Seven Stories, the Centre for Children's Books, UK
Ten days ago I reported on the Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Book Award Presentation, which took place at Seven Stories, The Centre for Children’s Books in Newcastle, UK – and I definitely want to tell you more about this wonderful place! We’re lucky – we live reasonably close to Newcastle, though far enough away that it took us a few years of living here to get ourselves there, which we did in the last school-holidays. I now know that the path will start to become a well-travelled one…
The name of Seven Stories not only refers to the axiom that there are but seven stories in the world told in an infinite variety of ways, but is also played out in the Centre’s daily life: it is housed in a seven storey building that is open seven days a week for a seven hours a day.
The late-nineteenth-century building was originally a mill warehouse. Many original features have been restored and the interior spaces have been designed with imagination and children in mind. The criss-cross of original beams in the top-floor room, beautiful to behold, also gives you a start, as you realise that there is a weird, curvy beam, winding its way through all the other beams – what structural use can it possibly be? Aaah – it is a bookshelf! And as it snakes its way down almost to floor-level, it houses enough copies of Julia Donaldson’s Playtime! for young visitors (and older ones too!) to come together and put on a play in the theatre corner, with the help of a sumptuous array of costumes. 
These include Donaldson’s and Axel Sheffler’s creation, the Gruffalo and the Mouse (and by the way, read this lovely interview with Julia Donaldson by Vulpis Libris – Part 1 and Part 2). Under this panoply of beams are also to be found a story-teller’s area complete with its exuberant throne, and a vast selection of books for a family storytime.
The current exhibitions are All Aboard, Away We Go! and From Toad Hall to Pooh Corner – both a feast for the eyes, ears and hands, and each with its own beautifully produced interactive trail. During our family visit, we chanted Mrs Armitage’s Mantra (“What we need, what we really need…”) and flew a plane while marvelling at Robert Crowther’s intricate paper-engineering from his book Flight. We discovered new-to-us old stories, like The Little Train, ostensibly by Dorothy Craigie but really written by Graham Greene and illustrated by Dorothy Glover (read this great post from Bear Alley for the full story…). 
We toot-tooted our way to (imaginary!) destruction in Toad’s car and, the highlight for me, we gazed on original’s of Robert Ingpen’s beautiful illustrations for Wind in the Willows, then looked at them in the book, while listening to the appropriate extract, seated in a replica, from the illustration, of Badger’s kitchen. Perfect!
I was astounded, when speaking to Lynda Jackson, Seven Stories’ Exhibitions Curator, to discover that these exhibitions are not permanent but usually run for about eighteen months – and the really good news is that they can tour elsewhere after their space in Newcastle has been taken over by something else… And I was given a sneak preview of what the next something else, From The Tiger Who Came to Tea to Mog and Pink Rabbit: A Judith Kerr Retrospective, will look like. So we’ll definitely be going back in September and I’ll tell you all about it!
In the meantime, I’ll be posting again soon about Seven Stories, with a closer look at its background and its role as a keeper of British children’s books, not to mention its superb children’s bookshop.
May 14th, 2009 at 11:43 am
You describe such a wondrous place! It sounds like the stuff of fairy-tales!… I hope I can find my way there, some day. I’ll eagerly wait for your next posts to learn more about it.
May 14th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
It sounds wonderful. I am thrilled to hear that they are promoting drama and story telling as an integral part of a Book Centre, when quite often the focus is solely on books. I love books, but I believe kids will appreciate books even more when exposed to a broader version of story.
May 15th, 2009 at 1:13 am
This sounds like a great place to visit! The UK, I’m finding, has a lot of wonderful treasures for children and children’s books. I’ll be posting on my findings when I return to Canada!
May 15th, 2009 at 9:07 am
It is wonderful – and, Book Chook, I couldn’t agree with you more. As well as book storytimes, Seven Stories have storyteller’s time without books – we attended one with the Captain of the Sea Song Saga – in the room overlooking the boat. We heard all about why we couldn’t actually go in the boat and he wove wonderful stories set in the area so that the children could identify the places – as well as requiring all sorts of audience participation, including suggestions as to the direction of the narrative. Most of the children were quite young but even Older Brother, who’s 10, was caught up in it.
May 18th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Book Chook, interesting comment you made and I agree with you, too. We’ve been enjoying children’s theatre while in London and theatre is one way to bring the printed text really alive for children. Storytelling as well is lively and interactive. In Edinburgh, my daughter picked up the storytelling phone at the Scottish Storytelling Centre and was completely engrossed in listening to the tale!