This is not the first time that the collaborator of The Press tells this story. In the pages of the daily newspaper, he spoke about it on more than one occasion.
Grand fan hockey, little Stéphane dreamed of playing for the Canadian like his idol, Jean Béliveau. But to get there, he first had to learn how to skate. This is why, for two or three years, the word “skates” was at the top of his Christmas list.
“My mother had the sensitivity to give me this gift in November,” says the author, producer and television designer in a telephone interview.
Stéphane Laporte’s mother suspected very well that her son would not be able to skate. “I was born with crooked legs,” he recalls.
As a matter of fact, despite hours of training with his big brother and countless falls on the ice, little Stéphane never managed to skate.
If his mother gave him this present in November, it was so that he would not have any sorrow at Christmas.
You might think that the album tells a sad story, but no. “It’s a book about resilience. “When we want, we can”, this is not always the case. But we all have power within us. It is this power that we must find. For me, it was writing,” confides the author, who, as a child, had fun writing the reports of the Canadian’s games.
“I’m going to write about hockey. And I’ll feel like I’m skating. To write is to feel. To write is to dream,” he makes the young hero of his album say.
“We all experience failures in our lives. I thought it was a great way for a child to teach them how to recover from failure.”
— The author Stéphane Laporte
Almost 30 years of waiting
The first time that Stéphane Laporte publicly recounted this childhood memory was in the pages of The Press in 1997. Touched by this story, the illustrator Jacques Goldstyn sent him a letter in which he explained that he would like to be able to make a children’s book. “He was already very well known because he did The Resourceful», recalls the author.
However, the letter never reached its recipient.
Nearly three decades later, however, it is Jacques Goldstyn who signs the illustrations forA Christmas present in November. And no, it’s not because the lost letter was found.
When his ex-spouse and friend Marie-Pier Beaulieu suggested that he write a book for children for Éditions de La Bagnole, she immediately suggested Jacques Goldstyn as an illustrator.
“I looked at the youth albums that Jacques had made. I found it really beautiful. It’s touching. I like his drawing. I like his stories,” says the author.
A meeting was therefore organized between the two men and that is when Stéphane Laporte learned of the existence of the letter. “I’ve wanted to do this story for 26 years,” the illustrator told him.
Back to the past
To put the story into images, Jacques Goldstyn went to the old family home, where Stéphane Laporte’s sister now lives.
The author is also touched that the illustrations reflect his memories so well. “The living room scene is so faithful to my youth evenings. I’m lying on my stomach on the blue couch in front of the black and white TV and my father is lying on the green couch snoring,” he describes.
Even the abstract works of art which decorated the walls of the room have been reproduced, rejoices the man who would like to collaborate again with Jacques Goldstyn for a future children’s album.
The book ends with an invitation to never stop dreaming. Today, what is Stéphane Laporte dreaming of, he who has a busy career? “I would always like to find projects that make other people happy. […] By writing this book, I hope to achieve that. This is always my goal when I make projects.
A Christmas present in November
Text by Stéphane Laporte, illustrations by Jacques Goldstyn
From 4 years old
