No.59 - Guess How Much I Love You

 

This book really doesn't need any introduction! It's a modern classic, a feature of nursery's everywhere, an national treasure, it's words implanted into our psyche; 'I love you this much', 'I love you to the moon and back'. It is of course the wonderful Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney, with gorgeous illustrations by Anita Jeram. 

I didn't actually realise how old this book was! If you'd asked me I would have put it's publication date at around 2008 or 2009, but in fact it was published in 1994 and last year it celebrated it's 25th birthday! I would say that anybody born in the last 25 years probably had a copy of this book, and apparently it is still one of the most popular books to gift for a new baby, along with the crazy amount of merchandise available! 

To give you an idea of just how big the Guess How Much I Love You brand is, I hopped onto their website, guesshowmuchiloveyou.com for the facts. 

• It's sold more than 50 million copies worldwide.
• The story has been translated into 57 different languages.
• There are board books, paper backs, fabric books, finger puppet and hand puppet books, spin-off seasonal editions, baby books and milestone markers. 
• There is a new story starring Little Nutbrown Hare, that came out in September, called Will You Be My Friend.
• The story is quickly becoming a popular wedding reading with couples. 
• There are different editions for valentine's day and wedding presents. 
• In 2011 it was adapted for television and shown in 60 different countries.
• The brand has been licensed to shops like Sainsburys, Matalan and Next to be used on their baby clothing.
• There is a beautful gold and silver jewellery range, including engagement and wedding rings!
• The famous pottery, Moorcroft, have a Guess How Much I Love You range, so you can have your favourite hares on a vase if you like!

That is by no mean as an exhaustive list of all the Guess How Much I Love You facts and merchandise, but it shows you just how big this book is! Big Nut Brown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare have a huge place in our hearts. 

Now to the story. It is basically the tale of two hares who are trying to put into words their love for each other. Originally intended as a parent and child, many people have interpreted this book as a way of showing anyone, be it a relative or a partner, just how much you love them! Little Nutbrown Hare starts by asking the big hare, who I've always presumed was his Daddy, to guess how much he loves him? Then they start trying to describe their love for each other in ever increasing distances; as wide as their arms can stretch, as high as they can reach, as high as the little hares toes, as high as they can hop, all the way down to the river, across the hills, right up to the moon, and back. As much as Little Nutbrown Hare tries, he can never beat the distance that Big Nutbrown Hare loves him, because you can't get a greater love than that of a parent for their child. 

I would thoroughly recommend that everyone reads this book, buys it for their own baby, gifts to a friend having baby, even gifts it as a wedding! Why not! This book celebrates love, with it's simple, touching phrasing and it's effortlessly beautiful illustrations. It is surely an enduring classic that I hope will never fade. Sadly the author, Sam McBratney died in September, but he has left behind a truly special legacy in Guess How Much I Love You.

Thanks for reading, L x

Next time, we're closing in on the half way mark, with another classic, Anne of Green Gables. 

Halloween Treat - Funnybones!

"This is how the story begins.

On a dark dark hill

there was a dark dark town.

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....

... some skeletons lived."

 This is by far, in my opinion, one of the most iconic openings to any children's book EVER! But then I am a little bias! Although 40 years on it is still a much loved story and I would bet has been read to most of the people in this country at some point in their lifetime. And if you're anywhere near my age, you probably grew up watching the brilliant animated series too (hop on Youtube if not!). It is of course the wonderfully spooky Funnybones by Janet and Alan Ahlberg! 

 As it is Halloween I thought I'd throw in a themed post this week, and so I raided my collection for something suitably scary! And when I say scary, I mean downright adorable! What's not to love about these skeletons and their dog? They have all the hallmarks of a classic comedy double act, one's little, one's big, they share a bed like Morecambe and Wise or Bert and Ernie, and of course one wears a silly hat! It's perfect! 

I'm sure you all know the story of Funnybones, but i'll give you a little reminder. The skeleton's decide to take the dog for a walk and scare someone while they are out. They end up in the park, where unfortunately the dog has a little accident and ends up as a pile of bones! Cue my favourite scene, where they have to try and put the dog back together, with hilarious results! I've always loved the set of illustrations here, and the idea that the bark depends on how the dog is assembled!

After they have successfully put the skeleton dog back together they go off looking for someone to scare. But the problem is everyone's asleep! Everyone except the skeleton animals in the zoo. Obviously. So they have a bit of fun there riding an elephant and chatting to the parrot.

But what's a good night out without scaring someone?! Probably very dull, if you're a skeleton! The few pages that follow are fab! Big and Little decide to scare each other, for lack of victims! They jump out from behind bushes at each other, hide in washing, and the dog chases them! It turns out they're massive scaredy-cats! 

I just want to say how much I love the illustrations in this book! They are absolutely charming, much like all of the Ahlberg's picturebooks. They are simple, playful, and vibrant. They make use of framing so well, and you get the feeling of reading not only a picturebook but also a comic. In Funnybones in particular their choice of colours is really effective. As we are told at the start, this story takes place in the dark, at night. Therefore a lot of the text is set against a black background. The use of white text, not only matches the colour of the skeletons, but also shows us what writing looks like in the dark! For the child reader this is probably not that obvious, but as an adult reader I see it as a lovely little nod to the way a child thinks. How else would your story show up!? These bold contrasts and brightly coloured illustrations make it an excellent books for all ages, from something that is visually stimulating for younger listeners, to the clear simple text and repetition for the early reader. This book has it all! 

Happy Halloween! 

Lx

Ps. Back to the list next time for the classic modern picturebook Guess How Much I Love You

No. 62 - The Phantom Tollbooth

Hi everyone, me again. 

I hope you're all doing well in lockdown.

Last week I wrote about 7 ways to keep children busy and learning during lockdown , and I hope some of you found this post useful. 

I've been continuing to keep my eyes peeled for other things, and have something else for you today!

Here is the latest newsletter from Caboodle, the National Book Token  people. There's a children's competition  to win a £10 book token and one for every pupil in their class, just by creating a new design for the book token cards! Worth a try! I would have loved this when I was little!

There's also the annual competition to win £5,000 worth of book tokens for your child's school, plus £100 for the child too! Take a look. 

Another thing that I've found is that the Haynes Motor Museum in Somerset has got some really lovely online activities for kids (and big kids!). There are set for KS1 and KS2, and the 'My Car the Superhero' story writing competition caught my eye as a perfect literacy activity for KS2, especially for the boy's who might need a little more encouragement to get reading and writing! The bonus is that if you post your child's entry on social media and tag Haynes Motor Museum you could win a family ticket to the museum when it opens up again! Ideal! 

And talking of motoring... back to this week's book! The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. 

Firstly, what a book! The Phantom Tollbooth is just the right amount of bizarre, surreal and down right weird! Yet, it is strangely logical, and disguises a strong moral tale. It makes no sense, yet makes total sense. Confused yet? Me too! 

I'll give you a quick synopsis. The book is about a boy called Milo, who is living life, but not really experiencing it. He is grumpy about everything, bored by school, and can't seem to find much he enjoys doing, despite having all kinds of toys and games. But when he arrives home to find a tollbooth has been delivered to his bedroom, suddenly life starts getting interesting. He hops in his little electric car, pays his toll and crosses into the Kingdom of Wisdom. 

Here he ventures on to Dictionopolis, through the Valley of Sound, amongst other places, to Digitopolis, to rescue the Princesses Rhyme and Reason and help unite the Kingdom of Wisdom once again. It's a literacy and numeracy based didactic, fantasy adventure story! I told you it was an odd one! 

I'm going to be totally honest here and say I was not very keen on reading this book when I started it. It was wordy, and a map at the start of a book always puts me off a bit. I think it comes from not really being into fantasy all that much, and equating the genre with books like The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula le Guin (which I didn't get on with at all!). So, with some trepidation I opened the book, or selected it (Kindle reading is all have at the moment! Gosh, I miss the library!), and began. 

As I've already said, it was wordy to start with and the action was very fast paced, giving me little time to digest what was going on! However, once Milo settled into his journey things calmed down a bit and I started revelling in the bizarre world Juster had created! 

This book reminded me of lots of different things, of other children's stories, of adult fiction, of pop culture, it has little hints of everything in it. It has often been said that it shares many similarities with Alice in Wonderland, and I can certainly see why! It begins with a bored child, who through either daydreams or magic (i'll let you decide), ventures into another world full of surreal situations and characters. There is also more than a passing resemblance to The Wizard of Oz at occasions. In fact this book reminded me of so many different texts. It obviously has it's roots in classic moral tales, in particular The Pilgrim's Progress, and there is also a likeness to the journeying elements of Tolkein's books. From a magical perspective it reminded me of the Chrestomanci series by Dianna Wynne Jones, of timeslip fiction like Tom's Midnight Garden, and of course The Wizard of Earthsea. It even had hints of the surreal sci-fi classic The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Roald Dahl's creations, and Maurice Sendak's seminal picture book Where the Wild Things Are. I could go on and on! This book, as self-contained and original as it may seem, is a wonderful melting pot of different genres and can be read in so many different ways depending on what you as the reader find within it's pages. 

Something Juster does so very well in this book is puns and word play. The place names, character names and action all have a meaning, hidden or literal. For example, I particularly enjoyed it when Milo, Tock the Watchdog and the Humbug end up flying through the air to an island called Conclusions; they literally jump to Conclusions! This amused me probably more that it should have done, and there are plenty more of these wordy mind games throughout the story to keep you happy! 

But it wasn't just the places that pleased me, the characters were by far my favourite part of this story.  Here are the one's I'd like to meet!

• The Spelling Bee - literally a giant bee, who spells everything he says out loud! 
• The Dodecahedron - a very weird chap with 12 faces, who wouldn't look out of place in an episode of The Mighty Boosh!

•  The lovely Tock - he's a watchdog, so of course, he has a massive clock stuck to his side (see cover picture at the start of this post)!
•  Faintly Macabre, the not-so-wicked Which - She's not a Witch, but a Which! She used to choose which words could be used for what occasions, which ones were spoken, and which ones were written down. Quite an important job really! 
• Kakofonous A. Dischord, Doctor of Dissonance - he's a mad professor who collects sounds, especially weird ones! He asks Milo "Have you ever heard a blindfolded octopus unwrap a cellophane-covered bathtub?" I rest my case!

So, as you can see the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Wisdom are quite something! But underneath all this madness and wordplay there is a valuable tale to be found in this book. It may seem like a pointless romp through a surrealist's dictionary, but in fact it's a essay on education, childhood and learning. Milo begins the story fed up with his life, he doesn't see the point in learning, of going to school, of being taught what he considers to be useless information. He can't see any Rhyme or Reason to it! The Kingdom of Wisdom is a metaphor for Milo's relationship with learning, it's broken, at war with itself. In order to understand education as a whole, as an important activity, Milo must discover and restore both it's Rhyme and it's Reason, which in the story manifest themselves as two beautiful princesses. Once reunited with their Kingdom, the world makes a lot more sense. By the end of his adventures Milo has a greater understanding of why learning is so important, and has had his eyes opened to the joys of the world around him. He appreciates the power of nature, the sounds all around him, he sees merit in being creative, of making things, of using his imagination. Just by looking around his bedroom he can see a hundred things to do; things that he would have ignored before his trip through the Phantom Tollbooth. It is a message of enlightenment at it's best. Totally hidden, yet incredibly potent. 

Thanks for reading, L x

Next up, Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce. 

No. 63 - Flour Babies

Hello!
It's taken me a bit longer to get around to writing this post, not because I didn't enjoy the book, but because it's a tricky one to write about. It's hard to put my finger on what made this book special, I just know that it was a brilliant read and took me to places I didn't expect. This week's book is Flour Babies by Anne Fine.

I was pretty sure I'd read a few of Anne Fine's book, I mean she's Anne Fine isn't she! She spawned Mrs Doubtfire! Anyone who grew up in the 90's had to have read her books right? Wrong! It would seem that I had somehow missed out! Having had a little Google of her books I could see some titles that I recognised, but nothing that seemed familiar. I think maybe we had read some of her books at school, but they're often the books that you blank out of your 'read that!' memory, aren't they. So, with this in mind I approached Flour Babies with some caution, interested to see what would have put me off Fine's books when I was young. I can safely say I have no idea! Flour Babies was brilliant!

Flour Babies is an upper middle grade, lower YA novel, about a group of underachieving boys who are given the task of looking after 'flour babies' as a school science experiment. As a plot this intrigued me, and I was keen to find out how these boys looked after their little sacks of flour! Would they treat them as exactly what they were, just bags of flour, or would they find some kind and caring side to them that wanted to nurture these little 'babies'?

Most of the action takes place in the school, and in particular the boy's classroom. Let me tell you a bit about class 4C. The boy's in 4C are the bottom of the bottom, they are grouped together because they are expected to achieve nothing. Half of them don't even bother to come to school everyday! They pick and choose when they turn up, and what lesson's they do! We all remember boy's like that from our own secondary education don't we! I know I do! And we can all recognise our teachers in the long-suffering Mr Cartwright, always picked to take care of that year's 4C. He's the kind of teacher that has been doing it a long time, seen it all before, and knows exactly how to handle these boys. The descriptions and dialogue are perfect! The book opens with a fantastic example of this that took me straight back to school! 

"Mr Cartwright swung his legs to and fro under the desk, and raised his voice over the waves of bad-tempered muttering. 

          'Don't worry if you feel you can't give this your full attention now, 4C,' he said to his new class. 'I'll be delighted to go over it again in your break time.'

          Some of them visibly made a bit of an effort. A few pens were pulled out of a few mouths. One or two of the boys swivelled their heads back from the riveting sight of the janitor painting large white numbers on the dustbins. But, on the whole, the improvement was pitiful. Half of them looked as if they'd left their brains at home. The other half looked as if they didn't have any."

It paints a brilliant picture of the kind of characters we are dealing with, and then of course it makes you consider how these boys are ever going to get their heads around caring for 'flour babies'?

I expected this book to focus on all the boy's experiences of 'flour baby' parenthood, but in fact it focuses on one boy in particular, Simon Martin. Simon appears to be quite high up in the hierarchy of 4C, and is an ungainly, huge, loping teenage boy. His size makes him quite formidable, and it for this reason that he becomes the unlikely hero of this book! Simon takes on the 'flour baby' project with some enthusiasm because he can't wait to burst the sack of flour all over the classroom when the 3 weeks is up! This excitement for the big flour explosion means that he tries really hard to keep his 'flour baby' intact, unlike his mates (one of them even kicks his into the canal!). Unwittingly, big tough Simon falls in love with his little baby shaped bundle, and he struggles to come to terms with the paternal feelings he is experiencing. When teachers start noticing his broodiness they begin to get concerned! And when he starts behaving they fear there must be something really wrong! The education system had lost all faith in the boy's from 4C, and it comes as a shock when one of them begins to reform!

The problem with Simon is that the 'flour baby' has stirred up all the thoughts and feelings he has about his absent father. With the little 'flour baby' in his care, he can't imagine how someone could abandon their own child at only 6 weeks old! Along with Simon, we learn all about the day his father left, how he just walked out and never came back. There were no warning signs, he just had to leave. To begin with Simon can't understand why his Dad left, especially as he is getting an idea of what parental love and responsibility feels like. As the book progresses we go through all the emotions Simon is feeling, first sadness, then anger, and then understanding and acceptance. It is tender portrayal of teenage a boy making sense of his life, understanding his past and growing up. It is no wonder that this book won the Carnegie Medal in 1992, and the Whitbread Children's Book Award in 1993. The emotion creeps up on you, and all of a sudden you are being hit with the full wave of how Simon is feeling. Simon learns so much about his background, but also grows more in confidence in the person he is. He knows he will never be an 'ear'ol' (a swot), and by the end of the book he's causing glorious mayhem once again, feeling relief at no longer having the responsibility of the 'flour baby'! He suddenly understands the responsibilities of parenthood, and how his father was far too young to take this on. Simon no longer feels bitter about this, and instead realises that he can learn from his father's mistakes, that his fate was in his hands. There is a lovely poignant moment during this epiphany that I'd like to share with you. 

"There would be time enough to be responsible when he was older. When the right moment came, there would be all the time in the world to be a good father. 

But not now. Not while he was so young. Not while he had the strength and power and energy to do anything, and all his horizons were giddy and bright, and wider than he could imagine... He wouldn't make the same mistakes as his father. Oh, no. He wasn't going to pin himself down years too soon, and have to make the bitter choice between snatching back his own life, and leaving some child... talking inside his head to some crinkly blue-eyed father he'd had to make up all by himself, because the real one hadn't stayed around."

So this story wasn't really about a science experiment at all! In fact, it was actually a poignant coming of age novel, about the responsibilities of growing up, of how we can shape our own future, and how you can overcome your past to become more than you, or anyone else, ever believed you could be. Through the 'flour babies' experiment Simon is finally able to let go of this idealised, and sometimes hated, father figure he'd been carrying around his entire life. He, and his teachers are able to see that he has a bright future ahead of him, and he has a better understanding of how this is going to pan out. 

Thanks for reading, L x

Next up, it's The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.

No. 66 - Peter Pan

Hello! 

I've started a new routine at home, like many of you probably have, and Tuesday is my day for blogging. Hopefully I will be able to get hold of a lot of the books digitally and can continue to write a new post once a week for the time being. Maybe, I can even keep this routine up when things go back to normal! 

