ROCKWOOD – It was a labour of love that produced Kathy Stinson’s latest picture book, The Rock and the Butterfly, and if it’s bringing comfort to others, so much the better.
The children’s book was published in October, but its subject matter is one some readers – including adults – may find comfort in over the holidays.
“It was written and illustrated with children in mind, but I’ve had a number of people who have bought it for adults,” said Stinson, a Rockwood-based author perhaps best known for the children’s classic, Red is Best.
Illustrated by Brooke Kerrigan, The Rock and the Butterfly is the story of a butterfly that suddenly loses its beloved friend and must learn how to cope with its grief.
Stinson said it is not surprising the story seems to resonate with some adults.
Though the published version was produced as a children’s book, Stinson originally crafted the story for Kerrigan’s mother, Heather Collins, a friend who had recently lost her husband.
Collins and Stinson had become friends when Collins was illustrating the original Bare Naked Book for Stinson in the 1980s, but in more recent years, the pair had kind of lost touch with one another, Stinson said.
It was 2020, during the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Collins’ husband died.
While Stinson wasn’t able to be there in person to comfort her old friend, she wanted to write a letter of condolence that might provide some level of comfort.
“As I was thinking about what to write to her, I remembered her telling me that she was the butterfly in the relationship, and her husband was the rock,” Stinson recalled.
She pondered the idea while she went for a walk in the woods near her home, and by the time she returned, the first draft of the story had already taken shape.
“I came home and I wrote something down,” said Stinson. “I sent it to her, and she wrote back and she was incredibly moved by the story.”
The idea to turn it into a book came later, and came from Kerrigan, whose mother had shared Stinson’s story with her.
At the time, Kerrigan was working on a project with Stinson’s husband, and mentioned to him wanting to illustrate the story. He suggested Kerrigan and Stinson should connect.
They approached Collins with the idea to get her blessing before going to work on the project.
Asked how much changed from the original story she wrote for Collins, Stinson answered, “a fair bit,” explaining “it needed to be better shaped” to become a book.
But essentially, it is the same story, Stinson said.
“There are these two great friends, they’re very different from each other, but they depend on each other a lot,” she said.
When one disappears, the other must find a way to carry on without its friend.
“We had some conversations about how does the rock just disappear,” said Stinson, describing some of the creative issues that had to be overcome in the process of developing the book.
Another challenge was whether there would be enough visual interest for a children’s book in a series of images of a rock and a butterfly.
But Stinson said Kerrigan rose to the challenge with her “gorgeous” illustrations.
They pitched the book to officials with Orca Book Publishers, who Stinson said had no hesitation about taking on the project.
“They went for it right away,” she said.
It is somewhat atypical for an author to pitch a children’s book with an illustrator already attached, but this book was different, said Stinson.
“I wasn’t going to do the book without Brook,” she said. “It was just natural.”
In an Orca blog post about the book, Stinson said she couldn’t be more pleased with how the book turned out.
“I think the book is a lovely tribute to Brooke’s parents and the love between them,” she wrote.
Stinson hopes anyone who might find comfort in the story will find it, particularly during the sometimes-difficult holiday season.
The Wellington County Library has several copies of the book, but for those who would like a copy of their own, Stinson’s suggestion is the Bookshelf in Guelph.
“I always say, go to the independent, and if they don’t have it there they are great about ordering it,” Stinson said.
