Monkey and me ... Monkey and me ...

Monkey and Me is another picturebook by Emily Gravett, but unlike Little Mouse's big book of fears, it's a picturebook for the younger end of pre-primary. It's perfect in every way and so typical of Gravett's skillful, sketchy style, and use of all those peritextual features to a maximum. 

Back and front covers

Front and back covers are connected through Monkey's tail: a jubilant little chap, welcoming us into the book. He is being held up as though in reverence by the little girl. The small cameo illustration of Monkey being dragged away on the back cover reinforces the toy's happiness at being part of her game. 

Front endpapers

I have the hardback version of this lovely picturebook and the endpapers are not only there to keep the book together, but begin our visual narrative: the small girl is getting dressed and struggling with her tights as monkey looks on.  This is our protagonist getting ready for what is to come as we turn the pages. The black-and-whiteness of the sketches also serve as a sort of preamble, as though Gravett is warming up. 

Copyright and title page

The title page shows us our little girl, now dressed, her tights bright red, and we can see from her sketch that she has a stripy t-shirt too. She's glancing across to Monkey who is similarly clutching the dedication and copyright information. 

This picturebook is repetitive in structure, the repetition comes in pairs: a spread with the chanting refrain, "Monkey and me, Monkey and me, Monkey and me, We went to see, We went to see some ... " and illustrations supporting this refrain, the girl pulling her monkey in all directions.  What did they go to see?  Can you guess by looking at the way she stands and walks?

Opening 1

Opening 2

The next spread shows what they see ... Why penguins of course! And here they are larger than life, waddling along, coaching babies and carrying fish. The word "PENGUINS" in big capital letters is as much part of the illustration as the actual birds.  And so this little book continues, our next spread sees the chanting refrain, and the little girl leaping with Monkey stuffed up her t-shirt, the animals she sees are Kangaroos. The font for "KANGAROOS" is also leaping across the spread. I use this picturebook very successfully with 3- and 4-year olds, and they don't take long to realise that on the first spread of each pair the little girl's movements are a clue to which animal comes next. Some children also begin to make connections with the letters, recognising the 'P' for penguin, the 'K' in kangaroo, or other letters they might know from their own names. 

Opening 5

Opening 6

This pair of spreads is a fun one, and the children love seeing the bats hanging from the very letters that spell their names. Some children say they are afraid of bats, but these chaps look quite harmless and together we can all agree that they aren't very frightening after all. 

The little girl takes Monkey to see elephants and then on the penultimate pair of spreads Monkey is smiling broadly, has anybody noticed he's not been smiling much till now? I wonder why?  Can you guess what they are going to see?

Opening 9

Why "MONKEYS" of course! The font fills the spread and the monkeys are in and out of it. 

Opening 10

This spread is a sort of crescendo, for when we turn the page, we see a sleepy little girl, hugging Monkey as she walks slowly across the recto page.  The words tell us, "Monkey ... and ... me, Monkey ... and ... me, Monkey ... and ... me, We went ..." (You can read it slowly, sleepily.) 

Opening 12

"... home for tea:" A tired little girl hugging her toy monkey, she's had chips for tea, with ketchup. An untouched banana lies temping a real monkey who peers over the table top. Her picture lies on the table showing what she's seen with Monkey on her tiring day. So far I've not had one child question the presence of the trespassing monkey, peeking into the child's world... did she really see all those animals? 

And as we close the book, we turn to the back endpapers. 

Back endpapers

Those delightful sketches in black and white again, but this time of the animals marching off out of the book.  Children love labelling them, remembering the animals they saw and pointing to the sleeping bats, hanging from the baby elephant's trunk. Great ending, great picturebook. Don't forget to re-read this little gem, children love remembering all the animals and the feeling the pleasure of getting it right. 

The book of phobias

Front cover

Little Mouse's Big book of fears is actually by Emily Gravett, even though Little Mouse really has contributed to its brilliance - he's a sort of Emily Gravett avatar!  It's gobsmackingly wonderful and until recently I wasn't quite sure how it could fit into the world of ELT.  How short-sighted of me.  

