Embracing your heritage with your little ones

Anna and the Rosemaling Hearts honors a time-honored tradition

If you’re not familiar with Wendy Jensen’s Anna and the Scandinavian Hearts series, it is a trio of children’s books written to help families connect with their heritage. The main character, Anna, is a young girl growing up in a neighborhood reminiscent of Jensen’s hometown Seattle neighborhood,  Ballard.

Anna loves seeing the familiar imagery and art in her grandparents’ home and discovers more about Scandinavian traditions in each book.

The newest in the series is Anna and the Rosemaling Hearts, and it could be the perfect way to share Syttende Mai traditions with your loved ones, especially little ones.

In the story, Anna has an assignment in school where she shares an art project with the class. Inspired by her grandmother’s collecting of rosemaled treasures, Anna decides to teach her classmates how to create their own paper heart with a rosemaled design.

When Wendy, the author, started her business, Scandinavian Hearts, she wanted to share the imagery that she grew up seeing with the world. She said that she often took the tapestries, paintings and rosemaling that decorated her grandparents’ house in Ballard for granted.

They were humble Scandinavians who didn’t go around showing off their collection, despite their deep pride in their heritage. It wasn’t until Wendy was older and started actively learning more about her Scandinavian culture that she was able to put those pieces of art into context.

About rosemaling

Rosemaling is an intricate art that can require years of training from a professional. Designs can vary from simple florals to detailed scenes.

It is popular throughout Scandinavian and the United States.

Known as rosemaling in Norway, the art is also similar to dalmålning or kurbitsmålning in Sweden. The style uses C and S shaped strokes in vibrant colors usually surrounding a flower.

A business with a heart

Scandinavian Hearts began as a place for Wendy to sell heart stickers and ornaments. She filled the hearts with designs inspired by rosemaling and the Nordic flags and soon found her audience! Customers loved her work but often didn’t know the story behind her designs.

This is what inspired Wendy to write a series of books, to share with her own kids and families around the world. If you look closely at the illustrations in Anna and the Rosemaling Hearts, you will find details that mirror Wendy’s own life, like her family dog, and the look and feel of her grandparents’ house.

Wendy said, “I included artifacts in the book to share the story with my kids.” She emphasized that her kids might not have the opportunity to see all of her grandparents’ art in person, but they can through the story.

New Nordic connection

After working with a local Washington illustrator for the first book in the Anna series, Wendy had to look elsewhere for book two and three because of  scheduling conflicts. The illustrator of Anna and the Rosemaling Hearts is Emelie Wiklund, a children’s book artist from Sweden. Emelie had a passion for rosemaling and was excited to share the story with her own family, according to Wendy.

The two worked well together, sharing ideas and images that Emelie would translate onto the page. The books are filled with small details that readers can discover with each reading of the story.

In addition to the story of Anna, each book also includes a corresponding art activity. Book three has a step-by-step guide of how to draw your own rosemaling hearts. Wendy’s goal is to help guide cultural traditions from one generation to the next. She doesn’t want to see them die out or fade away.

Rosemaling can have a reputation as a very particular and formal craft. With the activities in the book, Wendy wanted to open up the art form to all and open the conversation to share cultural art traditions from across the world.

Community outreach

Some reviews of Anna and the Rosemaling Hearts include, “This lovely little book is a treasure for kids as it teaches them something new and encourages kids to be creative and have fun,” from Australia and another, “A great book to introduce the Nordic art of rosemaling hearts to children. The story is cute and children will enjoy having it read to them,” from the United Kingdom.

As a part of her community outreach, Wendy goes into classrooms to teach her books, especially around Norway’s Constitution Day. When she and her kids learned the context around these beloved Scandinavian designs Wendy said, “It created so much joy and meaning in our life.”

She is planning to craft curriculum packets for holidays and general lesson plans tied to her books. That way knowledge of these cultural holidays can spread and stay relevant in modern generations.

This article appeared in the The Norwegian American. Click HERE to read it.

Written by, Laila Simon Minneapolis