The making of… MAYBE…

 

 

 

 

A few years ago I realised that all of my books are quite sweet and I don’t have any bad characters in them at all. So that started me thinking about introducing one.

Actually, this turned out to be quite a productive line of thinking because as well as this story I also came up with two other potential stories which I hope to shape up enough to publish over the next while.
 
Adding this edge gives a story an element of danger which I quite like. I began thinking of ways to ramp that up. The way to best do that it seemed to me was by introducing the tigers to the audience at the start and show more and more signs of them getting closer whilst the monkeys are unaware. 

 

 

 
 
The story begins with the adult monkey warning three little monkeys not to go down to the mango tree because there are ‘tigers down there’
The very thought of mangos of course prompts the monkeys to think more about them and how delicious they are and then finally to go ‘and look at the mangos’
As it turns out, looking at mangos only makes the monkeys even more tempted. The audience sees the tigers below but the monkeys are too distracted to notice. One thing leads to another and the monkeys take bigger and bigger risks. 
 

 

 

In the end, of course, the monkeys are confronted with the tigers. It was a challenge to make the tigers frightening but not too frightening. 
As the monkeys have been deliberately disobedient I think what happens does need to be a little frightening. They kind of deserve it. I think young children will be able to cope because they have seen the warning signs all along and so can tell themselves that they would not have taken those risks. I think that will allow them to disassociate themselves with the monkeys to some extent. 
 

 

 

Usually I like to read my draft books aloud to groups of children to gauge the pacing and it helps me to see what is working. Unfortunately I was finishing this off during the first covid lockdown and so I only managed to do this a handful of times with this book long before the pandemic. The drafts I read from were very rough draughts. However, the last time I read it aloud to children was in a bookshop in Mexico city in January 2019 and I really think it was one of the most successful readings I have ever done. The atmosphere was electric. It was that classic pantomime ‘he’s behind you!’ atmosphere and I noticed the youngest joined in once the older ones spotted the tigers. Since that reading I emphasised the hiding tigers more and made an extra spread in the build up because the kids really screamed with excitement when they saw the tigers. I can’t wait to be able to read it live again soon.

 

 

There are four double pages of a terrifying chase sequence which are the most fun to read. Especially the last page.
One tiger seems to be almost able to grab the foot of the last monkey scrabbling up the tree. To make it a bit more dramatic I oriented it vertically. I hope that means there is an extra long pause at that page so that we wonder what might happen. Will the poor monkey manage to escape? It looks at that moment like it could go either way.
 

 

 

 
 
One funny thing is I came up with this story soon after ‘Don’t Worry, Little Crab’ and I later I realised the two stories are almost mirror opposites to each other in a number of ways. In the crab story, big crab helps little crab to overcome her fear. They go into danger but they do it safely together. In this story, it is the opposite, big monkey asks the little monkeys to stay away from danger but the lure of danger proves too difficult to resist. They go alone into danger.
While little crab becomes more and more fearful in the face of danger the little monkeys are egging each other on all the way. 

 
 
It was very difficult to choose a quote for this one. I wanted one around danger and mistakes but I didn’t want to encourage risk-taking. I suppose I didn’t want to overly discourage it either. Risk taking is an unavoidable fact of life.
I am quite please with the one I eventually settled on: “For the things we have to learn before we can do, we learn by doing” -Aristotle. I suppose learning from experience always has always had a bit of a catch 22 about it.
 
I hope you like it!
 
 
 
 
 

 

MAYBE… from chris haughton on Vimeo.

 

The making of ‘Don’t Worry, Little Crab’

 

  

This story came about while I was watching crabs on a rock. Theres something very human about the way they move. They stop and go, and run or crouch down when they are frightened. Their eyes follow you on stalks and their claws seem a lot like hands. They were ambling around and eating seaweed here and there but the waves below them were huge. Each time a big wave neared there was a huge roar and they all froze in unison. When it was about to hit they all hunkered down to brace for impact. Each time the froth cleared they resumed what they were doing. They seemed to have noticeable personalities, eager ones and nervous ones. Their reactions made the scene like a kind of wordless comedy so I thought it all might work quite well as a picture book.

 

The thing I like most about picture books is the drama of turning the page. I’ve tried to utilise this in all my books. In this book I really like the idea that the page itself acts like a wave. On one side of the page is a breaking wave just before impact and on the reverse it has crashed onto the rocks. That way, the action of turning of the pages of the book is like waves crashing onto the shore. That was the idea anyway.

 

 

The story is always the more difficult part for me. My original idea was to have two crabs who get caught in a storm. One is a worrier and the other is more relaxed. The waves get bigger and bigger and eventually they are swept into the sea… much to the worried crab’s surprise it all turns out fine.

My editor, Deidre thought it was better that rather than have the sea come to the crabs that the crabs should go to the sea. I was very reluctant to change this because it seemed less dramatic to intentionally go in the sea than be swept in. But as I worked at it i realised that she was right. The story became less simple but in the end much stronger. It’s much more satisfying to read and reread if the main character has more agency.

 

This sketch was done from memory after a dive.

The comparison between the smallness of a little pool and the vastness of the sea is one that is often used in language. Visually, I wanted to make the most of this contrast. I tried to use colour to show this. The rock pool is colourful and warm and cosy and makes a contrast to the rocks and waves. From outside the sea appears to be dark and monochromatic and uninviting, but once under the waves the sea opens to a whole world of colour. I think very young children react very instinctively to colour and visuals. It might not be immediately obvious to adults as we are distracted by language and other layers of meaning but if you were to read a book without language I think we are more able to see more how the youngest children see it.

 

I would like to think that all my books can be read without any language. The words only compliment the images. It is the images that tell the story.

I made the crab’s eyes yellow because there are many scenes where there needs to be white foam splashing the crabs and the whiteness of their eyes would get lost. The most important part of these sequences are the eyes so they need to be immediately obvious on the page or the page turn effect is lost.

 

I chose a quote by Anaïs Nin “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage”

Please take a look out for it in your local bookstores.
I hope you like it.

 

Message from Antarctica

 

 

 

I was asked by Hay Festival as part of their new Trans.MISSION project to collaborate with a scientist and communicate their work.
The scientist i was paired with was Emily Shuckburgh  at the British Antarctic Survey.

Emily is a climate scientist and works on the polar oceans. I was invited to the BAS research facility in Cambridge to meet Emily and see their lab.
We visited their ice core freezer and I got to see ice that has been dated to 140,000 years ago.

 

I was given some directions by Emily about the stories they wanted to communicate about their work and once i got home I began writing an outline script.

 

 

 

Once the script was ok’ed I began some sketches…

The animation was created in Berlin by Perrine Marais and Sylwia Kubus. Matt Wand created the sound and music and Shane Solanki did the voice over…

       

And here is the final film!

 

As well as the animation I created this poster which I hope could be useful for schools and home to communicate climate change and the fascinating science behind to children.
the poster can be downloaded for free at up to A0 size for schools and anyone else that wants to print it HERE

 

This was a series of 3 collaborations. 

Daniel Binns (Aardman animation) and Ally Lewis created this fantastic animation

 

Nicola Davies and Ed Hawkins created these powerful poems combined with Ed’s visualisations here

Thanks to Andy Fryers and Jo Rodell-Jones for getting me involved with this fantastic project.
It is so important to try to bring this science to as wide an audience as possible and I am honoured to be asked to do this.

 

By |2020-05-13T12:49:59+00:00May 31st, 2018|0 Comments

SHH! WE HAVE A PLAN Theatre show Belfast

I’m very excited to announce that due to popular demand there will be another theatre run of SHH! WE HAVE A PLAN in Belfast this Christmas. I had worked closely with Paul from Cahoots on this production and I am so happy how it turned out.
BOOK TICKETS HERE

CAHOOTS THEATRE company presents SHH! WE HAVE A PLAN!
CRESCENT ARTS CENTRE, BELFAST
13th – 24th December 2017
Age Suitability: 3+ Years old
Duration: 45 minutes

In addition to the Christmas shows there will be a USA AND CHINA TOUR coming in 2018!
Thanks to everyone in Cahoots for this fantastic production.

 

 

By |2020-05-13T12:49:59+00:00September 28th, 2017|0 Comments

#FreeAhmed

I am so gutted to hear that the activist i met last year, Ahmed Mansoor, has been imprisoned.
His story is so shocking, it is hard to believe its happening right now in Dubai, but sadly it seems the more you read about the UAE, the murkier it gets. I wrote about meeting him last year. Ahmed is the recipient of Amnesty’s most prestigous award and he has been subjected to all sorts of attacks by the UAE government. His passport was confiscated, $140,000 wiped from his account, banned from working, imprisoned for 3 years with no trial and tortured, violently attacked, and was targeted in an unprecedented iPHONE hack in August. The hack would have used his phone to record and send back all inputs and communication mail/viber/whatsapp/web history. Apple issued a patch update within a day. This type of hack had never been seen before apparently and required a huge amount of resources to pull off. It was very widely covered. Here is a fascinating article in the Guardian

Ahmed Mansoor and myself

 

When I met Ahmed last year he told me that he was afraid he would be arrested and disappear like so many others in the UAE. More than 100 activists have been kidnapped and tortured since 2011. Some have never been seen again

I hope you can please join me in campaigning for Ahmed’s safe release. I feel a real responsibility to help him after meeting with him last year.
Hopefully you can join me at the vigil on the 27th

read more about this on Johnathan Emmet’s blog 

…………………………………………..

THINGS YOU CAN DO:
thanks to Johnathan Emmet for these suggestions:

 

Amnesty International have produced a pdf outlining the details of Ahmed case with contact details for the UAE government which you can download here:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde25/5923/2017/en/

 

SOCIAL MEDIA
You can call for Ahmed’s release on social media using the hashtag #FreeAhmed.You can tweet the UAE’s Vice President and Prime Minister Sheik Mohammed on @HHShkMohd

You can write to the UK’s UAE Embassy at:
His Excellency Mr Abdulrahman Ghanem Almutaiwee
Embassy of the United Arab Emirates
30 Princes Gate
London
SW7 1PT
Tweet them on @UAEEMbasssyUK
contact them through their Facebook page
email them on informationuk@mofa.gov.ae
or phone them on 0207 5811281

You can write to your local MP.
If you don’t know who your MP is, you can find out their name and contact details at https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/
The ICFUAE have provided a template letter calling for Ahmed’s release to send to your MP here:
http://icfuae.org.uk/campaigns/urgent-action-demand-ahmed-mansoors-release

PROTEST
And, if you live near London or Manchester you can take part in one of these vigils to demand Ahmed’s release:

London ICFUAE Vigil6.00 pm Monday 27th March, UAE Embassy
http://icfuae.org.uk/events/vigil-release-ahmed-mansoor

Manchester Amnesty Group Vigil6.30 pm Monday 27th March at Manchester Town Hall
https://www.facebook.com/events/617951011735361/

 

By |2020-05-13T12:49:59+00:00March 23rd, 2017|1 Comment

The making of: Goodnight Everyone

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The idea for this book came from visiting my sister Jan’s Montessori school. She was showing me some of the games and toys she uses in her class of 3 and 4 year olds.

She had a series of blocks to explain the powers of ten 1/10/100/1000. 1 square block, 10 stuck together to form line, 100 blocks together to form a plane and 1000 blocks making a 10x10x10 cube. We were talking about how ideas like scale can be shown visually so much easier than can be explained and it occured to me that it could be the perfect subject for a picture book. I like using images rather than words to tell a story visually and this is a very visual idea so it might work. I began thinking of Charles and Ray Eames’ ‘Powers of 10’ and if there was a way to create something similar to this that could be understood by very young children.

