Welcome

Hallo and welcome everybody, here on the blog of Maggie and Harriette!

Which, as you will notice, is not really a blog, but a presentation of a much loved and worked at picture book project. Starring.... YES, Maggie and Harriette, our most wonderful characters.

So ENJOY the tour, including bits of original prose and illustrations from the book.

Oh and yes, we do have a finished dummy and we can send it to you if you are a publisher or agent or are generally interested in helping us with the publishing process.

Catch you later!

Alright lets jump right in. Start at the beginning.

Maggie felt sad

 is the title of our picture book and where the story starts.

Harriette is Maggie's turtle and best friend, and she usually knows what Maggie needs. So after only a little while she convinced Maggie to go on a bit of a journey

together

First they came to a meadow.

Every flower here was gleaming,

they were smiling back at the sun
and the sky and everything else there was to smile at.

But Maggie did not look at the flowers.

She was looking back,
towards the darkness of her room.

'Over here Maggie!' said Harriette.

'Just follow the path.'

Maggie did.

She watched her moving feet.

She felt the grass beneath them.
She watched Harriette shuffling steadily.

Then her arms started swinging.

Finally she stopped to smell the flowers.

Next they came to a forest ...

Let's have a tiny break here, so we can tell you

our story

the story of how Maggie and Harriette came to be.

It is a true cosmopolitan story. Since Marion is from France and Michaela from Germany AND both met and became friends on the other side of the world, in Australia.

It was a small place where we met. Up in the east, in the hills and it was sooo green and warm. Together we watched the sun rising every day and setting. We danced and cooked and gardened and told each other about the stories we had found.

Only a few weeks later Michaela found yet another story, the story of Maggie and Harriette. It happened down in the south, on a day when she was wondering about sadness and about all the beauty around her, always there but somtimes so hard to see.

Only a few weeks later again, Marion was sitting on her desk, drawing and colouring and drawing, looking for Maggie's face, looking for Harriette's form, looking for their magical world. And how beautiful it has turned out to be.

So by then we where both over in the west, living in a big house on a big street, with loads of things and friends and music. Michaela was writing while Marion was at the markets drawing and painting and in the evenings they met in their little room to look at the story of Maggie and Harriette, shaping it slowly, slowly into a book.

And that was only the beginning.

Time to rejoin Maggie and Harriette. They've been walking through the forest, where it was all about

listening

To the birds and to a tree, even though that seemed a bit silly....

She heard swishing leaves
and swaying branches.

She heard flowing murmurs
from the inside of the trunk.

She heard a humming,
full and vibrant,

travelling up from
deep within the earth.

It was like a symphony.
The symphony of a tree.

After discovering the tree symphony, Maggie felt like

moving

and fast.

So she did. And before she knew it, she popped out of the forest and onto a riverbank. It was Harriette's favourite place of all, not only because of the zooming dragonflies and jumping fish.

Harriette was dozily baking in the sun. On a hot stone. Right in the middle of the river, when Maggie came running at her, completely

excited

 

Maggie jumped and flew and told Harriette everything.

About the tree's symphony.

About running through the forest.

About the dragonflies and the jumping fish.

'Have you been here before?' she asked.

And 'How do you know this place?'

Harriette slowly blinked her right eye.

'Where did you leave it?' she asked.

'Leave what?' asked Maggie.

'Your sadness.'

Maggie looked behind herself.

She shrugged.

'I must have left it in the forest.' she said.

Harriette nodded.

'I wonder what happened.'

But Maggie did not wonder.

She was busy listening to the water.

It's splishing and tinkling, it's gurgles and gushes.

It's

story telling whispers

 

Here comes another small INTERLUDE.

Because of the 'Why-Question', we get asked ALL the time.

Why

did Maggie feel sad?


Well... we don't know exactly either. Because when we met Maggie, she already felt sad. And when we asked her why she did, all she said was that something had happened. Something that she could not change. And whenever she thought of it, she felt very sad.

So maybe her bigger sister Caroline had left home and started to go to boarding school. Or maybe Nosy, Maggie's pet rabbit had died. Or maybe her parents had had a big fight and were talking about separation. But that would be another story.

Our story STARTS with Maggie feeling sad, with Maggie being stuck in feeling sad.

So let's get back and see where it goes then.

Ah, Maggie is just

waking up

back in her room and back with her sadness.

Now that Maggie is

awake

she suddenly finds herself surrounded by what she loves.



Maggie looked around herself.
It felt good to be back.

With her armchair and her books.
With smiling Caroline and Warren,
round and proud, showing her the world.

'Time to make some light.' she said.
And
'Thank you Harriette.'

light

Well, we hope you did enjoy the tour and the only thing left to say is

thank you

For taking the time to discover our picture book.

For sharing it with your friends...especially with your publisher friends :)

And for every step on the way that has helped or will help to distribute the story of Maggie's and Harriette's little journey. One that starts with and because of sadness, that moves through all kinds of places, only a bit slower, a bit more aware and ends back with oneself, right where and when one is.

See you soon, somewhere and remember to listen.