The book’s template is a self-help book for people to log their own fears: and each pair of phobias on a double page is cleverly interlinked.

“Each page in this book provides a large blank space
for you to record and face your fear using a combination of:
Drawing
Writing
Collage.

REMEMBER!
A FEAR FACED IS A FEAR DEFEATED.”

Only, what we have here is Mouse’s personally completed copy – and what a timorous wee beastie he is! He has filled in every page, from Entomophobia, a fear of insects, through monsters, yes, to, well, everything (that’s Panophobia!). In fact, Mouse has chewed it and glued it; and with all he goes through, it’s amazing that both he and his pencil survive until the end.

There is genius behind this book – every time I look at it I am struck by the lightness of touch Gravett has brought to this tricky subject. There is so much humor (not least in the way it ends) and this provides a very real opening for children to talk openly about their fears, however irrational – and, in fact, not just their own: my Arachnophobia (though I’m loathe to acknowledge it by its proper name) was pounced upon gleefully by my two…

The artwork is stunning, right down to the tiniest detail of a dog-eared page corner. As well as the holes and torn edges, there are collages with flaps, some terrifying feathers and an annotated “Visitors’ Map of the Isle of Fright”. This is a book to be drooled over – though perhaps not literally. Button and Mr Moo, the rats to whom the book is dedicated, have already done their business… In fact, some of the illustrative techiniques involved seem set to cause a furore – but that mustn’t be allowed to detract from the quality of the book itself. I go along with The Ultimate Book Guide’s comments about the publishers too – Macmillan are indeed to be congratulated; and I can only envy Daniel is preview peek at Gravett’s soon-to-be-published The Odd Egg!

Here’s a link to yesterday’s interview with Emily in The Guardian and do look at her own website, including this activity to “Make Your Own Collage of Fears”. She was also recently selected as one of The Big Picture campaign’s ten Best New Illustrators in the UK, as announced at the Bologna Book Fair. You can read The Big Picture’s interview with her here.

And a little PS – we will be featuring three of The Big Picture’s longlisted artists in our Gallery in our next PaperTigers update…