‘This is such a very terrible story about my naughty little sister that I hardly know how to tell it to you. It is all my about one Christmas-time when I was a little girl, and my naughty little sister was a very little girl.’ Originally published in the first volume of My Naughty Little Sister in 1952, this … Continue reading
This is how the story begins. In the dark dark town there was a dark dark street. In the dark dark street there was a dark dark house. In the dark dark house there was a dark dark staircase. Down the dark dark staircase there was a dark dark cellar. And in the dark dark cellar… Funnybones was 40! Continue reading
A leading chronicler of British festive traditions since she first invited us to visit Lucy and Tom at Christmas in 1981, Shirley Hughes take readers to places other children’s authors cannot reach. Like much of her work, Burning the Tree is a result of her keen observation skills. Writing in A Life Drawing Hughes explains how … Continue reading
There’s surely no human better qualified than Shirley Hughes to bring to life the breathless sense of anticipation felt by a couple of children in the run up to Christmas. I grew up with Lucy and Tom in the late Seventies and early Eighties, so revisiting the book now feels rather like looking at my … Continue reading
In 1959 Shirley was approached by the publishers Victor Gollancz to create her first picture book, something she’d long been considering after years of illustrating other people’s work. ‘I went back to an idea I had worked on years before of a very simple book about two small children going through an ordinary day. There were, surprisingly, not many of them around in those days.’ Continue reading
Last week saw the 50th anniversary of the hugely influential Puffin Club, the children’s book group that brought a generation of readers together with each other and their favourite authors. By coincidence I had arranged an interview that day with the woman who was responsible for many of the practical and creative aspects of the … Continue reading
Big love for a European success story today, as Astrid Lindgren’s tale of a naughty little Swede is reimagined by Italian / French artist Beatrice Alemagna (with reference to the English translation by Gerry Bothmer). Lotta is Astrid’s lesser known child anarchist. Several years Pippi Longstocking’s junior, and the youngest of three siblings, Lotta … Continue reading
Together with Judith Kerr, Shirley Hughes is the person I look to when I want to be reminded of Christmas past. Lucy and Tom’s Christmas in particular feels rather like looking at my own childhood Christmases, laid out in lovely thick gouache. There have been several other wonderful additions to her festive cannon including a … Continue reading
In my early twenties, at about the same time as I was connecting with a certain type of cynical, over medicated American writer, I came across the work of Truman Capote. I’d watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s of course, and heard of his larger than life reputation, but his writing came as a complete revelation. … Continue reading
I’ve loved scary stories since I first learned to say ‘boo’ to a goose, and have done my level best to introduce my kids to the pleasures of a good bit of fear. We like to begin the season’s thrills with a pilgrimage to the village of Lacock and the house where Harry Potter lost … Continue reading
I’ve only had one recurring dream in my life. It’s quite hard to explain, as these things often are, but it involves me flying, or rather floating, like Alice down the rabbit hole, through some sort of shaft. Sometimes things go rather smoothly and I swoop and saw. Other times I’ll be flailing about, crashing … Continue reading
Coming a close second (after Sir Raymond Briggs) in my list of children’s authors who capture Christmas, is Dame Shirley Hughes (not actually a Dame or a Sir, but that’s surely a technicality). Last year I was taken back to my own 70s childhood when I re-read Lucy and Tom’s Christmas. This year, we go … Continue reading
We're off for some Lucy and Tom style frolics at the seaside. See you in september with some fantastical libraries and out of this world adventures for younger readers. Continue reading
There’s surely no human being beter qualified than Shirley Hughes to bring to life the breathless sense of anticipation felt by a couple of children in the run up to Christmas. I grew up with Lucy and Tom in the late Seventies and early Eighties, so revisiting the book now feels rather like looking at … Continue reading
Apart from the numerous times I climbed through the toilet window, slipped out the school gate, crossed the road, and broke back into my own home, these lines are probably the happiest memory I have from my first years of Primary school. Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s Funnybones was the book that first introduced me to … Continue reading
