How Coney Island got its name...
…and how that led to making my picture book “Coney - a Trip to Luna Park.”
Did you know that Coney Island got it’s name from the Dutch word for rabbit? If you check out the Wikipedia site for Coney Island, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_Island, it mentions many theories about the genesis of the name Coney. And for my purposes it really doesn’t matter, because once I read that Coney was named for rabbits, light bulbs began to flash in my brain. I had the story that I wanted to write!
At this time, I was living in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, with my family. I had been working as a cover artist for young adult children’s books. I was working in a style that was very realistic, which was what the art directors and editors wanted to see on their books at that time. I think that it helped the young readers to identify with the characters in the stories.
I illustrated many book covers, and loved the challenge of creating an image that was dynamic, enticing the reader to dive into the story! But I also had the desire to write my own stories and illustrate them. I had toyed with different story ideas and created storyboards to see if I could make them work. But when I found out that Coney was the dutch word for rabbit (even if there are many other theories), I started to wonder.
What would life be like for rabbits living among the dunes of the sea? Who would the predators be? Humans? The indigenous people who lived there? Animals would be for sure. But then I started to think of the amusement parks that would make Coney famous. Places like Steeplechase Park, Luna Park and Dreamland. The rabbits lived there for many, many years. But once the building started on top of their dune homes, how did they cope? Did anyone actually care?
These thoughts led me to doing research on Coney Island. I found many images of Coney Island from the turn of the century in the Library of Congress. These images pulled me in to the past, and the more I looked at them, the more I knew that I wanted to create a book filled with images of the beautiful Luna Park!
Luna Park at night in 1904
It’s my hope that Coney will not only entertain young children and their parents who read it with them, but also serve to illuminate the past in a way that is fun and informative. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and if you have any questions about Coney, my illustration process and just picture books in general- please send me an email at jefflindberg25@gmail.com!