Picture Books: Children devour picture books. And there's much here to whet their appetite, writes Niamh Sharkey.
I sit at home waiting impatiently for the new picture books to arrive. There is something so exciting about these new arrivals. New books containing new and fresh ideas, new ways of looking at the world! When the books arrive I spread them all out on the floor of my studio. As I soak up their energies, I notice that my 22-month-old daughter is greeting them in a different way. She is seeing, singing to, pointing to, recognising, and kissing the books. Children handle books in a far more tactile way than adults do. They soak up the essence of a book instantly. Even though adults buy 90 per cent of picture books for the under-sevens, parents and caregivers realise very quickly that children have their own opinions and usually like to be read their favourite stories again and again and again!
This brings me to Mary Murphy's I Kissed the Baby (Walker Books, £7.99). Only new arrivals can create such a commotion! News of the baby bird is spreading from animal to animal. Fish, bird, squirrel, insect and frog all boast of seeing, feeding, singing to, tickling and kissing the tiny thing. Infants and new-borns respond very positively to bold black and white images. I wonder if Mary Murphy had this in mind when painting her graphic silhouette images with flashes of cerise pink, lime green and vivid yellow. The language has a simple vitality, with a slight Irish twang. "Did you see the baby? Yes! I saw the baby, the teeny weeny thing."
Witty, engaging and always funny, Jeanne Willis and illustrator Tony Ross are a wonderful picture book team. I loved Manky Monkey last year and their new title, Tadpole's Promise (Andersen Press, £9.99), doesn't fail to deliver. It's a tragicomic tale of a frog and butterfly's love for each other. It's unusual in its form; you read the book lengthways. Above the gutter, Ross draws the land and sky, while below he depicts the pond where the tadpole lives. This may seem complicated, but in reality it is flawless and works deliciously. This book also contains a wonderful surprise.
Be enchanted by Sandy Turner's Grow Up (Walker Books, £10.99), a story of one child's speculation on what he's going to be when he grows up. "I might be a lighthouse keeper or a zoo-keeper or a road sweeper, might be a plumber, painter, decorator or an undertaker." It's a scrapbook of imaginings, drawn in pencil, with occasional splashes of colour. The artist's footprints alongside those of a little boy on the opening end papers help you step into this book of collage, hand lettering, weird angles and strangely drawn characters. There is a fluidity of motion in this picture book, the text is rhythmical, the artwork also has great momentum, and you feel reading it that anything is possible. You can be whoever you want to be when you grow up! I loved it.
Mealtime chaos is brilliantly illustrated in Charlotte Voake's Pizza Kittens (Walker Books, £5.99 ) Voake's fast, loose pen, ink and wash style perfectly illustrates how the gangly kittens wreak havoc at mealtimes. I adore the little speech bubbles. When Dad arrives to the table with a huge bowl of peas one kitten says, "Not that many!", the other kitten joins in with "Only one for me!"
The death of a pet can be a very difficult and upsetting time in a child's life. Up in Heaven by Emma Chichester Clark (Andersen Press, £9.99) deals with Arthur's loss of his old dog, Daisy. As an author/illustrator she handles this dilemma in a sensitive way, the gentle illustrations in perfect harmony with the text.
In the colourful quirky world of Leslie McGuirk, a pony-sized talking snail convinces the perfect boy to be his owner, and the two build a friendship strengthened by the differences between them. McGuirk says that as she was putting the final touches to Snail Boy (Walker Books, £10.99 ) a number of local snails descended on her house and then disappeared, apparently satisfied with the book's outcome. I agree with the snails: the illustrations in this book are in bold ink with vivid fill-ins of colour; the characterisations are zany and the humour fresh.
Imagine what a summer it would be if children were in charge. Ingman's stylistic pictures tell the story entirely from a child's perspective. Danny finds an ancient decree allowing him to rule the land in Bruce Ingman's Bad News I'm in Charge! (Walker Books, £10.99). He wastes no time making changes: pets in school, Mum and Dad in bed by eight, and chips with everything. Every child's dream, maybe, but adult responsibilities can weigh heavily too . . . There are factories to be opened, ships to be launched and cabbage competitions to be judged. Handing back power is the only option, keeping just one job for himself - Minister of Fun. Ingman illustrates in a fresh bold way, his distinctive style involves squiggly-line people, snippets of collage, brash colours and a refreshing sense of humour.
Lastly, I would like to mention the timely release of How the Elk got to the Games by Denis Goodbody and illustrated by Padhraig Nolan (Poolbeg, €9.99) It meshes Irish myth with folklore, telling the story of how Kevin the Great Irish Elk got to the games. Both Goodbody and Nolan are donating all royalties to the Special Olympics World Games.
Open up these books to find a pony-sized snail looking for a suitable owner, a boy who may be a tax inspector or a hypnotist, a caterpillar who's in love with a tadpole, a dog looking down from heaven, a boy sending his Mum and Dad to bed by eight o'clock, and a great Irish Elk recounting tales from Ireland from over 10,000 years ago.
Niamh Sharkey is a writer and illustrator of children's picture books