We are delighted to feature an interview with children's author extraordinaire Mo O'Hara.  Mo is the author of the brilliantly funny My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish books and is a huge friend and supporter of libraries.  We are doubly excited about this interview because Mo's illustrator for her new graphic novel, Agent Moose, Jess Bradley has joined us for some questions too.  

Did you read comics a child? Although it is changing, in the UK they are often quite maligned, is there more of a culture surrounding them in the US? 

Thanks for having me on your blog.  I’m excited to talk about Agent Moose. 

I did read comics as a kid.  My brother was a big collector of comics ( mostly DC) so our house was full of comics.  I enjoyed the DC comics, the action and the characters but mostly I loved the way you could immerse yourself totally in the world of the comic book. They were their own universes with different rules. That’s very liberating as a kid.  I dabbled in comics really, I would pick one up because the cover intrigued me or it was a mash up with a character from another series (I loved it when they did that) but I never followed them the way my brother did. I’m a complete Sci Fi geek too so anything that was Star Wars, Star Trek or Doctor Who also grabbed my attention. Then I really lost touch with comics until I was a grown up when I came across some amazing  graphic novels.  When I had kids we started getting The Pheonix and we loved that!  The last proper comic book I bought was on the pretext of buying it for my son a few years ago and it was a mash up of Doctor Who with Star Trek Next Gen. I’m still such a nerd. It was epic though.

At the moment Agent Moose is only published in the US but it’s easy to order import copies through any independent bookshop or online store.  Waterstones online has it available from the first of September!!

Jess Bradley also kindly took part in the interview, we asked Jess if she read comics as a child and also about her work on The Phoenix comic

I loved comics as a kid! I grew up with the Dandy and Beano (which I’m now a writer for, which is pretty awesome. I think 10 year-old me would be happy!), and also Whizzer and Chips and Buster. When I was a teenager I discovered X-Men and then got into a lot of American comics, especially indie comics. I was a huge fan of Manga too and everything I read has played a huge part in influencing my own art. My work on The Phoenix is very much based on what I know I would have loved reading as a kid; very odd characters in odd situations and lots of toilet humour! I love making the extraordinary ordinary so you’ll find a lot of magical creatures doing boring things like getting their homework done on time and washing up!


Mo, What were the challenges of writing a story told largely through dialogue and illustration? 

 I read somewhere recently that most authors are either character/dialogue authors or plot/action authors. I’m definitely the former.  So writing a script with just dialogue was actually my happy place. I used to be an actor and I started out writing scripts for performance ( stage and radio) so I think in scenes and when I write books I write with a movie script in mind.  My editor has to usually get me to trim back my dialogue and put in more description in my fiction books.  It was a learning curve to get the story into a certain number of frames for each chapter and I always overwrite so again there was a lot of cutting of dialogue.  Then the challenge is to make it consistently funny and pacey without losing the real sense of the characters too.  Jess Bradley is amazing at creating the look at feel of Agent Moose. Her illustrations bring not only the characters but the whole world of Big Forest to life.


Can you tell us a little about how the process of creating the book worked and what kind of collaboration – if any you had with Jess Bradley?

Working on Agent Moose really was a four way process with me, Jess, the editor Holly West and the art director Liz Dresner.  I wrote the script and worked with Holly on that. Jess created the character drawings and then Liz and Jess did the lay-out and design of the book to make it look inviting and fun and make you want to turn each page.   Once they had rough sketches that we had another look at the text and made some changes so it worked better.  I think with book one we were feeling it out a bit.  In creating book two we had a template of what we wanted so I could write to fit that.  All the way through my main question was- Is it funny if…? Jess’s sense of humour is fantastic so I think a lot of the same things cracked us both up.  Her illustrations genuinely make me giggle reading the book for the ump-teenth time. 

We asked Jess for her thoughts on working on Agent Moose

The book was a wonderful collaboration and one of the funnest projects I’ve worked on. I would get Mo’s wonderful script (kind of like a film script but split into book pages!) and then I would do some character designs for all of the lead characters. These would go to Mo and our wonderful editor and art director and once they had all had a chat, would come back to me with any changes they might want and I’d make some amendments.

After characters were decided on, I would then go through the script and make thumbnails, which are very small scribbles of the pages so I could figure out how many panels could fit on a page and make sure all of the characters didn’t get too squished! I would then go on and do pencil versions of the pages. Off to Mo, the editor and art director for a look and back to me with any changes (luckily, not many!).

Once the whole book is drawn, I then ink and colour it in Photoshop. There’s a lot of back and forth but it’s nice because someone might come up with a suggestion for something that I didn’t think of and it can really add to the book! I feel like I know the characters so well now and love drawing new situations for them. Mo has some fantastic ideas and drawing them is a hoot!


Mo, the first case for Anonymoose and Owlfred is ‘Turtle-apped’ can you tell us a little about it?

Anonymoose and Owlfred (special agents for Woodland HQ) are one case away from solving their 100^th case. Then Camo Cameleon (Agent Moose’s arch rival) solves his 100^th case first.  Anonymoose is not amused. When they travel to Camo Cameleon’s patch to find a missing witness from Camo’s last case- everything is not as it seems.


There’s some lovely inventive funny moments with ‘News of the Wild’ and it feels a well realised habitat filled with humour and fun, how much world building was involved?

I loved creating the world of Big Forest with its newspaper ‘News of the Wild’.  We wanted to make all the characters really distinct and give them all a chance to shine.  The world they inhabit has to seem real too.  You have to feel at home there. But always we are looking for the ridiculous.

So, you might not know this but Agent Moose first started out life as Agent Mouse. When I was first thinking up ideas for my next project my agent, Gemma Cooper said , ‘I accidentally typed ‘Anonomouse’ the other day instead of anonymous. Maybe there’s a character there?’

I liked the idea and wrote several chapters of a really boring story about a special agent master of disguise Anonymouse.  It never worked. I put it away and came back to it months later. I realised that it didn’t work because a mouse in disguise isn’t funny.  Mice are pretty incognito anyway really.  A mouse could be in the room right now and I wouldn’t know it.  But Anonymoose? A 7 foot tall moose that could be in the room and you don’t know it ?  Now that’s funny. How do you disguise a giant furry antlered moose spy? And so Anonymoose was born. So, I constantly remind myself to look for what is funny in the scene and how can we make it funnier.


