Flotsam

Author and Illustrator: David Wiesner
Publisher: Andersen Press, 2012, first published by Clarion Books, 2006

I can't put this book down, and I keep putting off it's inevitable return to the library. It's made it to my 'books to buy' list, and thus to this blog. 
A wordless book that tells a gripping story, this masterpiece of modern children's fiction, nay, art, is captivating. When an inquisitive boy finds a barnacle encrusted and battered old camera washed up on the beach, he runs to a 24 hour reprographics shop to develop the film inside the camera case. To his surprise the photographic film shows a whole underwater world, portrayed by Wiesner in these delightfully surreal watercolours that raised curious eyebrows with my children. The story then takes another inexplicable turn, as the developed photos reveal that the camera has been found many times before, bearing a photo in a photo in a photo. Now determined to add himself for posterity, the boy sets up his old fashioned selfie on the sand, with the waves crashing behind him, ready to reclaim the camera. 

While the story is beautiful, taking many exciting and unexpected twists and turns, the pictures that tell of this enchantment are simply enthralling. Deep, detailed, shadow rich, colour rich, sumptuous. My daughter literally tried to reach into the page to inspect the turtles. 

This is the sort of book that I normally pick up sceptically thinking 'all style and no substance' but with Flotsam, far from it, I was truly taken. The book says a huge amount, wordlessly. Much respect to David Weisner, I'll look out for more books by him. 

Whatever Wanda Wanted

Author and Illustrator: Jude Wisdom

Publisher: Gullane Children's Books, 2002

What an exciting library find. Bold, brassy illustrations and a story that defied our expectations, a fantastic picturebook. 

Edie (nearly 4) was drawn to this book on the library shelf based on the bright pink cover (sigh!). Yet another princess book I thought; it looked a bit like The Little Princess: I Want my Potty by Tony Ross, 1986, which is no bad thing, but seen it all before (the bratty princess narrative, doting parents, does something wrong, reforms, but is still a bit bratty at the end, because we wouldn't completely want them to reform...or would we?). Whatever Wanda Wanted looks to fit this model initially, and then a shift in the story happens when spoilt, obnoxious, precocious and rude Wanda demands a kite from an magically appearing shop.

Ignoring the warning of the salesman (who's sporting a 70s style tunic and gottee) Wanda takes the kite and is blown away to a desert island. This was quite an exciting extreme twist from the usual half-mistakes made by other bratty princess types (The Little Princess, Peppa Pig, Little Miss stories etc).

The abstract magical realism style illustrations should have really alerted me to the bizarre turn the book might take from the start, with the mix of crayon, pastel and collage producing this super garish and bold page set.The visuals in this book certainly look and feel very original, again, refreshing. 

And so for the twist: Wanda lands on a desert island wailing and complaining about her lack of possessions, especially the lack of access to television. (we liked the dry humour here). So she has a cry, then stands up declaring 'I WILL SURVIVE.' Wanda's own ingenuity and self-drive mean she finds food, shelter and clothing, and she grows 'to love her new life.' (what a turn around: an anti materialism, pro-feminist message!) After making friends with a convenient- plot- device- whale, she catching a ride on the whale's back to return home. On her arrival home her parents are delighted to see Wanda, but have had to sell all their belongings in order to pay for her search party. Wanda assures her parents that she'll be able to knock them up some new furniture, decreeing 'there's more to life than things!'  And then to raise the strong independent woman rhetoric a little higher still, the closing page of the book sees Wanda giving lectures on survival skills and the 'the Beginning' positively reinforced.

As with Princess Smartypants  and The Worst Princess I personally like this brand of post-feminist children's literature to counterbalance 'The Disney princess' (though having recently seen Moana... 

...I'm pleased that there seems to be a wider shift in the sand toward rolling out this representation of strong, independent women with more consistency, sincerity and scope anyway).  

Whatever Wanda Wanted is a great, empowering pre-schooler read, also enjoyed by my KS1 aged son. Recommended target age then 3-6 years. 

And just as an add on, another library find from last week, The Princess and the Dragon by Audrey Wood is also worth a look, again inverting the conventional gender stereotypes. A disruptive, misbehaving princess swaps place with a passive, effeminate dragon, and with the princess and the dragon maintaining the swap at the end, thumbs up for finding true happiness.    

Snow-White and Rose-Red

Ladybird Well-Loved Tales: Snow-White and Rose-Red

Retold by Vera Southgate

With illustrations by Eric Winter

Publisher: Ladybird Books Ltd, 1969

I loved this book as a child. The illustrations stayed in my memory; fond memories, though I think the pictures have lodged there due to the combination of bizarre, haunting, and quite frightening images. I was given a copy of this 1969 Ladybird classic by a fellow vintage Ladybird fan, and debated whether to share it with the children. On reading it to the boys a year ago ( then 4 and 6), they disliked the story, finding it too long ( the book has that damp, musty hue of 'vintage old' which didn't help the bedtime reading experience). On reading it to my daughter last week, nearly 4, she was captivated. 