In fact I wrote another blogpost about powers of 10 here.

The first idea was a story about an ant who wants to know how big the world is and meets larger and larger animals along the way. She climbs to the top of the grass and meets a beetle, and then to the top of a bush to meet a lizard, a monkey on a tree, and an elephant who takes her to the top of a mountain. Each sequence would be an order of magnitude larger than the last and it would be fun to show the world zooming out all the way out from an ants point of view to the whole world. Note the lizard hidden on the bush in the top right.

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The ant was exploring the world of the very small and there were lots of exciting worlds and things to draw.

 

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However, the story was too linear and so becomes a little boring and predictable after the first sequence. As well as this, the whole premise seemed a little contrived. Ants don’t want to know how big the world is, and neither do very young children, it is much older children who become interested in a question like this. I couldn’t resolve this after more than six months I ended up abandoning the idea and instead created a different book (SHH! We have a plan).

Two years later I came back to it. A simpler way to explain scale to very young children is by acting it out. An action can be made big/bigger/biggest. I decided to abandon the ‘how big is the world’ idea in favour of a simple action simply getting bigger by being acted out by larger and larger animals. Different sized animals in order doing actions such as eating/moving/tickling have potential to build drama to a punchline. I drew it in a sketchbook on the beach.

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After trying a few actions I hit on the idea of a contagious yawn that went from a tiny ant all the way to an elephant. The cut pages increase in size as the yawning animals get bigger a little like the sequence in the hungry caterpillar and other books. The animals then go to bed and the scale again increases, but this time rather than larger cut pages the scene zooms out further and further until we see all the animals and say ‘goodnight everyone’. The youngest children are not interested in the concept of ‘scale’ but they can notice the animals in the pictures get larger or smaller as the pages turn. It is introduced to them in ways they can understand.

 

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We created a dummy book in pretty much the form it is now but my editor and art director had doubts about it as a book. It didn’t really have a story as such, and was a little different to my other books so it again got shelved and I tried out different ideas…

 

…an ant who was tickling larger and larger animals.

 

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but the ant and insects seem threatening if they are coming to tickle you and are too realistic. So I abstracted them a little…

 

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she finds bigger and bigger animals to tickle until she gets tickled back in the end.

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That year I became an uncle, and at Christmas I spent a few weeks with my eight month old twin nieces. I was reading my books to them but at that age they were a little too young to properly follow the story, so we were mainly just pointing out things on the pages. I showed them my dummy books to see what caught their eye. Goodnight Everyone was the biggest hit. They loved the sequence where the larger and larger animals are revealed behind the leaves, and wanted to turn the pages themselves. When they turned them we would make yawning actions and after a few goes they began yawning too. They had been having terrible difficulty sleeping as they had come to Ireland from Australia for Christmas. One of the twins, Joanna, was very bad and it was as if she was fighting sleep, she seemed to be scared of it. Every time she noticed herself nodding off her face had a look of terror and she bawled crying. We just wanted to reassure her that going to sleep was nothing to be afraid of but of course you can’t explain that to a child so young. The only way you could really attempt explain that to a very young child I think is through pictures. I came to the conclusion that doing a picture book with no story and just a reassuring message about going to sleep was a good thing to try to do.

We used the book in their routine to put them to sleep and it worked so well that my sister and mum said really should forget my new idea and go back and publish this instead.

My two guest editors Joanna and May:

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I took it back to Walker after Christmas and we agreed that actually with some tweaks it would work well for the very young. It would be for a younger age group than the other books. As I began creating the artwork I realised that it looked a bit weird having ants and beetles yawning and snuggling up to sleep. Birds and mammals yawn, but insects don’t, so I dropped the ants and beetles (although they are still there on the sleeping mice page). The elephant got dropped too once I realised i could make a link to the Ursa Major and Ursa Minor constellations. The two bears then become the lead characters (thanks to Alice Beniero for inspiring this idea)

ACTIONS

What I try to do in my books is to simplify and reduce the words to communicate to the youngest children. What I am most excited about with this book is that it is told through actions which would be acted out rather than read, so I would hope a small child can understand without any language at all.