Towards the end there’s a threat by the perpetrator (no spoilers in this interview!)  ‘You haven’t seen the last of me’ can we expect any future outings?

Yes, no spoilers but you do get to see the perpetrator in the next couple books. 

You are an actor as well as a writer, does this inform your writing and events at all?  Conversely, do you feel your writing influences your acting?

I definitely feel that my writing is influenced by my acting in many ways.  I think from a practical point of view my ear is tuned in to voices.  I have very clear ideas of how my characters speak and move.  I have to work harder at the plot and setting for my books but my characters often come out with very clear voices from the beginning.  I also think I’m used to working collaboratively because I worked in theatre. I’m not precious about ‘my lines’ or ‘my writing’ because I know it will be even better with a whole team of us collaborating to make it the best book it can be.  Thirdly, I think working in improv for years has made me open to new ideas during the creative process.  I think as authors we can get stuck in our fixed plan of how we want the book to go instead of listening to our characters when they throw in something new. In improv you are taught to ‘accept’ to ‘say yes’ and take that and move on.  Often the best work I’ve done, acting or writing, is because I said yes to the unexpected.  I think if I had one bit of advice for aspiring writers it would be to take a couple of improv classes. It will open up your mind and switch off your internal censor.  Lastly the comedian in me LOVES to get up in front of a crowd of kids and make them laugh. I am really really missing performing at festivals and schools because of  the pandemic.  I do stuff online but it’s not the same as the energy you get from live shows.  I await the day when I can get on stage at a school or festival again.

I haven’t been in a play really since I’ve been a professional writer (just done little bits and bobs). I think I would approach rehearsals and delving into the character and discovering what makes them tick in a slightly different way now.  I think I’ve learned a lot about conflict and how people behave in conflict and that would be interesting to apply in rehearsing a play.


We asked Jess for a bit of information about her background as an illustrator

I’ve always drawn, even when I was really young and I studied art all through school. I went on to art college and did a foundation course and then went to university where I gained a BA Hons in Illustration. I worked in a comic book shop after I graduated and got into self-publishing my own work and have always done that alongside my freelance work for publishers. I really enjoy the freedom of being able to make my own books! I love working with publishers though and have been very lucky to work with a lot including Macmillan, Buster Books, Capstone, Carlton Books and Arcturus Publishing.


Mo, you’ve also written the massively enjoyable My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish, picture books like the brilliant Romeosaurs and Juliet Rex and now a graphic novel.  What differences in approach are needed, do you have a preferred form to work in and are there any forms you’d like to try your hand at? 

Awh thanks. I loved writing the fiction books and the picture books and they are very different animals. I think writing a picture book text is like writing a poem. You have to be so precise. There is no room for words that aren’t pulling their weight.  I have more ideas for picture books- including some non -fiction stuff. I also have an idea for a new fiction series that I’m kicking around and I’ve written lots of poems during lockdown. Poetry seemed to be my go to form for a creative outlet during the last few months. I’d love to have some more poetry published too.


You’ve had some fantastic illustrators working on your books Marek Jagucki, Andrew Joyner, Ada Grey and Jess Bradley.  What do you think leads to a successful pairing of text and illustration?

I know! I feel like I won the illustrator lottery or something!! I have been incredibly lucky to have been paired with the illustrators that I have worked with.  The editors and art directors at the publishing houses really did the pairing.  These four illustrators have such different and unique styles and each one suits the project that we did together so well.  I guess it’s just experience knowing what images would suit what voice but I just hope I keep getting this lucky!!!


This year you were heavily involved with setting up the Herne Hill Kidlitfest, can you tell us a little about this and about how it went?

That was an incredible experience and led to me meeting and working with  some absolutely fantastic authors, illustrators in the sessions and editors, agents, librarians and literacy specialists on the panels.  (including Zoey Dixon from Lambeth Libraries on a fascinating Reading for Pleasure Panel) The festival was in South London in the Herne Hill Station Hall which is a buzzing  community hub above Herne Hill Station. It’s a large space (big enough to fit 90 kids in the Chris and Katie Riddell session on the Saturday!!). It showed that there is a big demand for book events in the area.  The uptake from local schools was amazing and the contact with kids through the story making festival was brilliant as well.

We are hoping to run the story making contest ( stories can be told in word, drawing or video) this year and we’ll have to see if circumstances allow us to hold any in person festival events.

CWISL (Children’s Writers and Illustrators for Stories and Literacy), Herne Hill Station Hall, Herne Hill Forum and Tales on Moon Lane bookshop were all involved in the creation and running of the festival.  We all hope to take it forward to continue to connect local kids with authors and illustrators.

You are also very involved with SCBWI and with the Pulse what does this entail and are there ways that libraries can support any of your work?

Candy Gourlay and I run the PULSE strand of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) events which is aimed at our published authors. As you know SCBWI British Isles as a whole and  PULSE specifically have been keen to connect more with librarians especially YLG.  We have done some fun joint events so far (pre pandemic) and hope to do joint panels, talks, socials and even conferences perhaps in the future.  I think we both have so many common goals,  promoting reading for pleasure especially and  also just getting the right books in the hands of the right kids. Librarians work that voodoo.  They are the people who, if given the opportunity, can impact a child’s reading life immensely. Authors and Illustrators are the content makers. We put our ideas and words and pictures out there into the world but feel powerless sometimes about how we can get those words and pictures into he hands of our future readers. Librarians and Authors (writers and Illustrators) truly  have a  symbiotic relationship. 

I hope that we can all be creative in these next several months to try and have virtual events together perhaps and to make plans for when we can all meet up in person again.

Just a small plug too for those of you who work in schools.  Book PenPals  is a fantastic resource for connecting authors and illustrators with schools and school libraries. In current times this is great way of keeping contact through online posts and snail mail between authors and students. 

A huge thank you to Mo O'Hara and Jess Bradley for a fascinating Friday interview.  Do check out the illustrations which Jess has kindly shared with us!

