Carson Ellis: La Porta Segreta

Written by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Carson Ellis

In an interview with Just Imagine, Nikki Gamble asked author of La Porta Segreta, Mac Barnett his thoughts on how the cover illustrated by Carson Ellis reflect the book:

“this jacket, I agree, is so beautiful. It’s so funny that you ask how it speaks to the themes of the book. You know, Carson made seventeen possible covers, sketches that were wildly different in concept, and sent them to my editors and art director at Terra de Mezzo in Italy and to me, and we all discussed them. The original version of this cover did not have that silhouetted child reading in that sort of doorway in the butterfly. La Porta Segreta translates to the secret door. One of the metaphors for this book is that there are secret doors that let you into other worlds. But beyond that, Carson and I both feel that when you put text in an image next to each other, if there’s some distance, tension, or ambiguity about the relationship, then the reader’s brain will automatically start to connect those things, right? Kids, particularly, are so well equipped to work to resolve ambiguities in fiction and art. Picture books and illustrated fiction work better when words and illustrations aren’t doing the same thing. It’s up to the reader, the viewer, to reconcile those two things. The most exciting moment for me as a writer is when the reader gets involved and starts interpreting the story. So, it touches on this idea of a secret door. However, regarding the other associations that butterflies might have with the book’s themes or the ideas of children’s literature, we were excited about the work the reader would do to make those connections.”

See Mac Barnett Speak about La Porta Segreta and it’s cover image below: