The fly's story

I found the book I'm going to blog about today in the famous Hay Cinema Bookshop in Hay-on-Wye, one of the lovely places my husband and I visited while on holiday this year.  Can you see me in the background looking at books? An amazing place, just so full!

Petr Horácek (PH) is one my favourite picturebook creators.  I've blogged about him before. The fly is hilarious and perfect for helping us see the 'other side of the story'! IThe illustrations are typical of PH's style, containing bold collaged shapes, good deep colours and lovely lines.  There are also some ingeniously cut pages. Wonderful stuff. 

Front cover

From the front cover we can see that this fly really is very intelligent, he can even write his name! 

Back cover

On the back cover, he is speaking directly at us, inviting us into the book... "Hello! It's me - the house fly. Open my book and take a look inside. There's never a dull moment."  This is the fly's story - let's find out what he has to show and tell us. 

Front endpapers

The front endpapers are just covered in flies (and the scribbled price from the Cinema Books Shop is still there!) 

Copyright and title pages

I love this deep red copyright page - I wonder why PH chose this colour?  Quite stark alongside the white title page, where we can see that clever fly practicing his lettering skills. PH has dedicated this book to William, I bet William hates flies!

Opening 1

Presentations first: and the house fly introduces himself. Written in the first person, this really is the fly's version of his story. That big speech bubble, (the same red as the copyright page!) emphasizes his personal description of a life that contains never a dull moment. Right from the start our hero is clear and plain ... "But people don't like me being in the house." Where is he I wonder? On the wall? That textured background is lovely. Turn the page and ... 

Opening 2

The fly swat comes flapping down.  Yes, house fly, I see what you mean.  (I have a fly swat just like this and my husband uses it often). But this is just the beginning.  

Opening 3

No! This page is not upside down, don't forget, it's the fly who's telling this story. It's breakfast time and already he's risked his life. Next, that is after breakfast, our hero does his exercises, "156 times around the lamp keeps me fit", he says as he is seen zipping around that red lamp shade in opening 4. Then it's time for a snack, but oops, another FLAP! So off he goes to visit the cows. Something he always does as he loves their smell!  But ...

Opening 7

He's flicked away by their skillful tails! That is such a nice cow and the words neatly follow that boney cow's bottom. Lovely! Fly tells us that once he was nearly eaten by a frog, then by a bird. He's bemused. Animals don't like him. "Why?".  But food is more important so, he goes back home for  lunch.

Opening 9

"I like my meals on time." And we see he has a sweet tooth! But watch out... 

Opening 10

As we turn the page, cut in the shape of a fly swat, the fly just manages to escape as he mutters, "Whoops! here we go again!" Fly really can't understand what all the fuss is about, the constant flaps and smashes.  For even when it looks like he's found the best place to rest ...  (can you see him on the boy's forehead?)

Opening 11

Opening 12

There's no place that's trouble-free. We're at the end of the book, that's opening 12, but let's just see what the back endpapers are like. 

Back endpapers

Ooo! Nothing like the front ones! One little fly - the fly - with a plea.  "... please be kind." But that's not all, he's worried that if we shut the book, we'll squash him.  Suddenly we are not just the readers but we are in his story.  Can we end it? Do we close the book?  Ask the children you are reading the story to!

So, how about sharing this picturebook with a group of 8 year olds who learning about daily routines? Not only will they enjoy the fly's story, and the fun page-turns (SWAT!), they'll have enjoy continuing the fly's day, inventing all sorts of close-to-death encounters till he goes to sleep at night. Great picturebook Petr Horácek! 

Petr Horácek and pre-school books: part 2 (the goose)

... and here she is, Petr Horácek's goose.  Suzy goose has appeared in three   of his picturebooks, Silly Suzy Goose, Look out Suzy Goose! and Suzy Goose and the Christmas star.  In this post, I'll be talking about the first of these to be published, Silly Suzy Goose.  But before I go into the pictures I'd like to mention the title, my thoughts are prompted by the Portuguese translation , 'Ganso Gastão'.  In English our protagonist is a girl goose, has to be, her name is Suzy and goose is female, gander is male.  In Portuguese our Suzy becomes 'Gastão', a boy's name, it rhymes better with 'ganso' (goose). But we lose the reference to an expression inherent in the title, "silly goose" which has another meaning in English.  A silly goose is a silly person, and this is important to understanding our story, for Suzy is indeed silly - silly because she's not satisfied with being a goose, she wants to be like other animals, she wants to be different.  

We are told this on the back cover, accompanying an illustration of Suzy hanging upside down like a bat we can read, "Ever wanted to be different? Suzy Goose has - she squawks like a toucan, swims like a seal and jumps like a kangaroo.  But when she tries to Rroarrr like a lion, she gets more than she's bargained for."  

As in all good picturebooks, Petr Hoácek uses the peritext nicely. The endpapers are a wonderfully deep painted orange, using tones of orange and yellow, reflecting the orange we see in Suzy's beak and feet.  

