Tiger, Tom & Tinkle, by David Wood, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

        I couldn't resist ordering through Waterstones this book about three of my favourite children's book creating women; Judith Kerr, Philippa Pearce, and Kathleen Hale. David Wood is a brilliant adapter of children's books for the stage, so this book is the result of his working with those three creators towards theatrical and animated performances for child audiences over several decades. 

    I found the correspondence between David and Judith Kerr concerning turning that absolute classic picture book, The Tiger Who Came To Tea, into an hour-long show the most fascinating part of this book. The real understanding of what engages and appeals in that story, milking the anticipation of the moment that all are waiting for - the arrival of the Tiger! - by having other characters ringing the doorbell before we get to him, is brilliant! As is the magic employed to let that huge but friendly Tiger seem to actually eat all that food, and the water from the tap. And the Tiger is played by the actor of Dad. Humour, music, excitement, all there with adults playing children and props made large to fit those proportions.

    Unsurprisingly, Judith Kerr comes across as delightful and really interesting, as do Philippa Pearce and Kathleen Hale. I found the quantity of correspondence between them and David Wood published here a bit repetitive, losing my interest enough to make me skip a bit over the many pages of similar stuff. 

    But, for those who love these creator characters, and are interested in how book stories are adapted for stage and screen, I suggest this is a book to ask your library to order in. It's self-published so not stocked as generally as a traditionally published book would be.  

Dogs versus Cats by Lynne Benton

For some reason there seems to be a general assumption that anyone who loves dogs is a GOOD EGG, whereas anyone who prefers cats must be a bit ODD.  (This includes a certain American politician who refers sarcastically to “cat ladies”, as if they were somehow beyond the pale!)  

I totally refute this!

I have written several books for children in which dogs play an important role, (indeed, one publisher asked for input from children, many of whom said, “I love this book because it’s about dogs, and I love dogs!”)  However, that doesn’t mean I necessarily prefer them to cats.  Indeed, although when I was a child we had a cat, and then, later, a dog, now, as an adult, I do prefer cats – maybe because the one we had was my first love?  When my own children were small we had two cats, both of which were much loved, but now my children have grown up only one of them has any pets at all.  (Two of them would, I think, have a cat if their circumstances were different)  But my eldest daughter now has both a dog and a cat, though I think she is probably more attached to the dog, who can accompany her on the frequent long walks that they both love.  And her three children are equally fond of both cats and dogs.  So maybe it does depend, to a large extent, on the animal/s you were brought up with.

Anyway, it made me think about the books I’ve read that are specifically about either cats or dogs, and I’ve come up with a few favourites.

The first of these is one from my childhood, which I used to hear on Children’s Hour on the radio, as well as read from the library: Orlando the Marmalade Cat, by Kathleen Hale.  This was the story of Orlando and his family, all of whom I got to know, the more I heard or read.  Following the success of her original book, Kathleen Hale wrote many sequels, of which this is one:

However, another favourite – or series of favourites – from my childhood were Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books, in which the fifth “person” was the dog, Timmy.  I loved reading the books, though in retrospect Timmy seems to have been remarkably well-behaved, and never barked at inopportune moments (which, in my experience, most dogs do!)

Then there were books I read to various classes when I was teaching younger children: Gobbolino, the Witches Cat, by Ursula Moray Williams.  This was the story of a foundling kitten who had no idea he was really a witch’s cat, and the scrapes he got into before discovering his true identity.  It was always hugely popular.

And of course there's the wonderful One Hundred and One Dalmatians, by Dodie Smith, which was popular as a book but has now become even more popular as an animated film by Disney.  Featuring dalmatians Pongo and Mrs Pongo and their 101 dalmatian puppies, who were desired by the wicked Cruella De Ville for their skins, it's the story of how they managed to escape her clutches.

And another cat book for children which I discovered quite recently, “The Cat Whiskerer”, by Cathy Hopkins, which is a lovely story of Tom, a “Cat Whiskerer”, whose magic whiskers could always sense another cat in trouble, and the cats in the neighbourhood whom he helped.

I’m sure there are many, many more, and people will continue to argue about this question, but it’s good to know that people will always want pets, whether cats or dogs, and will insist that their own choice is better. 

Website: lynnebenton.com