Image of the Week: Love is a Verb, Love is a Noun
© Durga Yael Bernhard
I love relating images to words. LOVE IS, my unique little rhyming greeting card booklet about the most ordinary forms of love, began when I noticed that in English, the word "love" is identical as both noun and verb. In other languages, the word takes two different forms. But in English, "I love you" uses the same word form as "I feel love." It's one of the wonders of English – and one of the many mysteries of language.
From that curious little seed, a poem grew – and images to go with it. Using storytelling vignettes, I depicted all different forms – and acts – of everyday love. This is a book for children, so I focused mostly on non-romantic love – love among friends, love of family, love of strangers – all of which children relate to easily. But it is not only for children, so love among adults is shown too – which children learn from long before they can understand or articulate what they feel.
This is my first "crossover" book – meaning it crosses the boundaries of publishing categories. It's for both kids and grown-ups. It's both a greeting card and a book. Publishers loathe to take chances on products that do not have a well-defined niche. On Amazon, it's not possible to list a product more than one way.
That's how LOVE IS became my first self-published book. I wrote it, illustrated it, designed it, and worked with the printer and binder to bring it to completion. I did it on my own terms, according to my own timing. And I had fun in the process. Nobody paid me to illustrate this book, so I kept the art simple. No lavish detail or saturated color for this baby. After illustrating almost three dozen full-color picture books, these light, airy figures on white backgrounds seemed easy.
The twins on the opening page are based on Lana and Ella, two lovely girls for whom my daughter babysat – and who some of my readers know – along with their patient, lovely mom, who is not at all plump as shown in the picture. Somehow a broader lap served the illustration – or harkened back to my own grandmother, whose body was a warm nest for me so long ago. She, too, shows up in the book as the devoted seamstress she was, making her granddaughter's dream costume come true. Stitch by stitch, we give the gift of time and attention to the people we care about.
And then there are animals, also featured in this book, as well as individuals of many nations, all races, all configurations of families . . . on and on it went as the book took on a life of its own. Truly, bringing this book to completion was an act of love.
You can order LOVE IS from my webstore – and nowhere else on the planet, with the possible exception of the back of my car. It fits inside a 5"x7" greeting card envelope, and may be mailed with just two first class stamps. It makes a great little gift, with a page in the front to inscribe it to someone you love. It comes with an envelope if you want to mail it yourself, or you can specify an address (and an inscription) and I'll send it directly for you.
Happy Valentines Day,
with love,
D Yael Bernhard