Tag Archives: Illustrators

A Sky Full of Kindness by Rob Ryan

A Sky Full of Kindness by Rob Ryan

Join two birds on an epic adventure as they become parents for the first time…

The story begins with two birds who are ecstatic to discover they are going to be parents. Their fellow feathered friends are overjoyed for them, but are soon sharing their wisdom, causing the mother bird to become frightened about all the potential perils of parenting. Are they ready to have a child? Such is her fear, the wisest and oldest bird of all sends her on a journey of discovery to see if she can find some peace about what lies ahead. The journey takes her across the land and sea and she meets many other birds of all different kinds, each reassuring her through kindness that whilst the world might be big and full of danger, there are many people in it who can help when you most need it.

This is a stunning book by the incredible artist and illustrator, Rob Ryan. The artwork alone is a sight to behold; each word and image beautifully paper cut down to the finest detail. The story itself is lyrical and flows beautifully; a tale depicting the journey towards parenthood with all its highs and lows and everything in between. Poetry and prose combine, with each word literally illustrating the magic of the childlike but utterly insightful narrative. The mother bird is determined to find out how she can allay her fears, travelling over the widest oceans and unknown lands looking for answers.

The other birds she meets are strange and exotic, each with their own wisdom to share, each showing her kindness. The mother bird repays the kindnesses she is shown along the way and she finally realises that through being kind, brave and finding hope, she can face her fears.

A Sky Full of Kindness is a heart warming tale about unconditional love, the hopes and fears we have for our children and ultimately shows how kindness can change the world we live in. A must-have book for everyone’s bookshelf!

Find out more about the author and illustrator at www.robryanstudio.com and on Twitter at@RobRyan_Art. A Sky Full of Kindness is published by Chronicle Books.

Review can also be found at Discover & Be.

22 December: Sophy Henn

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Amazing author and illustrator Sophy Henn on Day 22!

Sophy Henn writes and illustrates children’s books in her studio, with a large cup of tea by her side, and can’t quite believe her luck! Where Bear?, her first book, was nominated for both the Kate Greenaway Medal and shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in 2015. Pom Pom Gets the Grumps won Junior Design Awards Best Book of the Year 2015, and Sophy won Best Emerging Talent (Children’s Author). Sophy was delighted to be spokesperson for Save the Children’s Read On, Get On campaign, focusing on pre-school. She was also the World Book Day Illustrator for 2015 and 2016.

Name three things on your Christmas list this year! Slippers, I’ve got my eye on a rather lovely silver sheepskin pair. Yes, silver! A nice, comfy, baggy jumper. Books – A big Eames coffee table one, an Angela Thirkell, a curry cookbook and Mistletoe Murder!

Christmas is a time of family traditions – what are your best (or worst!) family traditions? My daughter and I make crackers for everyone around the table. It was fun at first, we started about five years ago, filling the crackers with fake moustaches, a little gift, jokes and a charade, each tailored for the recipient. It was very hilarious to see nieces, nephews, grandparents, in fact everyone around the table tucking into Christmas dinner wearing a variety of moustaches! It’s pretty labour intensive though and one member of the party was unnecessarily critical of the jokes (how can they be too cheesy??) last year so I think it’s my best and worst tradition all rolled into one!

(Brilliant – Christmas moustaches!!)

We also have a Christmas eve tradition of new pyjamas, one I am VERY happy to maintain.

What is your favourite story to read at Christmas? The GRINCH. Dr Seuss nails it again! I am utterly guilty of being over sentimental at this time of year, it’s easy to do. But Dr Seuss manages a hilarious adventure, packed with meaning, centred around Christmas without being at all smushy. Genius!

If you could have Christmas dinner with anyone (alive today or person from history) who would it be and why? Obviously Father Christmas. I’d like to know how he get’s so much done in such a short space of time, I could use some of that magic!

Your illustrations bring to life your stories beautifully. If you could illustrate and bring to life a festive story of your choice, which one would it be and why? Thank you! But this is SUCH a hard question! Well I’m not going anywhere near The Grinch as Dr Seuss has that one covered. One of my other favourite Christmas stories is The Tailor of Gloucester, but again Beatrix Potter’s beautiful illustrations are such a big part of why I love it so I don’t think I could go there either! Maybe it would be A Visit from St Nicholas by Clement C. Moore which contains the magical line… “Twas the night before Christmas, when all
through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse”. Just those two lines send shivers of excitement down my spine, its a very magical Christmas story. Or possibly Agatha Christie’s The Adventure of The Christmas Pudding. I’d like to have a go at illustrating a longer text and I think a collection of murderous texts by one of my favourites could be a good place to start!

