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Feb 6, 2023Liked by Carson Ellis

So very excited for this! Would love to know whether you immediately “saw” the Wildwood universe in your head or whether bringing it to life was a more gradual process.

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Oh gosh. I love this series so much and I am still at a loss of what to possibly ask! 🫣 I have your lithograph of Prue in the City of Moles hanging in my living room!

Until I can muster a question, I will say that I visited Forest Park while in Portland this summer and explored around the Witch’s Castle and Pittock Mansion. It is indeed a mystical and magical place!

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Hi Carson, I’d love to know what your experience, as creators of the books and Wildwood universe was like in the development of the animation adaptation. Were you involved in the art direction/style exploration process? Did Colin work closely with the writer of the script? Or was it largely handed over to the team at Laika to adapt it? Has it been enjoyable, or strange, or both - to see something you both spent so many years bringing to life, expanded upon and adapted by others?

Thank you!

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Aloha Carson,

Mahalo for sharing Slowpoke with us. Wildwood is close to my heart. I taught elementary school for 33 years; my favorite part of the job was reading aloud to my students. I usually read an old favorite like The Hobbit, but when Wildwood came out, I did something unusual. I read it aloud to my 4th graders before I had even read it. We discovered the story together, and I knew from my time as a Decemberists fan that I could trust you two.

My students entered the contest you had, and so did my daughter, who was also a 4th grader that year. She won your drawing of Septimus, which you parted with because Colin thought he should have pants in the drawing. Now she's grown up and gone off to Marist College, but I just had a peek at her bulletin board, and your drawing is still there, along with a Wildwood Irregulars pin and a patch. I took a photo of it so you can see it "in situ", as they say, if I can figure out a way to post a photo here.

I remember making up music to the songs in the book, like Jock Roderick, and having my class sing to you and Colin after we finished the book. I believe we used the tune to Bandit Queen and had lyrics like "Now that we read Wildwood, and we thought that it was good..." The kids were cute.

Now I'm retired, but I still work as a substitute, and I smile when I see a copy of Wildwood in a school library. Don't tell Colin, but when it comes to the Decemberists and the Wildwood Chronicles, I like the art as much as the music and the writing.

Aloha,

Jim Smart

Honolulu

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I just remembered how Wildwood influenced the way I taught writing. You had a map contest, and all my students created maps of their own imaginary lands. This because an annual thing, a month long writing project that started with a map, which they would use to create and publish their own stories. It worked brilliantly for many years, until the new writing curriculum invaded my classroom just before the pandemic. There was no longer time to read Wildwood, spend time drawing maps, and create original stories; it's all about learning to write a 5 paragraph essay now, even down in 4th grade. Sigh.

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