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White Pines Local Author Collection: Author of the Month
Author: Emilio Dunnett
Born on the island of Newfoundland in 2014, Emilio fell in love with airplanes while taking frequent trips to see his grandparents. In 2018, he moved with his mom and dad to take up residence in Port Moody. Emilio still enjoys making paper airplanes and dreaming of rescue dogs.
Illustrator: Chris Dunnett
Chris is an artist and most importantly, Emilio's dad. With pencil in hand, he loves venturing into the world of his son’s ideas. Together they go on picnics, read books, and act silly, while exploring the meaning of father and son.
Book: Airplane, Fireplane
When Avro takes a flight, he decides to make his own paper airplanes to learn how planes fly. The paper planes accidentally catch fire as they are flying around. Firepuppy comes to the rescue! The fireplane flies Firepuppy up in the air where he boards Avro’s plane to put out the fires. Borrow Airplane, Fireplane from the Library.
Cool fact about the book
Emilio published Airplane, Fireplane when he was 4 years old, making him the youngest author in the White Pines Collection.
What inspired Emilio to write Airplane, Fireplane?
Being part of the Every Child Ready to Read program at the Corner Brook Public Library in Newfoundland, and going through the process of creating a book. Each week they worked on a different aspect of the book, from thinking of ideas for the story, to drawing pictures to go along with it.
Where did the idea for Airplane, Fireplane come from?
"I just came up with it!" – Emilio Dunnett.
Chris added that Emilio's frequent plane trips to visit his grandparents and his love of Curious George might have also inspired the story.
How did Chris create the illustrations?
"I tried to reflect Emilio's view of the world in each illustration." – Chris Dunnett.
Chris took most of his creative direction from Emilio. Emilio would explain what he wanted to see and what colours he wanted different objects to be and Chris would translate this into drawings.
The drawings include many personalized items that connect them to Emilio, including:
- Chris as a plane passenger
- Emilio's mom's backpack on the luggage rack
- Emilio's teddy bear, Columbo
- Emilio as the pilot of the Fireplane.
What is Emilio’s favourite part of the book?
The last page, where firepuppy parachutes back down to the ground after saving the day.
"Firepuppy will now help put out fires on the ground as well as in the air. He always has his backpack just in case." – Emilio Dunnett.
What advice does Emilio have for other young authors?
"Think of your own imagination and come up with an idea" – Emilio Dunnett.
About the White Pines Local Author Collection
The Port Moody Public Library created the White Pines Local Author Collection to highlight and support local authors, poets, and illustrators from our community. We launched the collection in May 2019 with 12 inaugural authors. Learn more about this collection and how you can become a White Pines Local Author.
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