You know how I was going on and on in a dreary fashion about it raining a lot two months? Well guess what. IT'S STILL BLOOMIN' RAINING.(I realise this doesn't count as news to everyone who shares this island with me but it's worth reiterating to those in sunnier places). There was a report in the paper yesterday about the cancellation of a concert in Hyde Park due to the 'total emulsification of the surface'. I have no idea what that means but it sounds pretty Armageddon-ish. The Olympic Torch must be burning through unprecedented amounts of paraffin to keep alight on its journey through constant drizzle interrupted by torrential downpours.
BUT.
That first paragraph marks a transition point in this blog and in The Little Wooden Horse household. For we are going to moan No More. We are taking positive action and making a decision to choose rain. To embrace it. To LOVE it (we have booked a summer holiday in Cornwall-we have no choice really)...and we invite you to join us and re-calibrate your gloom settings to 'Hurray it's wet again!'.
Bill was the pioneer. This weekend, in the face of the monsoon style buckets dropping out of the sky once more he went running round and round in circles in the garden getting as soaked as he possibly could. He's been hardened off by the amount of time he's spent reciting 'The Jumblies' recently; great stalwarts in the face of Weather they are.
It made him very happy, and culminated in a good session of making rain angels on the sodden ground.
It got me looking for more positive takes on rain within our bookshelves and it wasn't that easy . There was Shirley Hughes' lovely (of course) 'Alfie Weather' but they end up indoors escaping from the wet stuff there.
We've got Geraldine McCaughrean's amazing Ark diary; 'Not the End of the World' but that seems premature (just) and it's not exactly a cheery read.
Tove Jansson's 'Moominsummer Madness' is probably a better example of how to enjoy a good flood. I wouldn't mind relocating to a floating theatre for a summer season; and those genuinely planning out-door productions at the moment should be studying it as a 'how to' guide (if in doubt float your audience on upside-down umbrellas).
But for today I am going to offer you one of my favourite poems from one of my favourite books; Nice Weather for Ducks from 'All Join In' by Quentin Blake:
'..We don't care if it's raining
and the sky is murky black-
We're joining in the Duck Song
QUACKQUACKQUACKQUACKQUACK'
It's truly impossible to feel anything other than Purest Joy reading this book and looking at Quentin Blake's pictures. Come on Clouds! Bring it on!
I need more though in case the lip begins to wobble in weeks to come? Suggestions please...
All Join In' by Quentin Blake, pub.Red Fox isbn 0-09-996470-8 -but you've got it already right? It's an ESSENTIAL for life. Should be on that government poverty line necessary list thingy along with the beer allowance.
Today is apparently World Read Aloud Day, not to mention also National Crown Roast of Pork Day (although that may just be in the US I think...I'm not sure I know what a Crown Roast is). There's always something to celebrate of course, whatever the day of the year, but Reading Aloud is an especially good one and worthy of note in this blog. If you'd rather just find out about the Crown Roast try here. That's a fine piece of pork.
Every day is Read Aloud day in this house of course given the ages of our children. But I hope that every day will remain a Read Aloud day for many years to come. My lovely Pa read aloud regularly to me until about the age of 10 I think, and after then there were occasional cosy nights on holiday when he'd scare the pants off all of us with an MR James ghost story ('Whistle and I'll come to You' *shiver*) around the fire. The husband courted me with his willingness to read classic pony stories to me of an evening. Now, I thoroughly enjoy getting stuck into increasingly complex stories with Bill. Having just completed 'Black Hearts in Battersea' we may have reached Hobbit time if I can't find a copy of 'Night birds in Nantucket' (although I remember that as being less good). I'll be sad if and when he dismisses my services.
So I offer you a fantastic book to read aloud today- partly because it was written especially for that- in the form of another Joan Aiken; 'Arabel's Raven'.
Completely different from the spooky melodrama of the Willoughby Wolves reviewed here, 'Arabel's Raven' and the other 'Mortimer' books were originally written to be read aloud for the BBC children's programme of the 1970's 'Jackanory'.
'Jackanory' was a staple of my childhood telly. A different book was read aloud in five fifteen minute installments over the course of a week by an actor with no frills or furbelowes beyond the occasional cut to an illustration. If you missed a day- tough- there was no iplayer or recorder then of course. I'm in danger of sounding like a right old fogey, and I should say that I think there are many things about 'modern' telly for kids which are wildly superior to what we were offered then, but at its best 'Jackanory' was mesmerising, despite or perhaps because of its simplicity.
Bernard Cribbins was a Jackanory regular and the 'Mortimer' stories were written especially for him to read. I remember snorting, roaring, weeping, wetting myself with laughter watching him- and news that there was about to be a new one was the closest we got then to 'event' telly.
It's very sad then, that amongst the vast quantities of nostalgia clips available on YouTube there doesn't seem to be any Cribbins doing Jackanory. Still I'll offer you the original titles to preface my review and a snippet of equally wonderful Kenneth Williams to demonstrate just how minimalist telly got to be then.
'Arabel's Raven' is the first story in a series about small girl Arabel and her pet raven Mortimer and all the chaos that owning a raven with a beak for trouble can cause.
The books are built on about 80% dialogue which makes them perfect for reading aloud. You'll need a good line in funny voices, but the quality of the writing and differentiation of the voices makes it a joyful experience.
"One morning Mr. Round and Mr. Toby Round and Mrs. Jones were all very busy arranging a display of new issues in the shop window. When they had finished they discovered that Mortimer had eaten the spiral staircase.
