Shhh! Don't wake the Royal Baby

Yesterday morning I was woken early on the day of the full moon by thunder and torrential rain. The three weeks of glorious and settled summer stuff weather we've had was coming to its muggy, stormy end. I turned to my husband and told him in my best wise-woman-gnomic-utterance-ex-midwife voice that I expected the Royal Labour to commence any moment now. Then I turned on the radio and found myself like TOTALLY right and was insufferably smug for a little while.

I was right.

I was so totally right.

I am a baby predicting genius in fact.

(we'll ignore the fact that I said it was definitely a girl because she was so sick in the early weeks)

Now let's get out of the way the various things that need be said:

PoorpoorKateLuckyluckyKateIt'sonlyababyWhocaresaboutthebabyanywayDevotingthismuchspacetoababyisRidiculous2000babieswerebornintheUKyesterdayandalotofthemwillnotinheritanythroneOthernewshappenedtooyouknowThemonarchyisallveryexepensiveandsillyanywayTheycostustaxpayersinsaneamountsofmoneyWhathappenedtoalltherealtellylastnightIwantedtowatchLongLostFamiliesShouldntwejustallshutupgoawayandleavethemaloneEnoughnowreallyenoughyoucannotcarryonanymorerollingnewsaboutlookingatapieceofpaperonaneaselITSJUSTABABYFORCHRISSAKE

etc.

Okay. With that all in mind let's look at a book about the baby...

'Shhh! Don't Wake the Royal Baby' written by Martha Mumford and illustrated by Ada Grey is an unashamed surf on the wave of Royal Baby fever. There is no real need for this book to exist and it may offend you that it and plenty of other similar titles have been rushed out this summer. BUT-

It did make me snort out loud with laughter.

The Royal Baby just keeps crying and although various members of the Royal Household find inventive methods to soothe him other members WILL keep waking him up again. The story is bouncy and familiar enough for all to enjoy but the irreverent and playful illustrations might make even disapproving Republicans giggle.

We have the Queen parachuting in a royal onesie, Kate wearing a fascinator At All Times (as I type the news has turned to fevered speculative sightings of the Royal Hairdresser entering the Lindo wing...), Pippa in pink roller skates serving canapes and corgi chaos everywhere. I liked the golden dummy and crown shaped cot too.

I appreciate this book will not be for everyone but you know what: If you want to get a souvenir of what broadcasters seemed to be constantly referring to in breathy tones last night as, "A Moment in History" then what better than a picture book? It will give plenty more enjoyment than any of the dubious chinaware or tea towels we're about to be blinded by.

Lots of fun.

'Shhh! Don't Wake the Royal Baby' written by Martha Mumford, illustrated by Ada Grey, published by Bloomsbury, isbn 978-1-4088-4463-2

Disclosure- we received our copy by kindness of the publisher; our opinions are our own.

and just in case I wasn't clear enough-
I WAS LIKE SO COMPLETELY RIGHT.

Eddie and Dog

We're delighted this morning to be helping celebrate Little Tiger Press' Summer releases, on their 'Reading Rocks!' Blog Tour.

Everybody loves a book which features their very own name and the Fellow Reviewers are no exception. As their names are straightforward enough to be shared by both Royalty and the Archers' troublesome Grundy brothers I'm glad to say they've always had a few titles to choose from.

'Eddie and Dog' is the first book written and illustrated by Alison Brown and it's a cracking addition to our shelf of name books. Eddie ("He's like me! But with different hair," says my Eddie with pinpoint accuracy.) lives by an airport and dreams of adventure. Loitering by the baggage carousel one day he meets fellow free spirit, Dog and the two form an immediate bond. Eddie's mother is less certain that there is room for a dog in their lives and sets about trying to find him a more suitable home. But however far she takes him, dog is determined to return to Eddie. Can Eddie and dog find a way to be together forever?

There are shades of' 'Lassie' here  (if Lassie knew how to scuba dive and was a dab hand with a pair of topiary scissors). Eddie and dog are soulmates who Must Not Be Parted. The illustrations are warm and expressive, with just the right amount of inscrutability for the slightly mysterious dog. But this is more than a story about the value of pet ownership. It provides a gentle reminder to parents that our children are individuals who will make their own independent, and sometimes not altogether convenient, choices.

