Signing out By Steve Way

 Goodness! 'Blog Day' came round quickly again! I couldn't think of anything new to say since last month but I have thought of some more signs since we last met, so I thought I'd share them with you.

Welcome to the village of GALLOPBURY ‘Like Canterbury on a wild night out’	ASHFORD No smoking area by the river
NORWICH (nor wizard either come to that)	SHEFFIELD Twined with Cookmeadow
CENTRAL YORKSHIRE ‘Not just a point on the map’ … Disregard the previous statement	Welcome to MEXICO Soon to become MEXI Plc Ltd
_BAN Welc_ome to _ban ‘A w_onderful Sc_ttish t_wn’	Welcome to LEEDS Sponsored by Dog Supplies Inc Electric Tools Co & Jones and Smith Private Detective Agency
Bury St Edmunds! (though we thought we already had)	Weston-Super-Mare Twined with Easterly-Brilliant-Stallion
Welcome to STIRLING Enjoy shopping here ‘Where your pound goes further’	BELFAST (So we can’t make it ring any more)
Welcome to the Isle of Wight (PS We can’t spell bloke either)	Welcome to the Isle of Mann Visit our many caves
JERSEY Home of Christmas fashion	LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYMDROB.WLLLLANTY……              Smith Standard Signs  Size A
Welcome to LIMERICK Here’s a city with a famous name, That you’ll want to come to again, It’s a right lovely place, Where we live our own pace, (Located in Ireland not Spain)	Welcome to LIMERICK A lady from Limerick found, A wallet containing five pound, She told the police, Who ordered a feast, Paid for by the money she found
Welcome to LIMERICK A city with its own style, You’ll want to stay here for a while, You’ll have a good ‘craic’, And want to come back, Our welcoming city with style.	MACHYNLLETH (Bless you!) (Might be worth having that seen to)
Welcome to WIMBLEDON ‘It’s Ace!’	Welcome to YORK Where much is grand and old (though curiously lacking in hills)
Welcome to GLOUCESTER Sign sponsored by Foster’s Medical Services	Welcome to GREENWICH Hope you enjoy your time here

The Coming of the Iron Man, written by Ted Hughes, illustrated by Mini Grey, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

Ted Hughes' Iron Man is one of Faber Publishings treasures, and this new picture book edition, carefully edited and beautifully illustrated by Mini Grey, is a total treat. 

The story starts in the familiar way -

    'The Iron Man came to the top of the cliff.

    How far had he walked? Nobody knows.

    Where had he come from? Nobody knows.

    How was he made? Nobody knows.'

- and we are in the hands of a poet. 

The story, as ever, thrills as the gigantic Iron Man falls and crashes apart, then his component parts find each other and re-make him. As he eats the farmers' tractors and they dig a trap to bait him to his death. And small boy Hogarth lures him by clanking iron things together. And then .... But you must read the book to find that out! Exciting, scary, funny, satisfying.

But it's Mini Grey's illustrations which are new. They are wonderful, similarly full of drama and beauty and humour (note the riveted divide between images!) -

I love the details of light and natural settings -

Printed on luxuriously thick paper, large format and with almost twice the number of spreads of a standard picture book, this book is stunningly good value at £7.99

Glad to be Hopeful by Anne Booth

 I think that being a children's writer is a great help for me as an adult, because the discipline of finding something to be hopeful about is essential for our job. We shouldn't be twee, or superficial, or bury our heads in the sand, but I do think we have to find something hopeful for our child readers. 

As soon as I write this I can think of arguments against it - what about funny books which have exaggeratedly negative endings, or the fact that some children find scary books thrilling and comforting, maybe because they remind them that real life isn't all that bad ? Maybe even the presence of humour is enough to give an escape from a difficult present and let hope in, and the thrilling scary books do have hope in that they have heroes and heroines who survive. Beautiful illustrations and typeface and design  can also provide something deeply uplifting and  positive apart from the narrative, but as a story teller, I do think the narrative itself is very important.

All  I know is that I am a bit biased about hope in children's books, because as a child I certainly had a life and a personality where I really needed comfort and hope (and humour and escapism )  in my stories, and I have spoken with teachers who work with looked after children, and they say that they look for stories which are hopeful and comforting, as the last thing the children they work with need is to be re immersed imaginatively  in traumatic situations with no happy ending. I would need to do more research, so please take this as a prompt for thought rather than an essay. I know that there is a way of looking at stories in books as mirrors or windows. Mirroring narratives help us see ourselves and our place in the world, and windows help us see others' lives and develop empathy. I still think that in both those models, for both adult and child readers, but especially for child readers, we still need to have Hope, especially in these days, and as a writer, I think it helps us to put Hope in our narratives.

