The irony of Matilda's cat

Front cover

I waited anxiously for Emily Gravett's most recent picturebook.  She's one of my favourite, favourite picturebook creators and she was creating a book about cats ... I'm a cat lover, so that made her even more wonderful (actually I also love dogs, so she's already satisfied my canine wishes with Dogs)... and here it is, Matilda's Cat ... fresh off the press, it's been out for less than a month.  Delightful, and very preschool, but there's an ironic humour in there which will keep us teachers giggling to ourselves, and possibly also get picked up by the children - so much to look at and discover and make connections with and between. Those of you who are familiar with Sendak's Where the wild things are, are sure to make the visual connection between our girl protagonist in a cat suit and Max in his wolf suit. 

Gravett's front covers are all fairy similar in format, especially those for preschool aged readers: a pale background with the main characters appearing large as life.   Matilda's Cat is no exception - we are shown a girl child in a cat suit holding a cat - a grinning cat at that!  They are both ginger cats, that is the cat suit is ginger and the cat is ginger.  This is  important for we can question right from the start whether Matilda's cat is her cat persona or her ginger tabby. 

Back cover

It is the back cover that answers our question - an arrow points to the real cat, who is doing the best of cat things, sharpening his claws.  Is it a he or a she cat?  I kind of think it's a she cat, her pouchy belly is just like my cat Sooty, who's a well to do four-year-old kitty. I just love Matilda's cat's stripes, and that lovely twirly bit on her haunches. 

In true Gravett style, the picturebook peritext is used to the full.  the endpapers are a pale duck-egg-blue ...

Front endpapers

... cat prints take us from verso to recto and we see the ginger feline leaving the page, her head appears as we turn into the copyright and title page spread. She's looking distinctly worried as she looks across at Matilda who is enthusiastically completing a drawing of her lovely six-legged cat.  

Copyright and title pages

The title font, as on the font cover is in freehand and it continues throughout the picturebook ... if you haven't connected the visual of Matilda in her cat suit with Max in his wolf suit then I'm very disappointed... the pointy ears and the rectangular clawed feet along with a dangerously long tail - there are no whiskers or buttons, but this is Max reincarnated, and not matter how hard I try, I can't rid the visual connection.  

Opening 1

The following spreads show Matilda, in her cat persona, doing what she thinks cats do: her happy declaration, "Matilda's cat likes ..." followed by a fun activity that most cats do like leads us through the visuals.  "... playing with wool", is one of my cat's favourite playtimes, but Matilda's ginger tabby is terrified.  Matilda was enjoying herself greatly!  I like the cats on the wool - you'll notice they are like the orange cat illustration by the dedication and in fact are repeated on some of the following spreads decorating different parts of the illustration. Matilda's attempt at doing cat things come in threes (a structure which is also evident in another of her picturebooks, Wolf won't bite) - playing with wool, boxes (could this be a reference to the well loved My cat likes to hide in boxes) and riding bikes.  Her ginger tabby is either miffed or terrified (actually my cats don't like bikes either). 

Opening 2

Opening 3

What's interesting about the verbal text is that as Matilda passes onto another activity, and thus through a page turn,  the previous activity remains on the next spread, but  gets crossed out.  It's peculiar: a silent acceptance by the narrator, confirming what we see in the illustrations. I've not used this picturebook with children yet, but I'm interested to see how they respond to this. 
And so Matilda moves through tea parties, funky hats and fighting foes, not once is the ginger tabby impressed.  Opening 6 is Matilda at her most Max-like marching across the recto with a sword in her hand.  And so the next set of three activities appears ... "Matilda's cat likes drawing."

Opening 7

There's a nice array of sketches showing what Matilda has done so far with her feline friend, her drawings portraying a complying cat knitting a scarf, riding on her bike, sharing a pic-nic tea, playing happily in boxes, dressing up (you see the ginger tabby is a girl cat!) and fighting real foes. 
Upon turning the page, " ...climbing trees,  and bedtime stories." (Max climbs trees in his adventure too!)

Opening 9

Matilda is buried in her book, unaware of poor ginger tabby's reaction to the chosen title (Gravett's own picturebook about dogs!) ... the looming shadow is made by Matilda's cleverly placed hand, and poor tabby is truely terrified, tail bushy and shackles up, her whiskers are frazzled in fright. 
But Matilda has had enough ...