I remember when I read an interview in the Guardian, cut out and sent to me by my father who knew I'd have missed it otherwise.  There the journalist takes great pleasure in highlighting how Gravett used her daughter's mice to create many of the nibbled and stained pages of this picturebook.  We are looking at real mouse pee, real mouse nibbles as well as a load of very clever collage and skillful sketching in all sorts of mediums, all captured by today's advanced printing technologies!  It's not surprising it won the Nestlé Children's Book Prize when it first came out in 2007. 

The front cover has a whopping great nibbled hole in it, Little Mouse at his best.  Emily Gravett's name has been roughly crossed out and replaced with "Little Mouse's", whose fright-filled face can be seen through the nibbled hole.  The ledger-like note book has a second hand, stained, battered and well used look and feel to it, the inside spreads are that dark yellowy brown that comes to books that have been on shelves for a while.

Front endpapers

The endpapers are covered in hieroglific-like characters, we aren't really sure what they are at this point, but upon returning to them it's clear they are the visual representations of many of the phobias mentioned in the book. But the front endpapers contain other important information too: we are introduced to our front cover graffiti artist, lugging the pencil that did the dead.  He's looking up at a clipped cutting (or nibbling): the challenge that leads this story. In short this is a self-help book, where the reader is asked to fill every "large, blank, space" with a combination of drawing, writing and collage. "Remember a fear faced is a fear defeated."

Close-up of front endpaper

The title page continues with the same graffiti and nibbling stunt and we are into the ledger. From the title page we see Little Mouse's face and he's clutching the pencil, when we turn the page we realise he's been wrapped in a spider's web.  

Opening 1

But as our eyes scan the illustration, we see the die hole nibble in verso opens up onto a spider which was on the copyright page, and the handwritten "I'm scared of creepy crawlies (especially spiders!)". That's when we notice the top of each page of the spread, verso indicates "Arachnophobia (Fear of spiders)" and recto "Entomophobia (Fear of insects)", each with the request to, "Use the space below to record your fears." We take all this in and begin piecing together the information we are shown and told, but we are only beginning, for each spread challenges us in different ways to find the pieces. Nevertheless, it begins the visual verbal structure we encounter throughout the picturebook. 

As we turn the pages, Little Mouse faces each fear, he doesn't look very confident and the pencil he drags along with him gets sharpened one end and nibbled the other, shavings and nibbles are scattered everywhere, as it gets shorter! Little Mouse faces "Teratophia (Fear of monsters)" and "Clinophobia (Fear of going to bed)", connected across the spread by a large bed with many pairs of eyes peering from the under-the-bed- darkness.

Opening 3

On opening 3 Little Mouse faces his fear of knives, "Aichmophobia", holding his tail tightly between his legs he peers up at a sweet get well card (showing a chubby mouse with his tail bandaged up), a poster for The Amazing Flying Mousecrobats, three blind circus mice who use "their tails and sense of smell to guide them", and a photo of three white mice in dark glasses, with their tails cut. This collection of memorabilia is aced by the life-like "The Farmer's Friend" newspaper cutting on the recto ...

Close up of opening 3

Dozens of plays on words: the children's nursery rhyme, Three Blind Mice,  is retold in an article about Mrs Sabatier from Deep Cut Farm, who managed to rid herself of "a trio of cheese-mad rodents". There's a photo of her triumphantly holding the three tails above an advert for The Amazing Flying Mousecrobats Circus cancelled "due to unforeseen circumstances". The fold over flap is an advert for "Three fab knives".  

If left open the flap (an array of adverts about bathrooms and plumbing) contributes to the visual verbal play on the next spread, where Little Mouse faces "Ablutophobia (Fear of bathing)" and "Hydrophobia (Fear of water)". Then onto "Dystychiphobia (Fear of accidents)" and "Rupophobia (Fear of dirt)".  The toilet theme continues though this time in relation to having accidents! Appropriately stuck onto the page with plasters, the toilet advert has tiny sketches of how a tiny mouse can actually reach the loo seat ... too late though, Little Mouse has already had an accident, and embarrassed he is about it too!

