Early on in her picture book career, Helen Oxenbury teamed up with the dour Scots poet, musician and humourist Ivor Cutler. Perhaps best known today as the bus conductor in the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, Cutler had carved out a unique position for himself in the 1960s as a cult entertainer for the Goons generation. … Continue reading
Whenever anyone asks me to recommend a book for their baby, there is one that immediately springs to mind. Ahead of the Bear Hunt, the very Hungry Catterpillar and even Rosie’s Walk comes So Much! Trish Cooke’s tale of a young mum and her baby’s seemingly ordinary day begins in a pleasingly low key manner: … 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
One of my biggest bugbears when reading a children’s book is running into a lengthy song or poem. No matter how artful the rhyme scheme, or witty the allusion they never fail to pull me out of the story. Even when read aloud, verse passages only serve to annoy. My impatient children often demand I skip these sections entirely. … 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
