I wrote the poem “What Do Trees Think?” for my niece Hayden's first birthday, and then was inspired to turn it into a book when Hayden started asking me the most wonderful questions. We were standing at my window together, watching the snow fall on the big tree outside, and Hayden asked if the birds don't get cold. That one sweet question and more inspired me to add an activity section to the book, encouraging kids to see animals and nature as living things just like themselves. At the time I was working for McGraw-Hill as an education editor, and I asked my co-worker Emily Hart if she would do the illustrations. Emily painted the most beautiful watercolors that brought the words to life and are the shining star of the story. Then my talented friend Isabelle designed the book.
To make the movie I clipped images from Emily's watercolors and animated them using Flash. At the end of the movies I added a snippet of the music my friend Jodelle wrote for a documentary I produced about my Mom, “In the Night I Remember Your Name.” Visit Jodelle's site for a touching story about how she came to compose the music.
This is the first movie I made in 2010 using rough audio of me with Hayden at just 3, reading the poem together. A recording I will always cherish. Click the (CC) button to see the words.