The Life and Art of Lynley Dodd by Finlay Macdonald

Wow!!  This was a spur of the moment purchase.  I had not even heard that this book had been published at all.  But back in March I was trawling through Paper Plus in the Downtown Plaza in Hamilton, trying to hunt down the third book in the Hunger Games series, and my eyes rested upon this volume.

I'm not a fanatical biography reader, my previous biographies read being mainly All Blacks Josh Kronfeld, Tana Umaga and Mils Muliaina, so this is new territory for me.  However Lynley Dodd is a New Zealand treasure and her books are must haves in my opinion - not just as a teacher or an aunty - I enjoyed them before I became either.

The Life and Art of Lynley Dodd by Finlay Macdonald (another writing legend of New Zealand) is just gorgeous.  Feast your eyes on the front, back and inside covers for starters:

  

The inside covers were actually a mini autobiography which Lynley Dodd produced in 1995 for In Flight magazine.

Macdonald has had access to pictures, notes and letters right back into Dodd's childhood.  There are scribbles she did at primary and secondary school, beautiful drawings from Art School, the doodles she did as an art teacher and young mother.... it is all there, cataloguing her evolution to become one of New Zealand's most beloved authors and illustrators.

All the way through the book are the mock ups as well as the final illustrations that make it into a published book by Lynley.  She discusses her obsessive perfectionism she has towards the pictures and words, how even when the book is sent off to the printers and arrives in its final form that she can barely look at it because she knows she want to re-draw all the pictures again. 

Her long time collaborators Ann Mallinson (publisher until 2009) and Margaret Cochran (designer) talk about her high standards and the degree of the control she and her small team have asserted to keep the Hairy Maclary brand from being diluted and exploited.

Throughout the book there are excerpts from various books that I couldn't help but read out loud to the cat because the language is so much fun.  Scott Optican (associate professor of law from Auckland University) informed  Lynley in 2009 as she received a distinguished alumni award from the University of Auckland that she was using anapaestic tetrameter as her method of writing rhyme.  Lynley responded that she did not know what that was and was surprised by his observation.  She said she 'just wrote what sounded good to me'.  This timing is used by Dr Seuss and in the story The Night Before Christmas.  It seems Lynley has used it by instinct and it is a timing that works beautifully for a child's picture book.

This book is a beautiful insight into one of New Zealand's most celebrated children's authors.  She is not only celebrated by children, but by parents and teachers as well, as there is so much in her books that endears them to adults too.

It gives a real eye-opener into what it takes to produce a book to the standard which Lynley Dodd has set for one of her children's books.  It is also and insight into the evolution of an author and how they approach their work.  It also shows that New Zealand authors can foot it on the world stage and can create books that are beloved around the world.

Finlay Macdonald has approached the writing of this book in the same way that he used to present the television show on books he once spearheaded: gently, factually, warmly.   It is an easy read with wonderful illustrations that relate to the period of Lynley's life being discussed and photos that chart her life.  I've been able to dip in and out of this book over the last six or seven months and soak up the charm it exudes.  As a teacher I am inspired to share parts of this book to demonstrate that professional authors have to work hard to create the books that my students love.

This book is a celebration of not only Lynley Dodd, but one of New Zealand's most beloved characters, Hairy Maclary, and his friends.  I'm so glad I gave into impulse and purchased this book.  I know it is a book that I will dip in and out of for years to come.  This is a book I will cherish.