Frances McKay Illustration

Animals ABC

A is for anthropomorphism

That is attributing human characteristics to things that are not human; and it happens a lot to animals in children’s stories. And why not? Some of the best characters in children's literature are animals with all the complexities and foibles of humans. The white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland is a classic example. Lewis Carroll takes the nervous nature of the rabbit and gives it human reasoning; ‘Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!’ And he adds the natty clothes and the pocket watch to imply fastidiousness. Beatrix Potter also mastered this and had a great understanding of animal anatomy too. Think also of The Wind in the Willows and of the animal characters that Pinocchio encounters; the fox and the cat; the talking cricket who Walt Disney turned into Jiminy Cricket... and perhaps of the puppet itself; a toy given human feelings.

B is for biophilia

Biophilia is the idea that there is a bond between humans and nature; that we have an innate love of animals. Not all people love all animals and we could probably do without mosquitoes, but the bond is real. We might live more removed from nature now but people and pets work together and we are drawn to David Attenborough’s brilliant TV documentaries and other wildlife programmes.   

C is for conservation 

This matters; loss of biodiversity; loss of habitat; loss of the iconic, the unconsidered and the yet to be discovered species will affect us all. It seems that we value only what we understand, so books might still have a role in widening our understanding of the world around us. Biophilia and bibliophilia ought to play an important part in conservation.

Oh, and C is also for cute.

 

Alan Marks 

Critter Challenge

 

A pangolin

 

Jane Eccles tackles some tricky customers, and comes out on top.

I have set myself a challenge. In between jobs and whenever I get the urge I am sitting at my desk with a piece of Bristol board and drawing the animals which I've never attempted or been asked to draw before, using only black ink and grey ProMarker. Here are the results so far:

A numbat

 

And a baby capybara.

The Deep Dark Wood

The multi-talented Algy Craig Hall; illustrator, author and financial journalist, now shares his first acting role.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have my latest book (The Deep Dark Wood, superbly illustrated by Ali Pye) selected by the Reading Agency to be part of this year’s Summer Reading Challenge. 

  

Up and down the country, librarians have been doing amazing work promoting the challenge, which this year is based on the theme of mythology. I’ve also attempted to help in the promotion of The Challenge with my first ever author video. While I did do all my own stunts, I may need to hone my skills further before I’m ready to lay down my pen in pursuit of fame and fortune on the silver screen…!

 

 

Milo and One Dead Angry Druid

Neil Price has some good news.

Hi Guys, a book for which I have illustrated the cover has been selected by Booktrust for their 2014 School Library Pack.

Booktrust will now purchase copies of ‘Milo and One Dead Angry Druid’ and send one to (nearly all) secondary schools in the UK in September 2014, as part of a specially selected pack of recommended books. Milo was selected by a panel of judges for their ‘Reluctant Reader’ recommendations.

Check out the other books in the The Milo Adventures series by Mary Arrigan with Neil's distictive covers.

Booktrust is an independent British charity with the aim of encouraging people to engage with books. Established in 1992, it has received UK government funding since 2004, and inspired similar schemes in over 20 countries.

You can get more information here:

www.booktrust.org.uk/programmes/secondary/school-library-pack/