This week's book is in fact a play! We haven't had one of those yet! It's J.M. Barrie's fantastical tale, Peter Pan. The play was originally devised by Barrie as a way of amusing some boys he knew, the Llewellyns. If you've ever seen Finding Neverland, you'll know about the relationship Barrie had with these boys and their mother. If you haven't seen this film, I suggest you watch it, it's brilliant! Anyway, although the play came first, Barrie first published the story as a novel for children called Peter and Wendy in 1911, and later in 1928 the play was published, and has been amusing audiences across the world ever since!

Peter, the Lost Boys, Wendy and Captain Hook are a well know set of characters in children's literature. Of course made all the more popular by our friend Walt Disney! I'm not going to moan about Walt this time though as I've never actually seen the Disney Peter Pan (no gasping please!). Instead I'm going to talk to you about the version I know, the play, the original tale of Peter and Wendy. I've never read the novelisation of the play, but I might after this. You can read it for free on the super Project Gutenberg website. Maybe I'll read it and write another post comparing the book and the play. The Project Gutenberg website is great. You can read loads of out of copyright classics online or download them as ebooks for free. 

Now, during my degree Peter Pan was one of the play texts we studied, and my word there is a lot more to it than you expect! At first glance it seems to be a story of childhood vs adulthood, of growing up and loosing your belief in magic. In the famous scene where Tinkerbell is dying Peter Pan asks the audience to save her life by clapping if they believe in fairies. Here the entire audience, adults and children alike, are holding the fate of the character in their hands, literally. A critic once said that more often than not it was the adults who stood up during this scene, clapping furiously. Barrie is inviting them to embrace their childhood again, and the magic of believing in magic. In that moment, and indeed throughout the play, we are asked to suspend our disbelief, and it is interesting to see how far this stretches in adults and children. As we know, it is much easier  for children to believe and we see this is so many children's books. There is always a negative stance on adulthood, and how adults view the world. It is often suggested that adults grow out of believing in the fantastic, and this is a theme found in Peter Pan. However, instead of creating a closed world Barrie encouraged adults to relive their childhood fantasies, rather than shutting them out. Adults are as much allowed to look at Neverland as children are. In fact it has been said that Peter Pan was predominately written for adults, for this exact reason. This claim is backed up by the fact that the characters had already appeared in one of Barrie's novels for adults The White Bird. 

Once you start digging a bit deeper with this play you begin to notice the characters rather than the story. The story itself is muddled, confusing at times, and seemingly a lot happens with no real purpose. Pan is trying to kill Hook, Hook is trying to kill Pan, but it is never truly explained why. There are some fights, and then everyone flies home again, except stubborn Peter. It has been suggested that things never resolve themselves in Neverland because Neverland is not a real place. There are no consequences, they can do what they like. You feel like you've stumbled into a children's game that only makes real sense to those involved. 

Once we ignore the plot, we can start to look more closely at the characters, and this is where it gets interesting! Peter Pan, the boy who refuses to grow up, is a mythical character. Is he human? Is he a fairy? We are never sure. He famously says 'To die will be an awfully big adventure" suggesting that for him death is of no consequence and implies that maybe he is immortal. Peter, like Neverland, is made up and so anything can happen. Captain Hook on the other hand has a very real reminder of his mortality in the shape of the crocodile that has swallowed a clock! The creature ate Hook's hand and Hook is convinced that the crocodile would like to eat the rest of him. The ticking of the clock inside the crocodile's stomach can be heard every time the crocodile approaches Hook, like a ticking time bomb, a reminder that eventually Hook's time will be up because he is a mere mortal! Interestingly, in most productions of Peter Pan, the actor playing Mr Darling (the children's father), also plays Captain Hook (think of Jason Isaacs in the 2003 Peter Pan film). This double role reinforces the idea of Hook as mortal. In fact, is Hook actually Mr Darling? One of my theories is that Neverland is in fact an elaborate make-believe game played within the nursery. Peter Pan is a symbol for the Darling children's childhood, and his conflict with Hook or Mr Darling is about the way the children are growing up. The crocodile is a metaphor for their mortality, whilst Hook's need to defeat Pan, or childhood, is Mr Darling's ambition that his children will grow up to be successful adults. 

There is another theory that has been put forth many times, which will change the way you view this children's story forever. Some critics have suggested that Peter Pan is in fact a retelling of the Oedipus story, where the son tries to kill the father so he can marry the mother. In terms of this story, Peter Pan can be seen as the son, Hook the father and Wendy the mother. There is an extraordinary amount of emphasis placed on the figure of the mother in Peter Pan, and this Freudian reading of the story could explain why. Peter's main purpose seems to be to attack Hook at all eventualities, suggesting that if Hook were the father figure (he is the double of Mr Darling remember) Peter seems pretty intent on bumping him off. As for Wendy, she is portrayed as the mother very early on. In the first scene of the play she is playing at being her own mother with her younger brother John. Then once Peter arrives she becomes his mother, and in Neverland she is the Lost Boys' mother too. Despite being mother to all, Peter is very possessive of Wendy. This could be suggestive of an Oedipus complex. However, when Wendy asks him what his feelings towards her are (and she does this many times!) he always replies 'you are my mother', suggesting he has nothing but familial feelings for Wendy. 

I'm not sure how far I follow the Oedipal theory when it comes to Peter Pan, but it is interesting to explore these critical theories and use them to inform our reading of something that seems, on the surface, just a fantastical play for children. For me, the most interesting aspects of the analysis lie in the doubling of characters, and the theories surrounding the themes of childhood and growing up. I hope this has been of interest to some of you, I've certainly enjoyed writing it. It's not often now that I get to do a critical review of a text. Maybe I'll try and do more! 

Thanks for reading, L x

Next week, I'll be looking at Oliver Jeffer's picture book The Way Back Home. 