The story opens setting the scene on these angelic, well behaved sisters, Snow White and Rose Red, who live with their mother in a cottage in the wood. A rose bush in white and red grow outside. The children spend their days helping their mother ( by arranging flowers in her room) and romping about in the forest. Although the forest is dangerous, the creatures of the forest never hurt the children ( seemingly because they're so good and have a guardian angel protecting them). The children even wake one day to find they've been sleeping by the edge of a cliff, but it's okay, as they're angel looked over them. Bizarre? Truly. And so far removed from any story she's ever heard or been exposed to both, my daughter was fascinated.

The book continues on the classic 50 page Ladybird easy reading format; roughly three short paragraphs per page, and this Ladybird decidedly less pompous and 'wordy' than others in the series. About a fifth of the way into the story, the girls are visited at home by a great brown bear. The mother of the girls instructs her children not to be afraid (biblical angel like), and they rub snow from his fur. The bear and the children become friends, and the bear visits the children every night until spring. Strange so far, but endearing- and then the book takes an even stranger turn. The girls meet an angry dwarf in the forest, with his long white beard trapped in a log. The illustration of this grotesque, angered dwarf is quite scary, it's not like the sanitised Disney of today, more like the surreal age Disney, but a notch up from that. The light pastel pallet of 1960s Ladybird is quite insipid. The dwarf, with no way to escape, is eventually set free by one of the girls snipping his beard off with her convenient pair of scissors, which happen to be on her person. The dwarf is horrified rather than grateful, grabs a nearby bag of gold and scampers away. 

The girls then meet the dwarf twice more, once with his beard tangled in a fishing line, so again they release him by cutting his beard (he's angry and runs off witch a bag of pearls), and finally, they see the dwarf being carried away by a giant bird (a roc?) . The girls pull on the feet of the dwarf to help release him, but again, after he's free he's angered to have been 'manhandled) .No words of thanks. On seeing the dwarf for a final time, the girls stop to admire his spread-out jewels. Just as the dwarf is about to have an almighty tantrum, in bounds the bear, who kills the dwarf. The bear sheds his fur coat and is of course, a prince, trapped under the dwarf's evil spell. With the spell now broken as the dwarf lies dead, the prince brings his friends, Snow-White and Rose-Red home, surprisingly their delighted mother. And to add to all that enchantment, the prince has a brother for the Rose Red to marry! How very convenient!

Yes this book is a bit menacing, if read that way, and yes it's dated, smelly, makes no sense, pushes at the boundaries of 'fairy tale' and farce ( unintentionally), but it's so memorable, so enthralling, so bizarre. Edie has requested this every day this week, , and no doubt it will be laid out ready for me to read tomorrow. Vintage Ladybird at its best.

If you like this book, you might also like another Vintage Ladybird: The Sly Fox and The Little Red Hen

The Quangle Wangle's Hat

Words by Edward Lear
Illustrations: Helen Oxenbury
Publisher: First Published by William Heinemann 1969. Featured edition Puffin Books, Picture Puffins Series, 1982.

Here's a treat from one children's literature fan to another, The Quangle Wangle's Hat by Edward Lear. 
Now I can't say my children share my passion for this book, though my daughter will choose this occasionally as she knows I like it, but on the whole, its bizarre and by that I mean more 'avant-garde' bizarre rather than bizarre funny: its delicious, a lovely read-aloud rhyme.

Written by Edward Lear, better known for composing The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, The Quangle Wangle has a similar dreamy lilting musicality. In this story the creature, a Quangle Wangle Quee (how lovely does that sound read aloud) lives alone in a tree. He wears a strange hat covered in ribbons, bells and buttons, and no one can see his face. One day some canaries stumble on the Quangle's tree, high on a hillside. The Quangle Wangle Quee welcomes them, and the canaries are soon followed by a whole band of creatures who keep the Quangle company forever more; a stork, duck, owl, snail, bumble-bee, frog, and then the excitement begins as the collection of creatures grow more elaborate, non-nonsensical and imaginary: the Fimble Fowl with corkscrew leg, Golden Grouse, the Pobble (with no toes), the small Olympian Bear, the Dong (with a luminous nose), and 'the Blue baboon, who played the flute, And the Orient Calf from the Land of Tute.'   

Accompanied by Helen Oxenbury's delicate, detail-rich illustrations this book is a joy on the eyes and ears. Its a very 'busy' story, character full, ending with dance and music as the creatures live in harmony all on the tree together. It's somewhat hallucinogenic feeling, with the now unfamilar dated pastel colour palette (on the 1980s print era), the multi-coloured made-up animals dancing on disc-like leaves, and as such I would avoid reading this book with the first strong coffee of the morning, as you'll need your composure. 

This version of The Quangle Wangle's Hat reminds me very much of my 2010 edition of Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak, originally written and illustrated in 1963), particularly the scene where the loud trumpeting creatures prance around merrymaking. I wouldn't be surprised if inspiration had been taken cross textually by both writers and illustrators involved in these two works at some point in time.  

