Erin Dealey

DON’T TELL ANYONE but today we’ve got a sneaky preview interview of

Antoinette Portis‘ newest picture book, To Activate Space Portal, Lift Here

(Neal Porter Books), set to land in bookstores on Oct. 7th!

ATTENTION ALL HUMANS: To View the Book Trailer CLICK HERE.

The Portal will open soon.

We might even meet Zrk and Blrg. 

About the Author/Illustrator:

Antoinette Portis lives in southern California where she creates out-of-this-world books for children, including Not a Box (Check out the animated series on AppleTV), Hey, Water!, A New Green Day, and A Seed Grows. Her work has received a Sibert Honor and two Geisel Honors, as well as multiple Best Book of the Year designations. Portis is a recipient of the prestigious Sendak Fellowship.  

Let’s ask some questions!

Intergalactic Inspiration

Q 1. What was the inspiration for To Activate Space Portal, Lift Here?

AP — Once in a while, I wake up with an image or thread of an idea I can turn into a book. One morning, I saw this mental image of a window looking out on a blank white space with a monster that looked small because it was far away in the distance.

Then came the image of the same monster right outside the window. There was the idea of size relativity and how it effects perception and therefore our emotional reaction. The monster up close was scary, and the one far away wasn’t.

            Somehow this led me to the idea of looking at aliens through some kind of wormhole/space portal. Not sure how that leap happened.

But I liked the idea there could be these intergalactic teleportation devices on random planets, as casual as phone booths were, and we could have informal conversations with the inhabitants there. So then I set to imagining how one of those interactions could have gone.

Creative Process

Q 2. As the author/illustrator of To Activate Space Portal, Lift Here, which came first: the characters, the story, or the illustrations?

 AP — The idea of a book as a space portal came first. Then I started writing the dialog and roughing out the illustrations at the same time—back and forth like a game of ping pong.

            The text was most important, since it’s the flow of the dialog that creates the momentum in this book. The visual challenge was to make images of two talking heads varied, interesting and sometimes surprising. I had fun playing with page compositions and alien facial expressions.

Character Design

            The final character design came after I’d written the whole text and roughed out the dummy. I realized then that my aliens were shaped like gourds, which gave me ideas for more alien designs when I needed them. I also saw that the eyes of the main characters had to slide around on their faces to give me flexibility with page compositions. Since I invented this alien race, I could make them however I wanted–they didn’t have to obey rules of human anatomy.

AP —  It would have been fun to do this book as an animated short! I’d like to hear their voices and see the portal opening and then closing, and the power and auto-translate buttons flashing their warnings.

ED note: OOOH–We’d like to see that too!

Blrg and Zrk

Q 3. It is said that our stories are a tiny bit autobiographical. Would you say you’re more like Brave Blrg or Fearless Zrk  –or the Alien? (Or are they based on people you know?)

 AP —  Blrg and Zrk are loosely based on my younger brothers (I have 3)–and the pack of boys that always hung out at our house every summer. B and Z are boisterous, mischievous, a bit braggy, and always looking for opportunities to have fun. They definitely have a child-like frame of reference—like Zrk says, “Can you make your teeth bigger?” That’s a child’s kind of question.

Q 4. Are they from the same planet Boborp as Omek and Yelfred (Best Frints in the Whole Universe / Best Frints at Skrool / Roaring Brook Press)? 

 AP — Boborp, where Omek and Yelfred live, is a way crankier planet than Blrg and Zrk’s Planet Xyl. Blrg and Zrk aren’t prone to angry outbursts. I would not want to live on Boborp—Planet Xyl is more inviting.

Q 5. Can you give us a translation of: SKF FLRBL GRNK. (Or a hint or way to break the code?)

AP — Until we make contact with Planet Xyl again, that will remain a mystery. I hope it’s the key to how to bring about world peace.

Takeaways

Q 6. What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

AP —

            a. That it’s the reader who is the alien to those peering out from the portal on Planet Xyl.

            b. That anyone can appear as an alien–an “other”–to someone. When have we felt like an alien in our life? What others do we classify as aliens?

            c. And I hope fellow reading enthusiasts will get the metaphor that every book is a portal to a world that an author takes us to.

Q 7. What’s next for you?

AP — I’m really looking forward to reading Portal to kids this fall—there will be lots of audience interaction! I love a little bit of kid chaos.

To find out more about such chaos, visit antoinetteportis.com

And follow Antoinette Portis on

Instagram: @bathingonthemoon

Facebook: /antoinette.portis

Threads: bathingonthemoon

Next on the blog:

We chat with author Lauren Kerstein about her newest picture book, Hope Rode

Illus. Becca Stadtlander / Union Square Kids

An empowering ode to the brave librarians from Kentucky.