Opening 6

There are more intertextual references as poor Little Mouse faces his next fears: Ligyrophobia (Fear of loud noises) and Chronomrntrophobia (Fear of clocks).  Brilliantly shown with a reference to the traditional nursery rhyme Hickory, Dickory, Dock, poor mouse is ricocheted across the shuddering face of a paper clock, with the tall grandfather at 1 o'clock and the sheet music (rewritten by Emily Gravett) nibbled, torn and covered in mouse prints,  in the background.  That pencil is getting a good deal shorter!

"Isolophobia (Fear of solitude)" shows Little Mouse quite alone on the verso looking fearfully at the black recto page.  But, Gravett's tour de force is the following spread, Opening 8:

Opening 8

Here we are presented with "WhereamIophobia (Fear of getting lost)" ... no it's not a real phobia, but made up by Emily Gravett! and "Acrophobia (Fear of heights)".  The spread doesn't look that amazing really, but the map of "Isle of Fright" is an incredible piece of illustration, unfolding to show us the island in detail.  You can what shape the island is  from the cover and some of the places of interest include an owlery, a cat on a fence, Deep Cut Farm, and giant spiders' webs.  These are references to phobias encountered in the picturebook.

Close up of opening 8 with opened map

Once opened up, the map is pure delight and covered in hilarious places and references to Little Mouse's fears.  The village at the south end of the island is called "Loose Bottom", there's a straight of water called "Farmer's Cut" which separates the mainland from "Tail End", at "Sharp Point".  The island to the south is calls "Oops"!  These are just a few of the fun names and descriptions to be found, often referring back to previous spreads and fears. The key, shows us that the colours represent a continuum from green (edgy) to red (petrified!); the scale is shown in "500 mouse bpm to 70 human bpm" - brilliant!  And that's not all, the back of the map, which may go unnoticed,  has little notes and sketches giving us directions to Wide Eye Lake (I think!).  

You'd think that was it, but no!  There are still more fears. "Ornithophobia (Fear of birds)" and "Phagophoboa (Fear of being eaten)", where Little mouse is chased by real feathers (with eyes and teeth) and a very scary looking owl. Then onto "Cynophobia (Fear of dogs)" and "Ailurophobia (Fear of cats)".  Here Little Mouse has sketched and collaged a dog, next to the words "I get nervous near dogs", but if we focus we see that the dog is made up of all sorts of photos and cuttings of cats, and a fold back postcard of a dog tells us that in fact Little Mouse is ... 

Close up of opening 10 with flap

"... PETRIFIED of CATS!" Poor Little Mouse is really in a bad way.  The penultimate spread shows him cowering , afraid of his own shadow, "Panophobia (Fear of everything)" and "Sciaphobia (fear of shadows)" And the words tell us, "I'm afraid of nearly everything I see. But even though I'm very small ..."

Opening 12

Ahhh, after all that facing of fears it is good to know that there are those out there that suffer from "Musophobia (Fear of mice)"! Look at Little Mouse's posture, and smiley face, he's got through the book and is feeling tall.  He hugs his pencil stub, which has faithfully served him as he did just as Emily Gravett suggested on the front endpapers. 

And the back endpapers? True to form, Gravett has used them to give us the ending:

Back endpapers

A contented Little Mouse, hugging his pencil, covered in bits of paper with references to the fears he has overcome, birds' feathers, receipts, bits from the collection of collages he used and drawings of Little Mouse being brave (frightening a spider; pointing a sword at a cat etc). And there's a dedication, two in fact: the picturebook is dedicated to anyone who is has musophobia but that's crossed out and replaced by a dedication to "The fabulous rats Button and Mr Moo who taught me everything I know about nibbling." 

Back cover

The back cover shows Little Mouse, now free of his pencil, grasping at the book shop receipt, which tells us the condition the book is in: Used: "Poor, scribbled in, rodent damage". Look closely and you will see what time the book was bought, "Stroke of one" and it was paid for by "MOUSTRO UK". 

Woah!  What a brilliant picturebook!  

Lots of possibilities for slightly older children who will enjoy the madness of the layout and find the phobias fascinating.  They could make their own collage of something they are afraid of by following the instructions in an activity sheet, or an arachnophobia door hanger.  

