Tag Allison Colpoys

One Little Word

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One Little Word
Joseph Coelho and Allison Colpoys
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books


Two friends are playing in the park when suddenly an unspecified incident happens between them. There’s face pulling, shouting and a monster appears – The Argument – that keeps on growing as the quarrel escalates and the two children separate. Still the beast grows involving all the other children and making the most of the situation to keep on getting bigger and bigger

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until the two that triggered things stand face to face and the girl who is narrating gives the other one a nasty push, immediately resulting in her feeling ‘sad and angry, mixed-up and confused’. He retaliates with a push too and both children end up in floods of tears. Those tears prove cathartic and the two are able to exchange just one tiny but crucial word. The effect on The Argument is dramatic: it gradually shrinks

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until it disappears completely and very soon the park is full of happy, laughing children once more.


This is absolutely brilliant, both verbally and visually. Allison Colpoy’s attention to detail is superb, capturing the changing expressions of the two protagonists and their concerned, supportive pals. Her colour palette is hugely effective in highlighting the emotional journey and accompanying physical changes of the engaging adversaries especially : what a superb complement for Joseph’s lyrical telling.

This terrific book needs to be in every primary classroom to be shared over and over, carefully considered and discussed. The potential of its impact is tremendous – like that of The Argument at its most monstrous.

My Beautiful Voice

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My Beautiful Voice
Joseph Coelho and Allison Colpoys
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

From the duo who created the hugely moving If All the World Were… comes an inspirational story about finding your voice, literally as well as metaphorically.

Joseph Coelho’s narrator is a shy child who doesn’t talk at school, that is until a flamboyant, understanding new teacher, poetry lover Miss Flotsam, wields her transformative magic in the classroom.

She starts by sharing stories of her adventures, then moves on to sharing stories from books

and then the very personal form of her own poetry; and little by little one shy child begins to unleash that inner creativity we all have if only there’s somebody to nurture it.

A poem begins to form on the page, line by line and eventually, judging when the time is right, Miss Flotsam proffers its author an invitation to share that poem with the class …

With poet and playwright Joseph’s heartwarming, highly empathetic text and Allison’s superb, powerful illustrations of creativity at work,

with their splashes of neon-bright colour that capture so well the feelings of the two main characters, this is a perfect book to foster empathy in children. They’ll surely respond to the inherent themes of courage, resilience and determination in this heartfelt story of unlocking a child’s potential.

Every youngster deserves to have at least one teacher like the one portrayed here, during their early years of education.

If all the world were …

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If all the world were …
Joseph Coelho and Allison Colpoys
Lincoln Children’s Books, First Editions

Be prepared to shed tears when you read this first person narration by a little girl who takes readers on a journey through four seasons and a whole life’s experiences shared with her beloved Grandad.
Starting with spring, she talks of long exploratory walks hand in hand and then takes a seasonal flight of fancy: ‘If all the world were springtime, / I would replant my grandad’s birthdays / so that he would never get old.’

In summer Grandad buys a wooden racing track (second hand with bits missing) and together they play, sometimes zooming the cars up into space. This action triggers the narrator’s second imagined scenario to make her granddad happy.

I love the notebook with handmade paper, bound with Indian-leather string Grandpa makes for his granddaughter in autumn, wherein to write and draw her dreams with a special rainbow pencil.

That suggestion leads to her third loving musing:
‘If all the world were dreams, / I would mix my bright Grandad feelings / and paint them over sad places.’

Come winter it’s time for cosying up by the fire and listening to Grandad’s tales of his boyhood of Indian sweets and homemade toys, and hear him tell of ships, snakes and tigers. Now though Grandad is ailing and the little girl supposes a world of stories and making her grandad better merely by listening to his every tale.

One day though his chair is empty; Grandad is no more. From the ephemera she finds in his room, the narrator creates a beautiful mandala of memories; memories she wishes could be rooms where she could visit her granddad.

On Grandad’s chair she finds a brand new notebook made by him with her name on the cover, the perfect thing in which to record all her precious memories.

I’m sure that like me, you’ll find yourself reaching for that box of tissues as you read this beautiful, lyrical book. Joseph’s Coelho’s poignant text in combination with Allison Colpoy’s tender illustrations infused with nostalgia and love, are a celebration of life as well as a perfect starting point for a conversation about loss and dying.