The title page shows Suzy and a flamingo.  Both on one leg, one looking graceful the other a tad silly!   There are no flamingos in the story, so this is no repetition of an image from another part of the book, as is sometimes the case.  Instead it is giving us one more (although we only really think about it once we've read the book) animal that Suzy is trying to imitate, preparing us for what to find on the following pages.   

Suzy is just like all the other geese, here she is amongst the flock. We know which one Suzy is as she's got a little more space and her large orange feet are visible.  Notice how deadpan the geese are, no textures, just plain white bodies and bright orange beaks and feet.   If you look back at the title page, you'll see that the flamingo is beautifully textured, and you'll notice throughout that there is a contrast between the geese and the other animals.  Suzy's body is a cut out figure, we can even see the outline to cut around.  She's made of white paper, no texture, nothing.  Her legs and feet are textured, painted and scratched with orange and red paint. All the other animals in the book are illustrated using this the painterly, scratchy technique, as are the backgrounds.  The contrast emphasizes the difference between Suzy and the other animals, possibly reinforcing the impossible in Suzy's attempts to be like them. 

Suzy tries flapping her wings like a bat (upside down!), squawking like a toucan, sliding like a penguin, stretching up high like a giraffe (the giraffe is so tall we need to turn the page to portrait so he fits in!) She tries to splish splash like an elephant, jump like a kangaroo, run like an osterich, and swim under the sea like a seal.  Suzy is seen riding on the animals' backs, in their pouches, or trying hard to do what they do. My favourite is this last spread. 

The illustration invites us to jump into the dark, green water, which turns slighly lighter, as though a light is shining from above, where Suzy is trying hard to swim with her head under water.  A lovely page.  

But we know from the back cover that Suzy also tries to imitate a lion, and when she does ... Goodness Suzy gets a fright!   

So she yells and stretches, swims, jumps, splashes, slides, and flaps, doing everything the other animals do,  all the way back to her flock, where she feels safe - safety in numbers and anonymity!   Can you see how Peter Horácek has used the wax crayon technique to create a watery splashy image in this illustration? 

"Perhaps it is better to be just like everyone else, thought Suzy Goose..." And we think that maybe she has learned a lesson, but when we turn the page we see her pretending to be a lion, but in the safety of her flock!  "Rroarrhonk!"  A lovely spread looking very like the first one, where we are introduced to Suzy, who is much like the other geese... but we see she is different -  she's Suzy! 

This really is a visually stimulating picturebook, it's bright colours and animated illustrations will motivate children to feel as Suzy feels - frustrated, excited, frightened and finally consoled.    And though I've not emphasized the words, there is much repetition, which supports and accompanies the beautiful illustrations.   It's perfect for pre-school, with follow up activities that could include thinking about different animals and which animals we'd like to imitate: Ummm ...  if I was a snake I could slither along the ground ... I'd be Sandie Snake!

Part 3 is Suzy Goose and the Christmas star ... coming shortly!

By the way, if you are interested in expressions like 'silly goose' related to goose / geese (and there are many!) check out this link.

Petr Horácek and pre-school books: part 1

Screen shot from Petr Horácek's website 

I'm going to talk about  Petr Horácek in all my December posts.  I've been using his books with my pre-school children since 2003.  He has a very characteristic style, using bright colours and bold shapes, which are perfect for the under 5's.  His vibrant backgrounds painted with visible brush work or spoldgy splashes of water-colour incorporate a technique we often see in early years classrooms, which is water colour paint over wax crayon.  His first books, mostly board books, do this very simply, but effectively.

In What is black and white? you can see his blackbird is outlined in blue wax crayon, a great contrast to the bright yellow background, but also evoking the blue hints one gets when something is really shiny and black (I have a black Labrador, who shines blue in the sun!) 

Here's his black cat, with the outline and features in wax crayon.  I love her nose and bottom in light pink!  
And what is white, can you guess? The children are good at guessing and usually get snow and milk, but not goose, a bird which appears regularly in his work. 

In Strawberries are red he uses different shades  of the same colour to create the outlines of the piles of fruit.  

Here are his blueberries, a dark blue against a light blue background. They really do look good enough to eat don't they?   In Portugal blueberries aren't found in the wild, so we think about other fruit which can be blue.  They have some very blue coloured plums and even very dark grapes have a blue tinge. 
In both these books you can see that the pages are different widths; they're cut into shapes, and get gradually narrower, culminating in the creation of a superimposed double spread. 

In What is black and white?, the black and white pages come together to create the zebra's stripes, and  in Strawberries are red all the fruits come together to make a bowl of fruit salad.  Children love this surprise, and they want the story again and again, so that they can see that magical ending, and only on retells do they actually notice the pages are getting narrower! 
In their simplicity these books actually provide children with lots to look and think about.  The creation of different hues of colour, the wax crayon and water colour technique and the montage effect. In one of my classes children made a black and white book of their own.  And many a class have had fun making fruit salad after seeing Strawberries are red, and they love talking about the fruit they put in it, describing the colours and saying if the fruit is sweet or sour. 
There's a whole collection of board books so check out Petr's website and have a look. 
And also take  a peek at his gallery.  His work as an artist is interesting.  
Part 2, my next post, is about his recurring goose.