Combining the adorableness of “Finding Nemo” with a message crystalline in its clarity — “Every plastic thing you have ever used is still… somewhere, and will be for a very, very, very long time” — Bridget Parlato’s debut picture book, Plastic Land: A True Trash Tale About Plastics, is likely to be a powerful experience for both the 6-11 year olds in its target audience and the adults who read it to them or with them. We caught up with the author over Zoom to learn a little more about her and about the origins of the book, which the multi-talented Parlato singlehandedly wrote, illustrated, financed and published.
Are you a native Baltimorean?
I’ve been here for 28 years now, but I grew up on a farm in upstate New York. I had a lot of exposure to nature through my mom, who was also a visual artist. After I finished my MFA in sculpture at the University of Miami, I relocated to Baltimore to join my husband.
What’s your day job?
I started in events, then worked as a designer in the architecture field. I’m currently working with The Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, a non-profit where I landed after a decade of work as a freelancer focusing on environmental and cause-related design. I’m also a jewelry designer.
What drew you to focus on ecology?
I was sick of all the trash in southeast Baltimore, where I live, so I started an anti-trash initiative, Baltimore Trash Talk (BTT). After spending a lot of time trying to get people to pick up trash, I realized the problem required a multi-faceted approach. You had to educate from bottom up and legislate from top down, while also trying to get people to come in from the sides and reduce their footprints.
Through BTT, I started a school presentation program, educating children about recycling, reuse and litter. I held two bottle return events in Patterson Park during which members of the public brought their bottles and cans and received five cents per piece. The returns were turned into huge rivers of recyclables at the park’s southwest entrance. These events helped gather data in support of a Maryland Bottle Bill. I created two other similar rivers: one at Artscape as part of an exhibition curated by Laure Drogoul and one on the Johns Hopkins University campus as part of a group exhibition with MICA curatorial grad, Chris Beer.
So how did you end up writing and illustrating this adorable, if somewhat terrifying, children’s book?
Laure Drogoul had an event at Light City Baltimore, and invited me to be part of it. I decided to write a poem and recite it. Everybody loved it and was asking for copies and telling me, you know, you should do a book. So I did. I have been writing for myself for years with intent to do something with it, someday. And I sing and rhyme at home pretty much non-stop. Many a song has been “adapted” to suit my purposes and I kept joking that I should figure out a way to make money off of such a silly gift – who knows, maybe this book is the kick-off! When I was about 7, I carved “Someday, I am going to write a book” in the desk in the corner of my bedroom. Well, here’s the book!
Is some of that original poem still in the book?
Absolutely. But to appeal to a young audience, I added the animal characters. And since it wasn’t originally intended only for kids, I did simplify some words and concepts.
I’ve been thinking about how to adapt the illustrations so that it doesn’t read solely as a children’s book as I don’t really want to limit the audience.
I think it will reach adults. It reached me! The image you created of all that plastic trash permanently floating into eternity was really chilling. But aren’t children the most important audience for this message? They’re the ones who are gonna have to live with this mess. And actually, any time a little kid reads this book, there’s going to be an adult involved. Which is why it’s great that you included a whole section of teacher/parent information and activities.
How did you finance it?
I had a partial grant from Baltimore City to help with some of the illustration costs, but mostly it’s been a labor of love, paid for out of pocket, and printed on demand. I thought it also might appeal to people as a teaching tool if it included educational info that helped expand on the concepts in the book.
What I really want is for kids to start to do material identification, start to recognize what it is that’s passing through their hands and think about where it goes. You use it for five minutes or five years, it’s still going to be around long after you are gone.
For a recent book reading with Waterfront Partnership at Rash Field, I created an upcycled outfit with a crown out of pens and pencils and paintbrushes that belonged to my mom. She passed away a number of years ago, but her things are still around. We don’t keep all the things we start with, but those things are still somewhere, likely sitting in a dump.
The best solutions to the overuse of plastics? Don’t buy them. And when you do buy goods, buy quality (it lasts longer), fix what can be fixed, opt for natural, non-plastic items, and really think about how long you will use and item and whether you (or someone else) can get more use out of it. It may seem easy to “throw things away,” but away is somewhere.
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Plastic Land is available at Bookshop.org, Amazon, and other online retailers. Contact Bridget directly to plan an event for your school or organization.
bparlato@fullcircuitstudio.com
www.fullcircuitstudio.com
