Tag fable

Cinnamon

jillrbennett 2 Comments

Cinnamon
Neil Gaiman and Divya Srinivasan
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Prepare to be transported to another time and a faraway place in this beautiful picture book fable.
Cinnamon is a princess with pearls for eyes, which make her very beautiful, but also, blind. ‘Her world was the colour of pearls: pale white and pink, and softly glowing.’ For some reason, Cinnamon does not speak. Her parents, the Rajah and Rani offer magnificent rewards for anyone who is able to get their daughter to talk. Many come and many go but none succeeds until a talking tiger appears – ‘huge and fierce, a nightmare in black and orange, and he moved like a god through the world, which is how tigers move.’
Despite their initial reluctance, Cinnamon’s parents give him leave to remain with their daughter, alone. One by one, the magnificent beast awakens in the princess, the emotions of pain (with his claw),

fear (with his roar), and love (with his tongue).
He also talks to the girl about the riches of the world he inhabits with its chattering monkeys, ‘the smell of the dawn and the taste of the moonlight and the noise a lakeful of flamingos makes when it takes to the air’.
All of this can be hers too, but only if she uses words to describe it; and describe it she does.

And thus she sets herself free.
With touches of surrealism, humour and occasional frissons of fear, Gaiman’s tale wields its power in a ‘just-so’ manner leaving Divya Srinivasan plenty of space to fill her matt spreads with rich details of the tropical flora and fauna, and the Mogul palace and its inhabitants.
First written over ten years ago but only available in audio form or from the author’s website, it’s wonderful to see this magical tale now available in book form. Yes, it is a tale of ‘a long time ago’ but some of Srinivasan’s scenes took me to the ancient palaces of a Rajasthan that still exists in parts to this day.

I’ve signed the charter  

A Bottle of Happiness

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A Bottle of Happiness
Pippa Goodheart and Ehsan Abdollahi
Tiny Owl
A Bottle of Happiness – now that’s something we could all do with from time to time; but how could it be caught and then put into a bottle? Well the first part’s easy: we can infect people with our own happiness; but bottling it? That’s altogether different. It is however the challenge young Pim is faced with in this neo fable when, accompanied by Tiddle, his dog, he crosses the mountain.
Now Pim and his people lived on one side of this mountain: they worked hard and shared what they had – stories in particular. On the opposite side lived the rich people who were traders, intent on getting richer: they didn’t give, they sold things to one another at a big market. Pim decides to go over that mountain in search of a new story and it’s there in the market place he finds himself looking at a basket of mouth-watering fruits. The seller of same doesn’t give things away though and so Pim, a perceptive and thoughtful lad, agrees to bring him happiness, the one thing his own people have more of, in exchange for some of the fruit.

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Back he goes and collects song, laughter, music and love from his fellow villagers. With all this safely stored in a bottle, back he goes; what comes out when he removes the stopper however, is total silence – but not for long …

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Now how could that be, and how does Pim manage to bring about an amazing transformation in the relationship between the sellers and the givers? That would be telling; and I think I may already have. For the rest you’ll need to get hold of a copy of this book and savour the delights of Ehsan Abdollahi’s intriguing peasant style patchwork illustrations.
This is a book that demonstrates that rather than being just for the vey young, picture books really are for all ages.
I asked some children what they would put in a bottle of happiness. Here are some responses:
‘A trampoline, a diving board, my brother, my family’ James 8
‘My family, a smiley face, a tennis court, a football pitch’ Daniel 7
‘Smiles, hugs, music, books, tortoises, love, flowers, art’ Rosa 7
‘Friendship, love, snow, sweets, beaches, Easter, sunshine, mice’ Nina 10
‘Love and respect’ Dolci 5
‘Mummy and Daddy’ Elena 3
‘Swimming with friends on holiday’ Gracie 7
Food for thought …