Freedom Writers

The Art of James Ransome and Lesa Cline-Ransome

by Nina Shengold and photographs by Jennifer May, January 30, 2012

Married author-illustrator teams are not a rarity in children’s literature, but how many can say they met their soulmate and future collaborator at a Purple Rain theme party? Illustrator James Ransome was a sophomore at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute when he spotted a classmate at the 1985 event. “James asked me to dance, and the rest is history,” says writer Lesa Cline-Ransome. Her husband laughs, and she prompts, “You can say you thought I was cute.”

“Of course you were,” James responds with alacrity. “Not to mention your warm and charming personality.” This time both of them laugh. It’s the sound of a good marriage, of people who’ve appreciated each other’s foibles for decades.

The Ransomes just celebrated their eighth collaboration, Words Set Me Free: The Story of Young Frederick Douglass (Simon & Schuster, 2012), with a double-barreled book launch at Rhinebeck’s Oblong Books & Music; James’s paintings also grace Margaret King Mitchell’s just-released When Grandmama Sings (Amistad, 2012).

The couple and their four children moved to Rhinebeck nine years ago; careful readers of Words Set Me Free will note Lesa’s dedication to the Starr and Adriance Memorial Libraries. Their house is painted in vibrant earth tones. One of James’s landscapes hangs over the dining table; an adjoining room displays two striking photos by Eudora Welty and several African masks. “I wish I could say they were from our world travels,” Lesa says, “but we bought them.”

Simply dressed in a black sweater and jeans, she proffers coffee while her husband wrangles Nola, a large and inquisitive St. Bernard whose name is an acronym for New Orleans, LA. “We love our Saints,” says James, a burly man with a silvering beard and a diamond stud in his left earlobe. He does most of the talking at first, while Lesa listens, occasionally suppressing a smile at his catchphrase “long story short.” James has garnered the Coretta Scott King Award, NAACP Image Award, Rip Van Winkle Award, IBBY Honor Award, and Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance Award for his many books. Ironically, he nearly sidestepped the profession, fearing he’d be unable to make a living.