Tag Jude Daly

Joseph’s Cradle

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Joseph’s Cradle
Jude Daly
Otter-Barry Books

I’ve admired the work of both Jude and Niki Daly for many a long year and so was thrilled to see this, Jude Daly’s new picture book.

At the heart of a village in Africa stands an enormous, ancient tree. It’s loved by all the villagers, particularly Joseph who had climbed to its very top as a boy. Now Joseph is a grown man and one stormy night, his favourite tree is blown down.

Joseph feels sad that his soon to be born baby will never be able to climb the tree but he saves a piece of its trunk and little by little fashions it into a beautiful cradle. He also plants a new young tree to replace the old one.
When the new baby, Sisi, is born, Joseph is thrilled and every night until she outgrows it, he and his wife Mandisa sit beside the cradle singing the baby an African lullaby.

Thereafter a tradition begins: every new baby would sleep in Joseph’s cradle until they outgrew it and Joseph would add its name to those carved into the cradle’s side.

When the time comes for SIsi’s own grandchild to be rocked in the cradle, disaster strikes: a fire rages across the veld towards the village destroying Joseph and Mandisa’s home and everything in it.

The villagers build a new home for Joseph and his wife but what of the cradle; is it forever gone?

Let’s just say that Joseph isn’t the only person dancing in joyful thanks that day …

Inspired by a true story set in Australia, Jude Daly has set her telling in South Africa, home to the aptly called Cradle of Humankind, one of eight South African World Heritage Sites. It’s both moving and a reminder of the importance of continuity and renewal.

The painterly illustrations are a fine portrayal of the life of a village over several generations.

Six Blind Mice and An Elephant

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Six Blind Mice and an Elephant
Jude Daly
Otter-Barry Books
So often in my teaching career have I used Six Blind Men and an Elephant that despite having the book beside me, I instinctively mistyped the title of Jude Daly’s rendition of the Indian fable at the start of this review.
Daly sets her story somewhere in rural South Africa and begins with a somewhat sleepy elephant wandering from its forest habitat into a farmer’s barn and there falling fast asleep in the straw. On discovering it and excited by his find, the farmer rounds up his family and neighbours to view the creature and its wonders.

Meanwhile six blind mice nesting in a tree nearby are aroused from their slumbers by a strange aroma. Eager to discover the source of this new sensation, they follow their noses, encounter a cat and take refuge in a hole where they hear the humans chatting about the visitor asleep in the farmer’s barn. Search over they decide, and once the crowd has dispersed off they go to the barn.
Suddenly “Ouch!” that’s the oldest mouse coming up rather hard against the elephant’s side and declaring the beast to be “like a – wall”.

The second mouse disagrees likening the animal to a spear as she almost nose dives from the end of a tusk. And so it goes on with the other four mice giving their opinions based on partial evidence until as the youngest completes its simile, the somnolent pachyderm gives a flap of its enormous ears and expostulates so loudly that the rodents run for cover. The elephant then delivers a piece-by-piece description of himself (love those palm fan-like ears)

before finally, likening himself to … (readers aloud might want to pause at that point and give listeners an opportunity to complete the sentence) and crashing out once more exhausted by laughter.
Exit six fully satisfied mice …
Daly’s playful take on the fable still leaves plenty of food for thought and is perfect for a community of enquiry style discussion with early years or primary children.
Glowing African light radiates from every one of her illustrations; the golden straw-strewn barn floor is for me, reminiscent of some of the fractured swirls of Hockney’s pool painting.

I’ve signed the charter  

Diverting Dog Tales

jillrbennett Leave a comment

DSCN4235 (800x600)

Seb and Hamish
Jude and Niki Daly
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Like this reviewer, (who was mauled by an Alsatian aged five) young Seb suffers from cynophobia. Consequently, when he accompanies his mother on a visit to Mrs Kenny and hears ‘Woof-woof! Woof-woof’ coming from inside when they ring the doorbell his response is “Home.” (think mine would have been too.)

DSCN4236 (800x600)

Seb’s unease worsens when he comes face to face with the high-spirited Hamish but once he’s safely shut away, Seb begins to entertain himself.

DSCN4237 (800x600)

But when Seb stops his toy train for a tea break (courtesy of Mrs Kenny’s freshly baked cookies) he loses the nose button from a cookie and it rolls under a door: The very door behind which is Hamish. The two come finger to tongue

DSCN4240 (800x600)

and then, eye-to-eye, then slowly and tentatively, a new friendship is formed.