The first sequence begins with a small yawn…. which grows larger and larger until everyone goes to bed.
The final sequence begins with a snore…. which grows larger and larger until little bear gets a kiss goodnight and everyone is asleep.
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The book is a mirror of itself, each page on first sequence is turned to reveal the animals, the mice, the hares, the deer etc
And each page on the last sequence is on the verso and so the animals are covered with each turning page, almost as though they are being tucked in one by one.

The final sequence zooms out from the little sleeping mice to the whole of the night sky. On each page we say goodnight to each of the sleeping animals. A dandelion seed is dislodged by the snoring mice and passes from page to page and past the constellations on the endpapers to return to the beginning of the book and grow a new dandelion. It passes the quote at the beginning which reads ‘No dreamer is ever too small, no dream is ever too big’.

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The ‘day time’ front endpaper is the southern night sky with the earth and the solar system seen from the south, you can see the antarctic. The ‘night time’ back endpaper is the northern night sky with the earth and solar system seen from the north, you can see the arctic. The book from beginning to end is a zoom through the earth as it turns from day to night.

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day time

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night time

 

I am now building a version of this in 3D and I hope I can make a free app to explain night and day and the seasons as well as the solar system and the constellations. Coming soon!

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GOODNIGHT EVERYONE comes out in the UK at the beginning of August. It comes out in other languages very soon too:

French: BONNE NUIT TOUT LE MONDE
Spanish: Buenas noches a todos
Catalan: Bona nit a tothom
Italian: Buonanotte a tutti!
Swedish: Godnatt allihop
Danish: Godnat allesammen
Dutch: Welterusten Allemaal
Norwegian: God natt alle sammen
Finnish: UNEN AIKA
German: Gute Nacht Allerseits
Russian: Всем спокойной ночи
Chinese/Japanese coming soon.

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By |2020-05-13T12:49:59+00:00July 12th, 2016|Tags: , , , , |6 Comments

Powers of Ten

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My latest book GOODNIGHT EVERYONE was inspired by the film ‘Powers Of Ten’ by Charles and Ray Eames. I’ve long been a fan of this film but when I read more about it I discovered that in fact the Eames’ were themselves inspired by a book called ‘Cosmic View’ by Kees Boeke. When I began looking into Kees Boeke’s life and how he came up with the idea it turned out to be very interesting so I thought I would make a short post about him here.

 

Kees Boeke was a Dutch Quaker who married one of the wealthy Cadbury daughters in the UK. He was deported from the UK for his campaigning for peace and opposition to WWI. He and his wife moved to the Netherlands and abstained from using money, tax and public transport whatsoever as it contributed towards the state and public funds are spent on weapons. The Boekes were imprisoned several times. In the later 1920s Kees changed tack and withdrew from international peace movements to focus his efforts on education as he believed that it offered the greatest power for change. He created a school called ‘De Werkplaats’ which was based on the Montessori method but extended to fit with his sociocratic philosophy. He believed such a system would never allow for conflicts or war. In Boeke’s school the children were treated as equal to adults and they themselves decided what they should learn. They needed to take responsibities for their actions, there were no cleaners, the children were responsible for everything to do with the school themselves including cleaning and food. His school eventually became well regarded in the Netherlands and the Dutch royal family even sent their children there.

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Kees came up with the idea for his book Cosmic View during a lesson about the metric system. The metric system is of course based on decimals and so the children were experimenting with the consequences of adding more and more zeros. The children drew scenes of 1m/10m/100m and continued this until they went to the whole of the universe. The original version was apparently prompted and drawn by the children themselves. It was later redrawn and published as Cosmic View, and this was later made into the film Powers of Ten. Powers of Ten became a very influential short film and amongst other things inspired google earth.

Read more about Kees Boeke here: wikipedia

By |2020-05-13T12:49:59+00:00July 12th, 2016|Tags: , |1 Comment
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