SLJ Talks to Actress Julianne Moore about Her New Picture Book
This article originally appeared in SLJ’s Extra Helping. Sign up now!
Joan Oleck -- School Library Journal, 1/10/2008 2:10:00 PM
Most would agree that Julianne Moore is beautiful. But this Oscar-nominated actress—who has starred in Children of Men, Far from Heaven, Boogie Nights, and The Hours—didn’t grow up feeling that way. Those memories helped fuel Moore's first children's book, the well-received Freckleface Strawberry (Bloomsbury, 2007), which came out in October. SLJ spoke with the New York City-based actress about celebrities turning into authors—and how she came to grips with those unmentionable freckles.
You've been nominated for four Academy Awards and four Golden Globe nominations; you've won an Emmy. But Freckleface is your first children's book. Have you had cynics question your credentials?[Yes] because there's been this fad of celebrities writing children's books. I've even had a couple of people say, "Oh, who wrote it for you?" which is terrible and embarrassing! But I really came to it more from the perspective of a reader than anything else.
 |
|
Photo credit: |
I'm a big library fan. I spent a lot of time in libraries as a kid. We moved constantly [Moore was an army brat, raised in North Carolina, the Midwest, Alaska, New York, and Europe]. So the first place my mother brought us to was the library, and I basically spent all my free time there as a kid.
I grew up in libraries all over the country, and for me it's the thing that defines me more than anything. I'm not sure I'm a writer, but I know I'm a reader. Participating in this [book] was a way to just involve myself in a world that I care about.
Your book has a really nice message about self-acceptance. Are you the little girl in your book? Did you hate having freckles?
Yeah, and I still hate them! So many books, not just kids' books but adult novels, talk about there being something about yourself that you don't like or you're uncomfortable with. You grow up, and either it goes away or you just learn to love it. Well, honestly in my experience, you grow up, it doesn't go away, and you still don't like it! But it doesn't matter as much anymore.
That's the way I feel about my freckles. My freckles are still here. I still wish I had beautiful tan skin like some of my friends, but I don't. But I have a family and I have a job and I have things that I love in my life, so it goes to the bottom of the list. It's not as important anymore. That's kind of what I wanted to say.
You have a daughter, 5, and a son, 10. You're involved in Reach Out and Read, the literacy organization. How are you and your husband, director Bart Freundlich, encouraging your kids to become readers?
My mother-in-law got us involved in [Reach Out and Read] because she volunteers as one of the readers. We've helped them with some fund-raisers and stuff. My daughter made cupcakes and we sold them in [a local park] and sent in the money…. The best thing you can do is read to [kids], and read yourself. I'm also a firm believer that you can read anything [to encourage kids to read]: the back of a cereal box, a comic book.
Are there children's authors you're fond of?
Gosh, I love Kevin Henkes. Mo Willems—we corresponded by email; I mentioned him on the Today show. Jamie Lee Curtis is someone whose stuff I think is terrific.
Obviously you have a literary streak at the adult level, reflected in the many movies you've done based on books or short stories. Don’t you have two new "literary" movies coming?
Blindness—we just finished that. And also another [based on a book] called Savage Grace—both are coming out in '08. So, yeah, I tend to be drawn to literary stuff in my acting life. And, look, it's not like I wrote a novel; I wrote a kids' picture book. But I hope I was sensitive to the literary form.
You're writing a second Freckleface story, to be published in 2009.
It's called Freckleface and the Ball, about Freckleface Strawberry and her fear of balls [on the playground]. My manager started to laugh at me. She said, "So you're just going to work your way through each childhood trauma?"
Speaking of childhood traumas, do your children have freckles?
Not like I do! That's why the dedication says "to my own little, not-so-frecklefaced strawberries." They both have red hair—but [only an] adorable smattering of freckles across their noses."
