EDEN MILLS – Local artist Janet Wilson is reflecting on her time illustrating the 1995 book In Flanders Fields, the story of the poem by John McCrae.
Written by American author Linda Granfield and published just in time for Remembrance Day in 1995, the bright red book is quite familiar to many young adults today, as it has become a Remembrance Day staple in classrooms across the country since its release.
“Everybody called it the Red Book,” Wilson told the Advertiser.
“So, when I go to visit schools, I put the picture up and ask, ‘Does anybody recognize [this]?’ and, of course, they immediately do, I ask, ‘when do you see this book?’ And they say Remembrance Day.”
Granfield approached Wilson about the book during a routine business book function.
“It happened very quickly. It was just at one of those business book functions, and Linda Granfield mentioned that she had the idea of writing a book about in Flanders Fields, because she’s American from Boston, and … a lot of her family were in the military, and she was surprised that we really didn’t have anything, any material for kids about this very famous poem and this very well-known poet,” said Wilson.
“So, it was just one of those ideas that as soon as it was out of her mouth, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, you’re so right. This is so necessary, and I want to do it.’”
The duo got to work right away and what should have taken at least a year, was completed in a few short months.
“We really wanted it to be out for Remembrance Day, and so we just worked really hard and got it done in a matter of months,” said Wilson.
“World War One or World War Two really wasn’t discussed in schools that much for the younger kids, but they did recite the poem,” said Wilson.
“That would be the limit of their services or, you know, what they did in school, and I think most of the kids didn’t really even know what the poem was about. And I think having pictures really helped.”
Despite already being an accomplished artist, Wilson felt a sense of insecurity about illustrating the book.
“It’s an interesting story but because I was so insecure about it, I felt like I needed to go to Flanders and see the area,” said Wilson.
“My husband and I took a battlefield tour. So, we went all around with an expert on World War One. We actually visited the place where the poem was written.”
JANET WILSON
Wilson said the trip helped her with the perspective of the images and seeing just how many crosses and grave sites there were.
She noted that by the time the trip ended, she felt qualified to complete the illustrations.
Wilson explained one illustration in particular has stuck with her.
“Having had two boys, I just really felt like, how would I have felt if my boys had to go to war. So there was that one picture that was painted from … the bedroom in the McCrae house, with all … the furniture and everything was the same …
“I had some of his war toys and Teddy bear, you know, possessions that from that era, but in the reflection, in the mirror, I had a mother on a bed … grief stricken and the father was in the doorway, so that’s the one that really stuck with me,” said Wilson.
“I did want to be able to put in something that it wasn’t just about soldiers fighting or politicians planning battles and things, it was also that it devastated families.”
Wilson told the Advertiser she believes that educating children on war and this aspect of Canadian history is essential to their development and their outlook on the world as they grow older.
“I think that we have to teach that (WWI and WWII) to children,” she said.
“They have to understand what it means and the devastating consequences … the solution to problems around the world is through education, through child education.”
Those interested in obtaining a copy of the book can find them at amazon.ca.