We are delighted to welcome performance poet and author Laura Dockrill to the YLG blog alongside Gwen Millward to talk about their new book Butterfly Brain.  Part cautionary tale and part lithe and lyrical exploration of the ways in which memory and dreams contribute to our make-up, it is a beautifully written, illustrated and produced book that leaves a lasting impression upon the minds of readers.   

Congratulations on the publication of Butterfly Brain it feels a really special book with some profound comments on the impact of keeping feelings secret, on dreams and on memories.

LAURA: Ah thanks so much. I’m so excited about it. 


 Please can you tell us a bit about yourselves?

LAURA: I’m an author from south London. My love for writing and storytelling began at a very young age where I would love making up stories and scribbling plays for my younger sister and brother. As a child I would always keep a sketch book, scrap book and note pad by my bed and would constantly be keeping notes, writing poetry and stories, drawing, cutting and scribbling. I was a nosy, curious child. Obsessed with people watching and conversation. I even transcribed one of my mum’s phone conversations to my grandma without her knowing! I guess this was all a love that never really went away. I looked to writers of all disciplines - from Jacqueline Wilson, Benjamin Zephaniah, Roald Dahl and Carol Ann Duffy to cookbooks, film script, theatre, poetry and music. I love lyrics and would enjoy listening to the inspiration behind a song- punk, Bowie and soul. My dad would always encourage me to research the artists that I liked. To pick up a dictionary and learn a new word. My mum makes documentaries, so I think that’s where my love for character came from. The two smushed together made for a very eager, brightly coloured, overly excited, untactful spy. I’m very grateful to do my job. 

GWEN: I grew up in Wales and went to a Welsh speaking school in a tiny village called Llanfair Caereinion - go on! try and say it. My parents are both quite arty - writer Mum and artist Dad, so I found myself doing both and loved it (I wasn't very academic - I was really bad at maths, still am). I used to draw lots of leafy things and wildlife and wrote short stories about cats. 

I studied illustration in Edinburgh which was an amazing experience for an 18-year-old straight out of a tiny village. This stretched my brain and arty-muscles and helped me figure out how to hone my drawing and writing. When I was 25, I got my first picture book contract with Puffin books. It was incredibly exciting, but my agent reminded me not to give up my day job (which at the time was temping in an insurance company in Bristol, not my area of expertise!) and it took another few years before I was able to concentrate solely on writing and illustrating. To date I've written and illustrated three of my own books and illustrated 14 picture books and 13 pre-teen fiction books. I have lots of other books in the pipeline including another two of my own - which I cannot WAIT to get started on! One involves monsters. I'm excited.

Can you introduce us to the book and to Gus the main character?

LAURA: Sure. As a writer of children books I spend a lot of time (usually) doing school visits. It’s a really important and precious part of the job as it reminds you what children are actually like. They are changing and growing all the time. You learn a lot from them. How robust and resilient they are especially. How genuine! Physically being inside a school is also very evocative for our own memories- the smell of the crayons, the sugar paper, the paints - the dining hall- the savoury smell of rice and potatoes and custard. Of biscuit and pencil sharpenings. The noise of squeaky rubber on school halls. Of laughter and shouting and the triumphant clang of an out of tune piano in a school hall with a school assembly singing. And I forgot how much kids sit back on their chairs! It’s a little thing but they are always at it. Always being told off for it! When my little brother hector was little he would do this and once he pushed too far and split his head! I remember seeing his hair. Angelic white curls drenched in blood! And the stitches. I think that’s always stuck with me- and something I ALWAYS love to bring out to the kids in school! 


Gus has some pretty big things happening in his life.  How important do you feel it is to approach difficult situations in books for children and young people and are there any considerations in your approach?

LAURA: It’s extremely important. Books were my first friend. For many children they are solace, wisdom and companionship. They teach us how to love- to be thoughtful and ask questions. It is important that we tell stories that children can relate to with characters they identity with that share the same interests, aspirations and fears as them. It would be a lie if we pretended that life was totally blissful all the time. It has its tough bits and pain but we can show a child that they are not alone. That they are not weird or broken. And that in itself helps. Books teach us how to put our feelings and emotions into words- and that is such a vital life skill. Books are vitamins for the brain. 


Gwen: How did you respond to the story and character of Gus and were there any challenges in this?

GWEN: When I first read the text for Butterfly Brain I was really stuck by how fresh and raw Laura's words were. It's a heart breaking story but she tells it without soppyness or saccharine tone. It's gritty and painful and is straight to the point. Gus is a young boy in so much turmoil but can't unlock all that pain. It seemed right to reflect that in the drawings, which are quite edgy and dark I think. I have to admit I was in floods of tears towards the end of the book, trying to draw Gus as a baby with his Mum was hard to do through leaky eyes. I was a mess. I think also being a Mum to a 7 year old boy myself made it feel quite close to home - it really tugged hard at the old heart strings. 


Gwen: Can you tell us a little about your artistic technique?

 GWEN: The final images were drawn digitally, but initially sketched out in pen and ink. I used quite a strong dark line to outline the characters. This softens ever-so-slightly in the latter half of the book to reflect Gus's emotions softening and becoming less gloomy.

Laura: There’s a real sense of playfulness in the language of the book, which makes it very fun to read, did you enjoy writing it, were there any parts that you particularly enjoyed writing?

LAURA: Ah thanks! Yes I always spend a lot of time reading the work out loud. I write a lot in my head without paper and pen - in the bath or when walking or cooking. So the work always have a sense of rhythm and musicality to it. As I am inspired by storytelling and words in general- not just books- it is important to me that the work is illustrative and theatrical. That is not still and stiff on the page but dances and jiggles about. That people can feel the words in their mouth as though they are at a restaurant tasting a meal. When writing, a story does not just translate through the words alone but the order the words appear in and how they fit together too. 


It feels like there are some visual and written influences – the opening has similarities to Hilaire Belloc’s cautionary tales  (poor old Rebecca who slammed doors for fun and perished), and visually there are some similarities to the unsettling work of Edward Gorey.  Were any works or artists a particular inspiration?

LAURA: I’m so glad you picked up on that. Yes I am a very big fan of the macabre and Avant Garde, fairy tales, Greek mythology, folk lore and fables. Cautionary tales! I love Shockheaded Peter which actually has similar stories but I wanted to make sure that I delivered the real caution- which is to remind us to take care of our mental health as well as our ‘physical’ self- which is a harder thing to write about especially for little ones. And that the brain and body are connected as one. It’s about trauma and grief. Using the guise of smashing a head open as a realisation of grief.

