Hello Picture Book Clubbers!
Thanks to everyone who came to the live Picture Book Club last month.
In July’s Picture Book Club we looked at Gozzle. Written by Julia Donaldson - a quick Google search tells me she is the bestselling UK Children’s author of all time, surpassing JK, and has sold over 50 million copies worldwide! I thought it was high time we did a Julia book! And it’s wonderfully illustrated by Sara Ogilvie, whose books with Julia have sold over 1M copies - not to be sniffed at!! I picked it up on a whim in a bookshop a few months ago, as I wanted to do some research, actually reading books, rather than marvelling at the lovely pictures (I get distracted!). I was really moved by it, and was also struck by the format - It’s 48 pages long and is told frequently in panels, with the book loosely divided into chapters/sections by the seasons. It just stood out to me, and I decided there and then it would be an interesting one for Picture Book Club.
I hope you enjoy the discussion, and do leave any comments and thoughts of your own in the chat.
Our next book will be The Elephant and the Bad Baby written by Elfrida Vipont and illustrated by the brilliant, classic Raymond Briggs. I decided to do this book when I was in Bologna, and I saw a talk where Matthew Forsythe was raving about it, and it reminded me that it’s been on my shortlist for ages. It was one of my favourite books to read with Dylan when he was little. It’s delightfully absurd, and full of clever little details. I think it’ll be a fun one! I’m on holiday in August, so the next one will be in Sept, date TBC.
Check out friends of Gather, Filter, Make Helen Hancocks at her bookshop Shelf Editions or Katie Clapham at her bookshop Storytellers Inc. for stock.
The Replay is below for paid subscribers, along with some question prompts to help you think through the book.
Interested in joining Art Club? I’m offering 50% off paid subs this summer! (The usual cost is £7.50 per month or £75 for a year.)
🎨 As well as unlocking two Art Club live meet-ups a month, you get access to the large back catalogue of previous sessions here
📚 Read all about Picture Book Club here and see all the replays here.
🕶️ Join Studio Club, my daily co-workingsessions. Read all about it here.
📽️ I also make behind-the-scenes videos, see the back catalogue here.
Also, to note, if you’re reading this on an Apple device, they add a hefty percentage if you upgrade directly from the app, so if you open Substack on your phone or desktop (not the app), you can join without the additional cost. Let me know if you have any probs with this.
Unrtil next time,
Ella xx
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