For the second Blog Tour stop of the day, we're having a wee chat with a creative bunch of people from Little Tiger to celebrate the glorious launch day of Emma Yarlett's fabulous "Nibbles the Book Monster". Here's Ellie and Sadia from Little Tiger:

Hello from the Little Tiger Press creative team!
I’m Ellie (editor) and together with Sadia (designer), we were the very lucky pair who got to ride the Nibbles the Book Monster rollercoaster with Emma.

At Little Tiger we’ve been fans of Emma’s work from the start (or maybe slightly before the start!) of her illustration career. Back in 2010, whilst Emma was studying at Falmouth School of Art, she came into the Little Tiger offices to do some work experience with the design team! We kept our eyes on her developing style and increasing portfolio and, not long after she graduated, we were lucky enough to sign Emma up to illustrate Steve Smallman’s hilarious rhyming romp – Bear’s Big Bottom.

It was a hit!

We knew we had to work with Emma again, and when the early draft of Nibbles landed on my desk, I knew it had to be this book!

What’s not to love?

1 – A cute and cuddly, mischievous and mayhem-inducing monster - tick

2 – Everyone’s favourite fairy tale characters – tick

3 – Bags of humour – tick. And let’s not forget . . .

4 – Emma’s beautiful art! Tick, tick, tick!


The final object is a book-lover’s delight. It has a clear narrative hook that grabs hold of the reader and pulls you through the book. It’s elegantly simple but don’t let appearances fool you. I think Emma’s mentioned in previous posts that the development process was at times mind-boggling and head scratching! We had some fun editorial discussions on the phone, and via email, about approaches, endings and alternatives before Emma sent over her first set of thumbnails – here’s a little peek.

From this point, as an editor, it’s important to make sure that the basic storyline feels strong enough. If there are any points or moments that could work harder, be funnier, need smoothing out or changing then this is the moment to flag them and suggest how they might work differently. Hopefully these comments act as a springboard for the author/illustrator to take the text to the next level – which Emma always did!

Once the basic structure has confirmed we move on to character sketches:

Roughs:

Once this has all been delivered we arrange for the printer to make blank dummies:

...so that we can check that all the complex mini books and die-cuts work properly.

And then printer dummies:




...which we take to a book fair (either Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy or Frankfurt Book Fair in Gemany) and present to publishers from around the world who will buy the book and create editions for their countries.

So far, Nibbles is on track to publish in Britain, Australia, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, Holland and America.




And, as you can see, it’s been published with two different cover designs, both of which work best for the markets they have been sold to.

Why do we think this book has done so well internationally? We think it’s because it appeals to book lovers the world over. It’s an unashamed celebration of picture books and reading!

I also think that Emma’s art style is so accessible. There’s such a lot of humour in her characterization and intricate detail is her pieces that captivates children (and adults). Her palette is sophisticated but also bright and engaging – perfect for capturing and maintaining a reader’s attention.

I think it’s safe to say that Nibbles is munching his way around the world to great success! Hooray for Nibbles and hooray for Emma Yarlett!

Thank you Ellie, Sadia and of course thanks to Emma and all the best with the book launch today!

1. Uderzo

Andrew: My favourite illustrator of all time has to be Uderzo, the artist who drew Asterix. His character drawings are amazing, but it’s his backgrounds that I loved the most as a kid. Especially the incredible aerial views he drew of Rome, Athens and other cities of the ancient world. I probably learned more about classical Greek architecture from Uderzo then I did in architecture school.

2. Herge

Chris: My aunt and uncle gave me Tintin in Tibet for Christmas when I was about 10 and it blew my mind. The incredible movie-like story telling astonished me but it was the artwork that would start me on the road to my love of drawing. I collected the rest of the series over the next few years but this book is still my favourite by a long shot.

3. Artists of 2000AD

Andrew: Some of the artists in the comic 2000AD are brilliant, particularly in the golden era in the eighties. Artists like Cam Kennedy, Mick McMahon, Brian Bolland, Kevin O’Neill. Google any of those names to see what I’m talking about.

4. Daniel Clowes

Chris: There are several comic artists that bowl me over any time a see their work but for me it is Chris Ware, Jamie Hernandez and Daniel Clowes that are the masters as far as I’m concerned. The 20 issues of Eightball are some of the greatest and funniest comics ever put on paper.

5. Chris Haughton

Andrew: I have a three year old son, so I’m immersed in picture books at the moment. One of our favourites is fellow Irishman, Chris Haughton. I can only imagine the amount of time and effort that goes into making drawings that look so deceptively simple.

6. Chris Ware

Chris: There is not much I can say about this prolific magician. He started illustrating his Jimmy Corrigan strip in his mid 20’s with the exact same incredible standard he still holds today. I can only assume he has a clone duplicator as there is no possible way a single human could produce the vast quantities of incredible artwork that he does.

Andrew: Another plug for an Irish illustrator. Like Chris Haughton’s drawings, Fatti’s look much too simple to be simple. You can tell from looking at her amazing new book, Irelandopedia, just how much time and effort goes into getting the illustrations just right. Can’t wait to see more books from her.

Chris: Jon Klassen is my favourite contemporary children’s illustrator working today. Not only are his books filled with subtle hilarious humour, often achieved with just a look in a character’s eye, but his artwork is somehow utterly timeless and modern at the same time. I am convinced there is a wise old man inhabiting his young body.

Andrew: Mitsumasa Anno is a Japanese illustrator who has been making beautiful wordless storybooks since 1968. They are the sort of books that you just want to stare at for hours. Check out Anno’s Britain or Anno’s Spain for his crazily detailed aerial views of famous landscapes. Like Uderzo’s, now that I think of it! I’ve just realised why I became an architect.