(LOVE The Tailor of Gloucester -still have my edition from when I was little. And LOVE Agatha Christie – I think you should definitely do that one!)

Pom Pom is a wonderful character whose stories young and old alike can identify with! How do you think Pom Pom likes to celebrate Christmas? I think Pom Pom would do what I did as a child, wake up at about 3am and run into his parents room bursting with excitement! Pom Pom would probably tear through his presents, talking at a hundred miles an hour because Christmas is SO EXCITING! Then I think he would probably slightly regret opening his presents so quickly, sometimes it’s good to savour your presents a bit! After presents Pom Pom would definitely sneak some gold coins in before lunch and cover the floor with all his toys! But alongside all of this very ‘busy’ behaviour, Pom Pom would be giving out lots of lovely Christmas cuddles and probably be fast asleep by 4pm!

Reader’s question from students at Warden Park Academy; when you are creating a story do you draw it or write it first? My stories tend to start with a character. I think that’s my favourite part of my job, the thinking up characters part! Once I have sketched out my character, from all angles and doing different things, their personality starts to shape. Then a story will develop from their character or I will remember a story I have scribbled down in one of my notebooks that would suit them (then I have to find it!!! Not easy when you have a least a million notebooks!). Once I know who and what the story is about then I start to write. Then re write. Then edit. Then re write again. Then think the whole idea is rubbish, at which point I show it to someone else as I can’t see the wood for the trees. Then re write it all over again. Once I am happy with the words I sketch out each page VERY roughly. Then re sketch it, etc etc. And FINALLY when I am happy with the sketches I get cracking on the illustrations.

Turkey or goose? TURKEY

Real or fake tree? REAL

Mince pies or Christmas pudding? JUST MORE CHEESE PLEASE (spiced fruit is not right)

Stockings – end of the bed or over the fireplace? END OF THE BED

Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve? CHRISTMAS EVE – all the lovely anticipation and zero pressure to have “the best night of the year”.

Thank you for taking part in our festive Q & A! Have a very Happy Christmas!

Find out more about Sophy www.sophyhenn.com and follow her on Twitter @sophyhenn.

Bookchat Roadshow – success!

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The alarm went off bright and early yesterday morning and it was all systems go. We got to Warden Park Primary, having pre-loaded the car the night before just as the head teacher, Steve Davis, arrived. I’ll admit to being a bag of nerves and excitement – more of the latter though as this was something I’ve been planning and thinking about for the best part of the year and I couldn’t believe it had actually arrived!

Set-up didn’t take too long, thanks to various helpers and the friendly school caretaker along with various members of school staff. With the banners out, participants began to arrive. Gill from Inkpots was closely followed by exhibitors Discover & Be, Helen Arkell, the Public Library Service and Schools Library Service. Louise from Lovereading arrived, bringing lots of brilliant information from Barrington Stoke. It was taking shape before my eyes! Waterstones arrived with a fantastic array of brilliant books for the bookstall. Parents and carers filtered in and the air was filled with curiosity and expectancy.

Steve Davis gave a perfect introduction placing reading at the heart of learning. I began my presentation with a little trepidation but also huge excitement! It was great to be able to share so many ideas and suggestions with parents and carers who want to support their children with reading for pleasure. Gill from Inkpots followed with an overview of creative writing, saying that we all have a story to tell and that creative writing should be a fun and collaborative process. Louise Weir shared all the wonderful things Lovereading does to support children’s reading and book choices. The tea break was buzzing with activity when parents had the opportunity to visit the various exhibitors covering a range of reading and writing related areas from phonics to dyslexia and finding out about the local library service.

Then the grand finale arrived, with three fantastic award winning authors forming the first ever Bookchat Roadshow panel (sadly Eve Ainsworth couldn’t participate due to ill health). Sophy Henn, Nikki Sheehan and Jamie Thomson shared their childhood memories of reading, along with ideas for encouraging children who aren’t enthusiastic about reading and creative writing and their thoughts on the importance of stories. There were lots of laughs as Jamie kept being ‘taken over’ by the Dark Lord in between reminiscing about childhood reading and where he gets his writing ideas. “Ideas can come from anything – turn the ordinary into the extraordinary! How do you know the old lady on the bus isn’t an international spy?” Sophy had wonderful insight into starting the creative writing process using images and pictures and how stories can be created just using your surroundings as inspiration. “Even just going on a family walk you can play the inspiration game, all coming up with ideas to create a story!” And Nikki shared that for her empathy is the most important reason for reading and writing stories “We find out who we are and who others are through reading and telling stories”.