I remember some years ago  reading  the present Children's Laureate, Frank Cottrell Boyce, saying that there was a need for more Utopian fiction, for imagining better futures, better societies, and as a writer I love that idea, for my own self, not only the children I write for. I have to live in the world and in the worlds I write, and personally, it helps me to  put Hope into my stories, so that after working on a story with Hope in it,  I can put down my pen or close my laptop and  look back into the world I live in, and recognise in 'real life'  the Hope which always existed but which rolling traumatic world news makes hard to find sometimes. These days there are just too many bad news stories about, but it helps me to remember (and I think it is essential for children and many adults to be taught)  that even the news is written - that we are getting narratives which serve the narrators - and hateful or hopeless narratives are no more true than relentlessly positive, head-in-the-sand ones.  There is a sweet spot where we recognise that the world is full of good and bad things, and that there definitely ARE bad things, (which as children's writers, if we need to present them, we must present in age appropriate ways) but fundamentally, love is stronger than the bad things, and endures. That's the happy ever after bit, the thing we hope for, because we know deep down that is true.

So I have to get on now - my own hopeful story is that I am on a part-time MA in Children's Book Illustration. I had to take a year off for various reasons, but I am back on the course now, and it really is giving me Hope to be studying alongside the other students, and to be immersed in such a wonderful world. I am also  illustrating a picture book at the moment, and I hope very much that anyone who reads it  feels more hopeful at the end.  I must go and do some work, as I only have two days before I present it again at our weekly tutorials, and I have to hope that it will be good enough by Wednesday! 

I hope everyone has a good day.

The Boy and his Comic by Lynda Waterhouse

 Image ©Harry Townsend

I am drawn to this image. This moment in time. A boy absorbed in his comic. It is well worn and battered copy. How long has the boy had to wait a while for this treasure to be passed on to him?

Ten minutes to ten in the morning. Sunlight through the window. The mess on the mantelpiece including a treasured candlestick. The stillness of a child lost in reading. Only a tousled head, a slightly grubby hand and the cuff of his jumper on display. At this time of day it must have been taken on a weekend or the school holidays.

It was taken by Harry Townsend (1891 – 1964). Harry was a chronicler of everyday working class life in my area of South London. He was taking photographs from 1910 until the 1960s.  No-one apart from his family and a few friends, and now you, have ever seen his work.

Henry Percy Roy Townsend was born on 13^th January 1891 in Regent Street, Lambeth. He was the seventh or eighth child born to Charles (a cabman/groom) and Emma (an opera hat maker). Eventually Emma had 10 or 11 children born between 1868 and 1895 of whom two girls and eight boys survived. By the time Harry arrived there were nine family members plus five lodgers living in the house.

His granddaughter Gina says, ‘by the time we grandchildren were old enough to remember him, he was near the end of his life. He had put away his cameras and developing and printing equipment and stacked his hundreds of negatives in old biscuit tins.’

And so to the photographs; we know that he was an avid photographer probably from the 1910s to about the early 1960s. His wife, Kathleen, frequently bemoaned the fact that Harry had to put blackout up in order to develop the photographs, then had strips of negatives slung from lines across the wash house whilst they dried.

As the wash house had the only tap and sink for everyone in the house, not to mention the boiler and mangle that had to be used on wash days, Harry’s photography must have been carried out under considerable time constraints that were definitely a ‘bone of contention’.

Harry took two sorts of photographs: those of family and friends and those of local subjects doing every day activities, which give us a glimpse of domestic life in this corner of Southwark during the first half of the 20^th Century.’

 

USING COLOUR IN CHILDREN'S BOOKS -- BLUE. by Sharon Tregenza

 

BLUE

Colour in children's literature helps to communicate feelings and establish mood. The colour blue is often associated with peace and trust. Illustrators use soft blues in pastel tones to create a sense of serenity.

There is also a sense of dimension in the colour blue when it signifies the openness of the sky or the depth of the sea.

It usually functions as both comfort and invitation. Whether its the gentle blue of a bedtime sky or the deep blue of the ocean.

Here are three books that use blue in the illustrations to create emotion...

'Goodnight Moon' by Margaret Wise Brown illustrated by Clement Hurd

The books night scenes are washed in deep blue and green and the blue tones darken as the story progresses mirroring the transition from wakefulness to sleep.

'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' by Beatrix Potter

Peter's blue jacket is instantly recognisable and helps him stand out visually. Here the blue represents individuality. It became part of Potter's brand appearing in many of her illustrations to signal familiarity. 

'The Rainbow Fish' by Marcus Pfister 

This book makes a striking use of blue - the underwater world is awash with shades of blue and turquoise. Here it creates a serene backdrop and a sense of depth as the Rainbow fish learns about belonging.