For all of us can expect 'dogs' brought into our lives when we have children and we all must learn the art of compromise to live with unexpected visitors. The author Alison Brown was good enough to respond to my musings on this theme:

"The working title for Eddie and Dog was "The Arrival", and it could apply to many kinds of new or unexpected happenings, both pets and babies being among them!
I'm a mum of two...we don't have a dog - yet - but I think that's likely to change quite soon!

The idea for Eddie and Dog really did come to me in an airport. My family live in Northern Ireland so I pass through airports quite often. On one trip, I was watching the people in the arrivals hall, and I thought it was funny how everyone stood so silently and expectantly focused on that little hatch where the luggage comes out. I wondered what it would be like if something truly exciting appeared.

We all naturally sit somewhere on the spectrum between adventurousness and practicality. I wouldn't call myself adventurous, but I'm quite optimistic, and believe that when something unexpected happens, things usually work out in the end!"

Some of the 'dogs' in our house have been things; the 20 or so muddy sticks for instance that must litter the ground floor at all times and will always find their way home no matter how often I try to  repatriate them outside. Or those Very Important Constructions made from cereal boxes and toilet rolls and a lot of sellotape that must be preserved unchanged for eternity. But my Eddie has mainly  put me on a very similar journey to Eddie-in-the-book's mum in trying to learn to embrace those of his enthusiasms I don't altogether share.

Buses for instance. Buses in fact very specifically at the moment. Eddie has been learning every bus route in London and also has ambitions to travel on them all. Any journey with him involves a complex negotiation of exactly how many different routes we can incorporate and exactly how far out of my way I am prepared to travel with him for the sheer JOY of it. The spectrum between 'adventurousness and practicality' has never been so charged as when faced with a pair of eyes pleading with you to go on 5 different buses from Cockfosters to  Elephant and Castle.

But just like Eddie-in-the-book's mum, I find if I can take the time and make the leap of faith and compromise, there are rewards to be had. This face of rapture mainly.

'Eddie and Dog' by Alison Brown, Published by Little Tiger Press, isbn 9781848956568; perfect for lovers of adventure AND their parents who may need reminding of its delights.

Please do stop by the other blog tour participants for other great Summer picture books.

Disclosure: We received our copy of 'Eddie and Dog' by kindness of the publisher. Our words and opinions are our own.

Time for Bed, Fred!

Apologies for the long delay ("Did you miss me? Did you miss me? Did you  miss me?" *leaps up and down like an excited puppy and licks readers all over their faces*). I was finishing writing my book again before the Summer holidays begin and my every waking moment becomes Full of Boys.

Anyways. Whilst I was writing, a few kind publishers have been sending me good things to read in pieces-of-cheese-from-the-fridge breaks and it's time I caught up and shoved a select few under your noses.

For someone writing a children's book blog, I'm not sure how picture book literate I actually am. I mean I LOVE picture books and will fight with swords for their importance and relevance and all that but if I'm honest, my head is probably more in a texty/wordy sort of space. I suppose I can recognise the cleverness of a nicely put together sentence and plot in a more considered way than I can analyse exactly  what works and what doesn't about an illustration.

The husband is a cartoonist and occasionally people 'edit' his cartoons or reposition them on a page and it drives him totally INSANE. Then I drive him even more insane by looking at the two versions and saying I can't really see the difference. I'm shamefully a bit sort of 'I know what I like' about it all.

Which is all a long preamble to say I REALLY like 'Time for Bed, Fred!' by new writer/illustrator Yasmeen Ismail. Even my visually untrained eye can see that this is something rather special. A simple picture book that flows with perfectly controlled colour, movement and energy. Pretty, pretty, pretty.

Naughty dog Fred isn't ready for bed and is going to cause some chaos getting there. It's familiar stuff really but told in a light and funny way that will make toddlers giggle I'm sure. I took this book in for my Beanstalk year one kids to read and they loved it; an easy text that they could perform in a great 'teachery', exasperated, telling off  voice. Everyone loves to pretend to be an authority figure after all.

But it is the glorious energy of watercolour zinging off the page that really bring Fred to life. He gallops through the pages with wonderful  doggy expressions. You almost expect to get spattered with colour yourself when he shake his coat out. Beautifully observed.

