This year we had over 600 entries to our children’s story writing
competition in collaboration with Mumsnet and Gransnet, and we are delighted
to be publishing the ten winning stories in The Mumsnet Book of Animal Stories. This beautifully illustrated gift book by
parents, for parents, includes the winning stories chosen by a panel of judges, including Anthony
Browne, Miriam González Durántez, Lucy Mangan and Justine Roberts, CEO of Mumsnet. To celebrate, we asked some of our authors and illustrators to share their favourite animal stories with us:
Jez Alborough
"I choose Owl Babies. This simple tale of a Mum and her babies is one of the
oldest stories on the planet but, as the song goes: ‘it ain’t what you do it’s
the way that you do it’ and Waddell and Benson do it to perfection."
Petr Horacek
"I
Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen is a very funny book. It’s one of the books
that everybody, children or adults love. The illustrations are simple and bold.
The whole book is beautifully produced, published by Walker Books. The story is about a bear who has lost his
hat. He asks all the animals, including a rabbit with a red hat, if they have
seen his…red hat. None of the animals have seen it, not even the rabbit with
….a red hat. I love the dialogue between the bear and animals. It is so well
written and so funny. The bear then remembers where he saw the hat last time
and he goes to fetch it. Later on a squirrel asks the bear if he has seen the
rabbit, but the bear…. hasn’t seen the rabbit. Ehm, why should he? The bear
loves his red hat.
Simon James
My
favourite picturebook involving animals is George and Martha, by James Marshall,
a series of books, each with five of the shortest stories you will ever
find. (I think it is best to buy the complete edition with all the books in one
volume, as in the photograph). Having made books myself for more
than twenty years, I remain fascinated by what makes a great picturebook, it's
far from obvious.
With George and Martha however, I am looking at
something exquisite. With the most perfectly paired-down, minimum of words
and the most wonderfully imperfect drawings, James Marshall has created
a series of superbly realised moments between two hippos who happen
to be neighbours and best friends. Through a genius for wry humour, he depicts
all the foibles, misunderstandings and enduring warmth that can occur in any
relationship between two people. It is never cloying or cutsey, but told with
real observation for character. As with all the best picturebooks it is
deceptively simple and wise with rich insights to be found for anyone
of any age. All this book requires is two people to sit down and share
together, preferably out loud.
I
have many hundreds of picturebooks on my shelves, but this book sits on my
shelf of favourites, I could have chosen 'Flix' by Tomi Ungerer, or 'Dr De
Soto' by William Steig, or even, 'Clarence goes Out West and meets a Purple
Horse' by Jean Ekman Adams. I hesitated for a tiny moment whilst choosing, but
in the end, there is no book quite like 'George and Martha'.
Michael Foreman
Nick Sharratt
I
am a Bunny by Ole Risom, illustrated by Richard Scarry. I was read this book
when I was a toddler and loved it dearly, one reason being that the bunny in
the story was called Nicholas, just like me. It's a very simple tale of a
rabbit experiencing the four seasons but the illustrations are quite
extraordinary in their power to evoke the sensations of being out in the rain,
snow, wind or sun and it's hard to think of a more comforting image than the
final one of Nicholas, so cosy in his hollow tree home.