Now children's biographer Kathleen Krull and Caldecott Medal-winner David Diaz have teamed up to tell her incredible story in Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman . I talked with both Krull and Diaz about their own heroic efforts to bring this book into being in time for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Although Diaz has been illustrating professionally since 1979, this was only the second time he'd illustrated a children's book. His work also appears on book covers, in magazines, and in ads for clients such as Pepsi, Perrier, and Snapple. He lives in Rancho La Costa, California, with Cecelia, an artist herself, and their three children. Diaz illustrated Wilma Rudolph's story with paintings done in acrylics, watercolor, and gouache. Each illustration is framed by a sepia photograph appropriate to the image. For instance, when Wilma and her mother ride a bus to a Nashville hospital, a bus wheel appears in the "frame." Diaz also created his own typeface for this book.
AC: How did you get involved in Wilma Unlimited? Do you get to pick your projects now?
DD: Pretty much what happens is that publishers send me manuscripts, and I pick the ones I want to do. When things settled down after the Caldecott, Harcourt and I looked at about 10 different manuscripts, and this is the one I selected.
AC: Why Wilma?
DD: I think the story works on a lot of different levels. It's a great story; it's inspiring-Wilma Rudolph accomplished so much and overcame a lot. I imagined it would be a story that could talk to most kids. I think most kids feel inept or insecure, or feel that they're lacking in some ways. It shows how someone overcame a lot in spite of what they were handed.
AC: Your deadline was tight. How tight?
DD: From the time I agreed to do the book to handing over the entire package I had six weeks.
AC: How did you do it?
DD: I work pretty fast. I have a full-time assistant and someone else who helps when we get real busy. And Cecelia shot most of the backgrounds that frame the illustrations.
AC: Did you study photographs of Wilma Rudolph?
DD: Kathleen gave me some reference books. My images kind of look like her. I just wanted to approximate what she looked like-not do an exact rendering.
AC: Tell me about the typeface you created.
DD: It's called Ariel, after my son. Winning the Caldecott Award opened the door for me to be able to do things like that. I had designed typefaces for limited-edition books that I create. A unique typeface allows the type to become a more integral part of the entire design, another way to make an illustration cohesive. With Ariel, if you look at the word "Wilma," it has long V shapes reminiscent of someone running. I also added notches and blocks to letters to make the text appear lighter and darker in different spots-it undulates, creates a little movement.
AC: After winning a Caldecott, do you feel an increased sense of pressure, as though all eyes are on you?
DD: No. I've been illustrating a long time. I just do what I do.
AC: You say you don't "draw down" for children.
DD: I never try to second-guess what's going to make kids laugh or hold their attention. I just try to make the images as appropriate to the text as possible. I take on a children's book the same way I take on a piece for The Washington Post or any other editorial assignment. The fact that it's a kids' story factors in because there are usually kids in the story. But I never try to make something cute just because it's for kids.
AC: Have you considered writing your own stories?
DD: A couple are in the works now. But illustrating's easy compared to writing.
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