'Time for Bed, Fred!' by Yasmeen Ismail, published by Bloomsbury, isbn 978-1-4088-3701-6

With thanks to the publishers for our copy, our opinions are unsolicited and our own.

Incidently to read reviews by someone who really can analyse how pictures make a story work, check out the always thought provoking and rigorous blog at www.didyoueverstoptothink.wordpress.com. This post is a lovely example.

Bubble and Squeak

Apologies for Blog neglect. We had a death in the family in the form of my old and trusty Hewlett Packard computer.

*please take a moment for remembrance*

*wipes away a tear*

I have been reflecting on the various conventions of animals in picture books this morning. There are those that are predictable: Cats are often devious, dogs trustworthy, bears gluttonous, hippos lugubrious and so on and so forth.There are also those that are rather less predictable or subvert expectations...

Amongst the latter must be counted the elephant's reputation for sartorial elegance. We have Babar of course, who teaches us how to team a crown with a green 3 piece suit. We have JP. Martin's extraordinary 'Uncle' (about to be republished I am glad to say thanks to a brilliantly successful Kickstarter); an elephant perfectly attired in a purple velvet smoking jacket. We even have their went-to-art-school-and-got-ideas-perhaps cousin in multicoloured patchwork 'Elmer' (I sense Babar and Uncle sucking in their tusks with slight disapproval).

And now raising a flag, or rather a flowery fascinator, for the females of the herd we have the enchanting Bubble; heroine of James Mayhew and Clara Vulliamy's wonderful new collaboration, 'Bubble and Squeak'.

James Mayhew is normally found making the high culture of art or classical music accessible to the smallest in the form of his Katie and Ella books. Accompanying Eddie and his class on a trip to the National Gallery last month I can report just how good he is at this: The kids roamed the rooms with huge excitement shouting 'IT'S A KATIE ONE!!' every time they spotted a picture already familiar from the pages of his books. Central to the action of 'Bubble and Squeak' is the arguably more lowbrow culture of the circus but in Mayhew and Vulliamy's hands it becomes Pure Class.

The story revolves around the loneliness of Bubble's life on the road as the star balance act of the Pyramid of Peril. Shy mouse Squeak (dapper himself in navy and brass buttoned blazer) admires from afar. Both will need to be brave if they are to find each other and the value of friendship. If this precis has a slightly-breathy retro-movie feel to it that is only to complement the BEAUTIFUL homage to a more glamourous age that oozes from this book.

There is so much to enjoy in Clara Vulliamy's interpretation of the story; from YoYo and Noodle, odd-jobbing circus dachshunds, the glories of Bubble's powder puff and hatbox strewn dressing room and the detail of circus audience which includes satcheled guinea pigs, penguins in white tie and (oh my goodness only just spotted!) famous bear of the era, Mary Plain herself.

A new book, which already feels like a classic that has always been in your bookshelf, is not often encountered but this IS one. Elephants you see? Cutthroat cats and dogged dogs may come and go but it seems we're never going to tire of a well-turned out elephant.

Best Travelling Outfit Ever

'Bubble and Squeak' written by James Mayhew and illustrated by Clara Vulliamy, published by Orchard Books, isbn 978-1-40831-366-4

Disclosure: We received our copy by kindness of the publisher. Our opinions are our own.

Going Wild

We're not a sporting family. The gene pool for physical co-ordination that I could provide for my children was always going to be pretty murky. I can't get a mug of tea to my lips without spillages and my instinct is to  flinch and run if anyone tries to kick, throw or bat a ball towards me. When Bill was about 3 I took him to the physiotherapist because he couldn't jump. Where all his friends were bounding off walls and sofas and flying high on trampolines, Bill would just crouch low and then stand up again with arms stretched up.
 "I jump" he would pronounce proudly with soles of feet still planted firmly on the ground.
 I'm not sure what I thought the physio would do- provide special insoles or a course of exercises or something. In the end she just looked at me pityingly and said, "There's nothing wrong. He's just slow to jump." My eyes were opened. 'Slow to Jump'. Of course he was; he was my child. It was a powerful early lesson in the futility of Tiger parenting and lucky for Bill that I learned it.