No. 68 - The Family from One End Street (and World Book Day 2020)

It's World Book Day month, hooray! Thursday 5th March was World Book Day, a favourite of mine as you may already know. I love seeing which characters children dress up as, and how their little imaginations are sparked by literature of all kinds. The free books for this year's World Book Day are fantastic as always, with authors such as Anthony Horowitz, Robin Stevens, and Matt Haig contributing brand new stories. You can see the full list of the books here, so encourage children to cash in those vouchers and grab a new short story!

As for today's post, I want to talk to you about Eve Garnett's masterpiece The Family from One End Street. First published in 1937, this book oozes authenticity in a way books these day's rarely do. It is a wonderful depiction of the life of the Ruggle family, who live at No.1 One End Street, in the fictional town of Otwell-on-the-Ouse (which is said to be based on Lewes in Sussex). Nothing extraordinary happens, and the setting is thoroughly domestic, but this is it's appeal. It is wonderfully mundane.

Unusually for the time, it focuses on the life of a working class family. The mum, Rosie Ruggle does people's laundry and Dad, Jo Ruggle is a dustman. They have seven children, Lily-Rose, Kate, Jo, twins John and James, Peggy and baby William. Children of the time were more likely to be reading about the exploits of middle-class families, think about The Famous Five and The Secret Seven, so this book was quite special. Just like the typical middle-class adventure novel, most of the chapters are based around the children, following their exploits and adventures (although I use the term loosely). The Ruggle's tales are moral, entertaining, and often follow the troubles of their everyday life. What happens when Lily Rose melts a rich ladies petticoat with an iron, and how will the Ruggle's afford Kate's new school clothes? Will they make it to London to see Uncle Charlie in the parade? There are so many lovely episodes in this book that will have you routing for the working class Ruggle's. It is so endearing, plus there is a lovely air of gentle humour about these stories which I really enjoyed.

These days children expect stories with exciting twists and turns, fast action, and snappy storylines to keep them reading. There doesn't seem to be as many books that are slower paced, and actually deal with the domestic level of life quite like this does. I worry that the publishing industry has it's work cut out trying to create books for the screen generation, who expect everything to be instant and quick. Books like Eve Garnett's require consideration and time. Although it is by no means a difficult read, it requires absorption. There are no quick fixes here. The stories are charming, and although not much happens, you enjoy going on a small scale adventure with these characters. It puts me in mind of Shirley Hughes books, in particular the 'My Naughty Little Sister' series, which I adored as a child. This slow, gentle pace of story telling is a rare beast these days I think, and that is a huge pity. I understand that nowadays children would find it hard to identify with a child from the 1930s, and as an adult reader I have a greater understanding of this time period. However, I feel it's such a shame that it is no longer a favourable way of storytelling. The stories in this book are refreshing. There are no arguments, no social media fallout, no political or environmental worries, no gender politics, these stories are simple, wholesome and uplifting. 

Like the stories themselves, the illustrations have a similar feel. I think this is because they were also created by Garnett. They are simple line drawings, yet packed with tons of expression and life. You feel like you've taken a look into her sketchbook after a day out. Just look at the one below showing the family at the beach one Bank Holiday.

I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who loves a bit of nostalgia! It's stories and characters hark back to a time when life was simpler. There is more of a clear gender and class divide, yes, but then this book was written at a time when that was normal. I wouldn't however say the characters fall into those stereotypes. Those girls are quite feisty, and the boys have their moments of weakness. Even Mr Ruggle has moral dilemmas to face. Overall this book is a lovely example of domestic fiction for children at it's best. It is about the love, and life, of a family.

Thanks for reading, L x

Next up, it's the Asterix comics by Uderzo and Goscinny!

No. 69 - You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum!

So, we've finally hit the 60s on the list, and I must say I'm quite excited about the next ten books. There are some absolute classics, an anthology of poems and even a comic! I tend to only work through the list ten books at a time, so it's always a surprise to me when I look at the upcoming titles, and the next ten don't disappoint. Plus there are some favourites of mine on their way this time too! Talking of favourites, I've discovered a new one! The Mr Gum books by Andy Stanton! They're brilliant! 

The list just said 'Mr Gum', so I started at the beginning with You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum!, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! As you probably know, I am a great fan of books for reluctant readers. Anything that can spark the passion for reading in a child has my vote, and I think these books fit that bill exactly! Firstly they are small scale, which is less intimidating than a great big book, and the text itself doesn't fill the whole page either. I think sometimes the thought of having to read a whole book is actually what puts children off reading in the first place, and this books gets around that in lots of clever ways.

Along with small sections of text on each page, the style has a sort of handwritten, diary type feel to it. A bit like Liz Pichon's Tom Gates books the pages have a lived-in feel. There are big dirty smudges on the corners of the pages, illustrations in the margins, and often the text is handwritten, misaligned or in a different font. It is all very fluid and most importantly not very book-like! 

David Tazzyman's illustrations bring the non-book-y-ness to life! They have the spirit and animation of Quentin Blake's illustrations, and there's something a little bit Lauren Child about them too. They are cartoony, loose and seem to have a life of their own. Despite being made up of a few deft strokes of a pencil, they are 100% believable! You can smell the disheveled, stinker Mr Gum, and you can hear the flies buzzing around in Billy William the Third's Right Royal Meats butchers shop! It's gross, but awesome! And here again lies the draw of this book. It's disgusting! In a good way! This particular story involves rotten meat and dog poo! It has it's fair share of the grotesque. I mean the end papers have got dog poos, rat poison bottles and ketchup drawn on them!

But what I love most about this book is it's humour! It's surreal, and bizarre, and laugh out loud funny! In fact it's read out loud funny! I can imagine it going down very well in a classroom! It's silly, and that makes me smile. I love a silly book. One that appeals to both adults and children alike, with jokes and asides for everyone. This device is mostly found in picture books, so I was really pleased to see it venture out into the paper back. The Claude books by Alex T Smith have a similar feel too. More of the same please! It's a winner! And I knew I was on to a winner as soon as I read the opening page of You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum!. 