Soul music in a picture book, this.

Under the Love Umbrella

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Under the Love Umbrella
Davina Bell and Allison Colpoys
Scribble
One of my closest friends lives in India and when his two daughters were much younger, we took some holidays in Goa together. The elder girl, Triambika had recently started at boarding school and was not at all happy during her first term. One evening after dinner near the beach we stood together in the dark, looking up at the sky, where the moon had formed a smile shape. I recall saying to her, “Whenever you are feeling sad or alone, look up at that smile in the sky and know I’m there for you, thinking of you and sending my love.” This beautiful picture book brought this right back to me, using as it does an umbrella as the symbol of love and protection. ‘Over your head and just above / There’s an umbrella of my love. / To show it’s you I’m thinking of / Wherever you might be.’
It then goes on to explore various situations when a child might feel frightened, upset, shy or sad

reminding him/her that a loving parent with the love umbrella is always there to comfort, reassure and embrace.
Moving home is particularly challenging for many children; another situation that calls for the umbrella and its loving care …

As do wet pants accidents, breakfast disasters, camping trips in maybe scary woods and more; whatever the weather, out comes that umbrella.

Indeed there isn’t a single instance when that all embracing cover cannot offer succour.
Delivered through Davina Bell’s gentle soothing rhyming words and Allison Colpoys’ striking, stand-out scenes rendered in neon shades: this creative partnership goes from strength to strength. A MUST buy book for families especially.
I’ve signed the charter … 

Alfie & Pom Pom Face Their Feelings

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The Underwater Fancy-Dress Parade
Davina Bell and Allison Colpoys
Scribe
Alfie is filled with apprehension the day before the underwater fancy dress parade. He’s practised wearing his Captain starfish costume at home

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so he won’t end up bottling out like on the day of the running race, or Antoinette’s reptile party.
After a sleepless night filled with scary underwater dreams, Alfie is even more sure he hasn’t the courage: “I can’t,” he tells his Mum. She however has a plan – one involving a visit to somewhere special.

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It’s here that Alfie spots a little fish that likes to hide away among the corals.

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“That orange fish,” his Mum explains on the way home, “was a clownfish” … “Sometimes they need to hide away… It’s just what they do.” and Alfie understands. “There’s always next year,” he tells his Dad and the cowboys on his wallpaper at bedtime. And, with such understanding parents, Alfie may well have overcome his shyness by then.
In her gorgeous retro style illustrations executed with limited colour, Allison Colpoys conveys Alex’s fearfulness beautifully and the tale is sympathetically and convincingly told – a demonstration of both the artist’s and author’s understanding of how young children try to cope with shyness/introversion.

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Pom Pom Gets the Grumps
Sophy Henn
Puffin Books
Every early years teacher and parent will recognize the scenario so perfectly documented in 2015 World Book Day official illustrator, Sophy Henn’s second book. And, despite the dour-faced panda depicted on the front, it’s sheer delight from cover to cover.
Like all of us from time to time, Pom Pom wakes up in a bad mood. Uh-oh – from the very minute he gets out of bed (on the wrong side of course) it seems everything and everyone is against him. Pom Pom’s tetchiness escalates as he goes through the day: his blanky is missing, his baby brother has taken his favourite toy, there’s soggy cereal and bitty juice at breakfast time and worse, his mum is in soppy song mode. That’s just the beginning of the day through which Pom Pom “Harrumph!”s and scowls and glowers.

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At nursery it’s a case of “NO!”, “NO! and “NO!” to each and every suggestion made by his friends and when he yells at them to “GO AWAY!” that’s exactly what they do. Surprise, surprise -that isn’t right either, but it’s a turning point for our surly protagonist. The little fellow sees the error of his ways and off he goes to make amends.

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Harmony is restored – well let’s just say, for the time being …

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Seemingly Sophy Henn knows young bears (and children) very well indeed. She achieves such depth of character seemingly effortlessly and her portrayal of Pom Pom is spot on. She manages to make him adorably cute; even when he’s in the biggest of sulks what you really want to do is to laugh and give him a big hug. In fact one could go so far as to say he deserves one for he never lashed out physically during the whole sorry day. I absolutely love her crisp, clean contemporary illustrative style and look forward eagerly to further Pom Pom capers later in the year.

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