Meet the Scarecrow--Oz pages 9 and 10

Hello lovelies! Today we meet the Scarecrow in my altered book illustration of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

 I wanted each of her three companions to get a two paged spread. One side to have an illustration of the character and the other to have a library pocket with a copy of the text in it.

Baum is such a good storyteller, the backstories on every character are so charming and interesting—something you really don’t get in the film. I couldn’t resist giving everyone a chance to read the text within the artwork. There are such funny lines scattered throughout such as the Scarecrow is glad his mouth is only painted on because he says, “ if I should cut a hole in it so I could eat, the straw I am stuffed with would come out, and that would spoil the shape of my head."

Let’s start with the illustration. I used a piece of that lovely Eric Carle tissue paper to represent a field of yellow corn waving in the sunlight. Then I did lots of little fiddly bits of layering of paper for the scarecrow. I found a generic clip art scarecrow online in just the pose I was looking for. I printed him on light blue paper and then made a dark blue jacket and boots and a hat based on the original illustrations by WW Denslow. I replaced his face with a face on parchment paper that represented the description in the book. One eye is definitely described as bigger than the other and I always look at illustrated versions of this book (of which I have 32) and see if the illustrator has drawn one eye bigger. Once I had all my layers glued in, I carefully added some flaxen embroidery floss for straw at his hands and coming out the gap in his jacket. Again, this was very fiddly, but really worth it. Then I mounted my scarecrow onto a lolly stick for a pole and glued him on my background. Lastly, I glued the letters which said It is very tedious being perched up here night and day to scare the crows.

On the opposite page I painted the background in a coordinating bright blue to pick up the colours in his jacket, hat and boots and made a library pocket in the light blue of the rest of his clothes and added some coordinating ears of corn for pops of colour. CORN…POPS of colour. See what I did there? I printed the tale of how the Scarecrow came to be made onto three small strips of yellow paper and laminated them. I then punched a hole in them and added a bright blue ribbon to hold them together.

 But what is the text I hear you cry? Well, here it is. The story of how the Scarecrow came to be in the field.

"My life has been so short that I really know nothing whatever. I was only made day before yesterday. What happened in the world before that time is all unknown to me. Luckily, when the farmer made my head, one of the first things he did was to paint my ears, so that I heard what was going on. There was another Munchkin with him, and the first thing I heard was the farmer saying, 'How do you like those ears?'

"'They aren't straight,'" answered the other.

"'Never mind,'" said the farmer. "'They are ears just the same,'" which was true enough.

"'Now I'll make the eyes,'" said the farmer. So he painted my right eye, and as soon as it was finished, I found myself looking at him and at everything around me with a great deal of curiosity, for this was my first glimpse of the world.

"'That's a rather pretty eye,'" remarked the Munchkin who was watching the farmer. "'Blue paint is just the colour for eyes.'

"'I think I'll make the other a little bigger,'" said the farmer. And when the second eye was done, I could see much better than before. Then he made my nose and my mouth. But I did not speak, because at that time I didn't know what a mouth was for. I had the fun of watching them make my body and my arms and legs; and when they fastened on my head, at last, I felt very proud, for I thought I was just as good a man as anyone.

"'This fellow will scare the crows fast enough,' said the farmer. 'He looks just like a man.'

"'Why, he is a man,' said the other, and I quite agreed with him. The farmer carried me under his arm to the cornfield, and set me up on a tall stick, where you found me. He and his friend soon after walked away and left me alone.

"I did not like to be deserted this way. So I tried to walk after them. But my feet would not touch the ground, and I was forced to stay on that pole. It was a lonely life to lead, for I had nothing to think of, having been made such a little while before. Many crows and other birds flew into the cornfield, but as soon as they saw me they flew away again, thinking I was a Munchkin; and this pleased me and made me feel that I was quite an important person. By and by an old crow flew near me, and after looking at me carefully he perched upon my shoulder and said:

"'I wonder if that farmer thought to fool me in this clumsy manner. Any crow of sense could see that you are only stuffed with straw.' Then he hopped down at my feet and ate all the corn he wanted. The other birds, seeing he was not harmed by me, came to eat the corn too, so in a short time there was a great flock of them about me.

"I felt sad at this, for it showed I was not such a good Scarecrow after all; but the old crow comforted me, saying, 'If you only had brains in your head you would be as good a man as any of them, and a better man than some of them. Brains are the only things worth having in this world, no matter whether one is a crow or a man.’”

Here are the two pages side by side:

Stay tuned for the story of the Tin Woodman!