The lure of illustrated chilsren's books
a highly recommended Guardian Review feature, written by Jenny Uglow
...Small children don't think of characters or settings as being invented: Charlie and Lola, the Little Princess and the Gruffalo simply are. And children possess stories in their own way too. As listeners they pooh-pooh the laws of narrative. They rush ahead, or stop maddeningly at a single page and refuse to continue. Often this page involves sudden chaos or disorder, like the joy of knocking down a tower of bricks. In Judith Kerr's Mog the Forgetful Cat the favourite picture is not the climax where Mog surprises the burglar (although that allows for a bloodcurdling "miaow"). Instead the choice is Mog's sudden appearance at the window which makes Mrs Thomas jump so that the peas in her saucepan cascade to the floor. Similarly, in Lynley Dodd's Slinky Malinki, the stopping-point is the picture of the felonious cat entangled in all his purloined goods, with milk-bottles crashing and alarm clocks screeching...
Leave a comment