Mrs Noah's Garden by Jackie Morris illustrated by James Mayhew Reviewed by Adèle Geras

There has been much talk of gardens in the last couple of months. Lockdown has made everyone  aware of their importance. Those who are fortunate enough to have one thank their lucky stars and wonder how those with no garden are managing. To be without one seems a terrible deprivation. Delightfully,  just at the right time, this book appears and what it does is give everyone who reads it a small space where they get to enjoy the pleasures of growing things in a format that they can carry around in their hands and return to again and again. 

This book sees the return of the Morris/Mayhew team which brought us the wonderful Mrs Noah's Pockets.  The worry with sequels to beloved books is that they're not going to be as good as the first book. There are no such worries here, of course. Mrs  Noah's Garden is joyous and colourful and inspired  and we can enjoy the two books equally.

This story is an account  of how Noah and Mrs Noah and their children find an initially unpromising  spot to in which to settle. But undeterred, they clear the space, build and put together a dwelling place, and above all, plant a garden. Mrs Noah of course is the one who goes out at night when all are sleeping and plants it. And it grows and provides bounty and beauty and becomes a  perfectly glorious garden, 

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Koshka's Tales, by James Mayhew. Reviewed by Adèle Geras

First things first. I do know James Mayhew but I only know him after getting in touch with him on Twitter because I was such a fan of his. It was one of his recent books, Mrs Noah's Pockets, written by Jackie Morris, which spurred me to write to him but I've always admired his work enormously. It's very varied, which I regard as a treat....every new book shows a different facet of his talent.   This particular volume, cleverly reissued by the wonderful Welsh publisher Graffeg Books to take advantage of his recent successes (Gaspard the Fox, etc) was first published in 1993 and it's fascinating to me to see all of the things I love already there, in the relatively distant past. 

These things can be boiled down to energy, colour and a taste for the theatrical. Those of you who know James as someone who bombs about the country and abroad painting while an orchestra plays....illustrating the dramas going on in a performance of music or opera...will see the energy of those performances (which I've never seen but which I read about all the time) right there on every page. It the energy that shines out in the boldness, the verve, the lack of reticence that says: Look at this beautiful thing! Look again!  It's the kind of work that welcomes readers (because in this book, James has written the words too!) as well as spectators. The combination is a real joy. 

I must apologise for the quality of the photographs, which I took myself. They do not do justice to the singing colours of this book and I do urge everyone to get to a bookshop at once and have a look at the real thing. It's a feast. I love the 'too much of a good thing can be wonderful' * attitude of every illustration.  The most fiery orange, the richest red, the whitest white (often tinged with blue) and greens like the lit-up hearts of forests.....they give a physical form to the stories which, being Russian, are full of wonders and over -the- top characters like Baba Yaga, with her chicken legs and appetite for human child flesh.  There are several full-page spreads as below, and the last photograph shows how the other pages are laid out, with beautifully designed borders. 

The stories are told by Koshka, a black female cat. This appealed to me because I once wrote two novels** for younger readers narrated by a cat called Ozymandias (Ozzy for short) who remains one of my favourite characters from  among my own books.

The illustration above comes from perhaps the most well-known of all Russian tales, Ivan, the Grey Wolf and The Firebird.  There's every sort of character in these pages: beautiful princesses, wicked rulers, talking animals, scary creatures and benevolent ones. There's passion, danger, violence and revenge. I picked out this very short  passage which gives a taste of what I mean. 

"Ivan saddled up his horse and set off. In time he reached a crossroads where a notice read: 'Go back and fail,  go forward and starve, go left and be eaten by wolves, go right and your horse will be eaten."

A delightful prospect, I'm sure you'll agree. Fortunately Ivan is helped by the magic of the Firebird's feather...

We have fables about the end of winter and the arrival of spring (very important in Northern lands) and about virtue triumphing as it must and pride being punished. We're on both  land and sea, and the stories reflect the Russian landscape and its enormous land mass.  The dark greens and shadows of Russia's forests are  everywhere. 

There's also a very useful explanatory note at the end of the book, where Mayhew explains that these tales are often retold and that they shape-shift with every new generation. Today's children are lucky to have this version of the stories. And James Mayhew is lucky to have Graffeg realising that we need them as much as we did in 1993. 

*Mae West said that.
** The Fabulous Fantora Files/ The Fabulous Fantora Photographs. 