GWEN:  I am a huge fan of Edward Gorey and I’m sure somehow in my subconscious his illustrations might have influenced me! I think Laura’s text inspired me mostly, though. Her language is very visual and I think I’m pretty dark, to be honest. It was a bit of a dream come true to be asked to illustrate this, I feel hugely lucky.


There’s some very profound comments around the role memory plays in defining who we are. Our members are librarians, do you have a favourite childhood memory of libraries and reading?

LAURA: You know I have met so many incredible librarians over the last ten years. Librarians that pick you up at 5am in the pouring rain for a day or touring schools, that carry the heaviest of boxes of books from their car. And back again. That sign your name in with a grin. That squeeze you in the back of their mini squished up next to their baby’s car seat and picnic blankets. Umbrellas and dog hair! Always smiling. Always talking about their favourite books. I have met librarians that have shown me to best shops in their villages- led me towards leopard print shoes and vintage dresses. Bought me the best carrot cake, hot chocolate and even gin in tins! I have met librarians that have INFLUENCE. Power. That can save a little child’s life by listening and sharing and offering that safe warm glow of the library arms to keep them safe like literary lighthouses! Librarians that know it all but say nothing and then speak up when it truly matters. That remember a young person’s name. That order that special book for them. That make them reading lists. That lend them pens and photocopy for them. That help with maths homework. That share satsumas behind the front desk. 

I’ve met librarians that make the best cups of tea in the world. The greatest cheese sandwiches. Encouraged and supported. Been loyal. And engaged. Get the best coffee shortbread biscuits in. That are soft and gentle and cosy. That speak in hushed tones when you’re reading only to bellow down the hall and electrify a gaggle of noisy kids in the hallway and put them ALL in their place. Librarians in the most incredible of fancy dress costumes. That have been at a school or in a community long enough to be mistaken for the building itself. Then those are new that simply LOVE books and want to make a difference. That have moved with the times. The change. Seen people come and go. Remain constant. Capable of putting one book in the right hands that could change a life forever.

GWEN: My memories of libraries and librarians are very fond ones. I would go with my mum or gran to the local, which was tiny but perfect. We also had a library bus that would visit when I was really small (Wales used to have lost of these). There wasn’t a massive selection, but it was fun having a chat with the librarian that ran it and a novelty to hop on a tiny bus and look at books.

 Thank you so much to Laura and Gwen for the fantastic interview and thanks to Piccadilly Press for the opportunity.

It is a real pleasure to welcome Andrea Reece, editor of Books for Keeps, the brilliant journal that offers news, features and reviews of children's books.  Books for Keeps is the 'go-to' publication about children's books in the UK and is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary and is currently undergoing a fundraising campaign to enable a new more flexible and user-friendly site.  

Please can you introduce yourself

I took on the role of Managing Editor of Books for Keeps in 2012, having been directly involved in the magazine since 2010, and a fan since I first came across it in the late 1980s.  At that point, and for the next twenty years, I worked in publishing and specifically within children’s marketing departments. I began my career at Transworld before moving to Reed as it was then, Egmont as it is now, then HarperCollins and Hodder Children’s Books, and then later for Piccadilly Press. To be honest I fell into children’s publishing completely by accident but have never regretted it and indeed feel extraordinarily lucky to have met or worked with so many talented authors, illustrators, editors and designers over the years. 

What does your role as editor of Books for Keeps entail and how long have you been doing it for?

Books for Keeps is published six times a year, and each issue will include a mix of articles, reviews and comment.  The lead article is always the Authorgraph, an in-depth interview with a notable children’s author or illustrator. This year’s Authorgraph subjects have included Catherine Johnson, Joshua Seigal and Elizabeth Acevedo and our next is Kevin Crossley-Holland. Other long-running articles include the Windows into Illustration feature in which an illustrator explains their technique and approach to a particular illustration; Ten of the Best which highlights ten of the best books on a particular theme; and our Classic in Short – 800 words on a children’s classic written by the inimitable Brian Alderson. It’s my job to commission these plus other articles for the magazine, make sure they are in on time and edited before being sent to our designer, the wonderful Louise Millar, who creates our digital version.  I’ll also sort through the new books we’ve received from publishers and send them out to our team of reviewers. With the help of editorial assistants Eloise Delamere and Alexia Counsell all the reviews and articles are then added to the website ready for the publication of our new issue. At the moment there’s no charge to read Books for Keeps, instead we rely on marketing support from publishers. I’m also responsible for that liaison with publishers and indeed, the invoicing.

Books for Keeps is celebrating its 40th year.  Can you tell us a little about its background and origins.

Books for Keeps owes its existence to the vision of Richard Hill who set it up in 1980 as part of the School Bookshop Organisation. Its aim, as laid out in the very first editorial, was “to reach out to people involved with children and books, whether in professional or private capacities, and try our best to provide lively, imaginative and helpful ideas and information about the enormous range of books available to today's children.” That’s a great summary I think and still applies today. Richard remained in charge until stepping down in 2010 but, I’m pleased to say, is still very much involved. In its 40 year history, the magazine has had four editors: Pat Triggs, Chris Powling, Rosemary Stones and Ferelith Hordon. They’ve each shaped the magazine, making it the intelligent, entertaining, scholarly but accessible read it is today.

There are very few reviews and coverage for children's books in the media, what impact does this have and how important is it for the industry to have a dedicated publication?

There are lots of great, great children’s books being published at the moment and they all deserve to be read and to be discussed and appraised. There are lots of people looking to buy children’s books too and they deserve to be informed about what’s new, what’s unmissable, and what will best suit the young readers they know. So reviewing matters.  I know that people are gloomy about the amount of coverage at the moment, but in fact there are lots of great places to find reviews of children’s books – Books for Keeps of course, but also Lovereading4kids, ReadingZone and Toppsta too, as well as some wonderful blogs. Plus there are informed, passionate independent booksellers who can point adults and children in the right direction, not to mention librarians. 

And in the September issue of Books for Keeps, there will be over 50 reviews of new books, and we’re proud of our reviewers, all of whom have a wealth of experience and specialist knowledge of children’s literature. 