Opening 10

As her ginger tabby sits on the offending book and licks herself back to normal, Matilda crossly lists the things that she knows her cat does not like... revisiting the spreads we have just seen and emphasizing "... OR bedtime stories."  I suspect that children will enjoy remembering the different activities and thus be challenged to remember the sequence they have shared with Matilda through the illustrations.
We turn the page and Matilda has shed her cat suit, and Ginger tabby is looking keen, we see Matilda leave the spread in her PJs, covered in black terriers and wearing dog slippers... so what does Matilda's cat like?  

Opening 12

"... MATILDA", of course! The illustration shows us a happy couple: tabby on her back, and Matilda's dog-clad-arm hugging her.  You can almost hear the purrs coming from the illustration (check out the stylised cats on her duvet).  But that's not the end ... don't ever forget Gravett's endpapers.

Back endpapers

Here they are... those cat prints leading from verso to recto and Matilda's tabby is making the most of her opportunity to get her own back on those dog slippers. 

So much to see and smile over. The verbal text accompanies the little girl, told by an invisible narrator, who describes what Matilda enjoys doing.  We, the reader, are left to claim as loudly, or as quietly, as we like, that Matilda's cat does not like any of those activities, until finally Matilda takes note and agrees with us (or did she know all along?).  It's such fun and I can't wait to share this picturebook with my preschoolers. 

A certain kind of rabbityness

Front cover

With a cover like this, a picturebook can't fail ...  it's Jo Empson's debut. She's fresh out of the Cambridge University MA for children's literature, and one of a number of exciting new talents. A great friend and storyteller,  Alec Williams, brought the book to my attention.  Not quite sure what adjective to use to describe it as it moves from life to death and back to life again.  

The front cover shows Rabbit, our character, very happy and surrounded by paint splodges giving the reader a clue to the special talents our rabbit hero brings to the rabbit community.  

The endpapers are delightful, Rabbit in various positions, black shadows against an olive green, showing us all the different activities rabbit enjoys doing... 

Front endpapers

The title page opposite the copyright page with a dedication to "... my big brother who liked doing unrabbity things too",  shows three rabbits ...

Close up of title page

They are looking in wonder at the title, if we return to this page after we might understand a little better why they are wondering at the word "Rabbityness". 

The picturebook continues with openings showing Rabbit doing rabbity things, all shown in Empson's singular watercolour of black and green. The illustrations are placed against a white background, using the grass to anchor the black rabbit figures to a non-existent ground. This reduced, minimal setting, helps us focus upon the character showing us Rabbit's rabbityness. Here he is hopping and jumping ...

Opening 1

On subsequent spreads he is twirling his whiskers, washing his ears, burrowing and sleeping.   The verbal text follows rabbit, undulating behind him, over him, through him and under him: it's quite lovely. 

Opening 3

Notice here on spread 3 how the font actually slopes downwards in the verso, as "Rabbit likes burrowing".  As Rabbit slows down and we are shown him sleeping the verbal text tells us, "Rabbit also liked doing unrabbity things."  Upon the page turn we are shown what he likes doing...

Opening 4

Wow!  We are shown a page covered in splashes of colour and almost miss the verbal text, which could be redundant anyway, "He liked painting..."  Rabbit is holding a paint brush skillfully between his ears and front paws, leaving splodges and splashes in his wake ... lovely!  But this colourful life Rabbit leads doesn't stop here...

Opening 5

Musical notes hang in the air like bunting as Rabbit blows skillfully into a didgeridoo. All this makes Rabbit very happy, and we are shown a closeup of his smiling face, just like the one on the front cover. His happiness was catchy and he made all the other rabbits happy too as he "filled the woods with colour and music".  We are seeing spreads full of colour, delicate, but happy colour, then we turn the page and ...

Opening 7

We are told Rabbit disappeared and shown a bare spread, with grey leaves falling, a stark contrast to the earlier colourful spreads. 

Opening 8

The woods are grey and the other rabbits are sad - the spread oozes sadness. But then the rabbits discover "a DEEP dark hole", left by Rabbit. 

Opening 10

Down in the hole, (the words follow the hole downwards) the other rabbits discover that "Rabbit had left them some gifts" ... "things to make colours and music". We can see drums, didgeridoos, paint brushes, and bright bunting, and though it took time these "rabbits discovered they enjoyed doing unrabbity things too". This reminded them of Rabbit and made them happy ... 