During the panel discussion, there were questions from the audience and these were responded to not just by the authors, but by the various representatives of exhibiting organisations and those who had delivered presentations. It was collaboration in action, with the conversation focusing on supporting those attending so they could go away feeling truly inspired.

Initial feedback has been hugely positive which fills me with great joy! Huge thanks to all those who participated, supported, attended and helped in any way. Whilst the dust is still settling, I am on to planning Bookchat Roadshow number 2, so spread the word and we may well visit a school near you!

For more information about the next event email thebookactivist@gmail.com

Amazing Authors in August

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With many children and parents on holidays, it’s a great time to be promoting reading and the wonderful books available to read. Children love to find out about behind-the-scenes of an author’s life and how they spend their time! Through Amazing Authors in August we hope to inspire lots of holiday reading.

Have you ever wondered what authors get up to in the summer? Do they seek inspiration in far flung, exotic locations? What fantastic, fabulous adventures do they have? Or do they prefer a more sedate summer, surrounded by home comforts?! We asked our fantastic participating authors ten questions about their summer and will be publishing their answers online throughout August.

Lifeboat at the BOAT!

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The B.O.A.T theatre in Brighton played host to a wonderful event on Sunday 19th June to raise money for the School Bus Project, set up to provide education to children in the Calais refugee camps. A group of amazing authors & illustrators came together to entertain and enthrall an audience of children and their parents, with activities running throughout the afternoon.

Having read about the event at the last-minute, I was unaware of how many people were involved, so I couldn’t quite believe just how many fantastic authors were under one roof – well, not exactly, as it’s an open air theatre, but you know what I mean! I’ve been to some wonderful book events, but this must surely have been one of the best – the atmosphere was great – and not just because of the wonderful venue and glorious sunshine! Hosted by Sid from CBeebies, we sat with bated breath as author after author performed/ read aloud/ drew/ played games and even sang & danced for the watching crowd. Children were delighted to be involved, as were even the most reluctant of parent participants. There was even an opportunity to do some life-drawing with a group of artistes posing in various costumes – including a storm trooper! Phoenix comics were running workshops and there were various vintage type circus games going on, each with a related book theme. From Emily Gravett to Axel Sheffler it was like a who’s who of children’s picture book illustrators and authors.

Life drawing

Adam Stower & Anthony Browne

Phoenix Comics workshop in action

The Book Activist & Anthony Browne

I was delighted to bump into a Book Activist friend, Adam Stower, who was enjoying talking with fellow illustrators. He very kindly introduced me to Anthony Browne…! Okay so yes, I was a but start struck but wouldn’t you be? Anthony Browne has written some of the most incredible picture books ever published and there he was right in front of me. He too joined in the fun, and had the audience helping him draw marvellous pictures. A F Harrold gave a brilliant performance of his poems and had everyone in stitches. But perhaps most exciting was Axel Sheffler, who proceeded to delight one and all by drawing one of the all time favourite picture book characters, The Gruffalo. How completely magical to see these wonderful images appearing on the paper in front of our very eyes!

Enough of the name dropping – not forgetting the cause that the proceeds of the event were going to. The School Bus in question was actually there and I spent a good deal of time talking to those involved in creating the project. What an amazing idea – to give those who have no opportunity to access any kind of education the chance to be taught by a range of volunteer teachers on a converted school bus, which will be filled with resources. Inspiring. And incredibly brave.

This event totally proved the point that having authors share their wonderful creations directly with children and their parents is absolutely the best way to promote and encourage reading. The joy on everyone’s faces was a sight to see. It also enabled a huge amount to be raised for a very worthwhile cause. I defy anyone not to have left the B.O.A.T that day with a renewed love for children’s books and stories and an insight into telling stories through pictures. And of course, the very positive feeling of doing something to support children who live in the most dire of circumstances.

For more information about the event and the project visit:

https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2016/may/27/lifeboat-childrens-illustrators-refugees

http://www.schoolbusproject.org/