Blueberry Girl av Neil Gaiman.

Folk som enten har fulgt denne bloggen, eller kjenner meg godt nok, vet at jeg er svært begeistret for Neil Gaiman. I fjor var jeg så heldig at jeg fikk billedboka Blueberry Girl fra min bror til fødselsdagen min. Boka startet som et dikt Neil Gaiman skrev mens Tori Amos gikk gravid med sin datter. På sidene Mouse Circus (sider for Gaimans unge lesere) forklarer han blant annet:

This is the kind of book that comes about when a friend phones you and says, «I’ll be having a baby in a month. Would you write her a poem? A sort of prayer, maybe? We call her the Blueberry. . . .» And you think, Yes, actually. I would.

I wrote the poem. When the baby was born, they stopped calling her the Blueberry and started calling her Natashya, but they pinned up the handwritten Blueberry girl poem beside her bed.

(…)

Then artist Charles Vess (whom I had collaborated with on Stardust) read it.

And somehow, it all became simple. I made a few phone calls. We decided to make some donations to some charities. And Charles began to draw, and then to paint, taking the poem as a starting point and then making something universal and beautiful.

Og det er virkelig ei vakker bok. Jeg fikk nesten gåsehud da jeg leste den. Ikke bare er det et vakkert dikt, men Charles Vess’ illustrasjoner er virkelig flotte.

Brady Hall har laget en liten animasjon av boka, hvor han har satt sammen Vess’ illustrasjoner og Neil Gaimans opplesing. Selv animasjonen gir meg nesten tårer i øynene: