Where do you start with someone like Quentin Blake, the famous British illustrator. He is a phenomenon. He was rightly so, the first Children's Laureate. Everything he does is wonderful so it is so hard to know what to single out. The children I teach think of him as Roald Dahl's illustrator, but he is so much more than that. He illustrates for other well known authors too such as John Yeoman, Michael Morpurgo, David Williams and Michael Rosen. And, he writes his own books as well and they usually have such a sense of fun. I love Mrs Armitage and Mister Magnolia and they never fail when I use them with classes. Two books of Blake's that you might not know, but really need to check out are Tell Me a Picture and The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac. Tell Me a Picture is the book accompaniment to an exhibition Blake organised for the National Gallery in London. He did this because he believes that enjoyment of the art in picture books can be a prelude to pleasure in a museum.
Chris d'Lacey is the British author responsible for the very popular series The Last Dragon Chronicles, but these are beyond my clientele, so I have introduced them to his other dragon series, The Dragons of Wayward Crescent in readiness.
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