Everything is Far From Here by Cristina Henriquez
- Reflect, Your Choice: Why did you select the story? What grabbed or moved you about it—style, content, POV, imagery, form, etc.? And what led to selecting the text you chose? What guided you? (This reflection, when you complete the Apprentice Book, should be 200-250 words)
- I used the story Everything is Far From Here for my apprentice book. I chose this story because of the imagery created in the story as well as the feeling of desperation you get from the mother in the story. The story itself was so traumatic that it had stuck with me ever since we read it in class. I really enjoyed the subtleness of time passing through this story which is why I drew the tree in my apprentice book. The lines of text I used from the story were very easy for me to pick out. I felt as though the lines I chose would convey the passage of time when paired with the images I drew. The lines I picked were all chosen from the story before the point at which she believed she found her son again. I did this to hopefully convey the desperation of finding her son within the short six pages we had to fill. I chose lines that would convey her desperation and annoyance with the situation thrust upon her, especially since she didn’t expect to be separated from her son. The fact that no one knows where her son is or what he looks like was very important for me to try to include in the book as well.
- Reflect, Bookmaking: What led you to decorate the book the way you did? How did the content of a writer’s work influence your creation in another genre? What are your hopes for the synergy or harmony here? (This reflection, when you complete the Apprentice Book, should be 200-250 words)
- I decorated the book in a very simple manner, minimal colors and minimal words. In the original story the author was able to convey such large feelings and complex concepts through simple images and scenes. I wanted to go along with the same simpleness of the author. The inner pages of the book show this tree changing with the time of year, from summer to fall. I hope to convey the meaning of the lines with the tree. To me the tree has a double meaning, time and the feelings of the mother in the story. The tree starts full of life and green in the summer and then turns different colors and becomes almost completely bare at the end of the story, showing the time passing. The mothers’ emotions and hope can also be attributed to the changing of the tree. The tree starts healthy, ready to start a new life and full of hope, but then she can’t find her son for months and months, so the tree indicates the mother losing hope in finding her child and the hope of having a better life. The cover page shows the mother and the son clearly unhappy they had to make such a dangerous journey; the back cover shows just the mother with an open stretched hand showing the lingering hope of finding her son.
