SITTING IN THE STORY GARDEN: THE 2025 SUMMER READING CHALLENGE. by Penny Dolan

With schools closing for the holidays and the 2025 Summer Reading 'Story Garden' Challenge starting up, the end of July would be a busy one at my local library, and for me too, as it happens. 

Although I know the library very well, and have picked up a lot about this scheme over the years, I had never been involved in a practical way before. This year, to help with a sudden gap in the library's summer volunteer numbers, I suddenly was.

I knew where to sit  already because, at the last Storytime,  there was a new table down in the Junior Library. It was noticeably labelled, and decorated with bright, encouraging posters, a large purple flower, pots of pens, stacks of printed sheets and more, ready for the young readers to sign up for this year's version of the summer reading scheme. 

                                           

I must add that, as I sat at that table, I felt glad a Librarian would be at the official desk on the other side of the library. Meanwhile, I did try to look confident and friendly, and as if I knew what I was doing. 

Well, I almost did, didn't I?

Earlier that week, after the last regular Storytime session, the two teenage Reading Scheme volunteers at the table had explained the process. Afterwards, I turned my scribbled notes into a neat, handwritten crib card, mentally rehearsing the registration procedure as I put the thoughts into order, reminding myself about what I  might need to remember. An official info sheet was taped to the desk but I needed to know as much as I could beforehand, to be as ready as could be.

Heavens, I even found myself a small zipped case and made a pack up with the crib card, two working pens, a blank registration card and the slightly crumpled printed leaflet. I really didn't want to put any child - or parent - off the reading challenge - or the library - or reading altogether for ever - by acting like a witless old fool. 

I made a list of the facts too. The Summer Reading Challenge is for children from four years upwards, mainly of primary age. The young readers are invited to borrow and read six books over the six weeks or so of the holidays to complete the challenge, though of course they can read more, or read 'home' or other books too and there's space for that at the back of the form. The Challenge is definitely about reading for enjoyment and leisure, not 'testing reading' and all sorts of texts included: picture books, story books, fact books, graphic novels, poetry books and more. Having only 'six titles' allows space for holiday travels and for other healthy activities, as shown by the library's special reward.

The Reading Scheme leaflet is designed around a Story Garden theme, and growing readers. Each book read earns a sticker to put in the leaflet. Two books gets two sticker and a 'seed paper' that will, wettened, sprout into tiny seedlings for a garden. Two more book earns two more stickers and a brightly coloured 'fuzzy bug'. to link withthe theme of gradens and nature. The final two books earn two more stickers - of course!- plus a shiny medal on a ribbon, a certificate and, this year, a free entry voucher for one of the local swimming pools to encourage getting out and about in a healthy way. 

Children can collect their certificates and medals, and by photographed by parents by  a special mural too, if they wish. Alternatively, some primary schools arrange September 'Reading' assemblies where pupils receive their certificates. On the card, I would note about what the children - or their parents - chose. 

                                     

No wonder I needed to get all this in order in my own head! Now, all I had to do was explain all this in as friendly and encouraging way as possible, while filling in the registration form and handing out a sheet about holiday activities in the library, not once but many times. By the end of Day One, I felt a new sympathy and respect for the library staff, going through the same often simple procedures and questions day after day after day, and yet staying focused, cheerful and approachable. 

Before long, I learned to watch for those moments when I could explain all this to several children and adults in one go, and also that it was okay to pause and clear my head now and again. I also learned, after some unusual names and whispered spellings, that it was best to let the children write and spell their own names on their leaflet, and for me to copy that spelling on to the official registration card.  But I did get through it - as did the children - and came home at the end of the sessions with my brain feeling that it had had a good workout.

                                        

Best of all  - for an author used to waiting in emptied libraries - was witnessing and experiencing the happy mood when the the children's library was busy and in full working flow. From that purple-flowered desk, I saw all sorts of people. 

