Lily and Liza's Surprise

Madeleine "wrote" another chapter book today.  I am sitting live with the author, ready to interview her about the meaning behind all of her illustrations.


Take a look at the brand new book, "Lily and Liza's Surprise":

Now, lest you think, as I did, that Lily is thinking about an apple with a bite out of it, here's the author's explanation of her cover illustration: "Um, Lily is thinking that her surprise might be a piñata!"  Piñata, half-eaten apple, whatever; I was close.


Pg. 1:

ME: Madeleine, is that a turkey?
MADELEINE: Um, no, it's a ROOSTER.
ME: Oh. Is it waking everybody up?
MADELEINE: Uh-huh.  Really, really EARLY.



Pg. 2:

I had no idea what was going on in this picture.  Nor did I understand why one of the girls seems to have a baby strapped to her chest.

ME: Madeleine, what's happening in this picture?
MADELEINE: Um, the mom is driving Lily and Liza to school, and...(pointing up top) that's a SPIDER, and it's SHOOTING out its web, and...(pointing to the figure on the left side of the page) that's a little boy HIDING in the trunk because he SNUCK out of his seat.
ME: (pointing to Lily) And what's she doing?
MADELEINE: Um, the girls are just TALKING about their surprise.
ME: But why does Lily have a girl on top of her?
MADELEINE: (sounding offended) She doesn't have a GIRL on her!!
ME: Oh.  But what's this on her? (pointing to the small girl on Lily's chest.)
MADELEINE: That's her SWEATSHIRT.
ME: Oh. So she has a picture of a girl on her shirt?
MADELEINE: Yes.  Because she's a FASHIONTISTA.

Okay.  That clears up a lot.  Just a normal old day in the car, with a resident spider shooting out its web and a stowaway in the trunk.


Pgs. 3-4:

Wow.  SO MUCH going on.  So many questions.  For example: Why is there an eight-armed girl hanging from the ceiling??

ME: Madeleine, will you tell me about these pictures?
MADELEINE: So, in this picture, Liza is reading her book, and in this picture, she's playing on the piano at school and having FUN.  She's thinking about the time that her auntie and her rolled down the pumpkin down the hill.  And her auntie is her TEACHER.  Her auntie is thinking about the time where they baked chocolate chip cookies and the time they made muffins in the fireplace together by accident. 
ME: (pointing to Octo-Human) And who's this hanging from the ceiling?
MADELEINE: Um, that's her sister, Lily.
ME: But why does Lily have so many arms?
MADELEINE: Um, because she's dressed up as a spider. (pointing to the other figure hanging from a string) And that's their brother.  Their brother's name is THOMAS.
ME: But why are they hanging from the ceiling?
MADELEINE: Oh.  Because they're pretending to be SPIDERS.
ME: (pointing to the creature on the top right of the page) And what's this?
MADELEINE: Oh. That's the giant caterpiller that's their baby sister.

I don't know about you, but when my younger siblings, including my BABY SISTER, are hanging from the ceiling by a string, I have absolutely no problem tuning everything out and just chillin' with my nose in a book.


Pgs. 5-6:

ME: Madeleine, can you tell me about these pictures?
MADELEINE:Um, so, Liza's hanging up her backpack and she says to her teacher, "I'm sweating!  (heavy breathing sounds.)  I just got here.  What's that in here for?"  "Oh, it's just for some of the fourth graders to hang up their backpacks.  Only your sister likes to hang her backpack.  She LOVES to."
ME: And what about this page? (pointing to the pictures on the right.)
MADELEINE: (breaking into song) Let it goooo, let the storm rage oooon!  "You're DOING GREAT!  Wow.  You really look like ANNA."  "You're being Elsa for our birthday?"  "How'd you guess?"  "Mom told me."  "(gasping) NO SHE DID NOT!"


I'm not sure I get the connection between Liza being at school and the girls suddenly dressing as "Frozen" characters for their birthday.  But let's read on and see if the next page clarifies things.


Pgs. 7-8:

ME: So Madeleine, what's going on here? (pointing to the drawings on the left.)
MADELEINE: In this picture, they're running from the play ghostes, and they're like (making giggling noises.)  "How'd you do that?"  "It's easy!  All you have to do is play BABY.  And - (gasping) She fell inside the GHOST CAPTURE??"  "Yes.  She did.  I saw it!"
ME: And how about this page? (pointing to the picture on the right.)
MADELEINE: Okay.  So she's saying-
ME: Wait.  Who's saying?
MADELEINE: That's HER.
ME: Who's her?  Wait.  Who's this?  (pointing to the figure on the left)
MADELEINE: That's Liza.  (pointing to figure on the right) And that's Liza.
ME: There's two Lizas?
MADELEINE: Yes.  Because her whole family is WITCHES, she made a SPELL, that made her be DOUBLE.
ME: Okay.  So they're both Liza.
MADELEINE: Yes.  And this is what they're saying: "Okay.  So let's try. I want me to be a good listener, so let's try."  "I'd love to!"  "I'd love to!"  "So let's try."  "Of course!"  "Of course!"


Okay.  Even after Madeleine's explanations I'm still as lost as ever.  I guess I'm too much of a dunce to follow Madeleine's complicated plot lines.


Pg. 9:

ME: And tell me about this page.
MADELEINE: Okay.  Um, so...(making eating sounds) "Another cupcake please."  "Here you go."  "This is just the BEST birthday party ever!"  "Let's turn out the lights." "(gasping) The LIGHTS are off!"  "Shh.  (blowing sounds) That was just the BEST CUPCAKE EVER!"  "Me too!"  (turning to me) Okay!  That's alllll!

According to Madeleine, the surprise that is mentioned in the title of this book winds up being a birthday party.  NOT a piñata, as Lily had suspected.  WHAT A SURPRISE!

And that's the end of chapter 1.  If you're lucky, I'll get a chance to sit down with the author again tomorrow and discuss chapter 2!