Opening 13

... and they filled the woods with colour and music again. Rabbit has left these rabbits with a gift to discover their own creativeness. Just look at them all enjoying themselves. 

The final spread shows us Rabbit ... his back turned as though he's hopping away.  He can leave now he knows his friends have successfully discovered their different talents. 

Opening 14

Rabbityness looks at individuality and creativity and, as it does so, the reader is shown how they can deal with the loss of something precious.  It's a special picturebook, simple and beautiful and very suitable for younger learners. 

The fish who could wish

Front cover

I thought I'd stick with illustrator Korky Paul for this next post and share a picturebook I have had on my shelf for ages.  It's always nice to go back to books and rediscover them, and this is what I did with The fish who could wish. Written by John Bush.  Written in rhyme...

"In the deep blue sea,

In the deep of the blue,

Swam a fish who could wish,

And each wish would come true.

He wishes for a castle.

He wished for a car.

But one day he wished

Just  a little too far... "

It is a silly story, but one with a message. 

The front cover shows us the special fish, bright orange in contrast to the slightly opaque fish in the background. He's looking quite a ease... a line of bubbles leading us to his thought, the title of this book - when we return to the cover after reading the story we will smile at the reference to the past, The fish who could wish!  

The bubbles appear through out the visual narrative, linking the fish and his wishes...

The endpapers also show the fish, his bubbles floating up and off the spread ...

Front end papers

The title page shows our fish as though he is telling his story, his fin held high. 

Title page

There was once ...

Opening 1

Always orange and brighter than anything else on the page we see the fish about to wish.  The underworld is luscious with shipwrecks and lots of envious fish. Opening 1 is interesting as the illustration has three white borders, but goes right to the top edge.  

Opening 2

The following spreads contain the fish's wish within a framed illustration, broken only by his bubble. I interpret this as a description of his wish ... the fish is remembering all the fun he had! He wished for a castle, a car, for a horse and a Spanish guitar ... in each illustration the fish is seen in his splendour, the other fish looking more than miffed! 

Opening 4

Our fish wished he could ski and that he could fly.  The illustrations show a proud fish doing just that, lovely undersea blue-green colours in contrast to our bright orange fish. 

Opening 6

Opening 6 is fun, with the fish literally flying around the world, space ships for company.  The calm underwater scene at the bottom of the recto page shows him remembering what he had been able to do. 

Opening 9

Opening 9 is one of my favourite spreads, the fish confidently turning into all sorts of shapes, and below he looks flippantly up at the illustration... it was so easy!

Opening 10

Opening 10 shows the culmination of our fish's silliness,  wearing smart clothes and silk ties ... and he is portrayed on the verso page rather bashfully, as though he admits he really was a bit extravagant.  

Opening 11

Korky Paul prepares us visually for the terrible ending, we read in the verbal text ... "he wished the silliest wish" - we see him swimming away from the wonderful things he had wished for in his life and you will notice that he is in the illustration, no longer looking back at his experience. His wish bubbles are floating upwards and out of the page, going nowhere ...

Opening 12

"That silly fish wishes he could be like all the other fish ..." and sure enough no more bubbles, no more wishes and the shoal of fish around him realise immediately ... and so does our bright orange fish, ooops!  
And we turn the page again to see the same endpapers we saw at the beginning, the fish who could wish!


Scholastic have a short series of activities which focus on the skill of developing self-awareness through the act of wishing.  It's devised for smaller children, but the process of reflecting on what the fish did and talking about it is suitable for older children.  
The theme of wishing is an exciting one, especially when the children realise that wishes are limitless and they can have some fun describing and writing about them.  Even better when wishes become directed to resolving problems in the world.

Winnie the witch at 25...

Original front cover 1987

New front cover 2006

Did you know that Winnie will be 25 on the 13th July?  Doesn't she look great?!  Illustrated by Korky Paul and written by Valerie Thomas, Winnie the Witch was first published in 1987,  she has featured in more than a dozen picturebooks and is also in a series of young fiction titles written by Laura Owen. The cover seen on the left is the original one from 1987, the one on the left is from 2006. 

