Sometimes, author / illustrator teams can being a well-loved traditional tale to life in such an engaging way, that it outstrips and out-performs any other version of that story.

We have seen this many times with classic fables, and it's definitely the case with this version of "The Talkative Tortoise" by Andrew Fusek-Peters and Charlotte Cooke.

It's the story of how Tortoise became the biffed-up slow-moving creature he is today - but it wasn't always like that. Once Tortoise was a rather braggardly fellow, proud of his shiny shell with a motormouth that just wouldn't quit.

One winter, Tortoise's two best friends, in this case two extremely patient geese (their patience regularly tested by their mouthy friend) are set to migrate as the cold weather arrives.

Tortoise doesn't like the idea of being on his own, so has a massive tantrum - and in the end the geese agree to try and take tortoise with them.

They come up with a plan - if Tortoise can grip onto a stick with his mouth, they can carry him aloft - but he absolutely MUST NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH while they fly over the countryside.

Tortoise thinks this sounds like an absolute doddle. But you know Tortoise...and you can probably imagine what happens part-way through the story when Tortoise thinks the people below are laughing at him as he flies past with his winged pals.

Child's Play have been one of the publishers who have contributed so much to C's enjoyment of stories, with such a huge selection of fantastic stories from across the world, covering subjects that are quite often tricky to deal with in children's books - and you'll see them crop up several times in our retrospectives. This is a fine example of a fable done right, brought to life stunningly by Andrew and Charlotte.

Original Review Link: 

The Talkative Tortoise by Andrew Fusek Peters and Charlotte Cooke (Child's Play International Ltd)

Charlotte and Coral hard at work producing wonderful books for children!

We've had so much fun reading and re-reading Coral Rumble and Charlotte Cooke's fabulous version of "The Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat". A fantastical flight of imagination with two wonderful children sailing off to sea in a beautiful pea-green cardboard boat, it notched up our prestigious "Book of the Week" award.

We are extremely lucky to have nabbed a smidge of Charlotte Cooke's time for a mini interview, so here's Charlotte being interviewed by Charlotte (and me!)


ReadItDaddy (Daddy): Hi Charlotte, thanks for stopping by our blog. Tell us a little bit about yourself as an introduction (and a little bit about The Adventures of The Owl and the Pussycat!).


Charlotte Cooke: Hi thanks for having me! I'm Charlotte Cooke, married with 2 wonderful (but exhausting) under 3's, and live in Kent by the seaside. The Adventures.... Is a book full of imagination. Following two little children into their own imaginations, as they dress up as the owl and the pussycat, and have all sorts of fun experiences at sea (and sometimes under it!). The book is very special as Coral Rumble is actually my mum.


ReadItDaddy (Daddy): We absolutely loved "The Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat". What sort of things inspired you to come up with such brilliant illustrations for the book?

Charlotte Cooke: In this instance, I had quite a few ideas before we wrote the story out. I took these ideas to my mum (Coral Rumble) and asked her to form them into better phrases and she added more ideas of what the children could do too. So as I already had ideas of imagery in my head, it was easy to put it all down on paper. It's just a bit of fun and I wanted that to come through in each spread. Anything can happen in your imagination, there are no limits!


ReadItDaddy (Daddy): Who are your favourite artists and illustrators? We're always on the look out for more fab illustrative folk to take a peek at!

Charlotte Cooke: Obviously I have to mention Oliver Jeffers. He is ultimately my illustration hero, I think his work is beautiful and the way he uses space and type in his children's books amazes me. I'm always scared of white space but he seems to take it in his stride! I also LOVE Kate Hindley, Benji Davies (his book 'The Storm Whale' is so beautiful!), and my lovely friend Holly Surplice and her wonderful guinea pigs. Oh, and Quentin Blake. It always starts with Quentin.


ReadItDaddy (Daddy): What were your favourite stories as a child?

Charlotte Cooke: I loved books as a child. The main ones I remember are 'Bear's Adventure', where a child's bear is stolen from a beach by a naughty bird! and dropped in the sea, and various things happen to him before, eventually, he is found again. I also used to like 'Not Now Bernard' 'Angry Arthur' , and the emotive 'Gorilla' by Anthony Browne.

One of our favourite spreads from "The Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat" by Coral Rumble and Charlotte Cooke. Shark graffiti rocks!

ReadItDaddy (Charlotte): What's your favourite thing in the world to draw?

Charlotte Cooke: I really love drawing most things. I wouldn't say I have a favourite thing to draw, more that I get excited about a new spread I have to interpret, and how I might do that, and what details I could put into it to make it interesting to look at again and again.

Horses are hard to draw. We like to avoid horses. And bikes.

ReadItDaddy (Charlotte): Who is your favourite princess? (Disney or otherwise!)

Oooh, good question. I think I'd have to go with Princess Jasmine from Aladdin. She isn't a pushover, and knows her own mind, which is good. But she's still beautiful. And she has a tiger.

Huge, huge thanks to Charlotte for stopping by for a chat. "The Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat" is out now, published by Parragon Books.

Visit Charlotte's illustration blog at: http://www.charlottecookeillustration.com

(Psst! Don't miss Charlotte's fabulous artwork in the utterly entertaining "The Talkative Tortoise" by Andrew Fusek-Peters, published by Child's Play)

Parents often wonder how children can extract hour after hour of enjoyment from something as simple as a cardboard box. Children's toys become more sophisticated year after year, children's games become more complex and demanding of their time but there's no substitute for a bit of old school imagination and adventure.

That's definitely at the heart of why we love this wonderful version of "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Coral Rumble and Charlotte Cooke. Rather than drawing directly from Edward Lear's poem, it taps into the way children play, the way they can create a whole colourful world and embark on a fantastic journey through play and imagination.

Charlotte was won over by Charlotte Cooke's cool name, wonderful attention to detail and sense of fun (and also this rather fetching fellow who graced the beautiful envelope that the book was mailed in)...

Charlotte Cooke's naughty seagull. No pair of specs is safe!

This laces itself beautifully through the book as she shows the two children's journey in the fabulous pea green boat (with a brilliantly apt name we'll let you discover for yourself). Dressed as Owl and Pussycat, the children meet many fantastic characters on their voyage, including that naughty seagull, a snatchy crab, and a rather splendid globetrotting / moon-jumping Puffin too (loved her passport!)

Setting sail for adventure! Owl and Pussycat!

I'm pleased to note that children still love traditional animal stories, including Aesop's Fables and also the rich cultural stories of animals that are gathered from around the world. Child's Play produces a range of these stories, retold by poet Andrew Fusek Peters, and lovingly illustrated by Charlotte Cooke.

"The Talkative Tortoise" is a traditional Himalayan folk tale that tells us how tortoise ended up being a rather quiet, rather slow little fellow with a crusty cracked shell. He wasn't always like that, you see. Once, Tortoise was the life and soul of the party, a complete chatterbox with the most beautiful polished and shiny shell you've ever seen.

Tortoise loves his two best friends, two extremely patient geese. But when the geese have to migrate for the winter, Tortoise starts to worry that he'll be left behind, lonely and forlorn.

We'll let you discover the rest of the story for yourselves but it's an amusing retelling of a traditional folk tale with great characterisations and some real laugh out loud moments.

Charlotte's best bit: Tortoise having a HUGE tantrum when he realises his friends are going to migrate and leave him all alone.

Daddy's favourite bit: Trying to explain to Charlotte what a Yurt was. Much scrabbling around in encyclopaedias to try and find another picture of one but we managed it in the end, phew!
(It's a wood-frame felt-covered and rather large tent btw).

(Kindly supplied to us for review by Child's Play International)