It is heartening to read that that children’s enjoyment of
reading and their daily reading habits have risen for the first time in five
years. Good news but let’s not forget that in 2025 it reached a record twenty
year low. The report also showed that the disadvantage gap was widening.
Check out the National Literacy Trust’s report on children
and young people’s reading in 2026 here.
In the report, nearly half the children (48.7%) said that
reading helps them explore their interests. This got me thinking. How are the
other 51.3% supported to explore their interests? Online, shared
conversations with fellow enthusiasts, collecting e.g. football stickers or building up a fossil
collection? When I’m working with school groups at The Wallace Collection,
I often ask them what they collect and, after a moment’s hesitation, I’m given
a long list. So far, however, no-one has spoken about building a book
collection or collecting comics.
Perhaps it is the right sort of book that is required to
explore interests. Yesterday I went to Tate Britain to see the James McNeill
Whistler exhibition and I bought Dide Tengiz’s art activity book about the
artist.
Meet the Artist is
a series of activity picture books that introduces children to the lives and
works of artists. The accompanying activities are designed to encourage
children to use art to explore themes, express their own ideas, and develop a
lifelong love of art.
It is a good size book, approx. 24cm x 28cm, with the feel
of an artist’s sketch book. Some of the activities include an invitation to go
on a walk and sketch a street scene, listen to your favourite song and draw how
it makes you feel, design patterns or write a poem, or identify places where
you felt happy or sad.
Dide’s illustrations capture Whistler’s art whilst
maintaining her own unique and beautiful style. Dide says, ‘I love
storytelling and creating a sense of place and feeling in my work using colour
and observational drawing.’
Check out Dide’s website: https://www.didetengiz.com/
I hope her unpublished silent graphic novel, Slow Things, gets
snapped up by a publisher soon. This wordless novel would make a perfect,
enjoyable ‘read’. Now that is another theme for a blogpost!
Tate Publishing
ISBN 978-1-917055-12-3
1 comment:
I'm looking forward to visiting that Whistler exhibition later in the week! That Dide Tengiz book sounds fascinating. Lynda. Must say that art galleries often have titles you don't see anywhere else. I get very excited browsing their inspired selections, but often have to remind myself that the book will need carrying home with the luggage too!
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