Tag Marion Dane Bauer

We, the Curious Ones

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We, the Curious Ones
Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Hari & Deepti
Walker Studio

Story and science and their unlikely interconnectedness help us all find meaning in human existence. This symbiotic relationship is explored in the author’s lyrical prose and the two illustrators’ dreamy cut paper art in this book. They take readers on a sweeping journey through time that looks at our evolving understanding of the universe starting from creation mythology …

right through to our current and still growing understanding and knowledge.

We see that to humans, Earth was once considered the centre of the universe, then it was thought of as a planet that revolves around the Sun, next the Sun was considered to be one of billions of stars

and eventually, Earth became seen as one of numerous planets, a medium sized one ‘circling an average star in an ordinary galaxy in an unimaginably vast universe’ a universe that is ‘mostly dark and seems almost empty.’ The designer’s considered choice of a small font might be seen as a metaphor for how very tiny human beings are in this universe and the whole book invites us to think deeply, ask big questions and keep an open mind as new ideas continue to emerge. Awe and wonder – yes but so much more.

There’s a lengthy afterword that finishes thus: ‘We are the storytellers. / We are the curious ones.’ May it ever be so. A book to share and discuss with readers in primary classrooms and beyond, as well as in the home.

My Hand to Hold / How Do I Love You?

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My Hand to Hold
Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Alison Friend
Hodder Children’s Books
Love shines through no matter what, is the message in this sweet rhyming book.
Through the seasons and through the highs and lows of everyday life, we follow an adult and infant as they interact with each other;

with the natural world they inhabit and occasionally, with others …

Smriti’s heartfelt verbal evocation of unconditional love is made all the more enchanting by Alison Friend’s pastel and watercolour illustrations.

I think this is their first picture book collaboration; it’s certainly a harmonious one.

How Do I Love You?
Marion Dane Bauer and Caroline Jayne Church
Hodder Children’s Books
Using the well-known line from Elizabeth Barrett Browning as a starting point, Bauer uses comparisons with aspects of the natural world to show that parental love is ever present. ‘I love you as the thirsty duck loves a sudden shower.’

Or, ‘I love you as the waking bear loves the smell of spring.’
The small girl, the only human shown throughout, is clearly the centre of a parent’s world; this also suggests an ‘at oneness’ of child and nature no matter the landscape she happens to be in.

Caroline Church’s mixed media style collages have a pleasing texture: the duck’s wings bear a floral pattern, the bear’s fur has a hatched appearance not unlike parquet flooring; the cat’s fur is gently brushed with a darker shade contrasting beautifully with the child’s madly wavy tangled tresses.
The final spread fuses present and future with ‘And as our friendly Earth/ loves to spin around. / I love you as the moon / loves each shining star. // I love all that you will be / and everything you are.’ So be it.
An enchanting interplay of words and pictures for adult and child to savour together.

I’ve signed the charter