‘Sometimes it feels like I’m the only person awake in the whole country. People might find that a lonely thought. Not me’ It’s Christmas Eve and snow is falling ‘thick as vicar’s dandruff.’ The Gritterman is about to set off in his battered ice cream van, chimes blaring Mr Softee’s Jingle as he spreads salt ‘mined … Continue reading
During the 1960s and early 1970s, Raymond Briggs laboured over several books and two massive treasuries containing countless fairy Tales and nursery rhymes, creating one of the most complete visual libraries of Mother Goose and Co. by a single artist. It’s not difficult to see why these often outlandish poems and songs might appeal to someone with Briggs’ … Continue reading
How did Father Christmas come to be? It’s a blindingly obvious question but one that’s rarely been answered. Author Matt Haig seized on the brilliant idea after his son asked him “What was Father Christmas like as a boy?” A Boy Called Christmas is a rip roaring adventure in the style of all you … Continue reading
A novelty tie in of a much loved children’s book normally means a poorly stitched soft toy stapled to the front cover, or perhaps a collection of screen grabs taken from a lacklustre animated movie with text written by somebody in the publicity department. In the case of the Fungus the Bogeyman: The Plop-Up Book, … Continue reading
After two years and 55 advent blog posts I'm finally get round to writing about Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman. I’ve kind of been avoiding the book. It's not because I don’t like it, but rather that I’ve always thought, what more is there to say about a book that everybody knows inside out and back … Continue reading
I grew up in the 1980s, a child of Thatcher raised to loathe the monstrous metal mother. Not that I needed much prompting, her regular appearances on TV were enough to send me scuttling behind the sofa. But to make sure I stayed on message, my parents bought me a children's book on the subject: … Continue reading
Here’s a little curio from the Raymond Briggs Treasury, the Champion Books, a series of six non fiction titles covering the crowning achievements of great figures from the 20th Century. Briggs rarely touched non-fiction subjects, though as we saw with Sledges to the Rescue he was constantly drawing on his own family history. In 1967 … Continue reading
After Raymond Briggs left art college in 1957 he took his portfolio to Oxford University Press where he was asked by editor Mabel George 'How do you feel about fairies?' Biting his tongue and suppressing his art school cool he replied 'Yes, fairies, lovely'. Briggs soon discovered that Fairy tales and nursery rhymes were, 'the … Continue reading
This little gem arrived in the post just as the past week’s snow finally began to melt and the head fell off our snowman, crushing the small family of snowdogs in the process. The irony was lost on my distraught children but we have fortunately been able to console ourselves reading Raymond Briggs’ very first … Continue reading
I wrote a few months ago about some of the groundbreaking children's book apps that are taking the whole reading experience in wonderful new directions. A brief visit to the app store over the weekend provided some great new examples for Christmas. There are countless cheapo retellings of A Christmas Carol and The Night Before … Continue reading