Stanton's descriptions often skip the obvious and move straight to the things that we would usually pass by, or that we just didn't need to know, and of course these are often the funniest. It's a bit like observational humour, it's the little things that you take for granted that are actually the most amusing. We are told that Mr Gum hates children, animals, and fun, so far these are all very standard things for a nasty character, but Stanton also thinks we ought to know that Mr Gum hates corn on the cob too. It's so unimportant that it's funny. I love it! Plus who lists 'scowling at things' as a hobby!? 

Another thing that Stanton does really well is an underwhelming observation. For example 'The moles raced back their holes at the speed of moles.', and Jake the dog is seen 'chomping up the flowers in his big doggy mouth to see what they tasted like (generally they tasted like flowers)'. It is touches like this that I think make this book so appealing, and much more fun to read aloud. As a child this would have really tickled me and made me want to read more. 

This first Mr Gum story has won two awards, and it's easy to see why. I was also excited to discover that Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear (book no. 5) had been made into a musical! Bizarre, but not unexpected. Once you've been in Mr Gum's world a while anything is possible. 

So, I suppose you've guessed that this has been one of my favourite books so far! And yes, I will be popping to the library and getting the next one, despite the fact I'm probably about 20 years older than the intended audience! Reading this book has reminded me of being little again. I loved a funny book as a child, and the more bizarre the better. I'd have devoured these had they been around then, so why not do it now and re-live that joy!

I'm going to leave you with a review of this book from Bryony aged 8, which I think totally sums up it's appeal: 

"Funniest book I have ever read and will ever read... When I read this to my mum she burst out laughing and nearly wet herself... When I had finished the book I wanted to read it all over again it was so good."* 

Thanks for reading, L x

Next time, it's The Family From One End Street by Eve Garnett.

*From the reviews in the front of You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum! by Andy Stanton, illustrated by David Tazzyman.  

No. 70 - Berlie Doherty's Fairly Tales

I'm a huge fan of fairy tales, from the nursery school favourites, to the much darker and more complex tales of the Brother's Grimm, and everything else in-between. I just love the magic and mystery of these traditional children's tales. In the nineteenth century lots of these stories were complied into what we now think of as the canon of classic fairy tales. Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Hansel and Gretel, to name but a few. The most famous collectors of these fairy tales were Joseph Jacobs, Charles Perrault, and the Grimm brothers. This standardised canon of tales seems very familiar, yes? Think again!

There are so many variations of these tales, that once you start digging you will find that there are much more interesting versions! I particularly like the variations of the 'beast' in Beauty and the Beast. For example in Russia he is 'The Snotty Goat', and in Italian versions of the tale he is 'The Mouse with the Long Tail' or 'The Pig King'. Likewise, an old French version of Little Red Riding Hood, The Story of Grandmother, sees our heroine eat her grandmother's flesh, drink her blood and do a striptease for the wolf!!* So you see, there is much more to the traditional fairy tale than meets the eye! I could go on, but instead I shall introduce you to this post's books.

Berlie Doherty's Fairy Tales are somewhat more traditional than Red Riding Hood baring all, however, they are certainly not boring. These beautiful adaptations, of which there are 12, are thoughtfully written, and the haunting illustrations by Jane Ray make them truly special. I couldn't track down the treasury of  these stories, nor could I find all 12 in the library, but the two I did find did not disappoint! So, I am going to talk to you about Berlie Doherty's re-tellings of Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.

The tale of Aladdin, as we know it, first appears in Arabian Nights, alongside the stories of Sinbad the Sailor and Ali Baba, so of course I presumed, like everyone else, that Aladdin must be a story from the middle east. I was wrong! And so was Walt Disney! Aladdin was originally a Chinese tale!

Berlie Doherty's Aladdin uses the traditional Chinese setting, which I think helps to move this story away from it's Disney counterpart. The banner of Disney is something that is totally wrapped up with the Western fairy tale genre, and I think that the more re-telling's that have their roots in the traditions of these stories the better! Don't get me wrong, I love a Disney film, but personally I think children are missing out on the richness of the genre if all they know are the squeaky clean Disney versions! Obviously, the ugly sister's chopping their toes off to fit into the glass slipper in Cinderella might not be suitable for a younger audience, but there are other variations that are more palatable!

Now, I was expecting the tale of Aladdin to be a fairly moral one, where love conquers evil, and everyone lives happily ever after. A story where Aladdin would win the Princess's heart in a way that didn't involve endless riches and swanky houses, but kindness, and heroics. Isn't that what fairy tales are all about? Well apparently not! Aladdin woos the Princess with magic jewels, and then when she marries someone else he wins her back by shoving her husband out of bed each night into a pile of poo! Once this husband leaves (and frankly I don't blame him!) the genie conjures yet more riches to please the Princess. Aladdin then summons up an extravagant gold palace for them, and they live there happily, content in their materialism. But it's this materialism that gets them in to a bit of bother, when Princess Badr-al-Badur (note that she's not called Jasmine!) sells the magic lamp to the evil Sorcerer, and he kidnaps her!

Even after Aladdin rescues her there is no moral epiphany! No realisation that their greed got them into trouble, or that they only needed each other to be happy! They're just pleased to get the lamp and the genie back, and resume life in their gold castle! If Aladdin and Badr-al-Badur were a modern couple it would be all designer clothing, and supercars, and an instagram account with millions of followers to like their boastful posts and boost their egos! Frankly I ended the story pretty disappointed in them! This however, doesn't at all detract from Doherty's brilliant re-telling of this tale, and the beautiful illustrations that accompany it. In fact it makes it all the more enjoyable!

