ONCE UPON A TIME ... CHILDREN'S AUTHOR EVE BUNTING TELLS A TALE OF BOOKS, INSPIRATION AND CELEBRITY WRITERS.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski

Staff Writer

It was an idyllic, sunshiny day, as it ought to be in the world of a beloved author of children's books.

With her eyes twinkling, Eve Bunting stepped out of her charming cottage near a little stone gnome perched between fragrant rose bushes.

She welcomed her guest and gently warned her not to park on the street because it would surely lead to a ticket from the Pasadena police.

Little doses of grown-up reality tucked amid picturesque landscapes are the core of Bunting's more than 200 books -- particularly those suited to older children.

Take "One Green Apple."

"A bunch of children wrote to me from a class and told me how they went to an apple farm in Northern California, and there was an apple press, and they made apple cider. And so I put that in my mind and thought, some day I might use that," Bunting said, a hint of her native Northern Ireland still in her speech. "And then I was parked on Colorado (Boulevard in Pasadena), and I saw this little Muslim girl walking across the street going to school (with) the head scarf.

"And I sort of began wondering, are the other kids nice to her, or do they make fun of her, or do they say things to her. And then in some kind of a magical way, I thought, maybe she's going to school and then maybe they're going to an apple farm today to make apple cider."

Bunting, 78 and a featured author of OneMoreStory.com (see story at right), says children's literature has evolved since she published her first book in 1972, away from the idealized characters and settings commonly found in older works.

"Now it's more realistic. In fact, I don't try very often to write young adult books because the publishers are looking for what they call 'edgy' books. And I'm a little old and square for edgy books," she said, laughing.

Flights of fancy

Eve and husband Ed Bunting immigrated to California more than 40 years ago with their three young children. As she grew up in County Derry, her father read her classics such as "Treasure Island" and "Robinson Crusoe," but she says she most enjoyed the writings of Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams. Their dark stories and flawed characters likely steered her toward realism in her own writing.

For example, "Gleam and Glow," targeted at 6- to 9-year-olds, is about a family fleeing a farm in Bosnia because of the approaching dangers of war and the sign of hope they find in their pond when they return.

"A Sudden Silence," for middle-schoolers, is about a teenage boy struggling with guilt after his younger, deaf brother is killed by a hit-and-run driver as the boys are walking together beside a road.

"Smoky Night," a Caldecott winner for illustrator David Diaz, is set in the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and "Fly Away Home" is about a homeless father and son living in an airport.

Short and deep

"Most of my books are picture books," Bunting says. "Clint Eastwood was talking about jazz, and he said, 'You don't need that many notes to make a point.' I think that's sort of the way it is with picture books. You can say what you want to say in a short form. And that's mostly what Eve Bunting books are. I try to say something worthwhile in few words."

Bunting mixes those heavier themes with lighter fare that appeals to toddlers and preschoolers, such as her new books "Hurry, Hurry," about a chick hatching in a barnyard, and "The Baby Shower," in which assorted animals welcome a pair of calves.

On her dining room table were proofs of an upcoming release, "You Were Loved Before You Were Born," with vivid crayon and watercolor illustrations.

The seeds of Bunting's stories, serious or not, can be anywhere.

"Sometimes it's an image. Sometimes it's something someone says to me. I call it 'the jolt.' "

From there she starts developing the characters and where the story will go. And she continues to keep her eyes and ears open through the writing process, as her family knows well.

"One time I had a whole bunch of kids in the living room, and my son said, 'Check behind the couch in case my mother's there,' " Bunting recalled. "I'm always looking for dialogue."

Bunting has taught courses in writing children's stories for publication at UCLA, Pasadena City College and California State University, Fullerton.

"I truthfully don't think you can teach writing," she said. "I could tell when I start teaching, when I'd see some of the work they turned in, who had it and who didn't have it -- I don't know how else to put it."

Star-crossed

She does not conceal her distaste for celebrities who get their children's books printed, not on the book's merits but because of the author's status. She recalled complaining to an editor that Jay Leno's "If Roast Beef Could Fly" is the worst book she had seen.

"And he said, 'Don't be mad at them. It's their money (from sales) that lets us buy your books,' " she said.

Such is the state of children's literature today, when the consolidation of publishing houses and the high cost of producing picture books with heavy paper and lots of ink means that fewer writers are able to sell their stories.

Still, she encourages young writers to give it a try and suggests where to begin.

"I would say: Read. Read everything you can find that interests you. If you want to write about sports, read a lot of children's sports books," she said. "And then I would also say, keep a journal. I know that seems boring, but it really gets you going.

"Try to write something for yourself for fun, even if you never show it to anybody. And just keep an eye on the world around you, on what's happening."

Valerie Kuklenski, [phone]

[e-mail]

A storied site for youngsters

Eve Bunting's whimsical picture book "The Wedding" features a cow on a country lane giving rides to several creatures (see book description, below left).

