The Power of Primary Sources: Walking the Line Between Facts and the Imagination

I have always loved nonfiction. As a child, I loved reading biographies and stories of real people and as an artist, I love illustrating biographies. Writing nonfiction obviously requires a lot of research. Illustrating nonfiction picture books requires just as much research. One of the challenges and joys of illustrating any picture book is the ability to stretch the story through the pictures and this is more challenging with nonfiction. As the illustrator, you walk a line between factual information and using your imagination.

When I first read Candace Fleming’s wonderful manuscript for CUBS IN THE TUB: THE TRUE STORY OF THE BRONX ZOO’S FIRST WOMAN ZOOKEEPER (8/4/20), I was excited that there was so much space for the art. However, I didn’t want to just make up scenes out of my head, I wanted to show zookeeper Helen Martini’s real life in the Bronx. Luckily, Helen herself wrote a wonderful autobiography and I found a well-worn copy of MY ZOO FAMILY in a used bookstore. In the book, Helen described her life with an apartment full of cubs and how she created a nursery at the zoo for her “babies” I underlined every scene in the book that had visual possibilities and many of Helen’s own words were the basis for the illustrations I created.

“Another day, as I was washing some clothes in the bathroom tub…Dacca and Rajpur got into the bathroom-and when I went back, they were having the time of their lives boxing one another in the tub of wash. It was then, incidentally, that I realized how fond tigers are of water.” (p.23)

Helen described life inside her house in great detail, but she never described the house itself. I read with interest the only description of her apartment and the road she lived on. “Fred and I occupied, then as now, the third floor, formerly the attic, of a very old three-family frame house on a private road off Southern Boulevard that seems to be pushed back and forgotten.” (p.18) I did a Google search of dozens of tiny streets off Southern Blvd, but never found the right street.

Finally, on the last page of the book Helen says; “And again the little apartment on Old Kingsbridge Road echoed to the infant cries of cats.” (p.208)

Thanks to Google Earth I was able to virtually walk down Helen’s street and look at the buildings on Old Kingsbridge Road. There were only 3 houses on the tiny street. I checked realtor sites and actually found one of the houses for sale. I took a virtual tour of the inside of the house and it closely resembled the rooms Helen described. This was the house I chose to illustrate. it may or may not have been her actual house, but it fit the description of her 3rd floor apartment with a view of the zoo. (PICTURES 3 & 4)

Aside from Helen’s house, I wanted to get a sense of Helen’s neighborhood. I looked at dozens of books and hundreds of images. The New York Historical Society has a database with thousands of photos of the Bronx and New York during and after World War II. The photos provided wonderful visual details for life around the Bronx Zoo.

I made a special trip to NYC when I was working on the sketches and spent the whole day at the Bronx Zoo. Although the zoo has changed since Helen’s time, many things remain, including the beautiful Rainey Gates at the entrance to the zoo. I had seen them in photos, but it made such a difference to see them in real life.

Unfortunately, Helen’s nursery no longer exists, but her own words provided a description of her getting the nursery ready for her” babies.”

“Not waiting for any official notice, however, I immediately began a major job of house-cleaning, plastering and painting.” (p.35)

While at the zoo, the big cat zookeeper gave me a wonderful and slightly scary tiger demonstration. Tigers are BIG! I kept thinking about Helen and how comfortable she was in a cage with 3 of these gigantic animals. Yikes.

One of my favorite research finds was a 1940’s model car. Drawing cars is a challenge for me and trying to find a photo of a 1940’s car from the right angles was really difficult. Short of actually buying a car, I had to find a better solution. Every month, there is a huge, sprawling flea market in Alameda, across the Bay from San Francisco. I often went with an eye for anything from the 1940’s. One Sunday, in the very last row, I met a vendor selling a few models of vintage cars. Pay dirt! We haggled on the price and I bought a beautiful 1940’s model car for $5.00. Now, I was able to photograph the car from any angle I wanted.

I also went to the Alameda flea market with an eye to find a copy of Life Magazine from May 1943. The famous photographer Alfred Eisner produced a wonderful photo spread of Helen and her babies. I finally found a copy at the same flea market and the photos served as inspiration for many of the illustrations in the book.

As the illustrator I wear many hats. I draw and paint, but I am also a director, set designer and costume designer all rolled into one. I had the most fun furnishing Helen’s home. I combed through the Life Magazine photos about Helen and her cubs and used any details I found for furniture, carpets and other hints of Helen’s life. Otherwise, I researched furniture, carpets and wallpaper from the 1940’s.

The color palette for the book was based on Formica colors from the 1940s. The wallpaper, most of which I created with watercolor, was all inspired by old wallpaper books.

It is impossible to be 100% authentic when illustrating a picture book biography. So much of a picture book is communicating an emotion or a vision of a person’s life. I wanted young readers to really get a sense of Helen, her quiet determination to take care of her “children.” and her passion for caring for all her zoo babies. At the same time, I wanted the art to reflect as much of Helen’s actual life as possible. Using primary sources gave me a chance to get to know Helen and her world.