Chris: Tove Jansson created a world like no other with her Moomin characters. There is something so whimsical but heart-breaking about her artwork and stories that are just out of reach. I will never understand how she achieves so much in such simple drawings.

Find out more about Andrew and Chris's awesome work over at www.doodle.town

There’s an insidious demonization, at least in the United States, by the professional class of food critics of sites like Yelp, which open criticism to the unskilled hoi polloi. Fooey on that. The more voices the better as far as I’m concerned.

This knee jerk revulsion gets at the heart of what it means to be a food critic and common misperceptions felt, even by my colleagues.

 Critics have no special knowledge, other than the knowledge borne from thinking about food on a sustained basis, eating it, and researching it.

 This might be difficult for some critics to stomach -- that they are not Divine Critics as Louis TK was the Diving Ruler -- but it is good news for those aspiring to be a food critic.

Author and restaurant critic Joshua David Stein

A restaurant critic -- for that is how I prefer to think of myself since I do not only critique food but the context within which it is served -- is, at the end of the day, a writer. And, as writers since the beginning of the written word and story tellers before them have done, a writer must develop his or her voice. Now being a restaurant critic is slightly different in that we are not writing fiction nor are we writing hard-hitting nonfiction. Criticism is somewhere in between, creative nonfiction.

But this creative nonfiction with actual repercussions (that is, if one is a food writer whose word is valued) and the thing one is critiquing is the sum of many thousands of hours of effort and many thousands of dollars of investment. The restaurant industry is a brutal one where a spate of bad reviews can doom an infant venture. So one must always balance voice with responsibly. There’s a tendency to be flip but it should be avoided.

No critic should have or claim to have a monopoly on opinion. A food critic is just a voice with a particularly powerful microphone. But that also doesn’t mean one must be anodyne or tentative in asserting ones opinion. One needn’t please everyone, certainly not the object of ones criticism. But a critic should be cognizant of tendencies -- such as those I possess -- to be viciously witty (or so I think) at the expense of incisively accurate.

So I suppose my advice to aspiring food critics is that to become one, just start writing. The only thing standing between you and a professional food critic is the writing about food and that can be easily remedied. But once you become a restaurant critic, be a kind, fair and compassionate one. And one hell of a writer.

The shortlist of six books includes an anarchic appraisal of Michael Gove’s education policies, the dramatic rescue of an indie bookshop and existential questions for the very young. Authors Gill Lewis and John Boyne both appear for the 3rd time. Publishers Bloomsbury has scored twice on the list.

The truly glorious "I'm a Girl" by Yasmeen Ismail not only wins book of the week on our blog but is shortlisted for the 2016 Little Rebel Book Awards! YAY YASMEEN!

The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award is now in its 4th year. The shortlisted 2016 titles (for books published in 2015) include 3 chapter books/fiction and 3 picture books; these are:

➔ Uncle Gobb and the Dread Shed by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Neal Layton (Bloomsbury Books); an anarchic story which shames many aspects of contemporary culture but, in particular, the government’s current education ideology.

➔ Gorilla Dawn by Gill Lewis (Oxford University Press); a novel set in the Democratic Republic of Congo which explores how the farming of a mineral needed for mobile phones is destroying the gorilla’s natural habitat; Lewis’ Moon Bear was shortlisted in 2014 and she was the winner for the Little Rebels Award 2015 with Scarlet Ibis.

➔ The Boy at the Top of the Mountain by John Boyne (Doubleday/Penguin Random House UK); the story of one child’s moral corruption when he goes to stay in Hitler’s holiday house, the Berghof, in 1935; Boyne was previously shortlisted for The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket in 2013 and Stay Where You Are and Then Leave in 2014.

➔ I’m a Girl by Yasmeen Ismail (Bloomsbury Books); a picture book which blasts gender stereotypes by portraying a girl character whose behaviour leads to her being called a boy.

➔ The Little Bookshop and the Origami Army! by Michael Foreman (Andersen Press); a community bookshop threatened by big business is saved by Origami Girl and local action.

➔ I Am Henry Finch by Alexis Deacon, illustrated by Viviane Schwarz (Walker Books); a philosophical book for the very young, addressing individualism, bravery and finding your way.

The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award recognises fiction for ages 0-12 which promotes or celebrates social justice and equality. It is run by specialist children’s booksellers, Letterbox Library and is awarded by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB). The judges, Kim Reynolds (Professor of Children’s Lit. Newcastle University), Wendy Cooling, (Bookstart co-founder & editor), Catherine Johnson and Elizabeth Laird (children’s authors) are meeting this month to discuss the shortlist.

Kerry Mason, Co-Director of Letterbox Library, said of this year’s submissions: “This was the first year that the shortlisters felt overwhelmed by choices. It seems there is a taste right now for children’s books with a message, particularly where that message is communicated in an imaginative and original way. This year’s shortlist pokes fun at our institutions, brings corporate powers to their knees and ponders vast questions such as ‘who am I?’ through the smallest of finches”.

Speaking about the award, Little Rebels judge, Kim Reynolds, said, “This prize identifies well-informed and high-quality books that can help children understand that the way the world is currently organised is not inevitable and that even the youngest members of society can help to change it” (in Books for Keeps May 2015).

The winner of the Little Rebels Award will again be announced at The London Radical Bookfair. This year the event will take place on Saturday May 7th at Goldsmith’s University. This is a free public event organised by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB). The Little Rebels winner will be announced alongside the ARB’s sister adult award, the Bread & Roses Award for Radical Publishing.

Come along to the awards and celebrate some truly radical books!