In the absence of much (capital letter) Sport, alternative activities must be embraced. We're good at vigorous cake mix stirring, Bill-Fu and Kitchen Gangnam Style but they're probably not enough for health and fitness. The sun has started shining properly again this week so it's time to embrace the Out-Of-Doors again and shift our bottoms from their respective comfy cushions. To nerve us up for that transition I did what I always do- I bought some books and then sat back down to read them.

'Go Wild' and 'Make it Wild' by Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield and 'Cook Wild' by Suzanne Fischer-Rizzi are the kind of books to inspire even the most committed comfy cushion lover to want to rush straight outside, build an open fire pit, coppice and lash their own sturdy sapling tripod and cook their own loaf of bread outside in a dutch oven. I say this with experience. That is exactly what the boys (particularly the grown up one) spent last weekend doing. There's also been some pretty furious whittling and frying up of nettles for crisps going on (all activity is better when accompanied by salty snack food after all). Treehouses are being modified and the lawn is suddenly covered with weaponry. Bill spent a proportion of Sunday rubbing ash over exposed areas and gaffa-taping together sticks and stones for caveman axes. He then only spoke in grunts for a few hours; preparing me for his teenage future.

The books are beautiful- full of inspiring photography of slightly feral kids doing slightly feral things. Some of the ideas are obvious but plenty are not: I'm looking forward to a session digging, making and wood firing our own river clay pots this summer for instance.

Of course, there's a limit to the amount of adventure you can have in your own back garden- if you are fortunate enough to have one at all. We are very fortunate to have space here and also to live in one of the leafiest, woodiest, greenest patches of London but it is still London. There's always people. So this weekend we're packing the dutch oven and the axes and heading out camping for a bit more Wild to Go Wild in.
I will still be packing some comfy cushions and plenty of books to read though...

Cooked Wild (ish) Dinner

FERAL! (the tomato soup adds a nice touch I think)

'Cook Wild; year round cooking on an open fire' by Suzanne Fischer-Rizzi , 'Make it Wild! 101 things to make and do outdoors' and 'Go wild! 101 things to do outdoors before you grow up by Jo Schofield and Fiona Danks are all published by Frances Lincoln isbn 978-0-7112-2939-6 for the latter.

Because we are going camping we are missing out on this Saturday's amazing looking Oxford Children's Comic Festival hosted by the incomparable Phoenix Comic. Don't YOU be so stupid. Find out more here.

And in other exciting Phoenix-y news. They have a brand new beautiful website being unveiled tonight at 6pm. It promises lots of shiny new features and (dangerously) a shop. Click on this after 6 tonight to enjoy.

Final other booky news. The Federation of Children's Book Groups are hosting a festival of their own in Birmingham in November and they have launched a competition to find an illustrator for a logo for the event. It looks like an amazing opportunity for someone to get their work seen by the Right People. If that might be you- have a look here to find out all you need to enter.

Happy Birthday Dirty Bertie!

The 'Dirty Bertie' books by Alan MacDonald and David Roberts are celebrating their 10th birthday this week and we're delighted to be joining the blog tour party.

 I'll admit that my children's obsession with all things scatological is not my favourite part of being their parent. Don't even get me started on the stomach churning horror that is playing Bill at 'Plop Trumps'. But there is no doubt that they are obsessed and in this interest they Are Not Alone. Dirty Bertie is hardly the only literary boy with repulsive habits bidding for a place on mine or yours obsessed one's bookshelves, but as one of the first and one of the best, his is a birthday definitely worth celebrating.

I hadn't appreciated that DB (as we'll call him) started life as David Roberts' picture book creation before starring in his ever increasing range of early chapter book titles, now written by Alan MacDonald and still illustrated by David Roberts. The chapter books, with their punchy titles eg., 'Pants!' 'Germs!' 'Loo!' and new volume 'Toothy!' were among the first books Bill learn't to devour whole in one sitting as his reading took off. They were probably some of the first that he was moved to reserve at the library too; cue small figure appearing at desk and whispering "Excuse me, have you got 'Bogeys' please?" much to librarian's discomfort.

