Nancy Carlson remembers where the inspiration for "I Like Me!" came from and when. "I was in fourth grade and the teacher said I seem to like myself. Around the same time, our minister talked about the same thing."
The native Minnesotan filed those ideas away, revisiting them years later via the children's book that she both wrote and illustrated. Now, the work makes its live debut at the Stages Theatre Company in Hopkins.
"I Like Me" marks the eighth Carlson book produced at Stages. The book itself is one of her oldest, first published in 1988. "It's been around a long time," she said. "Its basic philosophy is that you have to like yourself, and that's something that has connected with readers of all ages."
While the positive message has connected with many readers through the years - the book is often used in kindergarten classes on the first day of school, Carlson noted - that didn't exactly make it an easy choice to adapt to the stage.
One issue is that the main character doesn't have any self-esteem issues, which is fine for a 32-page picture book, but won't work for a full stage play. "It's a real challenge - there isn't any conflict in the book," Carlson said.
There's also the book itself. "It only has three or four words on each page," Carlson said.
Playwright Michael Erickson faced those challenges and, from the script that Carlson has read, did an excellent job of transforming the book to the stage. Much of that was fleshing out the story and bringing in problems to solve via other characters that "I Like Me" star Louanne Pig could help on their journey to self esteem.
Carlson loves working with Erickson and thought his talents - both in adaptation and in song craft - were perfect for the book. The process "has a lot of give and take. I try not to be real hands on. They are artists just the same as I am."
Carlson herself just had her latest book, "Start Saving, Henry!" published. The timely story, about young Henry's efforts to save his allowance for something he really likes, brings back the mouse protagonist from several of Carlson's earlier books.
The long relationship between Carlson and Stages has been a good one, she said. "I love their philosophy, that the children are the actors. It's a really good group."
And it doesn't hurt her books either. Being on stage "really creates a buzz. It's good for me and it's really great for Stages," she said.
