Tove Jansson was a long term fan of Lewis Carroll’s work and had studied the layout of his books (with John Tenniel’s illustrations) when creating Comet in Moominland. So the suggestion that she supply illustrations for a new edition of The Hunting of the Snark, with its cast of strange characters and surreal comic tone … Continue reading
She’s mastered the strip cartoon, broken ground with her graphic novels and taken picture books to the Oscars, but one place Posy Simmonds’ illustration hasn’t been seen much is in spot illustration for children’s novels. The reason for this may be that in Humphrey Carpenter’s The Captain Hook Affair (1979), she got to draw all … Continue reading
Few people have contributed as much to children’s books as Helen Oxenbury. Best known for illustrating Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, she has also won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice (most recently for her wistful, contemporary take on Alice in Wonderland) and pioneered (arguably invented) picture board books for babies. Tiny Tim … Continue reading
'There seems to be a good deal more to the world than the Christmas tree and the attic and the dust-bin. Anything at all might happen I suppose.' One of the books on my slowly depleting list of betterment, I came to the Mouse and His Child with only a little knowledge: A fifty year … Continue reading
In 1982 Joan Aiken was asked to write a practical guide on the art of writing children’s books. From the first line it is clear that she wasn’t entirely sold on this concept (‘There is no one way to write for children’), but concedes that there are many practical things that a new writer can … Continue reading
There’s a lot of horror in Tove’s work, Grokes, Hattifatteners and in the psychological short story A Tale of Horror (1962), monstrous Little My. ‘That girl… you’d never believe… I’m not going back there, not in a thousand years,” the Whomper continued savagely. “She tricked me! she told such stories! She makes people sick with her lies!’ Continue reading
‘I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.’ Alice to the Caterpillar. For a character so firmly fixed in the popular imagination as a blonde girl in a blue pinafore dress, with a white apron, Alice has … Continue reading
Being a massive Alice and Narnia nut I’m a sucker for any book that takes me through a crack in our world and into another, much stranger place. It’s the ultimate fantasy device, playing directly into children’s imaginative games. Revisiting these stories later in life is a direct reminder of what it felt like to … Continue reading
