Announced today, author and story-teller Julia Donaldson, creator of The Gruffalo and more than 120 other books, is to succeed Anthony Browne as the UK’s new Waterstone’s Childrens’ Laureate (2011-2013). As Julia tells us in her first post for the Children’s Laureate blog, she intends to promote storytelling through music and drama and to focus on stories for deaf children – she also promises to be “vociferous in the campaign to promote libraries and halt the cuts and closures which I see as so damaging to our children and their future.” And judging by the poem that concludes that first post, we are in for as much of a treat over the next two years as we have enjoyed over the last, well, twelve years, since the post began…

One way to get closer to a country’s culture is to explore its proverbs and idiom. Being fans already of illustrator Axel Scheffler, we couldn’t resist his Proverbs from Far and Wide (Macmillan, 2001) when I came across it recently.

Scheffler depicts facial expressions with a cartoonist’s eloquence, whether on humans or other animals, and he really comes into his own here in conveying the meaning of each proverb through its accompanying vignette. The people are all shown wearing the traditional costumes of the proverb’s country of origin, which contributes to the global feel of the book; and the universality of humankind is communicated by the gathering of the proverbs into categories like “Friend or Foe?”, “What Happens Next?” or “That’s Not Fair”. Some of the gems included are:

Those who have one foot in the canoe and one in the boat are going to fall in the river – Tuscarora

A hasty man drinks tea with his fork – India

If I peddle salt, it rains; if I peddle flour, the wind blows – Japan

Trust in God, but tie your camel. – Persia

You cannot find a striped squirrel in every fence pole – North America

All in all, this is delightful book for introducing small – and not so small – children to some great expressions from different cultures… And it has got me looking around to see what other similar books there are out there for children. Here are a couple I’ve spotted and would love to know more about – if you know them, do tell us about them:

Tigers, Frogs and Rice Cakes: A Book of Korean Proverbs by Daniel D. Holt, illustrated by Soma Han (Shen’s Books, 1999);

Mi primer libro di dichos / My First Book of Proverbs by Ralfka Gonzales and Ana Ruiz (Children’s Book Press, 1995)

I’ve also come across Many Ideas Open the Way: A Collection of Hmong Proverbs by Randy Snook – it’s out of print now but there are some fun images here, although you don’t get to see the original Hmong as you would in the book…

I would like to draw your attention to this Family Reading page on The Horn Book’s website – there are lots of ideas and shared experiences to hearten and encourage reading with and to our children. I especially love Martha Parravano’s article “Reading Three Ways“ about reading with her two daughters; and I laughed aloud at the end. It reminded me of a holiday when Son Number One was still toddling. Rapunzel had been the perpetually chosen audio tape on the day’s drive up to the North of Scotland. A few days later:

Daddy: Where’s Mummy?
Son (cackling): The bird has flown, my pretty!

…I wish I’d actually been there to hear it!

Thinking back to that time when books had to be repeated ad infinitum, here’s a list, in no particular order, of only some of our family favorites from the very early years:

All the Hairy Maclary books by Lynley Dodd – in fact, all her books!
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, ill. Patrick Benson;
Can’t You sleep, Baby Bear? – and the rest of the series, again by Martin Waddell, but ill. Barbara Firth
Each Peach Pear Plum and Peepo! by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
Mrs Armitage and the Big Wave by Quentin Blake
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, ill. Helen Oxenbury
Little Beaver and the Echo by Amy MacDonald, ill. Sarah Fox-Davies
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss
The Gruffalo and all the other books by Julia Donaldson, ill. Axel Scheffler
Mrs Goose’s Baby and Mr Davies and the Baby by Charlotte Voake

When I look at this list I realise that nearly all these books were given to us by friends whose own children had loved them – and we in turn have handed them on to our smaller friends…

So let me just leave you with a something the illustrator Howard Pyle once said:

“The stories of childhood leave an indelible impression, and their author always has a niche in the temple of memory from which the image is never cast out to be thrown on the rubbish heap of things that are outgrown and outlived.”

On BBC Radio 4’s Open Book this week, Britain’s new Prime Minister Gordon Brown flagged up Julia Donaldson’s The Snail and the Whale as his top children’s book – and his choice was certainly greeted with approval from the small listeners in the back of my car yesterday. Gordon Brown extolled “the quality of children’s books now and the sheer brilliance of the writing” and talked about his experience as a Dad: “I read bedtime stories but sometimes early morning stories as well, as any parent knows; but I love reading to both my children. One is only ten months and he’s just starting to get a bit interested in what’s there.” Fantastic!

There has been a fair bit of research in recent years into the benefits of Dads reading aloud to their kids – (more…)