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Life inspires Art inspires Life

June 3, 2008

A couple of years ago, I was down in South Florida showing Holly Black some of the natural areas that I knew very well as a kid growing up. I took her to the rocky shore of Blowing Rocks Preserve and the scrubby palmetto woods of Jonathon Dickinson State Park. Our purpose was to find inspirational locales for the Spiderwick sequel, Beyond The Spiderwick Chronicles (BtSC).

Mangrove Hollow

BtSC takes place in fictitious Mangrove Hollow, one of the numerous housing developments that have blanketed the coast of Florida (as I am sure has happened in many places nationwide). There is a proximity to a preserved natural wetland, but also there are man-made (or “man-enhanced”) natural features like the excavated pond that Taloa the nixie lives in.

Angela and I showed Holly a housing development in my old hometown of Jupiter that was exactly how I envisioned Mangrove Hollow. We walked around the development, schemed and plotted a bit, and took photos for visual reference. Ang’s mom was a realtor for the development and, before we knew it, we found ourselves inside one of the models.

Wetland preserve in Mangrove Hollow

Ang and I both loved it.

So here I am again, a couple of years later, back in Florida – we purchased a little winter home right here in Mangrove Hollow. I walk Sophia by Taloa’s pond every day, but we still have yet to see her…or any giants (thank goodness!)

Taloa’s pond reference

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Never Abandon Imagination Tony DiTerlizzi: Never abandon imagination.

Imagination is a world of possibility that exists within each of us. It is what makes us uniquely human. It is our creative fingerprint that touches and influences the world around us. Imagination is essential to art and science; to innovation and prosperity. It gives us hope, calls us to action and leads to change.

Whether it’s fairies, dragons, robots or aliens, all of my children’s book characters are siblings born of my imagination – an imagination strengthened through years of encouragement from family, teachers and friends. While so many others abandoned it during their transition from childhood to adulthood, I fiercely held onto mine, hoping for a day when I could share it to inspire the next generation of dreamers. Innovators. World changers.

Imagination empowers us to envision and create a reality of what could be. We must hold it dear, foster it and never abandon it.