Check out our interview with Rachel Màs Davidson and Brad Davidson, the author and artist of "Teachers in the Wild."

 

 

I’ve been an educator for 18 years and taught 2nd-12th graders along the way. I’ve seen many students “in the wild,” and it can be an awkward experience–especially if you’re buying bulk toilet paper or in the middle of having your teeth cleaned. Seeing a teacher outside of school is such a common experience, but I’ve only seen it explored a few times in picture books. I wanted to write something that honors both sides of that experience, and I thought a field guide was a fun, fresh way to approach it. 

 

 

We are storytelling creatures. We make sense of our lives by telling our own stories and hearing the stories of others. Censorship limits our capacity to understand ourselves and the world around us. Reading with pride is the antithesis of censorship. It’s a bold act of defiance in a society that wants to put people in boxes or exclude them altogether. 

 

Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books? 

 

Children understand the world, in large part, by the stories they’re told. If none of the stories have characters like them, then that communicates a damaging message that they don’t belong. But they do belong. All of them belong. Rachel and I want our readers to feel seen, valued, and included. Sometimes representation is found in the text, but often, it’s in the illustrations. That’s one of the reasons I love working with my wife, Rachel Más Davidson. I’m always moved by the thoughtfulness Rachel brings to her craft. Her work is funny, sweet, and beautiful. She works tirelessly to include maximum representation in every book she illustrates because she wants all kids to see themselves in our stories.  

 

 

As a kid, I was fortunate to have amazing teachers. I loved seeing them at school, but if I ever saw them in public, I would hide. It was too scary and awkward. What if they saw me? Or worse, what if they wanted to talk to me?! My safest move was to shield myself  behind my mom’s legs and hope they didn’t notice me. Now as a longtime educator, I know what it’s like to be on the other end of these moments. It can be just as scary and awkward. For instance, I remember showing up to a football game in the Texas heat. I wore shorts because it was a million degrees with 1000% humidity. As I found my seat in the stands, a group of my students called out, “Look who wore shorts!” They spent the next 5 minutes marveling at the excessive leg hair that was normally hidden under my teacher slacks. It was hilarious and awkward and exactly the feeling I was trying to capture in this book.  

 

 

Seeing your teacher in the wild is truly a universal experience, so I hope kids and adults can enjoy this book together. My greatest hope is that it makes them laugh and tell their own stories of awkward encounters.