A few years back Books for Keeps went digital, what changes has this led to both in terms of the creation of the magazine and with regard to its readership?

It’s actually over ten years since the last print edition, though we still get the occasional email or Tweet mourning its disappearance. I think there are real advantages to being digital only.  Unlimited space for one thing; the ability to publish news articles as the news happens, plus new book reviews and interviews on publication.  I think being digital makes it much easier for people to share our content, something which makes us very happy. We have readers across the world, all able to access the magazine quickly, easily and for free.

One of the very exciting aspects about the publication is the wealth of material that is available from the past, it's a real treasure trove, can you tell us about some of your favourite content from the past 40 years?

It is absolutely a treasure trove! I love delving into the archive and am always finding something new.  Particular favourites though are this article on the art of writing by Jan Mark, which I think every editor should read. I am a huge admirer of Diana Wynne Jones, and love the Authorgraph interview with her (issue 46); ditto Geraldine McCaughrean, whose Authorgraph was conducted by Stephanie Nettell – actually it’s worth reading all Stephanie’s articles for BfK. I love the Windows into Illustration features, and am proud that BfK gives proper space to the consideration of illustration – Shaun Tan’s is fascinating. We scooped an interview with Philip Pullman in July 2017, rereading that is always very satisfying, and I recommend Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O’Connor’s Beyond the Secret Garden series to everyone interested in contemporary children’s literature.

At the moment Books for Keeps is undergoing a big fundraising campaign, how can librarians and libraries help out.

Well, to paraphrase Bob Geldof, “Give us your money”! We are looking to raise £10,000 via Givey and area already nearly half way there. Huge thanks to everyone who has supported us and any contribution, no matter how small, will help. We’d also appreciate help in spreading the word about what a great resource Books for Keeps is – libraries and librarians are key to this.

Can you tell us anything about future plans for Books for Keeps?

We are currently developing the new website. Our current site has come to the end of its life, and the new site will be more flexible, simpler to navigate and more easily searchable. The content of course will remain as it always has been – articles, reviews, interviews and features written by experts and aimed squarely at all those who value and appreciate literature for children.

Thank you so much to Andrea Reece for giving us a behind-the-scenes glimpse of Books for Keeps and for the work that goes into this insightful and unmissable publication.

It is an honour to welcome much loved illustrator Ruth Brown to the blog and to talk with her about creative, cats and her craft.  Ruth's books have been shortlisted for numerous awards including the Kate Greenaway medal.  Ruth is the author of many favourite picture books including A Dark, Dark Tale, Gracie the lighthouse cat and The Tale of Two Mice.  Ruth's latest book is A Gallery of Cats an exploration of the world of art.

Some of your childhood was spent in Germany immediately after the war, do you feel this has influenced your work?

I think my work is more influenced by the time before we went to live in Germany after the war. In 1941, my mum and sister moved from the south coast of England to a small cottage in rural Devon, shared with my Granny, my aunt and 2 cousins. I was born there in the May and we lived there until I was 5. We didnʼt have many books, just the usual annuals, but we did have Robert Louis Stevensonʼs “Treasure Island. It was our favourite bedtime story and mum and aunt Nell just read it on a loop, usually in the cousins bedroom. When I was old enough to join in, I was almost too frightened to listen - especially the Blind Pew bit - yet too frightened to go to bed in the other room on my own. Itʼs still my all time favourite book. I remember how it felt to be really small, with things towering above me - inside the tiny cottage and in the fields around. The older kids had the freedom to roam wherever, but the garden was my world, and the allotments next door owned by our neighbour old Mr. England. He dug up big, fat, pink worms and held them, squirming, in his huge hands for me to examine. We chatted ( well I did mostly) and every morning he brought me a new laid egg which he produced, miraculously, from under his cap! In return I made him mud pies decorated with coloured chalk mixed with water which he pretended to eat. So, yes, those first five years of being surrounded by all things country have had the most influence on my books. The contrast between my life in rural Devon and my life in post war Germany, from 1947 until 1953, showed me what it was like to be a foreigner. Strangely, when we returned to England I again felt like, and was treated as, a foreigner when I started a “third life” at a strict girls grammar school. But I did find a home - the Art room.

Your first published book was Crazy Charlie (1979), can you tell us a little about how you came to illustration and this book?

I trained as an illustrator at Bournemouth and Birmingham Colleges of Art and then the Royal College of Art. After graduating in 1964 I got married and a year later had our first child.....great career move! So I started to work as a freelance, mostly for the BBC childrenʼs programmes. In those days they commissioned original artwork for programmes such as Jackanory and Play School as well as many schools programmes. After I had my second child I began to think more about childrenʼs books because of reading to them - especially at bedtime. I found it really difficult to find a book to interest (a) a child who could read, (b) a toddler who couldnʼt read but needed interesting pictures and (c) a mother trying not to nod off after a long day. So, one day, when the image of a crocodile with false teeth came into my head I worked it up into a story. A great friend of mine was the late wonderful Pat Hutchins who kindly introduced me to her publishers at Bodley Head. Although they liked it, they decided it was not for them but they knew of a publisher who had recently started his own list and recommended me to him.....Klaus Flugge of Andersen Press. Iʼve been with him ever since.

You have written many books featuring cats, including your latest, A Gallery of Cats.  What appeals to you about cats?

Although in Gallery of Cats I used my grandson Tom, in most of my books I use animals to tell the story. I particularly like mice, not in my house, of course, but they are good to draw and can be anthropomorphised without sentimentality e.g. my illustrations for The Christmas Mouse  in which Toby Forward cleverly mirrored Dickensʼ Christmas Carol via the mice under the floorboards and my Tale of Two Mice involving mice and a cat, another favourite subject. Several of my books are straight forward true stories of my own cats such as Our Cat Flossie, Copycat and Holly. Lots of children own cats so they can straightforwardly relate to the stories. But the cat in Dark, Dark Tale is of secondary importance and is merely a device to lure the reader all the way through from the moor to the mouse. Gracie, the Lighthouse Cat mirrors the story of Grace Darling. Children will relate to the plight of the cat and then, hopefully, be curious about the background story.