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Gaspard the Fox by Zeb Soanes and James Mayhew. Reviewed by Adèle Geras

I'd like to introduce to you Gaspard, the only fox, as far as I know, to have not only a Twitter account but more than 5,000 followers. Foxes have been important animals in folklore and art throughout our history and they wind their beautiful and sometimes devastating way through many landscapes. Recently, they've moved to town...well, why should they go scrabbling for chickens in uncertain circumstances when there are dropped burgers and tasty kebabs and nice suburban dustbins to investigate? They've had both a bad press and a good press, depending on the writer and the artist involved in the story but here, there's no denying Gaspard's charm and beauty.

Gaspard is one lucky fox. He arrives at a time when memoirs are popular. Anything that has the stamp of reality or authenticity is fashionable and Gaspard is a very real fox.  Not only has he got a Twitter account but he's chosen his narrator and artist supremely well. The person he visits on a daily basis (and I've seen the videos on Twitter and very delightful they are, too) is Zeb Soanes, who's media savvy and well-connected (he's a newsreader on BBC Radio 4) and seems a very kind chap to boot. He and Gaspard have a lovely friendship and to bring this friendship to light, Zeb has chosen a terrific artist who seemingly can turn his hand to anything.  I wrote on this blog about his beautiful collage illustrations for Jackie Morris's Mrs Noah's Pockets. This book is completely different.  I  see in each spread the influence of other artists in the best possible way: nods to excellent people like Ludwig Bemelmans (who gave us the lovely Madeline books) and in the last picture I have posted here, the great Edward Ardizzone. 

As we follow Gaspard's adventures, we're taken through a London which not all the touristy depictions of the city bring to the attention of visitors: the canals, the suburban houses, the towpath, the park benches. Gaspard has friends too. There's Zeb of course, but also Peter the cat, and Finty the dog, who are fully rounded characters in their own right. 

This, above, is the illustration that makes me think of Ardizzone. After his adventures, Gaspard goes back to Zeb's house....and I won't tell you how the book ends but it's all you would wish for. What does seem certain is that Gaspard is going from strength to strength and I'm quite sure there will be other books about him and his friends, both animal and human. 

Graffeg is a Welsh publisher which pays extra attention to the small details of the production of the book. Above you will see the Press Release. It's not every fox that gets such treatment. There are paw prints on the end papers. The font is beautiful. The whole thing is a total pleasure and the ideal gift, not only for fox fans. I can't wait to see what Gaspard is going to get up to next.  Meanwhile, do follow him (and Zeb and James too!) on Twitter! If you have a Festival near you this summer, there's a good chance they'll all be there. 

www.graffeg.com

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Starstruck - Katie and the Starry Night, by James Mayhew

reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

James Mayhew's ground-breaking series about Katie, the young girl who has the magical ability to climb into paintings, started in 1989 with Katie's Picture Show.  Since then there have been eleven books in the series, including a special Jubilee edition of Katie in London earlier this year.   Katie and the Starry Night is the twelfth title, and a dreamy addition to Katie's artistic escapades.

In the best picture book tradition, the plot is deceptively simple, yet igenious.  Katie visits an art gallery with her nan to see some Van Gogh masterpieces.  One of them is The Starry Night.  Katie is so taken by the twinkling constellations, she can't help reaching into the frame to pocket one of them.  Stars, of course, have a habit of shooting across the sky and, before she knows it, Katie has to enlist the help of characters from other paintings to restore harmony to the starry night. All before nan wakes up from a nap and the guard returns!

As all Katie fans know, paintings are doorways to adventure and the five works in this book provide vibrant backdrops to Katie's newest exploits. Mayhew's reworking of Van Gogh comes alive on the page.  The sunshine reflecting off the field in Noon, is so bright, the sky so blue, you can almost hear the cicadas in the hay. When you turn the pages to see the waves in Fishing Boats on the Beach, you want to dive right in to cool down.

What makes Katie's series so wonderful is that it works on two levels.  The stories are entertaining and beg to be read over and over again.  And then there's the second, educational, layer that introduces children to the world of visual arts. There's much to look at and talk about on every page, and helpful notes on the last page point you in the way of more discovery.  The ending, makes this the perfect story for bedtime too.  Mayhew has come with another little masterpiece of his own.

KATIE AND THE STARRY NIGHT is published by Orchard Books. James will be promoting it and the Katie series at the Edinburgh Festival and other venues around the UK. Visit http://jamesmayhew-katiespictureshow.blogspot.co.uk/ for more details.   I interviewed James over at http://pirottablog.com about his book.  Click here to read it.   




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