I came across cheeky borrowers, brandishing the next title in an easy, popular series; solemn readers ashamed of their wriggly younger sibling; shy readers wary of face-to-face attention; reluctant readers, firmly encouraged by their parents; watchful carers helping their 'new' children to choose;.

I met children whose family language was not English; people whose wide-eyed grandchildren were visiting from other countries; several older parents and grandparents casually familiar with the whole reading scheme process; older siblings affronted by the lack of reverence showed by a younger brother or sister, and even a few first-time visitors who needed registration on the system by the librarian first.

In between, I saw children and adults colouring in at the table, friends of all ages gossiping, pregnant and nursing mums resting quietly on the seating, and toddlers playing with the wooden sensory toys. Honestly, what a privilege it was to see so many people using the library service, and to have such a joyful glimpse of the community that a local library serves. 

I only wished I could have had the illustrator Shirley Hughes sitting there, capturing some of the many 'people' moments, not outside, but inside this very library.

                                             

And, by the by, on one of the days, I even had the delight of helping a young girl borrow 'Vixen', one of my own early readers, on the lending machine.  

                                              

What a very cheering moment that was and not, as I've only just had the idea, because of any connection to the Public Lending Right.  The total pleasure of knowing for sure that someone somewhere is reading your - and your illustrator's - books.

 Penny Dolan

JUNE - AND THOUGHTS ON WRITING A PICTURE BOOK. Penny Dolan

This half term holiday, I spent some time in the Library, chatting about Under-Five Storytime sessions , and about why this or that book is satisfying to read aloud to children and their grown-ups. Sometimes, while choosing these picture books, I sigh inwardly, and wish I had the wisdom, skill and patience to create such small treasures. 

Then, today, I came across these lines, written by illustrator and writer Shirley Hughes, which seem just perfect for today's post. 

"The text is a matter of writing around the pictures in my head and, some time later, as part of the pattern of the page. I reach for a pencil at a very early stage to get down some roughs. I need to know what the characters look like. This process helps to crystalise the plot.

With picture books, the fewer words the better. But that isn't to say they are all that easy to write. The great danger is overwriting (as many skilled writers of older fiction tend to do). The aim is to hone it down and down, and to make it  flow rhythmically, like a phrase of music, in and out of the pictures. It should end up sweetly and satisfyingly within the thirty-two-page (or twenty-four-page) format, including prelims and endpapers, which is usually all that the strictures of colour printing will allow. Most importantly it should be bearable for grown ups and older siblings to read not once, but over and over again.

For this very young age group the background of the story, much of the characterisation and humour, is there to be discovered in the pictures . . . It's a first introduction to fiction which is not to be missed."

 Lines that explain so very much. Thank you, Shirley Hughes, for these and for all your work.

 

Penny Dolan

 Text taken from 'Writers Writing', edited for the Edinburgh Book Festival by Jenny Brown and Shona Morris (1993) 

Scary Things by Lynne Benton

This is a post for anyone who has ever been scared of something.  Ever.  So that’s most of us, right?  So I want to introduce you to a newly-published book written and illustrated by the talented Angie Morgan, called “Small Stanley’s BIG List of Scary Stuff.”

I wish this book had been around when my children were small!  So that when one of them admitted that they were scared of anything, I could have read it to them. 

Small Stanley is scared of spiders, and beetles, and earwigs, and dogs and cats and the dark, etc. etc.  He wishes he was brave and fearless, like all the superheroes he’s read about, but he just can’t help being scared.  So he asks his Grandad what he should do, and Grandad says, “Write a list!”  Stanley writes a list, but he keeps remembering more things he’s scared of and adding them to his list too.  And as his list grows longer and longer, he is scared to leave home without it, in case he remembers something else while he’s out and can’t add it to his list!

Then Grandad comes up with another idea…

Of course I won’t tell you what it is, or how it helps Stanley to overcome his fears.  You might want to read the book to find out!

