The life of a picture book by Jane Clarke

I recently received an email from my agent, saying several of my picture books are now out of print. This isn’t unusual - most picture books don't become classics - they will often have a small print run and a short life time in the shops and libraries.

But what is comforting is that a picture book’s life doesn’t end when it is no longer in print. Hopefully a family somewhere will treasure a copy and it will last a lifetime - or more.

W-aaa-y back in 1986, when my sons were celebrating their 1st and 3rd birthdays (in the same week), their Grandma and Grandpa brought them the gift of a bright, shiny new copy of (the now out of print)  Henry’s Busy Day written and illustrated by Rod Campbell. (Viking Kestrell 1984).

In my mind’s eye I can still see my mother sitting on the sofa between them, sharing it with them. It has very simple text and illustrations, but it’s full of warmth and affection. We read it to them time and time again.

 My sons first recognised words in it, so it helped them begin to understand and join in with the process of reading. It was so loved, it was impossible to part with it when the boys grew older.  It sat on a shelf for years, untouched, weathering the deaths of their grandparents and their father.

And then along came my sons’ children…

and now I get to read the same book to my 4 granddaughters, and they love it too.

I see from the back that the book cost £4.50, which was quite a lot in 1984 (in relative terms more than picture books cost today), but the memories it brings with it are priceless.

2 small birthday boys with their grandparents 1986

2  big boys with their partners, children (and me) pre-pandemic Xmas

Amazingly the ‘soft, furry coat’  advertised on the cover has survived all the love, though it does need freshening up occasionally with a bit of hand sanitiser. Well, don’t we all these days?

Jane hopes that someone, somewhere is treasuring a tatty old copy of one of her picture books.

 

Read it - again, and again, and AGAIN! by Jane Clarke

Do you or a family member have a favourite picture book, read so many times that everyone knows it by heart  - and can see the illustrations with his or her eyes shut?

Every night my 3 year old granddaughter requests

Wow! said the Owl by Tim Hopgood

Yep. EVERY NIGHT. You might be able to slip in another book as well, but this one has to be the last book before sleep. It’s reassuring and upbeat, with a sense of wonder - and my 10 month old granddaughter already loves it, too.

This is the one my 4 year old granddaughter in the USA currently requests most:

Llama llama red pyjama by Anna Dewdney

There are several picture books from my sons’ 1980s childhoods that I can visualise page by page because I was requested to read them again and again, and again. Top of the pile are:

Henry’s Busy Day by Rod Campbell - with the much-stroked (and snot-wiped-off) furry ending that makes you go aaah.

 Dogger by Shirley Hughes was another huge favourite:

My sons totally identified with Dave and his toy dog. It’s quite a long book, so after the umpteenth reading, I’d attempt to skip the odd page, or summarise. They always caught me out.

Going further back, I realise that I must’ve been the same when I was a child, because I can still recite the entire text of this book and see all the illustrations in my mind’s eye: 

Downy Duckling by W Perring and AJ Macgregor (first published 1942! The original got lost somewhere down the line, but I was able to find a new edition, yay!)

I remember the feeling of comfort and safety that this story gave me as a child, and finding it again is like a warm hug from the past. 

So what do all of these very different books have in common? I think it’s that they lull the child into his or her happy place. 

It might be too overt for today's tastes, but the ending to Downy Duckling nails it:

What picture books have you read again, and again, and AGAIN?

Jane's very happy to report that one of her four granddaughters is currently stuck on one of her books - Who Woke the Baby? illustrated by Charles Fuge - at one and a half she's too small to say why, but she clearly loves to roar at the lion and clap at the happy ending.

Lifting The Lid, by Pippa Goodhart

I was recently lucky enough to go to Glyndebourne to see a production there of Berlioz's opera Beatrice et Benedict.  It's a silly story, based on Much Ado About Nothing, and I'd been warned that the production was monochrome and based around boxes.  I didn't have high hopes.  But the music and performers were absolutely wonderful, and those boxes were great fun.  Lids opened to reveal surprises, and of course we soon learned to watch the boxes to see what might spring out of them next, and in what way.  

It occurred to me that the fun of those box lids opening was very much the same fun that we get when opening flaps in picture books.  It's the same fun as opening a present.  Picture book stories often play with anticipation of events, letting the page turn reveal what we're waiting for ... or what we're not expecting, to dramatic effect.  But that anticipation and revelation can be multiplied when flaps are added to pages.

Think of that favourite of generations now, Rod Campbell's Dear Zoo.  Every spread in that lets us open doors of different kinds to reveal an animal.  And of course it is the small child who has the power to open that flap door or lid to make the story happen, and to name the animal revealed.  It gives children an experience in story reading before they even begin to decipher the words on a page.

Since its Halloween and I've had a suitably spooky book recently published, I'm going to show off how Little Monster and the Spooky Party enjoys that revelatory fun with flaps.  The illustrations are by the great Nick Sharratt -

In schools, children have particularly loved the game of lifting lids and opening boxes to reveal foods which might be 'yum' or 'yuck'.  I get them to have thumbs ready for a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down, together with a "Mmmnn" or "Eeeer!" sound effect, and then they choose which I should open in turn.  Noise levels get quite high!  

As do the sounds of pretend shrieks and screams when we learn who else will be at that spooky party.  Would you like to join that party?  Happy Halloween!

Tatty Old Treasured Picture Books by Jane Clarke

When I was having a clear out, I discovered a cache of much-loved and very worn picture books that are over 25 years old. My sons are about to turn 30 (30! How did that happen?) and 28, so I thought a good way to mark the occasion would be to share a few of my (and hopefully, their) TOTPs.

Peepo by Janet and Allan Ahlberg (first published 1981, this copy Picture Puffin 1983)

Crumpled cover, splotched with unidentifiable stains and with corners lightly sucked. Inside, every 'peepo' cut-out is torn and patched due to baby sons enthusiastically swiping every page turn whilst chortling 'peepo!'  Spine taped after it dropped to bits, causing tears (mine).

Dogger by Shirley Hughes (Bodley Head 1977)

Inner pages parting company with cover which is ingrained with soil after a particularly exciting Teddy Bears Picnic at the bottom of the garden. Tear drop stains on lost Dogger page. Starting to sniffle, moving on...

Henry's Busy Day by Rod Campbell (Viking Kestrel 1983)

Gift from Grandma and Grampy. Spine fraying.  The 'soft furry coat' of Henry in the last spread still retains hints of something sticky that could be the subject of forensic investigation. Ideal reading for inducing sleep, particularly of the parent reader. 

The Quangle Wangle's Hat by Edward Lear, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury (this copy Picture Pufffin 1982)

Weirding out sons alert – I read this rhyme so many times to Older Son  that I could (and did) recite it like a mantra during the birth of Younger Son. After that, I was less than keen on reading it aloud (owing to flash backs) and it got 'lost' for a while. A quarter of a century or so in fact.

Five Minutes Peace by Jill Murphy (Walker Books 1986)

Edge of cover slightly nibbled by long-gone Rosa and Cynthia the guinea pigs. My (then) small sons failed to understand why Mrs Large could possibly want 'Five Minutes Peace' - but I LOVED this book (and still do). Maybe one day they'll have kids of their own -THEN they'll get it.

Other books come and go (to the charity shop), but these picture books (and a whole heap of others) are so redolent of happy times, I shall keep them forever.

What tatty old picture books do you treasure?

Jane's posts a Tatty Old Treasured Picture Book of the week on her facebook author page, www.facebook.com/JaneClarkeChildrensAuthor

and she  really hopes some of the picture books she's written will end up being tatty and torn and treasured by someone, too.