Cheltenham Festival was such fun. My event was based on Monster in the Hood and Betty Goes Bananas. The audience were brilliant and so were their Monster drawings! Below are some pictures and a couple of tweets from the day.
@MrSteveAntony #cheltlitfest Isla's monster in the hood pic.twitter.com/4jaV95SLMi
— Jayne (@sargie_j) October 8, 2016
@MrSteveAntony Oscar Williams' monster!!! pic.twitter.com/PtzF1lZNbQ
— Oliver Williams (@ollibeef) October 8, 2016
Look out for my picture book advice column, with Anita Loughrey, in this month's Writers' Forum.
Mr Panda is the cover star of the latest issue of Book For Keeps. Press here to read the article, by Michelle Pauli.
Click to enlarge
First, a hat-chase through London. Then, a swan-chase across the UK. Now, it's a race against time as The Queen goes global in search of the perfect present on Christmas Eve! The Queen's Present is out in the UK this October in hardback.
There are several picture books that tackle difficult subjects and they each have something unique to offer.
My desire was to simplify to its core what is an anything but simple subject so that people can add their own interpretations and apply it to just about any kind of conflict.
Everything in GREEN LIZARDS VS RED RECTANGLES was intentional - the digitally drawn faceless rectangles, the hand drawn characteristic lizards, the death, the life, the hope, the two complimenting colours, the word TRUCE.
WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR and ENOUGH IS ENOUGH are the two statements that really stand out and that was absolutely intentional because what are we/you fighting for and when is 'enough enough' in any kind of altercation, disagreement or war?
'8 Red Rectangles'
It's also an exercise in design, which was initially inspired by '8 Red Rectangles' by Malevich. Even I didn't know how these two entities would visually resolve their differences until the end of drawing this story. And despite it's overall simplistic design, it was not a simple task to populate this book with so many lizards and rectangles. And because of my red-green colourblindness (oh, the irony) I have developed a very effective but very tedious and time-consuming process to render my final illustrations. Let's just say that this is compiled from HUNDREDS of layers in Photoshop. Nor was it easy to work out the visual actions and reactions, but it was fun.
And if you look closely, there are some sad scenes. At one point I actually got really emotional drawing these little reptiles. Each lizard has its own story. If you get this book, really take a good look - A REALLY GOOD LOOK - at all the lizards. They're not all fighting. In fact, most are NOT fighting. And the ones that are fighting are inadvertently hurting other lizards. Hang on, are the rectangles JUST lifeless objects? Are the lizards fighting against themselves without even realising it? You could get really deep with this... I did.
I realise it was a bold move to include a 'death'. But that was the catalyst for the 'biggest war ever'. Often, war is because war was, until someone has the audacity to pose the most direct question of all, or proclaim that enough really is enough. I did intentionally soften this scene by using the word 'squashed'. And, if you look closely, you might spot a little bandaged lizard on every page after the 'squash' so maybe she/he is ok after all. That's up to you.
UK Hardback
It's been really great to see how classes have interpreted the book and how they've taken my 'simple' take on war and turned it into a lengthy discussion. I had a really interesting chat about the book with some college teens recently. Why rectangles? Why red? Why green? Why are they fighting? Why are we fighting? One person even suggested that the war started because a lizard and rectangle were in love (they got this from the final 'kiss' scene on the hardback's endpapers).
The book doesn't explain why they are warring or how it all started. I don't know why the war started, I just know they're at war and that war is getting them nowhere.
The two sides are very different from each other but they have one thing in common - the book. Perhaps they are just fighting for space.
I could go on and on about how I important I feel this book is and how it can be as simple or as complex as you would like it to be. Even though it tackles a weighty subject, it's actually quite a fun book, if you want it to be, and could lead to discussions about 'working together'. I know it's not commercial, but I don't care about that. Maybe it will go under the radar. Who knows? I wrote this book because I felt compelled to do so, and I'm really glad that I did.
You can buy the book here, or your fav bookstore, or you can borrow it from your nearest library.
Coming in 2017. You're welcome. :-)
In the well-mannered spirit of Mr Panda, I'd like to express my thanks to The Daily Telegraph's Emily Bourne for writing a brilliant review of Mr Panda's second book, I'LL WAIT, MR PANDA.
I love receiving post from schools via my publisher. Here are some amazing depictions of the Monster in the Hood, by Bryony School's Reception Class! Thank you for sharing these with me, Bryony School!
I am absolutely thrilled that The Queen's Handbag features in today's Guardian 'The Best New Children's Books' supplement, celebrating the 10th birthday of Independent Bookshop Week!
THE MONSTER IN THE HOOD is a triple-twisted tale about fear, misconception, expectation & most importantly, friendship.
A couple of my prints are available to bid on here: http://www.jumblebee.co.uk/lifeboat
This amazing auction is selling original illustrations, limited edition prints and signed books by some fantastic children's authors and illustrators.
All the money raised is going straight to The School Bus Project who are converting buses into mobile schools that will provide vital education & support to the refugees trapped across Europe.
***UPDATE*** The auction has now closed. Congratulations to the winning bidders!
I am excited an honoured to announce the news that I've been made Patron of Swindon Libraries Children's Services.
As a local Swindon resident, I feel passionately about the values of libraries to our town.
Swindon Libraries provide an amazing and invaluable service, and I look forward to supporting my local librarians by taking part in events and promoting the great things they offer our community.
Thank you, Swindon Libraries, for this wonderful opportunity.
Maddy Barnes (English consultant, author, editor and blogger) has devised some fantastic lesson plans and activities for the newly released Monster in the Hood, which can be found over on Madeleine Lindley Ltd's teaching resources blog, here: http://blog.madeleinelindley.com/things-always-scary-seem/
Go take a look!
Wow! I was so overwhelmed with the amount of entries for the Monster in the Hood colouring contest that I decided to pick 6 winners, instead of just 1. I'll be announcing the winners throughout the week on Twitter, and I'll post all six winners here on my site a little later. Each winner will receive a signed copy of Monster in the Hood. *UPDATE* The winning entries are below.
The winning entries!
Come and join me for an interactive story telling session at Waterstones, Salisbury. We'll be celebrating the launch of 'Monster in the Hood'. This a free event, suitable for all ages. Waterstones, Salisbury has chosen Monster in the Hood as their 'Picture Book of the Month' of June! For more details on the event press HERE. See you there!
It brings me great pleasure to reveal my cover illustration for the 70th Anniversary Edition of The Famous Five 11: Five Have A Wonderful Time, by the legendary Enid Blyton - out in May!
I'm really pleased and honoured that PLEASE MR PANDA has won the Oxfordshire Picture Book Award for Best Picture Book!
This is such fantastic news!
Highly commended is Oliver Jeffers' brilliant Once Upon an Alphabet.
Winner of Best Secondary Novel is The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson.
The winner of Best Primary Novel is the Astounding Broccoli Boy by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Steven Lenton.
Last Saturday, I held an interactive story-telling session and how-to-draw activity at Diss Corn Hall in Diss, Norwich. It was a lot of fun! Here are just some of the talented kids' drawings. Thank you to Diss Publishing Bookshop for providing books.