Jane Ray's illustrations really make these stories. Although there are not many full page images, the illustrated page edges and end papers create a magical space for story telling to occur. Her interpretation of the characters is really interesting too, and this is something I noticed in Beauty and the Beast. Jane Ray has depicted her Beauty as being of African heritage, something that is very rare in the classic Western fairy tale canon. The canonical fairy tales, and indeed Disney's interpretations of them, depict their princesses as nearly always Western and white, especially in the early days of the Disney cartoons. In 1991 when Beauty and the Beast was made there had been no Disney princesses of colour, with Belle following in the footsteps of Cinderella, Snow White and Ariel. In 1992 Aladdin gave us Jasmine, and this was followed by Pocahontas in 1995. Things were looking up. Now, I am pleased to say it is not so rare, though some would say that they are still underrepresented. For me Jane Ray's choice of  Beauty's African heritage added another layer to the story from an analytic point of view, and made it more culturally interesting. Ray mixes the Western and African cultures subtly with the use of clothing. Beauty, although dressed in a Western Georgian style, is depicted wearing fabrics that use African patterning. Coupled with the theme of possession in this fairytale, could Ray be making a comment on the colonialism of the period?

Before I finish up I quickly want to talk about the illustration below. I really love it, as it very subtly shows the Beast watching Beauty. We see his reflection in the mirror, an the eye on the table, and indeed, his rather frightening figure behind her. There is real sense of possession here. However, it is also clear that she interests him; it is very voyeuristic, and as viewers we are sharing in that voyeurism by watching him watch her. The more you look at this image the more you realise that Beauty is overtly the object of the male gaze. There are lots of wolf-like creatures and clawed hands on the curtains, bearing down on her in a sinister way. There is no denying that the Beast appears to be a metaphor for a certain attitude towards women.

Of course, as we know in the end Beauty realises that she truly loves the Beast, agrees to marry him and he turns back in to a man. Hurrah! Love really does triumph in this tale. Not only Beauty's love for the Beast, but her love for her family too. She was willing to put herself in danger to save her father's life. Though I must just say she abandons them all to be with the Beast in the end!

If you're looking for a set of fairy tales that still retain the magic and tradition of the old school fairy tale, but feel more honest and refreshing, then look no further than Berlie Doherty and Jane Ray's beautiful adaptations.

Thanks for reading, L x

Ps. Next up it's something totally different! It's Andy Stanton's You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum!



* If you want to read more about literary theory concerning fairy tales, or read some of these fabulous alternative versions, I highly recommend The Classic Fairy Tales edited by Maria Tatar.

No. 72 - The Worst Witch

This is me, aged 5 or 6, dressed up as the Worst Witch for World Book Day! An easy costume I suppose, it was basically my school uniform, with the addition of a sash and a small tiger (masquerading as Mildred’s tabby cat!)! Unoriginal you might say, but for me it was the perfect portrayal of a character that I loved.

Before I knew anything about Hogwarts, Harry, Ron and Hermione, I was having my magical education at Miss Cackles Academy for Witches, with Mildred and Maud. Like our favourite magical comrades, Mildred and Maud are often finding themselves in sticky situations and getting into trouble with a cast of magical teachers. The most formidable of all is of course Miss Hardbroom, who is just as mean as her name suggests.

The headteacher of the academy is the long suffering and rather sweet Miss Cackle, who is always disappointed to see Mildred in her office AGAIN.

Mildred Hubble, as Jill Murphy describes her, is ‘the Worst Witch’. She is always getting into scrapes, embarrassing herself in front of her classmates, casting the wrong spells and mixing the wrong potions. Delightfully, she is a real, flawed character, someone who makes mistakes, even though she is trying her very best. 

Although Mildred has her fair share of bad luck, Murphy is at pains to remind us that she has lots of friends and is well liked. At no point do we feel sorry for Mildred because she has a support network of friends behind her, including her wonderfully loyal bestie Maud. Maud is a dumpy little witch with glasses and bunches, and contrasts beautifully with the gangly, uncoordinated Mildred. They are the perfect double act.

There’s one more person you need to know about before I continue, and that is Ethel, who Murphy describes as being a bit smug and bossy! She is top of the class and so looks down on Mildred with great contempt. But this doesn’t bother Mildred, instead she has her ways of dealing with Ethel, which, in this book, involves turning her into a pig!

When I picked up The Worst Witch I couldn’t remember much about the story, but the characters were firmly imprinted in my head, and strangely so was the school song…. The tune, the words, everything. I can attribute that to either of two things,

1.       The audiobook, which I listened to a lot!

2.       The ITV children’s TV series – the original one, not the new one, not the Netflix one (apparently there is one), but the original one. We’re talking the same era as The Queen’s Nose, when children's TV was at it’s best!

Now I can’t remember which of these had the song in it, but I know that both these heavily influenced my love of the books and these characters. As always, as I started reading the book read itself to me, in the same phrasing, voices and nuances as the audiobook, something I always love when revisiting a book for this blog, as you’ll know. 

The story is short, but sweet, and has everything in it that you’d expect from a book set in a magical school. There’s broomstick flying, witch’s cats, potions class, people getting turned into animals, a threat to the cosy contentment of the school, and a Halloween celebration. Sound familiar, I think so. 

The story opens on the eve of the cat presentation, where all the first-year girls get presented with their witches familiar; a black kitten. Of course, Mildred being Mildred, ends up with the only tabby cat. After that there is a magical interlude, where we learn more about what the girls get up to at school, with Mildred and Maud accidentally creating an invisibility potion in a class test! As well as potions class there is also practice for the Halloween celebration’s broomstick flying display, which I love the sound of! Who wouldn’t pay to see a broomstick display team!? This is not so exciting for Mildred however, who after borrowing a spare broomstick from Ethel (alarm bells!!) for the display ends up bringing the whole team to the ground during the performance. Ethel of course, had tampered with the broom, a trick that seems quite popular with magical folk!

