From Jarvis, creator of Alan’s Big, Scary Teeth, comes another truly unmissable, hilarious adventure about a daddy mole who has mislaid his spectacles.
Morris can’t find them anywhere. So, he decides to go on
without them, trusting his instincts to lead him the right way home to his
waiting family and delicious dinner of worm noodles, with laugh out loud
consequences!
Behind
the scenes with Jarvis
We’re excited to welcome Jarvis to the Picture Book Party
blog for a behind-the-scenes on the making of Mrs Mole, I’m Home!
“MRS MOLE, I’M HOOOOME! was the first line I wrote, and it
all fell into place from there. The concept is very simple, a lost mole popping
up in the wrong home, but it had lots of scope for jokes. I had in mind a kind
of American sitcom, with a live audience, and after touring Alan’s Big, Scary Teeth in schools
around the country I wanted to make a book that had funny lines, and jokes
peppered all the way through. It’s a book that I made to read aloud…with lots
of silly voices.
If the words came ‘easy’ the visuals were definitely not.
Every book for me has lots of challenges and choices, and it took me a long
time to get the right direction, not so much with the characters but more so
the environments and technique. I didn’t want the book to be gloomy, muddy and
brown…even if half of the book is underground. So the challenge was to make it
feel dirty, earthy and natural but using a bright, full-on colour palette.
The environments were really important to this book, each
place needed to feel very different than the last, there were no short cuts!
But, with help from the gang at Walker, and by following my (big) nose, I got
there in the end.”
WIN Mrs Mole, I’m Home!
To celebrate the launch of Mrs Mole, I’m Home! we’ve got five copies of the book with exclusive posters to give away! To enter just answer this question:
In Jarvis’ new book what has Morris Mole lost?
a) His
spectacles
b) His
bow tie
c) His
waistcoat
To enter,
just email competitions@walker.co.uk with 'Mrs Mole, I’m Home' in the subject
line, before 30th April 2017. Terms and conditions apply.
Join in the fun and download these free Mrs Mole, I’m Home activity sheets and pick up a copy of Mrs Mole, I’m Home at your local bookshop. Plus, take a look at this brilliant animated trailer that the talented Jarvis has created!
Jarvis studied graphic design and previously
worked as both a record sleeve designer and an animation director before
becoming a children's book illustrator. Alan's Big, Scary Teeth was met with
great acclaim, the New York Times writing: "The witty Jarvis
makes all the right moves". About his picture book inspiration, Jarvis
says, "The way I work is always visual. I will have an image or character
in mind and I pull a story out of it. I doodle and doodle and doodle until I
get it right."