A Gallery of Cats is based around Tom who visits a gallery and encounters all manner of pictures created by cats.  How much research was needed to create each picture and did this require adopting different techniques?

A Gallery of Cats took a while to evolve. It started with the picture of Samuel. I wanted to pay homage to one of my favourite artists, Samuel Palmer, by painting an image in his style. I needed a subject so I chose a cat. I enjoyed doing it so much that I carried the idea forward, still using the cat theme, to pay homage to other artists that I admire. The artists I chose all had very recognisable ways of working e.g. Van Gogh used thick oil paint, Klimt used gold leaf, Escher etched, but I just used the medium that I always use, acrylics, to mimic the media they used. Except for the Samuel Palmer - I also used pen and ink, just to see if I could.

You also draw parallels between some of the cat creators and the artists – Frida Kahlo’s accent is implied and Vincent enjoys chasing crows around the field – was it important to ensure that the text as well as the pictures referred to the artists?

It was important that the text not only related to the breed and temperament of each cat but also gave some clues to the lives of the painters. I want the readerʼs curiosity to be aroused so that they will go on and find things for themselves. For instance.... Why does René the cat not like water? Magritteʼs mother drowned. Why is Henri the cat a breed called a munchkin? Because they are bred to have very short legs and Toulouse Lautrec had short legs due to a childhood accident. I strive to make my books work on as many levels as possible, so I was also delighted that the designer was able to reduce the the text that Tom is supposedly reading aloud and put it in tiny, proportionally accurate, labels next to the pictures. Think what fun it is for a child to discover that by using a magnifying glass you can read exactly the same text as the in the big type!

How important is it for children to have an understanding of the work of great artists?

The first books that children see are picture books so they are the first introduction to the amazing world of literature AND art. The writing and images in those books should be as good as they can possibly be. Illustration is often seen as the poor relation of fine art, but there were, and still are, brilliant artists who work with print for children - think of Arthur Rackham or Maurice Sendak or N.C. Wyeth ( who incidentally did the definitive version of Treasure Island).Just because their work is in a book and not hanging on a wall doesnʼt mean it isnʼt great art. Admittedly there are an awful lot of terrible books published too and unfortunately some people think that anyone can write or illustrate for children, itʼs sometimes regarded as a sort of hobby. In fact I have been asked several times if Iʼve ever thought of doing a “real/proper book”.......my reply( in my head )is not printable. I cannot comment on the focus on art in schools - teachers are under enormous pressure from all sides and it probably comes down to the methods of individual teachers. But my aim in the books that I publish is to provide enough stimulus for a teacher to get some interesting work out of the children, be it drawings or writing or natural science etc. I like hope my books make children curious.

You’ve created illustrated editions of stories like Eleanor Atkinson’s Greyfriar’s Bobby and Anne Sewell’s Black Beauty, are there any other books you’d like to illustrate?

Greyfriars Bobby was a true story, deeply moving , about the little dog that lived by his masters grave for many years. I later read that terriers can smell bones several feet below ground.........even I didnʼt think that was suitable to put in the book! There have been many written versions of the story but I hadnʼt seen a full colour one. The same reason applied to Black Beauty. Sometimes itʼs good to produce your own take on a story already in the public domain. For a long time I have wanted to do a picture book of Walter de la Mareʼs poem Five Eyes but we shall see.

Could you talk us through your technique for creating a picture book?

Ideas are really peculiar. Sometimes they arrive fully formed in my head and sometimes itʼs bit by bit and they have to merge and cook. I donʼt commit anything to paper until itʼs all there in my head and then I work on the text first. It doesnʼt have to be perfect, just the bare bones will do. In the craziest book there has to be a sort of mad logic. Most books have about 12 double page spreads so the text has to divide as naturally as possible. Then I work out all the pictures, chronologically, on tracing paper......much too frightening to start the real thing straight away.....where I make all my mistakes. I prepare my surface, I use acrylic paints and inks on a gesso primer, and then stare out of the window or clean my brushes.....all the usual displacement activities. I transfer my drawings and begin to redraw usually with a charcoal pencil and then I paint and then itʼs alright and time flies. I always do the cover last - by then I have painted into my comfort zone and I know the book. 

Ten Seeds and A Dark, Dark Tale both feel real classics of the picture book form, what in your opinion makes the ideal text for a picture book?

The ideal text for a picture book acts as a counterpoint to the pictures. They should have the same weight and balance and each do what the other canʼt. In Dark,Dark,Tale I make no reference to the cat - the cat is doing its own job leading you to the mouse. In Ten Seeds the text doesnʼt say how the seeds are diminishing, the pictures do that. I also refer to my answer to question 2 - I remember vividly trying to stay awake while reading the most long-winded bedtime stories to my children, so I am forever on the side of the reader, adult as well as child. But if I only have 10 words on a page, every single one has to work really well and justify its place there.

You’ve illustrated a number of fairly frightening books for children, how do you make fear suspenseful but balance this against making it terrifying?

Again I refer back to a previous answer - there was nothing quite so terrifying or exciting as sitting in the safety of a candle-lit bedroom with my family and listening to the adventures of Jim Hawkins on his treasure island adventures. Children call A Dark, Dark Tale a scary book but I explain that the thing that makes them think so is their own imagining of being in an empty house all alone. Nothing scary actually happens but I harness the power of the readers own imaging of their own worst fears, far more frightening to you than mine would be. My childhood nightmare was the thought that I might wake up in the night and find that I was the only person left in the world. My mother died - always traumatic however old you are - just before I started the book and in a way, part of my nightmare had come true so maybe thatʼs why it resonates. I also tell children that the only frightened thing in the book is the mouse who is terrified of you clumping up the stairs etc etc. The fear is reversed. I do enjoy reading it to children though, because in the brightest of neon-lit classrooms you can still create an atmosphere and always make them jump at the end. What fun!

Thank you to Ruth Brown for her fascinating and insightful interview and to Scallwayg Press for the opportunity.

We are delighted to welcome Rob Ramsden to the blog and to speak with him about his picture book series, In the Garden and his approach to illustration.  Rob's new book with Scallywag Press We Planted a Pumpkin publishes in September.

Please can we ask you to introduce yourself giving some background about your career and publications to date?