DSCN4239 (800x600)

(Did time speed up here, one wonders? Can a deep-seated fear be overcome so easily and rapidly?)
Nevertheless a heartwarming story all in all and it’s good to see that Mrs K. was so understanding and accommodating about Seb’s fear of her pet; not all dog-owners are.
Very engaging watercolour illustrations; I particularly love the littering of canine

DSCN4238 (800x600)

(or rather dachshund) ephemera in some scenes.

DSCN4241 (600x800)

Monster
Michael Rosen and Neal Layton
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
A witty, offbeat tale of starting school told from the viewpoint of a book-writing dog, whose human, Rover is going to school for the first time. Rex, (who bears a striking resemblance to the author), Cindy – Rover’s mum and Howler (so named on account of her continual Cindy-distracting howls), make up the rest of the cast. Oh and the Monster of the title from whom the narrator seeks to save his pet human. Seemingly the entire family is in a bit of a state judging from the chaotic scenes on the all-important morning

DSCN4242 (800x600)

and the frantic departure, which leaves our canine narrator alone in the house, temporarily at least. But then he makes a break for it, following his sniffer, hot on the trail of Rover

DSCN4243 (800x600)

all the way to ‘a place where hundreds of other small humans are kept. ‘ The determined creature finds a way into the ‘cage’ (full of monsters?) where he proceeds to create chaos and confusion before ascertaining that all is well with Rover; and having discovered she’s actually enjoying herself, goes back home. And there he waits until her return, just like always.
Comical telling and visuals are part and parcel of the package, the third to feature this family and its artistic creators.

Use your local bookshop localbookshops_NameImage-2

It’s Mums that Make THE Difference

jillrbennett Leave a comment

DSCN4016 (800x600)

The Great Cheese Robbery
Tim Warnes
Little Tiger Press
Most of us have something that sends shivers down the spine; I get alarmed when a big dog comes bounding in my direction. Large, strong Daddy Elephant is completely fearless, well not quite; actually he’s terrified of mice. Imagine his response then, when a small grey, furry rodent calling himself Cornelius J. Parker arrives at the door claiming to be a cheese inspector. Ignoring his cowering father, young Patrick helpfully shows CJP the family’s stash which is immediately pronounced “VERY DANGEROUS” and two more mice duly arrive to confiscate the whole lot, fridge and all as a health hazard. But that’s not the only thing Mascarphone and Manchego, for those are the names of Cornelius’ co-workers, proceed to remove right under the trunk of a cowering Daddy Elephant. Before long the whole house is overrun with mice while its contents is gradually disappearing out through the front door.

DSCN4015 (800x600)

In the nick of time however, back comes Mummy Elephant and she, most certainly, is not afraid of mice.

DSCN4013 (800x600)

This one’s been getting lots of laughs from my audiences of under sixes who are particularly taken with the idea of dangerous cheese and the sight of Daddy Elephant being lifted aloft by ‘the whole mouse gang,’ as one boy called all those fiendish, tiny grey creatures.

DSCN4031 (800x600)

Thank you, Jackson
Niki and Jude Daly
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
It takes a boy to show his farmer father the way to get things done in this story set in rural South Africa from the Daly husband/wife partnership.
One morning having toiled up the same hill for years, loaded down with produce for market, Jackson the donkey gets halfway up and digs his hooves in, coming to a complete full stop.
Despite the farmer’s pulling, pushing, and cursing, the donkey flatly refuses to budge. The furious farmer searches for a stick to beat the poor creature.

DSCN4032 (800x600)

Fortunately for him however, the farmer’s wife, who has been watching the action from down below, calls her son, Goodwill and sends him up the hill to assist his father. Goodwill arrives on the scene just in the nick of time and seeing his father about to hit the donkey, calls out and prevents the beating. He then approaches Jackson and whispers in the animal’s ear whereupon much to his father’s surprise, up gets the animal and the three of them proceed to market, sharing the load between them.

DSCN4033 (800x600)

What was it that Goodwill said to the donkey and indeed shamed his father, who realized he’d never used those words to his faithful beast of burden? Just ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ the little ones that his Mama was always telling him make all the difference.
One can almost feel the simmering heat coming from Jude Daly’s dusty rural scenes that accompany Niki Daly’s gently humourous story, a story with a message that we all need to remember no matter who or where we are.

Use your local bookshop localbookshops_NameImage-2