When David LaPalombara was a child, his father would tell him and his siblings countless stories amid long summer car rides to Maine. These stories had imaginary characters and plots, but many would hold valuable life lessons for children to hold onto.
One of these childhood stories transformed into a manuscript that has now become a polished children’s book: the story of Fescue: The Brave Blade.
LaPalombara, an Ohio University professor of art, described that the story of Fescue focuses on the adventures of a blade of grass as he navigates his own self-discovery.
“The book is about Fescue, a blade of grass, who decides to, with the help of his friend Dandy the Lion – who would, of course, be a dandelion – grow taller and see the world around him that he otherwise can’t see because he is the same height as everybody else,” LaPalombara said. “And (he wants) to be different and to find his own purpose and direction in life.”
The purpose of the story, LaPalombara said, is to encourage being your own person, and to appreciate your differences and unique qualities.
“I think when my dad told us the story, he was maybe a little bit worried that the world was full of conformists and wanted us to understand that it was OK to be different,” LaPalombara said. “And to take chances, find your own way in life and be inspired.”
LaPalombara said he held onto his father’s manuscript for years, scrapping several of his own illustration attempts along the way. Then, about three years ago when she was a freshman at OU and a student in the Honors Tutorial College, Callie Smith collaborated with LaPalombara for her semester-long tutorial to reimagine the story and formulate the illustrations herself.
Smith, who is now a senior studying studio art, described the process of transforming the written descriptions of the characters into illustrated personalities as being slightly difficult.
“It was definitely an interesting first illustration project because these blades of grass are probably one of the hardest objects to try to animate because they each have personalities and have to be distinguished from each other,” Smith said. “So I spent the beginning of the tutorial trying to design them as characters and then I did some sketches for David and we went in order of the book from there.”
The illustrations, Smith said, were completely hand-drawn and each one had a distinct process to finalizing it.
“Most of (the illustrations) would be a layer of watercolor – what I would do for those was lay down where the colors would go and then I finished them off with a colored pencil layer,” Smith said. “So, they're all pretty consistent in that way.”
Throughout the process of Smith illustrating the story, LaPalombara said he acted in an editorial role, overseeing the creative takes on the artistic development of the story, while still maintaining the authenticity of his father’s writing.
“I would share versions and iterations with my dad, and we would each give feedback,” LaPalombara said. “And so there was a sort of constant communication back and forth with me at this pivot point. And then allowing Callie to have free reign, in terms of putting her interpretation on the story herself. So, it's a great collaboration.”
Matthew R. Shaftel, dean of the College of Fine Arts, emphasized the significance of this collaboration to construct this project.
“Professor LaPalombara is an incredibly gifted artist, teacher and mentor,” Shaftel said. “This is an example of what happens when the faculty and undergraduate students at the (College of Fine Arts) collaborate on real-world projects. We are so proud of this impactful and beautiful children’s book.”
Over the summer, the team came to a finalized version of the book and worked with the OU printing services to produce the copies. The book is currently exclusively sold at Little Professor Bookstore, 65 S. Court St., but LaPalombara hopes to increase its availability and it is currently underway to be available on Amazon.
For LaPalombara, the childhood stories he heard while riding in the back of his father’s station wagon have now become a full-circle moment, as they have come to fruition in his adult life to be shared for countless others to enjoy.
“The stories that were told to me and my brother and my sister painted these pictures in our imagination,” LaPalombara said. “But, as Callie did her illustrations, they are now, and forevermore to me, how the story always looked.”