I began creativity as a fine art painter and printmaker, I turn a 90° angle and became a comic book creator, which evolved into being an animator and Illustrator, and now as a picture book maker I think I use a little bit of all these experiences in what I do. Alongside this I’ve worked as a lecturer and I’ve run workshops in schools and events, as well as spending a whole year in a school as an animator in residence working with years 2 - 7.

I had been making picture books, sending them off to publishers and I received lots of encouraging rejection letters. The encouragement suggested that I was doing something right, and the rejection told me that something wasn’t quite there. Then I heard about the Children's Book Illustration MA at Cambridge, which transformed my understanding of what a picture book story can be. After graduating I spent a few years showing my portfolio of dummy books to publishers, and spent time developing books with some of them, although nothing got published in this period it did teach me a lot. Then a friend, Rose Robbins, introduced me to a new publisher who were putting together their first book list, who turned out to be Scallywag Press. I sent them my dummy book for I Saw A Bee, and a week later Janice Thomson rang, she suggested some edits, we talked about the story and she was genuinely interested in where the story had come from, and I immediately thought – so, this is editing, I like it. Shortly after this I showed Sarah Pakenham, the publisher, my portfolio which had an early version of We Found a Seed in there too, and by the end of the meeting we were talking about a contract to publish I Saw A BEE. What started as one book has turned into a series of books called In the Garden, which includes BEE, SEED and now We Planted a PUMPKIN which is out this September.

There’s a joyous sense of exploration of the natural world in your books and its fun looking out for and tracing the different minibeasts and plants. Are you much of a naturalist yourself?

I wouldn’t call myself a naturalist, in fact I haven’t got the kind of memory needed to remember all those Latin names, and many insects don’t have common names. What I do have is the patience and curiosity to sit and observe minibeasts, and I’m often rewarded by what nature teaches me, for instance watching pollinators reveals why flowers look the way they do. I’m now paying more attention to my garden, and doing things like leaving big piles of leaves, sticks and small logs to make areas wilder, and encouraging minibeasts to take up residence over winter too! 3 years ago I changed my gardening habits and planted for pollinators. The unexpected effect of bee friendly gardening is that there are now many more mini beasts, lots of birds, and I’ve even spotted a hedgehog. Before I began gardening for bees I wasn’t aware of just how many different varieties of bee there are, and last year I began photographing them and I’ve collected more than 25 different varieties of bee including the tree bumblebee, red-tailed and white-tailed bumble bees, mourning bees which are eerily black and white in colour, leaf-cutter, mason and mining bees and of course honey bees.

I Saw a Bee feels almost like a fable with wide-reaching comments around friendship, difference and the importance of respecting the environment around us.  There’s a wonderful visual and verbal rhythm to the book.  It has so many different applications, have you had much feedback in terms of how it has been used and how readers have responded?

The feedback and uses of the book are quite diverse. The story itself comes from different experiences and observations, firstly it came from a rhyme I made up with my son about an amazing bee that kept up with us as I was driving the car, there was something exciting about racing a bee! Then, when picking my son up from his first years at school, we’d be talking about his day, and some of this was about the bumpy rhythms of the highs and lows of friendship. At the same time in the media, there was an increasing amount of concern about the decline in bee numbers. Finally, I have vivid memories of bees being something to be afraid of, which I probably learnt as a very young child from adults with rolls of newspaper chasing them, this fear was something I had to unlearn. Each of these were light bulb moments, and although not overtly mentioned in the story, they give me the route and focus to shape the story.

I’ve seen a whole range of activities and uses for both the BEE and SEED books spring up on social media, and it’s much to the inventiveness of others that these activities happen. The books have been used for exercising motor skills by following the paths of the bee, the life cycle of bees and seeds, collecting and identifying seeds, sowing seeds and caring for the plants, making pollinator friendly areas. Perhaps the most interesting discussion I had was when I had the opportunity to meet with teaching assistant Janine Woolston, who’s a qualified Thrive practitioner. Janine told me about how she had been using I Saw A BEE to support social and emotional development with the younger children, and this really resonated with me. When I heard that one boy kept going back to the book box and reading it himself, it seemed to me that Janine had struck just the right balance between the story and her use of it. I eventually asked Janine to write the teacher notes for both BEE and SEED, which are now on the Scallywag Press website, and I couldn’t be happier with them.

The production values are extremely high with the embossed cover, quality matt paper stock, did you have input into this?

I’ll be honest here, I was asked on many occasions about all aspects of production, but I knew my book was in the hands of those with much more experience than me, and I trusted that they would make the right decisions. When I received my advance copies of I Saw A BEE I wasn’t just excited that is was my first book that I was holding, on a tactile level it felt wonderful to hold and the pages are great to turn, I love the way they sound.

Can you introduce us to We Planted a Pumpkin which publishes this year?

It features the same two children from SEED and builds on the theme of growth, this time the story follows the children as their patience is tested, they encourage and care for the pumpkin plant, and there are surprises and rewards. Patience and anticipation are there too, they need a big ripe orange pumpkin in time for Halloween. I’m attempting to grow pumpkins this year and I can safely report that there’s a little worry that goes along with growing pumpkins, and lots of anticipation too as it’s just began to show signs of turning orange.

Can you tell us a little about how you approach creating a picture book?

I keep an eye and ear alert for catching things of interest, as well as recalling experiences and keeping a sketchbook close by to makes notes and drawings, to capture it. These notes and sketches might become an idea, and then I begin to explore these ideas by expanding the drawing and writing, to see if the idea might take the shape of a story. I’ll draw the characters a lot to test their emotional range, free from the story to get to know what they’re capable of, recalling my observations of children, as well as my own memories. The growing sequence in SEED is straight out of my memories of dance lessons in primary school. Thumbnail storyboards help to test the structure and pace of the story. Eventually, I’ll begin drawing more solid characters, acting out the scene, to accompany the text, which I use to make the first dummy book. My backgrounds at this stage are still very rough, so I begin visually researching in order to draw the backgrounds. The final illustrations in the book are a mix of materials to create hand-made textures, and I trace around my drawings in Adobe Illustrator and it’s all brought together in Photoshop as a kind of digital collage. My first ever version of BEE was all made as lino-cut block prints, and some of it’s still visible in the published version. I have two studios, one has been taken over by screen printing equipment, and the other “studio” is a series of tables in my home, and a main desk for my computer. I have been known to work in the garden and kitchen too.