'Mrs. Jones, you and your bird will have to go. We have kind, long suffering natures, but Mortimer has done eight hundred and seventeen pounds, sixty-seven pence' worth of damage. You may have a year to repay it. Please don't trouble to ever come in again.'
'Glad I am that I haven't such a kind, long-suffering nature,' snapped Mrs. Jones, and she dumped Mortimer on top of her wheeled shopping-bag and dragged him home.
'Stairs!' she said to Arabel, 'What's the use of a bird who eats stairs? Gracious knows there's enough rubbish in the world- why can't he eat tonic bottles, or ice-cream cartons, or used cars, or oil slicks, tell me that? But no! he has to eat the only thing that joins the upstairs to the downstairs.'
'Nevermore!' said Mortimer.
'Tell that to the space cavalry!' said Mrs. Jones"
Mortimer redeems himself by the capture of a band of jewel thieves in this story, although the sword Excalibur comes off less well as I remember in a subsequent volume when he becomes the first raven to drive a lawnmower. As first read-aloud farce they can't be bettered. Despite being somewhat hampered by not being Bernard Cribbins when I read these to Bill he was also pretty giggly at their escalations. And they're illustrated by Quentin Blake. What more do you need? Happy Reading Aloud today and every day.
'Arabel's Raven' by Joan Aiken, illus. Quentin Blake, pub. Barn Owl books, isbn 978-1-903015-14-8
Half Term this week.
That means that posting may be somewhat erratic but it will also be possible to give the floor over to my Fellow Reviewers more as we've a bit of Book Fun planned.
Eddie's turn first.
I've mentioned his Roald Dahl enthusiasm before here, so when I saw 'Roald Dahl's Completely Revolting Recipes' discounted on 'the book people' I felt it a justifiable investment. I was right. He has been poring over it since.
This is not it has to be said a recipe book heavy on vegetables and healthy eating but it's hard to resist the possibility of finally realising many of our Charlie and the Chocolate Factory dreams. It's got the recipe for Hot Ice Cream for Cold Days which may be next on our list although Bill is after the Candy-Coated Pencils for Sucking in Class. Today we made Frobscottle from 'The BFG'. I've always wanted to taste it.
'And oh gosh, how delicious it was! It was sweet and refreshing. It tasted of vanilla and cream, with just the faintest taste of raspberries on the edge of the flavour. and the bubbles were wonderful. Sophie could feel them bouncing and bursting all around her tummy. It was an amazing sensation. It felt as though hundreds of tiny people were dancing a jig inside her and tickling her with their toes.'
Here's how it went.
I actually thought it was pretty good. And a weird enough combination to feel properly Dahl crazy.
A few whizzpoppers may have been heard in the kitchen since consumption *blush*. Not from my lady bottom though obviously.
'Roald Dahl's Completely Revolting Recipes and other tasty treats', illus. Quentin Blake, pub. Random House, isbn 978-0-224-08535-9
Michael Rosen is coming to the boys' school! Anticipation has been quietly building in this house and is now reaching bubbling point. Last night:
Eddie (worried): 'But will Michael Rosen wear glasses Mum?'
Me: 'Not sure Eddie'
Eddie (definite): 'Yes. Yes he will wear glasses' (glasses are very aspirational items for that boy)
Me: 'Shall we look at some pictures of him on the computer and see?' (I'm going to need to let him down gently if he is, as I believe, spec-free.)
So we go online and find multiple images of the Great Man...showing very intermittent use of reading glasses but...
Eddie:'Oh! He has a beard.' (suitable awed pause of approbation), 'I love Michael Rosen Mum.'
We then spent a very happy half hour watching his fab performances on YouTube with Eddie's eyes shining and quivery with happiness. This a particular hit for giggles.
When the news was broken of his visit I had a shame-faced rummage through our shelves and realised the only book of his we had was the standard issue (but obviously wonderful) 'We're going on a Bear Hunt'. As Eddie a big fan of poetry generally I remedied that with a trot up the hill to the bookshop and bought 'Mustard, Custard, Grumble Belly and Gravy'.
Eddie normally has to be forced to hear a book a few times before he decides whether or not he's going to 'adopt' it but not this one. This was admitted to the honoured Bed Book Stack the very same night and he's been reading it constantly since. It helps that it's illustrated by Quentin Blake of whom he wholeheartedly approves but he's always loved the 'mouthfeel' of well put together words and rhymes and these chew down nicely for him.
'Tiffy Taffy
Tiffy taffy toffee
on the flee flo floor.
Tiffy taffy toffee
on the dee doe door.
Kiffy kaffy coffee
in a jig jag jug.
Kiffy kaffy coffee
in a mig mag mug.'
The book also came with an audio CD of Michael Rosen himself reading them. Now I feel a bit ambivalent about the tendency of every new picture book these days to be accompanied by a CD. They're normally far too short to be useful for journeys etc. and they make the cover more bulky to manipulate and the book less satisfying to hold.
This is a marvellous exception and has for once truly enhanced our enjoyment of the book. It's on a constant loop in the car.
The only downside of the Michael Rosen fever is Eddie's new found tendency to squash his peas on his knees at the dinner table and his attempts to stick his toe up my nose (see here). The other only downside is that I don't get to see Michael Rosen too!
'Mustard, Custard, Grumble Belly and Gravy' written Michael Rosen, illus. Quentin Blake, pub. Bloomsbury isbn 978-0-7475-8738-5
