Around the holidays six years ago, Hoboken resident Ona Gritz and her husband were thinking about what might be a good holiday gift for their son Ethan, who was 3.
“We came up with the idea of making handmade gifts,” she said.
Gritz created an alphabet book. She is an accomplished poet and the senior Youth Services librarian at the Hoboken library.
She infused the book with rhyming couplets and alteration.
As fate would have it, her husband was taking a book making class at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. The teacher of the class was so impressed with the poetry that she took it to a friend at Harry N. Abrams publishing, who loved it and agreed to have it published.
“Getting published is so often about luck,” mused Gritz.
Last month, the picture book hit stores.
Tangerines and Tea, My Grandparents and Me is an alphabet book that portrays a loving relationship between a brother and sister and their grandparents.
The publishing company had to wait extra time to put the book together because they wanted to use in-demand illustrator Yumi Heo, who gave the book a distinctive and colorful visual flair.
Apples to share
The book begins:
“Apples to share in the crisp autumn air,
a boy in the bath with a bubbly laugh,
the corner of the world where the cat lies curled,
dogs that dine for your dish and mine…”
The two preschoolers in the book visit their grandparents’ farm at various times through the seasons. With bright colors – yellow, blue, green and orange hues – the animated illustrations whimsically fly across the page.
Each page sets up some sort of action: V relates to ice cream (“A vivid dream of vanilla ice cream”) or for Z, it is the sound of guitars under the stars (“And zithers and guitar beneath zillions of stars.”).
Such is the world of childhood wonderment that Gritz and Heo create.
“I was really looking to catch those loving moments,” Gritz said proudly.
In a review, Booklist laid equal praise for author and illustrator.
“The sound and beat of the words are as much fun as the full-page oil-and-pencil pictures,” read the review. “The rhyme uses lots of alliteration, and the bright, playful illustrations, both detailed and clear, will encourage kids to look closely and find more objects to talk about, including some with the same letter. Each page presents a situation, almost a story.”
Poetry, fiction
Gritz studied writing at New York University, and her poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Poetry East and The American Voice. This is her second book for children. Her first, Starfish Summer, for children ages 7 to 10, was released in 1998.
Also this month, Gritz is publishing a collection of poetry called Left Standing. The poems deal with Gritz losing both of her parents within a three-month period.
The title of the collection is an allusion to Linda Pastan’s poem “The Death of a Parent,” which reads that after such a death, “there is nobody / left standing between you / and the world.”
Poet Molly Peacock had some of the nicest words for Gritz’s poetry.
“Brilliant in craft, naked and direct in expression, each poem moves us forward with yet another truth, until we are left standing in the clear air of candor, ready – as the poet is – to begin life renewed,” Peacock wrote.
Gritz has scheduled readings of her poems. The first is at Morans, 501 Garden St. on Monday, Sept. 19 at 8 p.m., and then on Friday, Sept. 23 at 8 p.m., at Symposia Community Bookstore, 510 Washington St. To get a copy of the poetry collection, go to www.finishinglinepress.com.