This is the low point in the story. Everyone is cross with Mildred for ruining the display, and disheartened she decides to run away. However, just outside the school grounds she encounters a coven of witches, led by Miss Cackle’s evil sister, who are intent on sneaking into the school and turning everyone into frogs! Mildred thinks fast, turning them all into snails and taking them back to school to show Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom. The story ends in true Philosopher’s Stone style, with Mildred being publicly praised for having saved the school.

I would thoroughly recommend this book, its sequels, and it’s TV adaptions to anyone, especially children aged between 6 and 11. This was magical education before it was cool; this was my Hogwarts. 

Thanks for reading, L x

Next up, 'Wolves' by Emily Gravett

No.73 - I Love You, Blue Kangaroo!

The blog hasn't really covered many picture books yet, but this is the second one running! I love picture books, the way the text and images can work together, or in some cases tell two totally different stories. For me, these are the most interesting, where the images can be read as one story, and the text as another, allowing for different abilities of reader, and of course a bit of imagination! However, there is no less value in picture books that are beautifully illustrated stories, where picture and text work together to tell the story and engage the reader or listener. A perfect example of this is Emma Chichester Clark's I Love You, Blue Kangaroo!

We've all had, or still have, a toy that we could never be without! Mine is Polo Bear, a white teddy with tartan ears and feet, and a little tartan bow tie! Polo has been on many an adventure with me, school trips away, holidays, and lots of other occasions too. He still sits at the end of my bed, and although he plays a much more static role to the one he did when I was a child, I know he'll always be there for me when I need him, and I sometimes still give him a little squeeze. Polo is my Blue Kangaroo. 

This picture book has become somewhat of a classic, published in 1998, it had been a constant influence on many children's bookshelves for the past 20 years. It is a story of love, friendship and unbreakable bonds. Lily, who I would say was about 4 or 5, loves her Blue Kangaroo, just as we've all loved our favourite toys. Every night she hugs him close and gives him all her love, until the Wild Brown Bear arrives. Lily now has to share her love with a new toy, and unfortunately poor Blue Kangaroo starts feeling a bit left out. Slowly more and more toys arrive for Lily from family and friends, until the Blue Kangaroo can barely fit into the bed each night! Then one night he is finally knocked out of bed! Feeling very sad he decides to snuggle up with Lily's baby brother instead. Like the Velveteen Rabbit in the last blog post, the Blue Kangaroo struggles to understand why he isn't always the toy of choice, and how he can become the favourite again. But to Lily the Blue Kangaroo will always be her favourite toy, and to use Margery Williams term, 'Real'. When faced with the idea of her brother having Blue Kangaroo Lily does something rather lovely. She gives her brother all her other new toys in return for having her kangaroo back. He will always be her favourite toy and she loves him dearly. 

As well as being a wonderfully endearing story, and having the loveliest illustrations, the story also uses lists and repetition to engage the reader or listener. When Lily snuggles up in bed each night her toys are listed, starting with the newest first and always ending with the Blue Kangaroo. This a wonderful device for encouraging 'reading' along. I can imagine the adult reader pointing to all the toys in the bed and naming each one with the child, using the repetition and rhythm of each name to help them remember what comes next. I love books like this, and think that this type of writing is especially valuable in encouraging a love of language and reading in the very young. 

Overall this is a very sweet book, with a touching sentiment. The illustrations are bright and bold, and the Blue Kangaroo, despite looking a little bit like a mouse, is very cute indeed! Coming to it as an adult reader I can totally understand the love that Lily has for her very favourite toy, and I bet if she were real, the 25 year old Lily would still have her Blue Kangaroo!

Thanks for reading, L x

Next up a firm favourite of mine, The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy. 

No. 74 - The Velveteen Rabbit

I'm back! I'm so sorry it's been so long since I posted anything here! I've been madly working hard for another qualification and getting my head around what happens after education (which, trust me, is super scary!).

Anyway, let's jump right into it! Today I want to talk to you all about the Margery Williams classic, The Velveteen Rabbit or When Toys Become Real. I had of course heard of this book, and knew it was somewhat of a must-read yet I had never actually read it. So I popped online and searched my local library catalogue. I could only find an abridged version of the story by Ruth Martin, more of a picture book style with lots of beautiful illustrations by Sophie Allsopp.

It was a really beautiful book, but I'm not sure I really enjoyed the story. I found the whole thing a little bit creepy if I'm honest!

When I was little I didn't like the idea of toys watching me, especially when I was going to sleep, so my poor old teddys had to often sleep with their faces to the wall! So as you can imagine a story about toys coming to life was not my ideal reading material!

The boy in the story, who remains unnamed, gets a toy rabbit for Christmas, but because he has so many other things too he doesn't really notice the rabbit. It's only in the absence of his normal china dog at bedtime that the boy discovers the rabbit.

I suppose if you truly analyse the meaning of 'realness' in this story it is all about love. A toy only becomes real once it has been really loved, and I'm sure we can all relate to this. We've all got a toy that we loved to absolute death as a small child, and probably still love even though it's balding and might only have one eye left. The point is that it's ours, and to us its more than just a toy, it represents our childhood.

The Velveteen Rabbit was not my cup of tea, and so writing about it has been hard. It might have something to do with when in was published, in the early 20s, or just that bizarre nature of the story, but I struggled to get anything out of it, despite it being a classic. The prose itself seems stilted and long winded, and the characters very two dimensional, and not particularly endearing. Unfortunately, i'm not sure this is a classic that has stood the test of time. Something along the same theme, such as the next book, 'I Love You, Blue Kangaroo', tackles the idea of 'realness' in a much better and more accessible way.

I suppose I won't love every book on this list, and there have been a few so far that I've not enjoyed (read about my feeling on 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' here). I try to give an honest review of what I read, and hope that that will inspire you to read the books on the list, either for yourself or with your children.

Thanks for reading, L x

Next time: 'I Love You, Blue Kangaroo' by Emma Chichester Clark