Older students might enjoy discussing some of the phobias, making up a phobia like the Whereamiophobia and describing the symptoms. Write a short dialogue between Little Mouse and a journalist about one of the phobias, using the illustrations as a prompt. Enjoy the detailed illustrations, in particular the map of the Isle of Fright.  Could the students create a map of an Island based on the one in the picturebook and have fun giving directions. 

Look at some of the phobias carefully. How much Greek or Latin do we know?

Ablutophobia – Latin ablutere = to wash off

Ailurophobia – Greek αἴλουρος (aílouros) = cat

Chronophobia – Greek xρόνος (choronos) = time

Hydrophobia – Greek ὕδωρ (hudōr) = water

Musophobia – Latin mus = mouse

Finally for much older students include this picturebook when discussing phobias and fears and use a series of question prompts from ESL Discussions. 

How TERRIBLY short-sighted it was of me to not think this picturebook could be used in an ELT classroom. 

The taming of the wolf

Front cover

Emily Gravett is one of my favourite illustrators. I featured three of her picturebooks in January 2011. She published two titles in 2011, Wolf won't bite and Again. The former is a cracker of a picturebook and I've had lots of fun sharing it with my pre-school groups over the last week.  

"The three little pigs" they all shout as I show the front cover. And what other animal do we associate with the three little pigs?  "A wolf " they faithfully call out ... not reading yet, so they didn't pick up on the title of our story! Open out the book and just as they guessed, we see the wolf on the back cover. 

Back and front covers

The illustration only fits their predictions in the sense that we see the three little pigs and the big bad wolf.  Several children point out that things aren't quite right, as the pigs have the wolf on a chain; he doesn't look very fierce and ... what are the pigs wearing? There's a good deal of giggling as they begin to notice that the pigs are wearing clothes, one's in a tutu.  I wonder what kind of story it will be, maybe the title will help us? They all agreed that the wolf did look rather tame, so maybe he doesn't bite any more. 

With one group I asked if any of them had been to the circus, very few hands went up.  Maybe visiting the circus just isn't part of being a kid anymore?  But several knew what could be seen at the circus, wild animals did tricks, tigers jumped through flaming hoops, dogs stood on their hind legs, danced or stood on stools. Clowns told jokes and did silly things, horses pranced around the ring with ballerinas on their backs and there were acrobats who jumped and did somersaults. 

Let's open the book and see if these pigs take the wolf to the circus.

Front endpapers

Typical of Emily Gravett her endpapers play a part in the narrative, and the front endpapers show the three pigs chasing a wolf and pulling a circus cage on wheels.  

Dedication, copyright and title page

This spread is cleverly uses the idea of circus posters, the title page is a poster advertising the performance we are able to see. The copyright information can be read (with a magnifying glass) on the two rolled up posters!  Once you've read this picturebook to a group of children remember to go back to these pages and talk about them. 

Opening 1

Be ready as you turn the page to call out loudly, "Roll up!"  And there we have it, the wolf, a wild wolf, in a cage.  Note the gold leaf pigs decorating the outside.  And so upon each page turn we are shown what the little pigs are able to do to the wild wolf.  Their feats go in threes, each little pig declares , "I can ..." trying to improve on what the first one was able to do.   This is the first little pig's trick...

Opening 2

Then, the second little pig ...

Opening 3

She's a girl pig, so she does girlie things to the poor wolf!  The third little pig ...

Opening 4

... he can ride him like a horse. The verbal text is salient through out. You will have noticed that the words on each page are large, using different fonts. But here we are also confronted with a chunk of text in capitals "WOLF WON'T BITE!" This repeated pattern occurs three times, the frightened looking wolf is put through his paces, the little pigs proudly showing what they are able to do with him and to him. Their flat snouts turned up in triumph,  the wolf's eyes always open wide in fright.  
The final set of three tricks show the poor wolf having knives thrown at him, being shot from a canon (my favourite spread!)

Opening 9

... and even being cut in half. But then, the three little pigs together get super brave. 

Opening 11

"We can even place our heads between his mighty jaws but wolf won't ..."  now look at our wolf, he's not got that tamed look about him, and those little piggies look so confident.  Can you guess what the next spread shows and tells us?  