I am full of admiration for anyone who can both write and illustrate their own books!  Angie, who trained in Graphic Art, has written and illustrated several books for young children, following in a great tradition of people like the late, great Shirley Hughes, and Lauren Child, whose books are in constant demand.

I hope Small Stanley will soon become just as popular.

  

website: lynnebenton.com

latest book:

Billy and the Queen

The Late, Great, Shirley Hughes by Lynne Benton

 

Shirley Hughes, whose beautifully-illustrated books have delighted countless children (and their parents) for many years, was born in West Kirby on The Wirral, in July 1927.  As a child she adored comics, with their exciting stories told in comic strips, and was inspired by the work of Heath Robinson, whose complicated technical drawings of his incredible machines fascinated her, and by the great book illustrators Arthur Rackham, Edward Ardizzone and E H Shepherd. 

She also enjoyed frequent theatre visits with her mother, which gave her a love of observing people and a desire to create.  Leaving school she went to the nearby Liverpool School of Art to study drawing and costume design, with a vague idea of designing costumes for the theatre.  However, after a year she decided to move to Oxford, to the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, where she was encouraged to work in the picture book format, and after graduating she briefly tried working at Birmingham rep, which decided her that the theatre world was not for her.  It was then that she took her tutor’s advice and began working as an illustrator.

After art school she moved to London, and in 1952, she married John Vulliamy, an architect and etcher, and had three children.  Her daughter, Clara Vulliamy, is now also a children’s book illustrator.  Shirley Hughes lived in London for the rest of her life.  She died in February of this year, aged 94.

I first discovered Shirley Hughes’ inimitable illustrations when reading My Naughty Little Sister, by Dorothy Edwards, to my own children, and was very impressed by how lifelike the small children in the illustrations were. 

She also illustrated The Bell Family by Noel Streatfeild before trying her hand at writing and illustrating her own books.  Her first published book was Lucy and Tom’s Day,  which was made into a series of stories.   She went on to write over fifty more stories, including Dogger (1977), the story of a small boy who loses his toy dog, which won the Kate Greenaway Medal as the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject.  In 2007, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Carnegie Medal, Dogger was also named the public favourite of the top ten Greenaway Medal-winning works, or Greenaway of Greenaways.

Other great favourites are the Alfie series (1977), featuring a young boy named Alfie and sometimes his sister Annie-Rose.  I read these books to my children too, and they have gone on to read them to their children, and the stories have lost none of their magic.

In 2003 she won a second Greenaway (no illustrator has won three) for Ella's Big Chance, her own adaptation of Cinderella, set in the 1920s.

Throughout her career she illustrated 200 children's books, which sold more than 10 million copies.

In 1984, she won the Eleanor Farjeon Award for distinguished service to children's literature, in 1999 she was awarded an OBE, and in 2000 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

In 2003 the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool hosted an exhibition of her work, which then moved to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

In 2004 ahe was also granted an Honorary Fellowship by Liverpool John Moores University and in 2012 Honorary Degrees by the University of Liverpool and the University of Chester.

In 2015 Booktrust, the UK's largest reading charity, awarded her their first lifetime achievement award.

And in the 2017 New Year Honours, she was awarded a CBE for services to literature.

Article about Shirley Hughes published in the New Statesman magazine at the time of her death:

No one since Rembrandt has so perfectly captured the precarious half-balance of the toddler's toddle. And I don't think anyone ever has depicted ordinary domestic mess so honestly...The parents were also always present in the story – something unusual in children's books. Even more unusual, the siblings in her stories are often really good – even gallant – to each other. The neighbourhood is warm and friendly and multicultural. Her world is our world at its best. The mess and the frizz have their place within a bigger conviction that stories about ordinary children doing ordinary things – getting locked out, losing a toy – could be just as full of courage, wonder and grace as any epic of fairyland.

A fitting epitaph for a great talent.

website: lynnebenton.com

Latest book: Billy and the Queen

published by Amazon