Multifaceted artist and renowned author-illustrator James Ransome returns with a new picture book, A Place for Us. In the book, a Black child and his mother reside together in a New York-inspired city. On the outside, they appear as a typical family living in a metropolitan area. The book depicts, sans words, an unhoused family and their daily activities. Their journey takes them from the library to eating at fast-food restaurants, as well as going to work and school. By nightfall, the mother begins her routine to prepare them to sleep in the park together. PW spoke with Ransome about destigmatizing the rising unhoused population, his advocacy for the working class, accessibility to affordable housing, and the benefits of collaborating with his wife, Lesa Cline-Ransome.
What inspired you to do a wordless picture book that depicts heavy topics such as unhoused children?
Well, it’s three things. The first, is my personal life. My children who are in their 20s, are having difficulty finding affordable housing. The second is the Eastern Farm Workers Association. They do a calendar every year where they ask illustrators to create artwork, and that calendar is used to raise money to help people who are the working poor. There are lots of people who work every day but cannot afford housing. And the third inspiration is my [previous] book, My Teacher.
As an illustrator, what hurdles do you encounter when creating art that requires conversation absent of your words?
That’s a real challenge. When you are [illustrating] a book with text, you want to flow along with the words and add things that the text is not adding. But when it’s just pictures, you want to make sure the narrative is a story that people can follow through suggested body language, movement, and placement, [which] help tell the story.
How do you envision readers engaging with A Place for Us? Are there any messages you want readers to acknowledge?
I want readers to [engage] with the book and have a discussion afterwards. I want them to think that there’s probably someone in their class who may not be going to a house that evening, and to bring that conversation up and consider solutions. But the premise behind the book was this idea that homeless people don’t only live on the street or in shelters, but sometimes they are our classmates, and they could be sleeping in their car that night or they could be sleeping at an uncle’s house. They could be sleeping in a train station, and their mother and father could be working hard every day. They just can’t afford to pay for housing.
How much influence did your wife have with this book since you collaborate often?
I shared everything with her. I shared with her my sketches and ideas. She [then] gives me her comments and we discuss it. She’s an invaluable supporter and collaborator in everything I do.
What are you working on now and what can we expect next from you?
My current project is called Yellow: A History of the Color as Bright as the Sun and as Rich as the Earth by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond [Knopf]. It is a very exciting and intense book, probably the most difficult book I’ve had to do. The book I just finished is called Freedom to Read, a biography of Mary Peake [S&S/Wiseman], written by my wife. Mary Peake taught runaway slaves how to read under an oak tree, and that oak tree is [now] located where Hampton University is today. It is called the Emancipation Oak and it’s also at the university that my wife’s grandfather attended.
A Place for Us by James Ransome. Penguin/Paulsen, $18.99 Aug. ISBN 978-0-593-32488-2