These books are actually rather gentler and less bodily function dominated affairs than their shouty covers might suggest. They follow the 'Horrid Henry' style format of having three stories per volume but parents and children who find Henry too horrid might well warm to the more diffident, accident prone Bertie. In 'Toothy' DB manages to confuse a dentist with a murderer, cause a major alarm on board an aeroplane and confront the difficulties of ice cream smuggling in school. But David Roberts' illustrations reveal Bertie as endearing round eyed, rosy cheeked ingenue rather than practised schemer and plotter and the trouble he invariably ends up in is not consequence free.

The two original picture books, 'Dirty Bertie' and 'Pooh, is that you Bertie?' are more straightforwardly gross-out and as such have been going down a storm with the Beanstalk kids I do reading help with this week. Who can resist a book that promises a different fart sound button on every page? Plus it turns out that many of the sounds associated with wind provide excellent phonic practice. Anyone entering the library where we read has been treated to the painstaking sounding out of essential vocabulary; t-r-u-m-p, p-oo-t and b-o-ff and (tricky word) ph-u-tt...

In honour of Dirty Bertie's birthday it seemed only fair to prepare a Dirty Bertie-style feast. The fellow reviewers weren't entirely convinced by the delights of my tenderly prepared Bogey Fondue with breadstick Finger dippers...

However, Pudding!(now there's a Dirty Bertie title I'm looking for) of Worms and Soil was a storming success.

"Any more worms Mum?"

Dirty Bertie books are written by Alan MacDonald and illustrated by David Roberts, published by Stripes and Little Tiger Press. Happy Birthday Bertie!

Disclosure: We were sent a few titles for the benefit of this post by kindness of the publishers. Our opinions are our own.

Royal Fleas and Vincent the Vampire

I am a small potato in the giant Blog allotment. Whilst I am theoretically interested in receiving review copies of books (FREE STUFF!- come on you like it too dontcha....dontcha??) when I have been sent them they sometimes engender a certain panic: I'm not interested in bashing anything- there's enough of that on the internet, and I want to write about what I want to write about. But it's hard not to feel a sense of obligation when someone's sent you something, and obligation and objectivity are not friends. This is all perfectly manageable when you're being sent something by a big publisher or distributor but rather less so when you are holding someone's self-published dreams. And so I have tended to head off the self published who approach me periodically for that reason.

Against form I didn't however pass up the offer to be sent Jules Marriner's books; and, reasonably objectively I hope- I'm glad I didn't. In a world where getting a picture book publishing deal is apparently Quite Hard she seems to be doing a very professional job going it alone. These are funny and enjoyable books definitely worthy of a readership outside her immediate family and friends I think.

'Vincent the Vampire' tells the story of a controversial blackberry-loving bat who finds unlikely sanctuary in a vampire's castle with surprisingly good catering for vegetarians.

'Royal Fleas' deals inventively with the tricky problem of What To Do when you spot the Queen's corgi scratching.

Both have plenty of humour in both text and illustration. There's some good spotting to be done. I liked the sharp-toothed dentures and the changing face of Munch's Scream in the background of 'Vincent the Vampire'. In 'Royal Fleas', the incongruous pink fluffy slippers of the Queen's snooty secretary, Mr Horatio Flowers-Simkinson made Bill giggle.

They're not perfect. Personally I find the watercolour palatte of the illustrations could take stronger tones and  I'm not sure about the cut out collage lines. Inevitably the 'feel' of them in terms of paper and binding is not quite the same quality you'd get from the budget of a conventional publisher. They have charm though.

Both books bear stickers on the cover saying 'Written and illustrated on the Isle of Wight'. I think this is a pretty canny move on Jules Marriner's part and emblematic of one of the most interesting parts of the brave new world of self- publishing. I love the fact that increasingly a visit to a fair or craft market leads to an encounter with an author next door to the miniature teddy maker and knitted egg cosy lady. And I'd much rather bring back a bookish souvenir to remember a place or holiday than anything else. I like the idea of a community rallying around its authors and supporting their stories.

Visit Jules Marriner's website here to find out more. Her books are available through the dread-but-useful Amazon. I received my copies through kindness of the author, my opinions are my own.

'Vincent and the Vampires' and 'Royal Fleas' both written and illustrated by Jules Marriner, pub. Scarlett Inc isbn 9781470145774 and 9781475212174