1st February National Serpent Day

It is National Serpent Day. What is a serpent? A snake, so it is Snake Day! Some websites say it is Snake Day on the 16th July so you can celebrate again then. There are lots of words for 'snake' that children recognise, like adder, asp, python, cobra and boa constrictor. What ever name they have many of the boys I teach are fascinated by them and snake books are well borrowed. In fact, at the moment the display shelves of the library are saturated with reptile books in three sections: snakes and lizards, crocodiles and alligators and turtles and tortoises. The library has only been open for two days and already quite a few snake and crocodile books have gone.

Some of my favourite snake books are:
• Crictor by Tomi Ungerer. This is old but still in print and very humorous.
• Snake Supper  by Alan Durant and Ant Parker really makes my preschoolers laugh.
• Python by Christopher Cheng and Mark Jackson is one of those wonderful Walker books that has a story alongside factual information in a different font.
• I (Don't) Like Snakes by Nicola Davies and Luciano Lozano is also part of that Nature Storybook series.
• Akimbo and the Snakes by Alexander McCall Smith is a short novel in the Akimbo series set in the game reserves of Africa.
There's more titles on my pinterest page here.

28th November Tomi Ungerer (1931)

Tomi Ungerer is 80 today! He has joined those other wonderful octogenerians of the children's lit world, Russell Hoban, Maurice Sendak, Eric Carle, Brian Wildsmith, Judith Kerr and Shirley Hughes. It is so good that they are still having plenty to say and either doing new books or having old ones reissued. Tomi has just had three of his books reissued in time for Christmas presents. They are the adventures of the Mellop brothers. These pigs are back to excite a new generation of children and the new covers are much more inspiring than the old. Now all I need is for his wonderful version of Red Riding Hood to be reissued. When I first started teaching I read it to a Year 5 class and they were still getting over the fact that RRH married the wolf, weeks later. They were shocked. It just was not meant to happen. Many see his books as being subversive. He says on his interview (that is for you and not children) here "Children have to be faced with the absurd because the world is absurd."

28th November Tomi Ungerer (1931) Ed Young (1931) David Wyatt (1968)

Today is the birthday of three amazing illustrators! Each has a very distinct style and each has many memorable illustrations worth perusing.

Tomi Ungerer, the French illustrator was born Jean-Thomas Ungerer in Strasbourg. He has had a colourful career, moving a number of times, changing work focus often and being an inveterate collector. He moved to the USA in 1956 and had his first children's book published very soon after. As well as children's books he published many adult books. Many readers say that his books are 'unusual' which is probably a polite way of saying they don't like them, but I do. I particularly like The Beast of Monsieur Racine, Crictor and his twisted fairytales. I remember reading his version of Red Riding Hood to a year five and we were talking about the ending where she ate the wolf for weeks to come. Ungerer won the Hans Christian Anderson Award in 1998 and in 2007 Strasbourg honoured him by opening the Tomi Ungerer Museum.

Ed Young is an American illustrator who was born in China, living in Shanghai and Hong Kong before moving to the USA to study architecture. While there he turned instead to art and illustration. He has illustrated a multitude of books, mainly for other authors. He won the Caldecott Medal for Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story From China and has been nominated for the Hans Christian Anderson Award twice. Ed's illustrations often include collage and often they appear dark, but they are very dramatic and add a dimension to the author's text that certainly enhance the words and make the book long lasting. His best books often have an Asian origin and he is able to bring the story alive authentically. This is obvious in Tsunami; Wabi Sabi; Beyond the Great Mountains; Monkey King and Cat and Rat. Ed Young would make my list of top ten illustrators!

David Wyatt is an English illustrator, best known for his illustrations of fantasy for authors such as Tolkien, Terry Pratchett and Dianne Wynne Jones. Look at his website to see just how detailed and beautiful his illustrations are. In my library there is very little of his work except in Geraldine McCaughrean's Peter Pan in Scarlet which is a beautifully illustrated 'gift' book.