The inspiration, Bunting said, was a rustic, carved candlestick she found in an Oregon secondhand shop. With weathered paint and drips of wax, it has a hen upon a duck upon a sheep, then a pig and the cow on the bottom.

"Coming home on the plane, I started to think about this," she said. "And I don't know how I came up with the wedding, but I started writing, and my friend who was next to me, she wrote it down as I talked."

"The Wedding" is one of 42 children's titles available to read and hear on www.onemorestory.com, an online subscription library that's very user-friendly, even for preschoolers.

It was conceived by Carl Teitelbaum, a former producer of live films for "Sesame Street," and his late sister, Rona Roth, who worked for years in early childhood education.

Launched in 2005, the site is now available in several local schools including the UCLA Lab School (Corinne A. Seeds University Elementary School) and the Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School District, as well as libraries and some pediatric hospital wards (where it's made available free of charge).

Children can click on the book cover to hear its title, author and illustrator, and then on a green button beneath the book to have it read aloud, with highlighted text on the screen and specially composed background music. "The Wedding" even has all its animals harmonizing on "Oh Promise Me."

"We know that young children love to go on the computer," Teitelbaum said. "We are taking that impulse and directing it toward great literature."

Teitelbaum notes that the pages flip like real paper, and they are curved and shadowed to help children keep in mind that they are reading a book.

"There's never any animation. We don't want kids to think this is a video game or a TV show or a movie."

A $40 annual subscription for home use allows unlimited access to books that please readers from age 2 to 9. Libraries are charged $100 per branch per year, and schools are charged $1 per student per year. For more information, see www.onemorestory.com.

-- V.K.

WEDDING BELLS: Eve Bunting's rhyming tale "The Wedding" (Charlesbridge Publishing; $15.95) follows Miss Brindle Cow as she walks down a country path on her way to a wedding. Along the road she meets a pig, a turtle, a duck, a rabbit, a chipmunk and a little brown bird -- all distressed wedding attendants who pile on her back for a ride to the church. The story, beautifully illustrated in watercolors by Iza Trapani, ends with the surprise that Miss Brindle Cow is the strong and easygoing bride.

Ages: Baby to preschool

URBAN ARTIST: A scrappy 8-year-old who paints colorful pictures of her New York neighborhood is the protagonist of "Jamaica Louise James" (Candlewick Press; $5.99), by Amy Hest. On her grandmother's birthday, Jamaica and her mother visit the subway station where Grammy works and tape Jamaica's artwork outside the token booth. The cheerful illustrations transform the gloomy subway and bring smiles to delighted commuters. Illustrated with bold colors and playful figures by Sheila White Samton.

Ages: 5 to 8

DUCK DUCK CROC: Taiwanese author and illustrator Chih-Yuan Chen offers a universal tale of tolerance, self-discovery and loyalty in "Guji Guji" (Kane/Miller Book Publishers; $15.95). The story starts when an oversize brown egg rolls down a hill into Mother Duck's nest while she's busy reading. A crocodile-shaped "duckling" hatches from the egg, and a loving Mother Duck accepts him as her own. When three duck-hungry crocodiles tease little Guji Guji and ask him to betray his family, he hatches a plan of his own.

Ages: Preschool to 8

TAKE A RIDE: One family's determination to reach a refreshing lake on a hot summer day triumphs over the comic deterioration of their old jalopy. Junie, Jakie, Baby and Poppa replace a flat tire with a beach ball and chocolate marshmallow fudge and make innovative use of other snacks and toys in Phyllis Root's "Rattletrap Car" (Candlewick Press; $15.99). Illustrated by Jill Barton, the book uses onomatopoeia -- think "whompety whomp" and "clinkety clankety bing bang pop" -- to keep the pages turning.

Ages: Preschool to 8

PECULIAR POSSUM: New Orleans storyteller Coleen Salley offers a fresh take on the classic tale of a child who takes his mother's instructions too literally. "Epossumondas" (Harcourt; $16), illustrated by Janet Stevens, is the story of a diapered, pacifier-sucking young possum named Epossumondas. When his matronly aunt sends him home with a piece of gold cake, Epossumondas smashes it in his hand and ruins it. His mother later scolds him: "Oh, Epossumondas, you don't have the sense you were born with! ... The way to carry cake is to put the cake on your head, put a hat on your head, and come along home." The next day, Epossumondas doesn't think twice before accepting a soft brick of butter from his Auntie and carrying it home cake-style. The butter melts in a giant mess, and more misguided obedience ensues.

Ages: 4 to 8

-- Nancy Dillon

CAPTION(S):

8 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) A real PAGE TURNER

Children's author Eve Bunting wants to turn kids into bookworms

(2 -- color) no caption (Eve Bunting)

John McCoy/Staff Photographer

(3 -- color) "The Wedding" features farm animals talking in rhyme. It is available on the online subscription library www.onemorestory.com.

(4 -- 8 -- color) no caption (bookcovers)

Box:

(1) A storied site for youngsters (see text)

(2) no caption (book descriptions)