This was the first sketch for this rhyme. I don’t think there was a second.
More Nursery Rhyme sketches
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Category Archives: Ken Wilson-Max
Our future is in our hands
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Mary had a little lamb
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A visual for a new nursery rhyme book. ©ken wilson-max 2011
From http://www.rhymes.org.uk
The words of the American nursery rhyme Mary had a little lamb would appeal to a small children and introduces imagery of similes (white as snow) as part of use of the English language. The words also convey the hopeful adage that love is reciprocated! The words were written by Sarah Hale, of Boston, in 1830. An interesting historical note about this rhyme – the words of Mary had a Little Lamb were the first ever recorded by Thomas Edison, on tin foil, on his phonograph.
Vehicle books are coming soon!
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Courtesy of Anova’s Pavilion Books for children (www.anovabooks.com), the vehicle books are making a surprise return to the bookshops this autumn (fall). First published over a decade ago, they were bright, bold and very interactive and proved to very popular with pre-schoolers and their parents. I was pleasantly surprised to see them in the new catalogue!
Ken
Splash Joshua Splash
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Splash Joshua Splash by Malachy Doyle and Ken Wilson-Max
Joshua and his grandmother spend a day experiencing H2O in its many forms. The delighted boy feeds ducks on the river, runs through puddles, plays at a drinking fountain, swims in a pool, and snuggles up for a rainy “cosy, dozy” bus ride home. The child speaks only three words but his favorite is “splash,” which appears hand-lettered in block form. The lines of type are set at slight angles to one another to mimic flowing water. Though not a rhyming story, the words flow with easy-on-the-tongue phrases such as “Deep down, under the water,/under the water, deep down./Into the froth and the foam,/and the bubbles,/splashing and crashing,/fizzing and sparkling.” The bright, saturated illustrations are eye-catching in their colorful simplicity. One slight discrepancy: Joshua appears to change sizes, sometimes only coming up to Granny’s waist while at other times almost to her shoulders. Very young children who are fascinated with water will enjoy hearing about Joshua’s day.
-Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI
Like this:
Euston
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The daily grind
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“The only reason I made a commercial for American Express was to pay for my American Express bill.”
- Peter Ustinov, actor.
What’s your story?
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Kimane Maruge was the world’s oldest student, starting in his eighties because he wanted to be able to read the bible. His story has inspired millions from his humble existence in Kenya. He showed that when the spirit is will ing the mind and body will comply.
If you live in Europe or the US but don’t come from there, chances are that you will be buying and reading stories to your children that won’t always reflect their background. Publishers in these areas will naturally be targeting the market that will bring them the largest profit so smaller communities, or should I say less financially strong are going to be left out to a certain extent. I don’t believe its a conspiracy or anything, just business.
Business is changing though, especially the business of publishing, and there is a shift towards companies servicing a communities that they have nurtured with the products they want. The communities, aren’t fixed. They they have a multitude of interests and stories that define them so can belong to several communities through the internet and in real life.
What do you if you can’t see yourself in the stories? The answer is simple. Make you own. Share your stories with your friends. Let your community tell its own stories. It’s not always about money, but it should be about how you measure success and how high you set the standard for your project.
Think about the tools available to you; your brain, your work experience, the home computer, video camera, pencil and paper. Make your own definition of a story, and then a book so you know exactly what you are aiming for.
Everyone has a story to tell and a particular way to tell it
Can you dig it?
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I first came across black American (was it Afro-American those days?) entertainment as a child in the 70s. It was enlightening ti say the least. People like me on the TV! We started mimicking the accents, the walk, the dress sense where we could. The power of the media was at its purest; people like me saw that our lives had another possibility, perhaps just like our parents came to realise a decade or two earlier when they also became mesmerised by America’s black culture. We needed to be mesmerised. Life in southern Africa at that time was mapped out for us. There was limited opportunity for people who were not white.
I think the authorities underestimated the power of media. In the 70s many more young people managed to win scholarships to study abroad than ever before and I think they had to have had that idea from somewhere else than school…
MY book always have a bit of the 70′s in them. I try very hard to include the showmanship, flair and slight excess that captivated me as a child. It doesn’t always translate to this new century where media power is much more understood.
I thought of including, for a little while, some of the phrases that made the 1970′s in this blog. Enjoy.
The joys of parenting
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In Baby Ruby Bawled, published by Tamarind books in the UK, baby Ruby will not stop crying. All the grown ups try every remedy they can think of with no success. It is left to her slightly older brother to come to the rescue. The task, as I saw it, was to try to convey the super control being practised by the adults, giving them expressionless faces, or slight frowns. If you are a parent you might know what I mean. This was opposed to the total abandonment of baby Ruby’s bawling which had to be over the top and piercingly loud. A third factor to convey was the eager-to-help expression of Ruby’s brother, ignored by the grown ups (probably because they were too busy trying to stay calm).