Korky Paul creates his characters and settings by taking "the obvious and imbuing it with that exaggerated and distorted Korky Paul look." He describes how he came upon Winnie's lovely black house, "In 'Winnie the Witch', Valerie Thomas used only one adjective to describe our heroine's home - 'black'. My initial sketches showed a picturesque cottage complete with thatched roof and exposed timber beams. The results were dull boring and obvious. 'What's the opposite of a cottage?' I asked myself Answer: 'Stately Home'. Once I had hit upon this idea the book opened up for me. All the rooms and paraphernalia of a stately home would serve as a wonderful and dramatic back drop for Winnie's antics with her cat, Wilbur. The real challenge lay in illustrating it all in black! " 

Let's have a look at the black that links this witchy narrative... Both covers show Winnie falling over her black cat.  Korky Paul says he designs his front covers last, and that it is based on "one, or a combination of illustrations from the book." He looks for "a scene that is a synopsis, a visual shorthand of the story without revealing any twists or surprise endings. It must also clearly show the main protaganist." Indeed this front cover does just that, for those of you who know the story, you can nod knowing - this is the problem which sets our story

The end papers ... 

Front endpapers

Korky Paul writes: "The endpapers I use as an opportunity to design a bold graphic statement to express the essence of the book. It's an enjoyable exercise and can prove quite difficult to find a neat, simple solution. The splashes of colour I used in 'Winnie' is a good example of a bold graphic design giving a flavour of the story." Upon returning to these endpapers we recognize them as the slashes of colour which emanate from Winnie's wand. 

Title page

The title page (it's also the image on the back cover) shows Winnie about to step on her cat, again a clue about the problem she has to overcome in the following pages.

The first opening shows us that wonderfully elaborate black house and the matter of fact description which begins,"... The house was black on the outside and black on the inside ..."

Opening 1

We don't actually get introduced to Wilbur, the black cat, till opening 2.  A cosy scene shows Winnie and Wilbur together in apparent domestic bliss...

Opening 2

Everything is black, well shades of black, except Winnie and some dubious green stuff near Winnie's chair.  And because Wilbur was black too "... that was how the trouble started."

Winnie could see Wilbur if he had his eyes open, for they were green, but as soon as he fell asleep, something cats do lots of, she couldn't see him, so... she sat on him, tripped over him on the carpet or on the stairs. The verbal text is wonderfully repetitive and a joy to read.  The illustrations are comic-book-like, appearing in multiple frames, often showing the before and after ... 

Opening 5

Opening 5 is one of a series of examples.  We see the fall, described as "nasty" by the words and shown as verrrry nasty in the illustrations. So, Winnie does her magic, "ABRACADABRA"  and Wilbur is bright green! 

Opening 6

Clever Winnie!  She can see Wilbur when he "... slept on the chair (...)  slept on the floor [and] ... when he slept on the bed." And of course he's not allowed to sleep on the bed! So she sends him outside, onto the lawn ... you can guess what happens of course..."Winnie came hurrying outside, tripped over Wilbur, turned three somersaults, and fell into a rose bush." And Winnie got mad!

Opening 8

Worse than mad... furious! This spread is a great example of the perfect page-turner... we see a furious Winnie, wand splurging colour and the words tell us... "She picked up her magic wand, waved it five times and ..." We know what's going to happen, but we have to turn the page to see. 

Opening 9

Wilbur is described in the words, but we are shown how he feels - he is a sad looking cat; we are told that Winnie is happy as she can see him wherever he goes, "... even when he climbed to the top of the tallest tree." And though Wilbur's bright colours focus our gaze upon the top of the tree, if we look down we can see Winnie is looking up at him... Is she worried? 
Korky Paul uses his cartoon frames on the next spread ... 

Opening 10

A desperate Wilbur and over time, a desperate Winnie.  So Winnie sensibly change Wilbur back to his lovely black and together, they face the problematic black house and Winnie does her magic...

Opening 12

And that black house we know so well is a lovely yellow one, with a red roof and red doors... and if you compare the black house with the yellow one you will see the bedroom and the bathroom have swapped places! But the important thing is that Winnie can see Wilbur everywhere now.

Korky Paul writes: "In a picture book it is essential these two elements [picture and word] are tightly integrated to tell the story successfully. I frequently use a comic-book layout, which in turn is rooted in cinema. Close-up shots, long-shots, events happening off camera are all cinematic devices used to tell a story effectively and dramatically." Upon returning to this picturebook, one I've taken for granted for so long, I've rediscovered its magic and the reason why Winnie has remained such a successful character, a 25-year old star skillfully created by Korky Paul.  

