John Boyd-Dunlop with the dinosaur egg which inspired his book Eggatha's Dreamland Adventure.
If you’ve ever whiled away a few hours conjuring up your dream life, you’re not alone.
In fact, that’s exactly what Eggatha has done in Eggatha’s Dreamland Adventure, illustrated by Napier artist John Boyd-Dunlop and written by an acquaintance of his daughter’s, Ceinwen Jones.
“If you’ve ever had a dream about running, a dream about collecting a bunch of golden coins from the beach in a tropical location, or one involving tomatoes, chances are that Eggatha was the one who wove it for you.”
So says the blurb on the back cover of this quirky “kidult art book”, the first in a series of three.
“There are a lot of messages in there. They might go over the kids’ heads, but the adults will get it,” John says.
His characters include Eggatha’s best friend Rump the pig, a family of cats called the Felix Frollies, barista Eileen and fellow dream weavers Trent, Cecil and their dog, Ariadne.
“Ceinwen named all the characters. She wrote the story while locked down in Melbourne with her daughter. She’s a really good writer - I wouldn’t have anyone else write it. She knows where I’m coming from.”
Former primary school teacher and librarian Ceinwen says this isn’t the first time she has written a story after the illustrations were already done.
“Funnily enough, ages ago as a teacher, I used Storybird with the students - it’s a storybook maker where you choose other people’s artworks, put them in any order you want, and make up your own story to go with them. You can then share and publish your story.”
Ceinwen says she loved the way the illustrations were so whimsical.
“And the idea of an egg riding a bike was especially appealing. To me, Eggatha’s character was really strongly conveyed in the art.”
She says it didn’t take too long before the story began to form.
“After looking at the pictures, I put them aside for a while. Then when I sat down with them all in front of me in order, the story came, page by page. It didn’t take too long to write, but I did go over it a bit to change it and refine it.”
Ceinwen describes Eggatha’s Dreamland Adventure as a bit of a niche book.
“The idea that a picture story book should not talk ‘down’ to its audience has always appealed to me - think of Beatrix Potter using the word ‘soporific’ in The flopsy bunnies - and some of the language does need decoding for a younger audience. It’s also kind of surreal - because the artwork leans that way - and a little bit ‘stream of consciousness’. I guess if I had to talk about the audience I had in mind, I wasn’t really thinking of age groups, more of a shared sense of humour.”
She says the book was an absolute pleasure to write.
“I had a really defined structure, with the pictures given to me in order, and a bunch of characters who really made it easy for me to write about them. It didn’t feel like work, it just felt like I was conveying in words what the pictures were telling me.”
John says he had no intention of doing three books but thought the characters were so good.
“It just evolved. The pictures come out of my head. I think it up first and then might doodle on paper to see if they’re right or wrong. Or sometimes I just go straight into it.”
John believes the illustrations are self-explanatory and Ceinwen has put her interpretation onto them.
“I’ve got to think about what I do. I have an imagination and I love reading people. We’ve had a pretty busy life and you can’t sit on your backside watching tele or be at the beach all day. It’s just what I like to do. Most people are scared to get off the fence and try something new.”
Eggatha’s Dreamland Adventure can be purchased from Boyd-Dunlop Gallery, 4 Hastings St, Napier.