Opening 12

Finally the wolf gets his own back.  But that's not the end, we've still got the back endpapers to go!  

Back endpapers

"Ahh ha ha ha ha!"  Those pre-school kids just loved it and we had to read it again.  They had even more fun joining in with the refrain, "Wolf won't bite!" the second time round. A brilliant picturebook, and what fun I had sharing it.  You will too!

Running to freedom

Front cover

Underground by Shane W. Evans recently won The Coretta Scott King Book Award, which is given to African American authors and illustrators for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions. I'm writing about it in my blog for I find it visually fascinating, and it awoke a curiosity I could not shake.  I've already  written about a picturebook which could be read and shared with a view to talking about historical events, The Rabbits, and Underground is another  such title.  Based on the Underground Railroad,  a complex network of people, who helped slaves escape to freedom during the 1800's, it tells the story of how people got to freedom. A minimal verbal texts is accompanied by fabulous  illustrations, achieved with a mixture of collage and paintwork. Evans uses a very blue pallet, a night blue, dusky and dark yet everything is clearly visible in its blueness. This blue is  partnered with subtle uses of white, sharply cut bits of white.  Yellow appears too, moving from representing captors' windows and flaming torches to highlighting and shining upon conductors (those who helped the slaves) and the colour of day and freedom all in one.

Back cover

The picturebook: The front cover portrays fleeing slaves, dark and sinister, the whites of their eyes accentuating their look of fear.  Rays of light emanate from behind them, rays of hope possibly. The back cover is not part of a continuous picture, but instead the ending. The endpapers are plain dark blue, the colour of night and as we turn the pages we pass the title page, different only in that it is painted blue and there are a number of stars scattered across it.
The first opening also contains the copyright information and a dedication, those dark skinned faces from the front cover appear again, only just visible. We might not know what this story is about, but already we are apprehensive. 

Opening 2

Whisper this spread, "The escape.": the leading figure has his finger on his lips as the three creep away.  The whites of their eyes shining out at us, looking left, looking right, looking left.  In the background you can see the light shining from a curtainless window of the owners' house, that together with the light of the thin crescent moon casts a thin shadow across their bodies. 
And so each spread opens onto more dark, dusky blue. Shadowy figures hunched across the pages, "We are quiet."...

Opening 4

The yellow in this spread accentuates "The fear." It touches each runaway face like orange tinged caresses, but they remain hidden. Is the torch bearer friend or foe? The sheriff in the background is sending his men elsewhere.  And so, "We run. We crawl."  ...  

Opening 7

"We rest." All but daddy who keeps his eyes open, watching. 
It seems like an endless night, but it must represent many nights. The next page turn shows us one of the conductors, those in safe houses who helped the fleeing slaves. 

Opening 8

"We make new friends:" The yellow light is welcoming, the runaways are inside safe.  But their journey continues. "Others help." "Some don't make it." "We are tired." and suddenly we turn the page ...

Opening 11

The yellow light shines as the day begins, lighting a huddle of people. It took me several views to realise that it is a woman and a makeshift mid-wife, for the woman is having a baby, her belly bulging, her bent knees highlighted by the sun. Man and children look on as the wife moans. 

Opening 12

"The light." The woman blinks as the light shines upon her face.  Is it the woman or the man who declare what's immanent?  Or is it the event of birth they are referring to? In Portuguese and Spanish when a woman gives birth they refer to the giving of the light (dar a luz). It's the beginning whatever it is, the light over a new horizon. As we turn the page, the triumphant father holds his child high up and the words tell us, "The sun."
The final opening is jubilant :..

Opening 14

"Freedom. I am free. he is free: She is free. We are free."

If we close the book and linger on the back cover, we realise now who the happy family depicted there is.  The newly born baby is the center of attention, a child born in freedom. 


Evans himself admits that for most of us it is difficult to imagine what being a slave was like, being owned by someone else, someone who dictated what you did, how you did it and when you did it.  It is possibly easier to 'relate to opening the door to assist someone.'  Many risked their own lives by aiding and abetting runaway slaves. This picturebook cleverly mixes the flight of the slaves with the assistance they were given.  Its shapes and colours share an emotion that touches all of us.  Could we use this picturebook with students learning history through English?  I'd like to think so.  