You’ve been involved with teaching illustration – what level/s have you taught this at and what has it entailed?

I began by teaching animation as a subject, and this is where I’ve taught at the widest age range from year 2 primary to master’s degree level. This entailed adapting the essentials of movement and narrative to each age and educational level, and for the most part the subject skills are still the same, it’s the teaching method and expectations of the learner that changes. I’ve always used paper-based animation techniques in my own work and when I teach, devices such as a flick-books, zoetrope and mutoscope. In our digital age, people are still fascinated to see individual frames blend into movement as they flick the frames with their own hands. I have a draw full of ideas for an animation book as an alternative to an ever-increasing digital culture. Since 2016 I’ve been the Illustration Lecturer on the Graphic Design degree at the University of Suffolk, where I teach illustration within the discipline of graphic design, which I find to be a great blend of skills and ideas at work. One of the projects explores the design of books, drawing attention to the physical aspects of the book to give structure for the student to explore their ideas. I don’t specifically teach children’s picture books, but I do point out that they are a rich playful source of ideas and invention.

You were longlisted for the 2020 Klaus Flugge prize, how important are prizes for new illustrators?

It’s exciting to have been longlisted, and just by looking at the other longlisted books, I feel really proud that my book was selected alongside such a list of amazing books. I think all prizes are important in shinning a light on the good work of everyone who’s involved in producing a picture book and celebrating it, and one of the things I appreciated about the Klaus Flugge prize is that the editor and designer are also credited for their part in shaping the book. When I see all the great books by authors and illustrators being published I think “there can’t be enough shelf space to hold them all”, so I do think that it’s particularly important to shine a light on those who are entering the publishing world. To introduce them and let them take centre stage for a little while so we can get to know them, their names and their books, and make sure they don’t get lost on the shelves.

Which illustrators did you enjoy as a child and are there any that have helped influence your style or approach?

One of my earliest memories of illustration is the animated series Noggin the Nog illustrated by Peter Firmin, and even when very young I was aware that these were drawings that moved, and by that I mean even today you can really see the drawing. Next, are comics like Monster Fun and Shiver & Shake which were full of crazy ideas and had a great range of characters and stories. Comics were my reading material, and I’ll always be thankful to my parents for my weekly comic. I have vivid memories of the Illustrations of Jill McDonald, whose work still excites me today, and I can see why I loved looking at it as a child, every mark is worth looking at. I did a Fine Art degree and felt a bit lost when I graduated, and what re-engaged me with creativity was the artwork and narratives explored in comics, animated cartoons and picture books. I had no idea that I wanted to make picture books, but all my interests pointed towards illustration, then animation, and eventually picture books. It’s a far reaching and eclectic list of illustrators and animators who’s work really excites me, so I’ll just name a few here for how they’ve influenced me in some way – The animator Chuck Jones and his layout artist Maurice Noble, if you watch their cartoon What’s opera, Doc? you’ll see how the background holds as much of the emotion of the scene as the main character. Although I wasn’t directly referencing this at the time, this cartoon and another called Duck Amuck are two of my favourite works of art, and after BEE was completed I saw some stills from What’s Opera, Doc? and I realised I must be absorbing potential influence all the time. Maurice Sendak and Pat Hutchins, both for their sense of movement in the characters, as well as how they construct space on the page, a bit like a stage. Jan Ormerod’s books Sunshine and Read play so wonderfully with the pacing and passing of time. As a child I really do remember being aware of the passing of time, from the first time I took notice of the second hand on a clock ticking away, to the incomprehensible amount of time to my next birthday, as well as noticing the shadows moving and how that really was time passing.

My first published books happen to be a series, and it makes sense for this to be consistent in the style of the artwork. But, I do feel nervous when I think of the idea of style, and in a similar way to how one might think of an actor being type-cast in a series, I think that one style might not be the right style for other stories that I want to write or illustrate.

What is next for you?

Scallywag Press thought that I was going to be working on a different book outside of this series, but we all became excited about a new title and concept for another book for the In The Garden series, so this is what I’m currently working on. I’m probably not allowed to say anything about it, but I’ll just say that I’m excited about working on this book because it’s about experiencing the garden in a completely different way.

A big thank you to Rob for his time and expertise answering our questions.  Rob has also generously allowed us to share a wealth of images, information on these is below.

BEE-01

Original dummy book for I Saw A BEE, and the published Scallywag Press hardback edition.

BEE-02

One of the first thumbnail storyboards for I Saw A BEE, looking at the page count and the pace of the story.

BEE-03

Comparison of two spreads from the published I Saw A BEE, and the original (below). My first idea was that the reader would have to circle around the book in order to read it, and therefore join in the “buzzing around”.

PUMPKIN-01

We Planted A PUMPKIN with the original text, storyboards and a sketchbook. I mostly draw and write on loose copier paper, so I can pin them up or spread them out, and my ideas and drawing seem to flow much quicker across less-precious paper.

PUMPKIN-02

Early ideas, sketches and words for We Planted A PUMPKIN. Nothing is edited out, I try to capture as many visual ideas and words before the story begins to settle into a line-by-line text, and this is typical of how I work to shape the story.

PUMPKIN-02b

Exploring one of the characters in We Planted A PUMPKIN, and looking for the right emotion for the scene.

PUMPKIN-03

Early storyboard comparison for the “We know you’re trying…” spread in We Planted A PUMPKIN. Once the whole story is written, and each spread is drawn, then I give the insects all of my attention, I think of them as ‘sub plots’ such as the ants harvesting seeds (on this spread), or a spider spinning its web to catch a fly (which gets away!), and I have fun thinking of where the ladybird should be in of the spreads.

PUMPKIN-04

Early storyboard comparison for spread 5 in We Planted A PUMPKIN. You can see that one idea has been edited out to strengthen the focus of the scene.

PUMPKIN-05

Nature studies for We Planted A PUMPKIN, with character ideas for “we were the rain”.

Shelves.

Organising all the different stories in development is something I have had to learn to do, and this is how I organise stories which are being developed or as in the case of PUMPKIN, just finished.

Bees

A selection of bee photos, all taken in my garden.