Just got copies of this month's Pomme d'Api magazine from Bayard Presse France which features the illustrations I did in June before I left France, for a 'back to school' story by Hélène Crosnier. And I received a nice note via Bayard from the author...
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Little Lea meets a frog on the way to her first day of school. She's mortified when froggie leaps out of her pocket during class... |
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| Lea slips frog back into her pocket during the mayhem, but he leaps out again during lunch... |
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| and even joins in on the piano during music class... To cut the story short, teacher makes the best class use of frog - without dissecting it! Lea overcomes her shyness and it all ends well. The deeper story is about overcoming first-day fear, so it needed a softer more reassuring treatment than usual. My in-house teen critic Ella said it reminds her of my very first Toto books published 20 years ago. Having illustrated so many animals, it was great to have the chance to do different kids' characters and expressions here. Back to school for us all now - but first, now my two resident 16 year olds, Ella and Sam, fresh from France have got into the rhythm of English Sixth Form, I want to take stock of the summer...next post! |