On a website about to this picturebook, Shane  W. Evans writes:

In so many ways the simplicity of this book says it all. This experience for me as an author and illustrator was one of the more dynamic experiences in my career. This journey for me was truly one through the lives of a people searching for freedom in their hearts and souls. These journeys lead me "home" in so many ways back to my own community today. If we look around us we can see the spirit of what this movement represented. The idea of freedom is a powerful one that in this world has a duality; this quiet journey of "underground" reflects that in a powerful way. This book not only pays homage to the many that decided to "steal away to freedom" in the 1800's, it pays homage to those that continue the fight for freedom today.

Rain, please rain.

Front cover

I've chosen Rain by Manya Stojic to celebrate recent rainfalls here in Portugal.  We've gone for nearly five months without any rain, and things were looking parched, plants were small and shriveled and the local farmers could be seen in huddles shaking their heads as they looked at the ground under their feet.  Some parts of Portugal had been rained upon, but not my bit, then a couple of days ago a great storm raged through the night and left everything humming and smelling delicious.  We all sighed happily.  I remembered this lovely picturebook, Rain, a gift from Opal Dunn, who has introduced me to so many picturebooks over the years. 

Rain was Manya Stojic's debut picturebook of over a decade ago.  The illustrations are bright, visibly made with large paint strokes that give the whole book a  feeling of immediacy and joyfulness.  The arm waving baboon on the front cover initiates the frivolity, you can almost hear him calling out happily, "Rain! Yeah!"

Each page and spread is painted right to the edges, this draws the reader into the narrative, and with every page turn we are carried out into an African savannah and feel the animals emotions as they sense the coming rain. 

Title page

Not only are the illustrations bold and bright in this picturebook, but it's a print salient picturebook - the verbal text is also big and bold.  Here on the title page we are shown an adult and baby baboon (the dedication above the illustration reads "In memory of my dad Lyuba with whom I enjoyed watching thunderstorms") and the words shout out at us, big and black.  This page we have to read, "Rain, written and illustrated by Manya Stojic"  What a great opportunity to talk about special picturebooks, created by one person. 

Opening 1

Turn the page and we see heat, sizzling heat.  The yellow grass is painted as though flickering flames and the sun in the top verso corner radiates across the pale blue sky.  Big black letters spell out "It was hot." 

Opening 2

On the next spread we are shown and told how the first of the animals sense the rain is coming. Thus begins a cumulative crescendo... "The rain is coming! I can smell it.  I must tell the zebras."  

Opening 3

Warning of rain comes with a flash of lightening, and the repetitive refrain, "The rain is coming!" (...) Porcupine can smell it. We can see it.  We must tell the baboons." 

Opening 4

With the roll of thunder, the baboons hear it and so our crescendo grows.  "Porcupine can smell it. The zebras can see it.  We can hear it. We must tell the rhino."  Notice that the animals in the three illustrations I've featured are shown in part, close up and even upside down. I really like this minimalist way of illustrating, and it doesn't stop children from understanding. 

Next we see a rhino, with large drops of rain - he feels it. "I must tell the lion."

Opening 6

Onto the lion, who lounges across the spread, tongue out. He can taste it.  

Lots of lovely repetition, which we can encourage children to chorus with us as we tell and retell. And then it rained and rained, black font against a painterly blue background. And what does rain bring?  

Opening 8

Lots of green, and even though the rain has stopped everything continues to grow, and so begins a second repetitive refrain beginning with the lion and going back through all the other animals: "I can't taste the rain now" ... "but I can enjoy the shade of these big, green, leaves." 

Opening 10

Lovely "cool, soft, squelchy mud."  Each animal reappears and delights in the results of the rain.  

Opening 11

The baboons eat fresh juicy fruit; the zebras have a refreshing drink, and the porcupine reminds us that even though he can no longer smell the rain, it will come back. 

And our narrative comes full circle, the sun dries everything up and ...

Verso back page

Wonderful in its visual representation of landscapes and animals, this picturebook is also especially good for young children who are beginning to notice print. Truely great for sharing.