BOOKS: Childhood Favourites

by Jo Middleton

WOULD YOU RATHER be swallowed by a fish, crushed by a snake or sat on by a rhinoceros? It’s a very important question, and one I considered often as a child, thanks to John Burningham’s quirky ‘Would you rather…’

Published in the year of my birth, it provided me with many moral dilemmas, and sparked hours of chatter, both with friends and in my head. Would I rather jump in the nettles for £5 or stay all night in a creepy house for £50? I just couldn’t decide. Did I want to be the kind of person who would opt just for the short term pain for a smaller gain, or did I want to toughen up and stick out the whole night?

You’d think that many of the questions would be no-brainers, but you’d be surprised at the number of adult friends I asked who’d rather be covered in jam than soaked in water. I guess you just never can tell…

Read the rest of this article

Posted 25 April 2012 in Books

BOOKS: Alex Latimer

by Jo Middleton

TODAY WE ARE delighted to welcome to Little Big Magazine the fabulously talented illustrator Alex Latimer, [pictured below], creator of The Boy Who Cried Ninja. Alex’s new book, Penguin’s Hidden Talent, is out now.

Little Big: Hi Alex, thanks very much for talking to us! We’re massive fans of your books and love your illustrations. They’re so simple, yet you seem to be able to create such strong personalities with them. What have been your influences as you’ve developed your career?

Alex Latimer: I love Oliver Jeffers’ books and you can see his influence in my illustrations. In fact it was Oliver who kindly put me onto his agent - and his agent who found me a book deal. So he’s influenced me in more ways than one. Another great influence has been my father’s work - he published a children’s picture book in 1983 - so I’ve grown up with the belief that I could follow his example. Read the rest of this article

Posted 11 April 2012 in Art + Media, Books

BOOKS: Croc & Bird, by Alexis Deacon

By Jo Middleton

THIS WEEK we’ve been talking to the talented writer and illustrator Alexis Deacon, a graduate of the University of Brighton and nominee of the Kate Greenaway Medal. Alexis has written and illustrated numerous children’s books and his latest creation, Croc and Bird, has just been published…

Little Big Magazine: Hi Alexis, thanks very much for talking to us! We’ve been reading Beegu and Croc and Bird, and really love your stories and your illustrations. It’s fantastic how you create such lovable characters with just a few words and pictures. Did you always want to write and illustrate children’s books?

Alexis Deacon: I have had my heart set on making stories for a living for a very long time. Like many children my aspirations would change with my current obsession. One day I would want to be a millionaire-playboy-vigilante the next I would want to be a time traveller or a Jedi. Once I realised that these ambitions were unlikely to be fulfilled, I settled for the next best thing, which was to write about and draw the things that I imagined. Read the rest of this article

Posted 9 March 2012 in Books

BOOKS: A Boy And A Bear In A Boat

By Jo Middleton

IMAGINE READING Life of Pi and Winnie the Pooh in one evening, when you’re tired and really should be in bed, and then being asked in the morning to recount the stories. A Boy and a Bear in a Boat is what you might well end up with.

Captained by a bear of equally little brain, but with considerably more self-belief, Harriet is a small rowing boat in which the boy hitches a ride, allegedly just ‘over to the other side’. But things don’t go quite according to plan.

“Shouldn’t we be there by now? Or at least be able to see it?”
“Oh, I see what you mean,” said the bear. “Well, yes, normally we would have arrived by now but unfortunately there were… unforeseeable anomalies in the currents and we had to adjust our course. So now we’re running a little behind schedule. Sorry.”
“I see,” said the boy. He didn’t see at all. “But are we nearly there?”
“Not really, no.” Read the rest of this article

Posted 3 February 2012 in Books

BOOKS: Faces

Introducing our new Books Editor, Jo Middleton, the fine writing talent otherwise known as blogger Slummy Single Mummy…. Send Jo your book recommendations via Twitter to @mummyblogger.

By Jo Middleton

HAVE YOU EVER looked at a cloud and seen a face? Or watched the car coming towards you and imagined the headlights as eyes, staring intently at the road, like a strict headmistress at the front of a class of naughty school boys? No? Perhaps that one’s just me then.

As children, our minds are open to imagining personalities for all kinds of inanimate objects, but as adults, many of us lose this ability to think creatively and imaginatively about the everyday items in the world around us.

David Goodman is one person who certainly hasn’t lost the power to look beyond face value. In his new book, Faces, co-created with Zoe Miller and published by Tate Publishing, David creates a series of faces from anything and everything - from musical instruments to old tea strainers. Some look friendly, some beautiful, and others, like Sad Sam and his zip mouth, just a little bit scary.

What is clear though, is the power of a face to convey emotion and personality, to create ‘people’ from what is only a pile of buttons and cotton reels. No wonder that so much of how we communicate with others comes from our facial expressions, rather than words. Read the rest of this article

Posted 27 January 2012 in Books