In terms of themes, The Quangle Wangle's Hat is probably one of the most innocent and light-hearted of stories I have come across in Children's Literature so far (and thus differs hugely from the very dark, Where the Wild Things Are). The Quangle Wangle is about coming together, embracing individuality (and bizarre-ness), hoping for company and wanting to be accepted, and becoming part of things, or even being at the centre of that coming together. This is interesting, given that the Quangle is the ultimate in reclusive, he's 'different', a sort of tree hermit, covering his face (or having his face covered?). Another thought would be that the Quangle is also welcoming, and appears to have power or possession, or at least be a gate keeper to the big Crumpetty tree where all the creatures seek to live. Politically then, The Quangle might stand as a guardian of nature or some kind of religious or cult guru, a wise man or leader maybe. 

All in all, this book feels psychedelic and pushes hard at the unexpected; it is a convention- defying book (and in my experience children feel very uncomfortable (initially)with this lack of convention at least on the first few reads). While as an adult it feels uplifting and optimistic, the themes here go astray with children, and on reading this Edie complains, 'but where is the Pobble from?' 'what is a Fimble Fowl', searching for some logic. And of course, as not to disappoint, you end up filling in the blanks, 'well the Pobble had a big belly, short legs...', which is I expect, exactly what poet Edward Lear intended.   

Meg's Castle

Author: Helen Nicoll
Illustrator: Jan Pienkowski
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd 1975, Puffin Books 1979, edition featured 2009

I think this is a 'Marmite' series, you either love these bizarre, nonsensical, bold, bright books of the 1970s Nicoll and Pienkowski Partnership, or they furrow your brow in a bad way. I love watching adults who aren't familiar with the series, try to read these to children for the first time. The series  borders on the psychedelic, with dystopic plots and a strange sort of coherence. They leave you filling puzzled and yet fulfilled. 

Cartoon witch Meg lives (in a house) with Mog the black cat and Owl, the white bird.
Together they go on an adventure or celebrate an event, usually involving making spells that go slightly wrong, always ending peacefully with the characters waving their goodbyes. The books are made up of exuberant colourful illustrations, pop-art style, and incredibly short stanza, one- six words per page normally.  There's a a lot of onomatopoeia used, mixtures of font sizes and styles, and grabbing impact words such as ' victory!' ( huge font). In Meg's castle there are interesting cultural references to the Green knight legend and St George, with snippets of rhyme and proverb thrown in for good measure, 'I'm the king of the castle.' Meg, Mog and Owl books are action-filled as well as eye catching, and are great fun to read aloud. Here's my favourite high-drama page of this title: 

The Meg, Mog and Owl series are perfect share-with stories for the 18month- 3 year old old range because these books are loud, fun and the snippets of speech, rhyme, spell are very catchy and memorable, 'call me George'! This series also comes into its own again for 3-5 year olds, with such simple sentences, making them suitable 'first readers.' I'm also finding the series quite useful to inpart the principles of comic- book writing on my 7 year old, encouraging him to add speech bubbles and sound tags to his pictures, as those techniques are abundant and effective here. Now as this series is over forty years old, it is understandable that it's somewhat of an institution, and as such, the series has a huge array of resources to support reading available online. Here's a selection: Pinterest Meg and Mog resources, Meg and Mog WordSearch

This is the Bear

Author: Sarah Hayes
Illustrator: Helen Craig
Publisher: Walker Books, First published in 1986, the edition featured 2011

Here's a bizarre little book. The story is a health and safety nightmare: a dog called Fred puts his boy owner's beloved teddy bear in the bin. The bin is collected and driven to the dump by 'a man in an awful grump'. The boy and Fred (the dog) track the grumpy dump attendent down and ask him to search for the bear in the dump. The teddybear is found in the rubbish and returned to the boy; the trio- dog, boy and bear -return home in the dump attendent's van. At home, the bear has a bath, lies to the other toys about his small sojourn (though Fred (the dog) appears to plan his expose), and then the bear asks 'when can we have another day out?' (presumably at the tip). How Walker books ever thought, 'that works as a story for small children' I don't know, but thankfully they did as it strangely raises a dry grin on the faces of my children each time I read this. And I really like books which can do that!

'This is the Bear' is easy to read-aloud, so perfect for National storytelling week this week. It has a steady, even 'one- two' rhythm, very simple two syllable words (mainly) and regular rhyming pattern. The page colour palette is predominantly white, with light pen drawings on two thirds of each page. The book is incredibly simple, modest even, and so feels relaxed when you read. Children don't tend to interject when you read this, unless you forget to read the speech bubbles, as the text and pictures support each other so nicely. 

I think the narrative works on the idea that the dump is, for children, a scary and unknown place, and it's unclear if you can come back or not. But the toy is found, returns to the person who loves him, and all is forgiven and forgotten. It's a simple 'lost and found' with more assurances and unconditionals.