Gentle blues signal the quiet comfort of nighttime making blue a common choice for bedtime stories.

www.sharontregenza.com

sharontregenza@gmail.com

Members' news

 

Books

Another shout-out and congratulations to Teri Terry and Helen Larder. Teri's first adult thriller, The Stalker, is out now in a multi-book deal from Boldwood Books. And Helen's YA thriller, Hidden Toxins is out from Hawkwood Books. 

Happy book birthday to Jo Cotterill. THE PONY WHISPERER, fourth and final book in the Starlight Stables Gang books was published on October 2nd (and had an Amazon best seller flag when I checked - congratulations Jo!)

Christmas is coming but while most of the Starlight Stables Gang are excited about the annual seasonal party at the stables, Daniel isn't feeling very festive. His mum isn't well and he's struggling to manage caring for her and helping at home, alongside school work and finding time to go to Starlight Stables - the place he loves the most.

Then Daniel finds an abandoned horse in need of his help and suddenly he's got another thing to worry about. . . But will it prove one thing too many? Or will Daniel finally trust his friends enough to open up and ask for help when he needs it the most?

Barbara Henderson's latest historical novel for children came out on August 23rd with an exciting launch party in September. 720 years after William Wallace's execution, TO WAR WITH WALLACE, published by Luath Press, follows a young English boy, caught up in the Wars of Scottish Independence in the year 1297. Set in Chester, the Scottish Highlands, Stirling and the border region, the book explores themes of loyalty, friendship and identity. Whose side is Harry on? Who is his new master, Scottish nobleman, Andrew do Moray. And is Harry defined by his choice.

https://www.barbarahenderson.co.uk/

It's bookshop day on Saturday 11th October, so it's a good opportunity to support your local bookshop and your Scattered Authors friends at the same time.

Courses

Looking for some inspiration? Jenny Alexander's popular writing workshops are back. https://jennyalexander.co.uk/writing_workshop/

And Penny Joelson will be teaching a Writing YA course for City Lit, starting January. Full list of courses is here: https://faberacademy.com/product-category/courses/

Finally, there are still a couple of places available on the Scattered Authors' Winter Warmer retreat at Folly Farm. If you're a Scattered Authors member you'll have an email about it. Contact Alex English if you're interested in coming.

Do you have a book coming out in November? Any news you'd like to be publicised? Send the details to me, Claire Fayers by the end of October for inclusion. 

Suggestions for Teachers by Paul May

As I can't think of anything new to say this month I'm going to repost this short piece that I wrote ten years ago and that certainly hasn't lost its relevance.

In front of me now I have PRIMARY EDUCATION, subtitled "Suggestions for the consideration of teachers and others concerned with the work of Primary Schools." (1959)  How polite HMI used to be!

I read the pages of this book and find myself nodding in agreement with almost everything it says.  Don't be put off by the use of 'he' and 'his' for every child and teacher - this, from the introductory pages, still makes perfect sense to me.

The primary school should not (...) be regarded merely as a preparatory department for the subsequent stage, and the courses should be planned and conditioned, not mainly by the supposed requirements of the secondary stage, nor by the exigencies of an examination at the age of eleven, but by the needs of the child at that particular phase in his physical and mental development.

And this:

No good can come from teaching children things which have no immediate value for them, however highly their potential or prospective value may be estimated.

These 'Handbook(s) of Suggestions for the Consideration of Teachers' were published at intervals from 1905 until 1959.  The next passage was written in 1918, repeated in subsequent editions, and quoted again in 1959.

'The only uniformity of practice that the Board of Education desire to see in the teaching of Public Elementary Schools is that each teacher shall think for himself, and work out for himself such methods of teaching as may use his powers to the best advantage and be best suited to the particular needs and conditions of the school.  Uniformity in details of practice (except in the mere routine of school management) is not desirable even if it were attainable.  But freedom implies a corresponding responsibility in its use.

However, the teacher need not let the sense of his responsibility depress him or make him afraid to be his natural self in school.  Children are instinctively attracted by sincerity and cheerfulness; and the greatest teachers have been thoroughly human in their weakness as well as in their strength.' (Handbook 1918)

This is the heart of it.  It's why teaching was, and still can be, a great job.  But successive governments have made it far harder for a teacher to be their 'natural self'.  The principle that 'uniformity in detail is not desirable' has been ditched.  The teacher's world is dominated by the measurement of their efficiency in getting children to progress through defined benchmarks.  Instead of child-centred education we now have data-centred education.  Why did we let people tell us that child-centred education was a bad thing?   Here, to finish, is the opening paragraph of Chapter 2 of the often (unjustly) maligned Plowden Report from 1967. The picture above is from the frontispiece of the report.  Not much uniformity there. 

 'At the heart of the educational process lies the child. No advances in policy, no acquisitions of new equipment have their desired effect unless they are in harmony with the nature of the child, unless they are fundamentally acceptable to him.'