“What is the ‘we’ of the family? In biological kinship, there are always myths that persist. It is the reproduction of us, the magic of the biological. The fruit of our love. In adoption, you have none of that, “says Catherine Voyer-Léger from the outset. Now the adoptive mother of a six-year-old girl, she publishes a luminous album, My music treewhich offers “a story of origins for children whose parentage, although not biological, is beautiful”.
The duty met her in a café in La Petite-Patrie, where the sun entered in great spring bursts, evoking the dazzling watercolors of Catherine Petit, who signed the illustrations for the album. Looking back on her creative process, the author first thinks of the poignant moments she experienced with the illustrator: “There were several magical little moments, especially the first time we spoke on Zoom . It was to get the job started, and she said to me, “I think I found the little girl”. She showed me the sketch of what became the cover, and it was my daughter. She had never seen her. It was disturbing. »
From her point of view, this collaboration marks “a meeting of souls”, and she hopes to relive this privileged experience, “to see someone so talented leave with [s]creation to make something else out of it”.
It must be said that the captivating, textured and dense illustrations, far from being stuck to the text, work on the metaphor spun from the roots of attachment by creating a universe in itself. What the writer does not fail to underline: “It is a book that addresses this: what is the heart of a relationship of filiation? It’s love, it’s bond, it’s attachment. And for that, the illustrations are exceptional, because through organic filiation, this idea of the roots of attachment is explored in the drawing. »
cuttings of courage
The author has been united with her daughter for more than five years, but the desire for this meeting was born much earlier and, with it, many reflections. It is therefore not surprising that the album germinated shortly after their meeting: “The first spark was that, very young, around a year and a half, my daughter loved books that dealt with the parent relationship -child. There are several, they are all based on the same formula: the first image is parents with their infant, the child is growing up and the principle is: I will always love you. And because she had this fascination, I had this concern very early on: how am I going to tell her that we don’t have that? »
The second trigger of the book is this moment, in kindergarten, when the child is required to create his family tree. Without resignation, on the contrary driven by the desire to change the outdated order of the world by offering her new and thoughtful look at it, she allows herself an editorial flight against this practice: “We are sent home a family tree which, from first, is heterocentric, which does not take into account reconstituted families, single parents and others. Well, of course we have several levels of complexity. But I turned around and asked an illustrator friend to make us a custom tree. In fact, four trees, which illustrate the biological family and the adoptive family of my daughter. Sometimes, I find that institutions move slowly. »
In the end, the album offers a luminous foray into a complex and knotty adventure, which has its share of pitfalls, but also its blessings, and which is too rarely embodied in literature: “That’s what motivated to write this book. This need, for different families, to have stories of filiation that are not traditional. »
Exist otherwise
Even if she admits that her daughter is not able to read the book, because it is too emotional for her to immerse herself in all this, she insists on the need to stage all the variations of existence: “It always comes back to that, but I think it’s so important, especially for kids who feel different—for whatever reason—that they see their image in fiction. »
She takes the opportunity to salute the initiative of her editors, who wanted to represent a round mom: “Me, I would never have dared to ask that, and on the spot, I said to myself, bah why not. But it was when I received it that I realized — and I read a lot of them, children’s albums — that I had almost never seen that. Consequently, I understood how important it was. Not so that it looks like me, but so that it also conveys diversity, in all respects. »
Generous, the words of the writer are imbued with a vulnerability that betrays more difficult days. But her steps back seem to be an opportunity to establish a new perspective or, better still, to give impetus to her renewed desire to help, to reflect on the world of tomorrow and to nourish this laughter so natural that she possesses. It is therefore not surprising that his books are outstretched hands to help us accept the challenges of everyday life and the questions that cross it.
In My music tree, a mother answers her daughter’s questions. In truth, Catherine Voyer-Léger, who “writes with a view to dialogue”, offers insights to beings whose stories stand out, but also to the people who meet them, eager to understand them: “I think that the more we multiply the figures of different models, the more children are allowed to find their place, to recognize themselves and their friends. Because my daughter’s friends have a lot of questions. They want to understand this story that escapes them. »
grow together
The sun still pierces the windows of the café and floods the thoughts of Catherine Voyer-Léger: “What is a parent? Still, it’s an interesting question. When you’re in a process like this — mixed bank adoption [en devenant famille d’accueil] —, it’s a question that becomes crucial in your life, because you realize that it’s not just one thing, a parent. »
This mother who gave birth to her daughter is succeeded by the one “who is embodied in day-to-day care”. Parenthood is an adventure that, every day, takes new avenues, perpetually renewing the set of challenges.
Leading her fights, her daughter evolves in love and, with her, Catherine Voyer-Léger is transformed: “Having a child means meeting someone. This person you meet will teach you a lot of things. Me, I’m someone who has hated, in my life, disturbing, who has done everything to disturb anyone, but there, it’s over. Because if I want my daughter to be well and to be welcomed, I have to disturb the world constantly. It’s not comfortable, but that’s it. Can’t wait for her to come and bother us again.