PICTURE BOOKS: From quiet and subtle to surreal and rather demented – picture books are as exciting as ever, writes Robert Dunbar
OF THE IRISH picture-book writers and illustrators who have come to the fore in recent years Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick has emerged as one of the most accomplished and most versatile. Her new title, There(Roaring Book Press, $17.95), has several claims to be considered her strongest work yet, not least in its extremely successful combination of text and image. It touches on one of the classic motifs of children's literature, a child's sense of yearning for a world beyond her own and her growing understanding of the distances opening up between aspiration and attainment.
The child in question is a little girl who, by means of a sequence of questions, interrogates the “here” of her present environment and speculates about what journeying to an alternative “there” might entail. Fitzpatrick’s paintings, whether of rural or urban landscapes, provide the perfect backdrops for the child’s changing moods, anticipation vying with apprehension. Broad sweeps of colour, both bright and, where appropriate, subdued, are skilfully used to suggest the dimensions of the child’s world, whether real or imagined, and the book’s general layout and use of space and typography beautifully enhance this sense of scale.
Where Fitzpatrick's tone is understated and her artwork quiet and subtle, Dave McKean's in Neil Gaiman's Crazy Hair(Bloomsbury, £11.90) spares us nothing in his determination to pull us – by the hair, so to speak – into his surreal, rather demented world. Colours are strident, and collage and typography combine to assault our senses in this humorous account of the attempts made by a young woman called Bonnie to exercise some discipline on the hirsute chaos masquerading as "Mister's" hair: young readers will enjoy some of the items to be found nestling within it. This is a book that on every page simultaneously demonstrates its own powerful imagination and endorses the same quality for the benefit of its readers.
A celebration of the power of imagination, albeit of a quieter variety, also underlies Gordon Snell's The King of Quizzical Island(Walker, £11.99), now reissued after some 30 years, with new illustrations by David McKee. The witty rhyming text pursues the adventures of the titular monarch as he embarks on a journey intended to satisfy his wanderlust: "If I sail to the edge of the world / I wonder what I'll find." His discoveries lead to a succession of escapades, all of them providing outlets for his not inconsiderable ego. With a tone reminiscent at times of Edward Lear, this is enjoyably whimsical verse, amusingly accompanied by McKee's detailed drawings.
The 70th anniversary of the publication of TS Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, and the 80th anniversary of its publisher, Faber and Faber, are being marked by the issue of a beautifully produced new edition, illustrated by the critically acclaimed Axel Scheffler (Faber, £14.99). Growltiger, Old Deuteronomy, Mr Mistoffelees, Macavity and, of course, Skimbleshanks: here they come again, their feline frolics mischievously given new life in Scheffler's full-colour pictures, many of which have the wonderful ability, in their eye for detail, to extend the original Eliot rhymes. And, talking of Eliot: who is the gentleman on the final page, seen stroking a cat on the steps of the Faber and Faber headquarters? A delight, from beginning to end.
The same Scheffler eye for telling detail is well in evidence also in his illustrations for Julia Donaldson's Tabby McTat(Alison Green Books, £10.99), a rhyming text that touchingly explores such notions as friendship, loyalty and loneliness – and, once again, with an emphasis on cats and their world. Attractive as Donaldson's text is, the book's real strength lies with the marvellously energetic Scheffler pictures, all of them endowed with a rich understanding of both human and animal existences. There is hardly an illustration that will not repay a second, or further, scrutiny, as we search for clues for the numerous and engaging turns taken by the narrative.
"Not for those of a nervous disposition," warns the back cover of Mini Grey's version of Hilaire Belloc's "cautionary tale", Jim(Jonathan Cape, £12.99) – but, like most of the rest of this highly idiosyncratic interpretation, the warning need not be taken too seriously. Generous layout, some stunning demonstrations of the art of paper engineering (be prepared for the arrival of the boy-eating lion) and a pervasive sense of irony result in a picture book that not merely gives the original Belloc a new lease of life but also challenges its lucky readers as to what exactly a full "reading" of a picture book might involve.
Robert Dunbar is a commentator on children’s books and reading
