can expect to see in the series — co-edited by me and my friend University of Glasgow Professor, Dr. Melanie Ramdarshan Bold. But I’ll save that for another day.
For now,… enjoy the trailer! (It’s the first one I’ve made.) And, if you are so inclined, please pre-order!