Tag Mariajo Ilustrajo

Oh, Carrots!

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Oh, Carrots!
Mariajo Ilustrajo
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

Mr Rabbit lives all alone and has grown used to so doing, occupying himself caring for his plants, keeping his place clean and reading, though at times it’s so quiet he does feel a tad lonely.

Now with the coming of spring Mr Rabbit can plant his favourite thing, carrots. It certainly keeps him busy and after 240 seeds are safely in the soil he’s more than ready for a hot drink and some relaxation. But suddenly he spots another seed in the packet. “Where were you hiding?” he asks seed 241, carefully planting it and resolving to give it a little bit of extra TLC so it doesn’t feel overlooked again. With daily watering, singing to the seeds, sunshine and loving kindness the carrots start to grow, one especially well.

One day he notices a carrot top give a wriggle. He pulls, pulls and pulls and out pops a walking, talking carrot. “Hello Mr Rabbit” it says. ”Oh, Carrots!” comes the reply and Mr Rabbit dashes off home, forgetting to close the back door.

It soon becomes evident that Carrot just wants to be Mr Rabbit’s friend but Mr Rabbit wants his visitor to leave him alone not jump on the sofa, interfere with his record collection or rummage through his books. Carrot’s lively antics irritate Mr Rabbit who is not at all used to mischief. However during the course of the day our lupine friend gradually finds that he’s enjoying himself.

So used to being a loner, he’s never considered having somebody else around. Could it he that needs a friend after all?

Mariajo’s combination of words and pictures is a winner with its striking illustrations and text both imbued with gentle humour and wisdom. A book that celebrates the joys of making new friends and a demonstration of how a close friend can help a person learn more about themselves.

Help! We Need a Story

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Help! We Need a Story
James Harris and Mariajo Ilustrajo
Little Tiger

The jungle animals are, so they say, bored, very bored; much too bored to take much notice of what Artie the macaque is drawing with his crayons

until eventually after hearing so many complaints, he starts creating anew, giving full rein to his imagination.

With his work almost complete, he writes two final words and then announces to his friends, “Guess what? You’re in a book.” The initial reactions to the title are less than enthusiastic; but then June Baboon starts reading; reading about dragons, a magic bear and much more – robot sharks and zombie hens even and guess who is fighting all these baddies. It’s none other than Captain Artie and his mighty mates. By the time the story is concluded, the other animals are enraptured and truly thankful. From Artie they receive a knowing smile and an anticipation that next morning more magical tales will start to unfold and all because the listeners will start to look at their world in a totally different way.

A splendid story told in rhyme wherein words and pictures show the power and vital importance of the imagination and creativity. It’s one I strongly recommend foundation stage and KS1 teachers share with their classes as well as a book parents and children read and talk about together. Make sure there are pens, crayons and paper to hand for children to use for their own story making.

I Love Books

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I Hate Love Books
MariaJo Ilustrajo
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

On the last day of term, the girl narrator along with her classmates receives this parting comment from her teacher, “Enjoy your holidays, and don’t forget to read a book!” This girl, we then learn is a total bibliophobe. Nonetheless she’s duly taken to the library but nothing there appeals in the slightest

so it’s left to mum to make the choice for her.

Back home, the girl makes herself comfortable and reluctantly, opens the book. To her surprise, she’s almost immediately drawn into the story, a wonderful adventure story wherein she meets a furry guide

who leads her on a search for special ingredients. And what are these ingredients for? The most powerful of all spells …

If ever a child needs convincing of the magical power of books and stories – give them this, Mariajo’s new picture book that has everything you could want – adventure, magic, a demonstration of the power of the imagination and terrific illustrations with clever colour changes. I love the sneaky insertion of the author’s previous two picture books on the class bookshelf on the first spread, as well as a certain polar bear who, along with several other book characters, appears on the final page. Don’t miss out on the endpapers either. As a life-long bibliophile, I love everything about this story.

Lost

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Lost
Mariajo Ilustrajo
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

When a polar bear finds himself in a bustling concrete city, he knows not how he got there but he does know that he is totally lost. His attempts to ask for help are ignored – everybody is too busy to take any notice, so Bear joins a queue. Rather than the help he’s hoping for Bear receives take away coffee and discovers it definitely isn’t to his taste.

All he gets from the help desk he tries next, is a tube map that’s thrust into his paw. His North Pole home isn’t marked thereon, so Bear boards an underground train and suddenly he hears a small voice greeting him with a friendly hello.

Bear follows the child and her mother when they leave the train and the little girl leads him into her home. She makes Bear feel welcome but despite the love shown, still he knows this can’t be his forever home.

Despairing that she has no idea where the North Pole is, Bear suddenly spies a book on the shelf, takes it down and shows his host pictures of where he’s from. Soon a plan is formed and equally quickly Bear is wrapped up and air-lifted

all that way back from whence he came. There a snuggly hug (if anything in such a chilly place can be called that ) from his fellow polar bears and he shows them something very special that he’s brought with him from his little human friend.

MariaJo’s story-telling style is a skilful synthesis of humour and touching emotion that conveys the comfort and support that a loving friendship can provide in a way that both children and adults can appreciate.

The book will certainly resonate with all of us concerned about the hostile environment that the UK is currently presenting to those who arrive on our shores feeling completely lost so far from home.

Flooded

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Flooded
Mariajo Ilustrajo
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books (First Editions)

Full of water, wit and a little one’s bit of wisdom is this debut picture book from Mariajo Ilustrajo, about a city inhabited solely by animals. It happens one summer beginning on a day just like all the others except that the entire place is rather wet. Initially all the residents except one are happy to use the excess of water as a chance to splash about in wellies and carry on with life as normal, merely making it a topic of conversation and a source of fun.

As the water level keeps on rising there remains a lone voice that shows increasing concern as most others become further involved in their own issues, until that is, some of the smaller animals start having problems.

Eventually a small volume of water has become an enormous problem, impossible for anyone to ignore; but is there anybody that knows what should be done? Happily yes and at last that little creature is able to voice a simple (and we readers would think, obvious), solution. With the entire population working as a team …

the plug is extracted and the drowning of the city is finally halted. Yes, new problems arise and have to be dealt with, but happily now community collaboration rules and solves …

This tale of pulling together in times of need is wonderfully illustrated by an exciting newcomer using ink and graphite and digitally coloured. The text is kept to a minimum allowing the wealth of funny details in each scene to do much of the storytelling.