The Tiger Who Came To Tea

"Sophie opened the door and there was a big, furry, stripy tiger.
The tiger said, "Excuse me, but I'm very hungry. Do you think I could have tea with you?"

If I was forced to choose my favourite children's book, it would have to be "The Tiger Who Came To Tea" by Judith Kerr. The wonderful idea of a tiger popping round for tea still captures my imagination and makes me smile. (I also love the seventies tea service in the illustrations!)

For our friend's third birthday treat we went to see The Tiger Who Came To Tea at the Opera House. If this show comes to a theatre near you make sure you see it, it's fab! I just HAD to buy the girls tigers on sticks to wave, how cool are they? They have inspired Olivia and I to spend the weekend making Tiger Who Came To Tea puppets so that we can put on our own version of this wonderful story.

View the Tiger Who Came To Tea Live trailer here...

great reads... The Rain Puddle

The Rain Puddle, illustrated by Roger Duvoisin (Bodley Head 1965)

Where do I begin to tell you about this gorgeous book? The Rain Puddle has everything that the very best picture books should have...

Roger Duvoisin's illustrations are fabulous. I've looked at other books illustrated by him but they don't have that same mid-century style of line and flowing form and the stunning simplicity of composition. The middle picture (above) with the hen sitting in a sea of flat, mossy green is so beautiful I come back to it again and again, the depth of colour and that slight overlap in the printing are just wonderful. Every so often I'm tempted to take it out of the book and frame it for the children's bedroom wall but I can't bring myself to because the rest of the book is so good. It is well written and has a great little story, where typically for children's stories of that era, very little happens. The animals belive that a farmyard full of animals have fallen into a rain puddle but the illustrations show that really the animals are only seeing their own reflections.

The best picture books for pre-schoolers have this double ownership, the reader tells one story but the child can read more into the tale through the illustrations. There is also the pleasure of interesting words and sounds when you are reading out loud, The Rain Puddle is full of great animal sounds to make, "Awk, awk!" "Cut-a-cut!" "Gobble-obble-obble!"

The Rain Puddle is out of print now but if you can get hold of a second-hand copy then snap it up, I promise that you won't be disappointed. You can see more illustrations from The Rain Puddle at the Little Bird Flickrstream here...

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and the shortlisted winners are...

Maria Nillson

The wait is over, Waterstones have finally announced their shortlist for the Picture This competition to illustrate Julia Donaldson's new book "Freddie and the Fairy". My personal favourite is Maria Nillson's, I love the seventies look of the characters and the odd otherworldliness of the setting, my fingers are crossed for you Maria!

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bottoming

Freddie and the Fairy, double page spread idea, gouache and ink

Bessie Belle, character sketch, gouache and ink

My friend Jay was over last week, we were sharing Battenburg and listening to Womans Hour when Jenni Murray announced that her mother used to refer to spring cleaning as "bottoming". Jay has a wry sense of humour and had a few words to say in response which (sadly) I can't repeat here. Anyway, it struck me as such a wonderful description that I have been going about the housework today smiling to myself! Our house is such a state that even my boy noticed that the dining room carpet looked bad, that is to say you could identify what meals we have had over the last week just by looking at the floor. I'm not usually so slovenly, in fact I am boderline OCD, but I've had a busy week working on these illustrations.

Waterstones have held a competition to find a new, unpublished illustrator for Julia Donaldson's new book.

The book is all about a boy (Freddie) who rescues a fairy (Bessie Belle) who grants his wishes to have some pets... Unfortunately Bessie Belle is a little hard of hearing and Freddie doesn't quite always get what he wishes for.

The winner of this competition will have their illustrations used in the new book to be published next Christmas - how amazing would that be? It's being judged by an illustrious panel including Julia Donaldson, Lauren Childs and the editor of children's books at Macmillans publishers, just to have the opportunity to have some illustrations seen by these people was enough to get me working all night for a week, I'm so shattered now though!

The competition is fierce, view the pool on Flickr here. Wish me luck!

sense-sational

I have this great friend Sarah Benton, we met at art college. I have to tell you she has impeccable taste, her house is a treasure trove of gorgeous paintings, beautiful pieces of ceramics and shelves full of interesting books and curious objects. She has a great eye for the unusual and the beautiful, you can see it in her photography and all around her home. At birthdays and christmases Sarah's parcels are the ones we have to open first because they are always so special, but the really great thing about my friend is that every so often for no special reason she sends us a parcel of goodies in the post.

We had one today, a pink cashmere scarf for me and the book pictured above for Olivia. "Here Comes Frankie" by Tim Hopgood. It's a story about a quiet little boy, living in a quiet street with his quiet parents and quiet cat and dog... one day he has enough and brings home a trumpet, the sounds translate into colours and smells. The illustrations are gorgeous full of rich colours and patterns with spot varnishes used on all the loud music pages. Frankie turns out to be a synesthete - as does his mum and dad and the rest of the street apparantly!

By some psychic connection we also had our latest issue of Okido magazine through the post and it was all about the senses. Okido is an art and science magazine for children between 2 and 7 years old. It is fantastic, I urge you to check out their website and subscribe immediately. We go through our fair share of magazines, Peppa Pig, CBeebies, Spongebob Squarepants and every so often a picture gets coloured in. But our Okido magazines are another matter all together, every page is devoured over and over, there are games to play, pictures to draw and things to make. The stories are well written and beautifully illustrated. We have made the crafts from each and every issue, Olivia's favourite was the home-made playdough poos from the issue about digestion, ok it was also my favourite. We have played all the games and we come back to our old issues regularly to play and read over. And there is loads to learn and chat to each other about.

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PS: Check out Sarah's photography on Flickr, here, and see what I mean about her amazing home...

Also we share a blog, here, where we post about lovely and exciting things we have discovered, it's a cheaper way of sharing loveliness than buying it and posting it to each other!

PPS: Alfie did his first smiles this week, he has one dimple!