\u201cProject Gutenberg,\u201d<\/a> a library of free e-books, because searches are faster in an electronic format. She consults lists of classic books and checks what books have been adapted into movies. <\/p>\n\u201cWe started early on picking things that have passed into pop culture,\u201d Adams said. \u201cThere\u2019s a Jane Austen action figure, there\u2019s a Charles Dickens action figure. … We try to pick the ones that the general public would know and love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adams created an animal primer based on Rudyard Kipling\u2019s \u201cThe Jungle Book,\u201d first published in 1894 \u2014 and more familiar to audiences for the 1967 Walt Disney animated movie. <\/p>\n
In Adams\u2019 writing studio, a beady-eyed brown papier-mache bear \u2014 a gift from a friend \u2014 sits in a corner, an uncanny resemblance to Oliver\u2019s illustration of Baloo. It sits in the opposite corner from a gift from her mother: Don Quixote, in full armor. <\/p>\n
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) A suit of armor of Don Quixote in the office of author Jennifer Adams in Salt Lake City, Monday, July 28, 2025.<\/p>\n
The witches\u2019 potion, explained<\/p>\n
In \u201cMacbeth: A Potions Primer,\u201d the verses from the witches\u2019 poem are framed in parallel lines, with the text on the left-hand page and Oliver\u2019s illustrations of bubbling cauldrons, witches, snakes, frogs and owls on the right.<\/p>\n
Adams said she learned a few years ago that the famous ingredients in the cauldron \u2014 eye of newt, toe of frog, tongue of dog \u2014 are actually herbs and plants.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought that that\u2019s so fun and playful,\u201d Adams said. \u201cEveryone knows the witches\u2019 \u2018Double, double toil and trouble\u2019 \u2014 it\u2019s in \u2018Harry Potter.\u2019 It\u2019s a very familiar part of the play. I was, like, \u2018That would make a really fun \u2026 Halloween book for kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
The potion primer\u2019s last two pages include the names of the herbs, plants and flowers used in the potion recipe, with accompanying illustrations by Oliver. \u201cEye of newt\u201d is actually mustard seed, \u201clizard\u2019s leg\u201d is ivy leaves, and \u201cwool of bat,\u201d is a type of moss that grows in dark wooded areas where bats live.<\/p>\n
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) A papier-mache bear modeled after Baloo from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” holds a book in the office of author Jennifer Adams in Salt Lake City, Monday, July 28, 2025.<\/p>\n
Unique circumstances, unexpected success<\/p>\n
Though \u201cMacbeth\u201d required much research, Adams said \u201cWar and Peace\u201d is the longest and most challenging book she and Oliver have done.<\/p>\n
Adams compressed Tolstoy\u2019s famously long novel into 10 pairs of opposites \u2014 including hot and cold, far and near, dirty and clean \u2014 and coupled them with a relevant quote on the page ahead of each. Then Oliver completed the drawings in less than three months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWar and Peace,\u201d Oliver said, was a last-minute replacement for another book they were working on, and the publisher \u201cdecided they wanted to put it with \u2018Macbeth\u2019 and have them come out together. … Not only we did twice as many pages, but I had less time than I usually have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adams said she and Oliver work more closely than most writer-illustrator pairs.<\/p>\n
(Gibbs Smith) Alison Oliver, the New York-based illustrator who works with Utah author Jennifer Adams on the BabyLit board book series.<\/p>\n
Illustrating a children\u2019s book, Oliver said, is more than just drawing. She said she spends a lot of time researching the clothing, the architecture, even the china for the period to capture the atmosphere of each literary work they adapt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I start putting together reference materials and color palettes and ideas about typography,\u201d Oliver said. \u201cIt\u2019s important that the series feels like a series, that they are recognizable as being related to each other, but each one needs to be unique as well, because the stories are so different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oliver said Adams always makes smart choices and understands literature and writing. This, Oliver added, makes their work smoother.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a very good partnership on this series, which is great,\u201d Oliver said. \u201cI can kind of get her thoughts about how she feels about the book \u2014 why she picked that type of primer, how she wants the audience to relate to the book \u2014 which is really helpful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) The cover of “Macbeth: A Potions Primer” by Jennifer Adams and illustrator Alison Oliver.<\/p>\n
Adams grew up in Salt Lake City, in a family where classics were a daily norm. Her mother was an editing teacher at Brigham Young University, and her father taught history and psychology at Skyline High School.<\/p>\n
Adams said that her love of the classics was inspired by watching old movies with her father, attending the Utah Shakespeare Festival with her mother and being exposed to books. All that made her look at classic books as \u201csuper familiar and positive,\u201d she said, something that she wants to pass forward to her young audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can introduce these characters, these titles, to a baby \u2014 where they feel like they have good associations with them, that they belong to them \u2014 when they come across the real novels as a teenager or an adult, they have a positive association,\u201d Adams said. \u201c … So hopefully, it just brings that literacy by making it theirs and making it fun when they are babies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adams said she hopes younger generations will read more classics, and her books will pass the test of time \u2014 that teens who were babies in 2011, when her first BabyLit book was published, will grow up in a few years and give the book to their kids.<\/p>\n
When the series started in 2011, Adams thought it would last through four titles. The popularity of the series, 36 books later, is a \u201clovely surprise,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Oliver added, \u201cthe relationship that the kids and their parents have to this series is very important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
And even though \u201cMacbeth\u201d and \u201cWar and Peace\u201d have been on store shelves for nearly a month, Adams said she\u2019s already working on a BabyLit Waldo book, to be published next spring.<\/p>\n
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Author Jennifer Adams is interviewed in her home in Salt Lake City, Monday, July 28, 2025.<\/p>\n
Children\u2019s book author Jennifer Adams will host a \u201cMacbeth\u201d book party, Oct. 4 at 11 a.m., at The King\u2019s English Bookshop<\/a>, 1511 S. 1500 East, Salt Lake City. Adams said there will be a storytime and potion-making, and costumes will be encouraged. The event is free to the public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most people would not consider \u201cDouble, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble\u201d to be a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":116289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1022,171,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-116288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114966355383741622","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}