If you don't know the ELT teachers' notes for Winnie written by Jane Cadwallader, do look out for them: lots of fun activities focussing almost entirely on the concepts to be found in this picturebook: colours, bodyparts and furniture. But you don't need these activities, you can just share the picturebook with your students and enjoy the way the pictures and words come together so brilliantly to make a truely funny picturebook.  Magical in fact!

If you want to celebrate Winnie's birthday - 25 years is a biggie ... check out her website, and download some fun birthday activities.There's loads to do!

The srticle by Korky Paul I  have quoted from can be found here.

Birdsong

Front cover

Birdsong is a delightful picturebook written and illustrated by Ellie Sandall and the first of her picturebooks to be published.  She's since written two more and they are winging their way over to Portugal as I write! She doesn't seem to have a website, but Sunshine smiles have beautifully showcased her work here. 

Her picturebook, Birdsong is perfect for pre-school, with quirky illustrations and a fun rhyming text full of wacky bird sounds. 

BAck and front covers

The front and back covers come together to make one illustration, which when seen opened up show several of the birds who appear in the story, peering out from the other side of the tree on the back cover.  A tree with a lovely rough texture, oil pastel on coarse water colour paper, a nice contrast to the smoother looking birds, who are painted in watercolour, as well as the little, delicate butterfly who flutters nearby.

We open up to the page many paperbooks have, "This book belongs to ...", where that pretty butterfly can be seen again, paused on the word 'to...'

Front endpapers

Next the front endpapers, a textured pasture with collage flowers and a tree in the distance, covered in pastel pink flowers - there's the pink bird from the front cover and, if you look closely, that butterfly is there too. The copyright and title page bring us even closer to the tree ...

Copyright and title page

... and the pink bird and his companionable butterfly begin our story. 

Opening 1

"One small bird, in a tree. Kitcha, kitcha, kee, kee, kee:" You can guess what will happen can't you? 

Opening 2

"Here's another come and see! Urrah! Urrah! Rah, rah, ree. Kitcha, kitcha, kee, kee, kee:"
And so as we turn the pages these lovely birds, mostly watercolour with tiny bits of collage stuck on, see the crest on the yellow and green bird's head. Two more birds come along, and their onomatopoeic sounds continue the rhythm.  "And now an owl's come into view ..."

Opening 4

"Too-whit, too-wit, too-wit, too-woo. Chucka, chucka. Weet, weet, weet. Tchikka, tchikka.Tweet, tweet, tweet. Urrah! Urrah! Rah, rah, ree. Kitcha, kitcha, kee, kee, kee."  These sounds are wonderful, but you need to concentrate as you read through them!  The rhythm helps get the pronunciation right though! Then along comes a parrot, "Ru-tu, ru-tu, ru-tu-tu!"  Then two more, Kirri! Kirri! Kip, kip, kip:" 

Opening 6

The butterfly is still fluttering by and the branch gets more and more bent (an ideal opportunity for talking about accumulated weight!). And don't the birds look happy, together, some of them nuzzling comfortably together ... "Can any more fit on this tree? It looks a little full to me!" Well, along comes a very large colourful bird, we see him flying towards the tree, and then landing ...

Opening 8

A huge bird with a mighty beak joins them with a piercing shriek! KEEYAAAAAAAA!" the font screeches across the page too and knocks the other birds off.  Is he an gaudy bird?  Notice the butterfly is the only creature to fly above the loud noise.  Our gaudy bird sits proudly on the branch, "The little branch is all his own:" But he doesn't see (or hear) the branch cracking, do we if the words didn't warn us? "He hasn't seen the butterfly, gently, gently floating by... Look out bird!" Butterfly lands just by the crack and ...

Opening 11

What a lot of feathers! "... Whatever could have made him fall?"

Opening 12

How forlorn he looks, as the butterfly flutters by and he nurses his head!  The other birds are high in the sky, can you see them? That's spread 12 which is the last in the body of the book, but true to form, this picturebook has not yet ended, for the back endpapers show us how the story is resolved. 

Back endpapers

The eight birds are on the other branch, the one we saw on the back cover and the biggest, loudest bird is skulking off.  Who's in the foreground?  Our butterfly!  
So simple, yet so clever.  Children love the silly bird sounds and pick up the rhythm really quickly.  A lovely book to share and if you want to talk about companionship and sharing it's a nice place to start.