Playing by the book

Reviews of kids' books and the crazy, fun stuff they inspire us to do

I bet you have something in common with Michael Rosen and The Duchess of Cornwall

Posted on | May 9, 2012 | 13 Comments

…And with Lauren Laverne, Shami Chakrabarti and even Jamie Oliver!

All these people have made a very simple promise: during 2012 they will share 20 books with others.

It’s simple isn’t it?

And why have they made this promise?

Because they know the importance, value and joy of books.

Because they know what a difference a love of reading can make.

Because they know books can bring people together.

Because they want to pass on their passion for books to the children in their lives.

Because they want to support Bookstart.

Bookstart is a UK-based, world-renowned reading programme which gifts free books to babies, toddlers and 3-year-olds. This year Bookstart is 20 years old and one of the ways it is celebrating this milestone is by encouraging you, me and anyone who loves books to take their pledge – to pledge to share 20 books with others this year.

In a year when Bookstart, and two other UK bookgifting schemes Booktime and Booked Up, have had to weather a 50% cut in government funding and face a further 20% cut in funding this year, I’m standing up for books, and especially for sharing books with children. I’ve taken the pledge – will you?

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Category: Book Charities, Bookstart

An Odd Dog and onomastics

Posted on | May 7, 2012 | 17 Comments

Odd Dog by Claudia Boldt is an ever so slightly absurd tale about a rather unusual dog, a dog who prefers apples to bones.

Helmut has a prized apple tree, laden with ripening fruit. Helmut also has nightmares: His neighbour, Igor, may at any time be plotting to steal all of Helmut’s much loved apples.

One day the juciest apple falls from Helmut’s tree… but onto the wrong side of the fence. Disaster appears to have struck. Igor has Helmut’s prized possession!

What is Igor going to do? How is Helmut going to respond?

For those wanting to unpick this quirky story there’s plenty packed into Odd Dog; the encumbrance of desire and possession, what it feels like to be different, the power of sharing, the acceptance of difference, and whether the world is full of threats or opportunities.

For those just wanting a fun read there’s a lot to enjoy in Odd Dog; the offbeat humour (what? a dog that doesn’t like bones?), the stylish, characterful illustrations, the reassuring reminder that the world is actually a good place, full of good people. The dogs, the classy illustrations, the anxiety all make this a great book to pair with Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton.

For those interested in translation and cultural differences, it’s fun to see that the names Helmut and Igor are “untranslated” in the German version of Claudia Boldt’s offbeat tale (do watch the video, even if you don’t understand German, for it will give you a good flavour of Claudia’s illustrations):

And yet, in the US version of this book, the dogs have been renamed: Helmut is Peanut and Igor is Milo.

With my British/European sensibilities, this “translation” doesn’t work for me; the names Peanut and Milo are just too sweet, and don’t have the same quirky, old-fashioned, absurd feel about them, that I think Helmut and Igor have, and which really adds that little bit of hard-to-put-your-finger-on-flavour to the tale. I’d love to know what my North American readers think about this… And I’d love to hear from German readers too – I suspect Helmut and Igor don’t have the same feel in German (where they are – I believe- far less unusual than here in the UK) as they do in English.

All this got me thinking about name changes in different English versions of the same book (rather than translations into other languages). Here are some other examples:

  • Wally (UK) vs Waldo (US) – Where’s Wally? by Martin Handford (“When Handford first designed his leading man, he named him Wally – a shortened formed of Walter or Wallace but commonly used in Britain as a slang term for a somewhat spacey person. However the American publishers of the books felt the name would not resonate with the North American readers“).


  • Harris (UK) vs Harry (US) – Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton. According to Chris, his original idea was to have the dog with a human name, and the dog owner with a dog’s name. The name change (Harris > Harry) was made by the US publishers, for reasons unclear to Chris.


  • Zozo (UK pre 1970s) vs Curious George (US) – the books by HA Rey and Margret Rey (“In 1941, when Curious George books were first introduced, George VI was England’s king. To avoid insulting him by having his name be used by a monkey, it was decided to call the book’s protagonist “Zozo“, but later UK editions reverted back to Curious George).


  • Maugrim (UK) vs Fenris Ulf (US pre 1994) – The captain of the White Witch’s guard in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is called Maugrim. But American editions (up until 1994 when Harper decided to revert to the original British texts and renumber the books according to internal chronology) changed Maugrim’s name to Fenris Ulf.


  • Alemayu (US) vs Mammo (UK) – the boy’s name in Jane Kurtz’s Fire on the Mountain was changed from the original Alemayu to Mammo for the UK edition.


  • Mardie and Lisbet (UK) vs Meg and Betsy (US) – in translations of Astrid Lindgren’s Madicken, Madicken and Lisabeth are renamed differently in US and UK editions of the translation.


  • ‘The Wrong Thing’ (Aus) vs ‘something strange’ or ‘the strange thing’ (uncapitalised, US) – In Isobelle Carmody’s picture book The Wrong Thing (originally published in Australia), the unnamed “Wrong Thing” becomes ‘something strange’ or ‘the strange thing’.


  • Sauci (original US) vs Dashi – One of the characters in the Octonauts was originally named Sauci in the picturebooks by Meomi. Apparently Sauci became Dashi to avoid connotations with “Saucy”.



    • So what’s in a name? Is it really the case that a given character “by any other name would smell as sweet”?

    My thanks to Farah Mendlesohn, Emanuelle Burton, Jane Kurtz, Ann Dowker, Danielle Smith, Helen Dineen, Chris Haughton, Virgina Lowe and Sinead O’Higgins for help compiling this list of name changes. If you’ve any more to add, please let me know via the comments.

    But now, returning to the lovely Odd Dog, we were inspired by the picnic scene in Claudia Boldt’s book to recreate our own doggy-apple-y scene. First I created a tree capable of standing upright on its own. I cut the two sections out of a thick cardboard box, using a stanley knife for all the branches.

    Next we printed with apple halves to make our apples for the tree. The hardest thing was cutting the apples in half with a perfectly vertical slice – necessary to get a good apple shaped print. The girls also used a half onion to make prints on the tree, to simulate bark.

    With our tree assembled and laden with apples we invited the dogs to a plasticine picnic – the girls used the plasticine to create lots more little apples, and baskets for gathering them. Soon Helmut and Igor were having great fun on our kitchen table!


    Whilst making our apple prints and picnic we listened to:

  • When Will The Good Apples Fall by The Seekers
  • On a Picnic We Will Go by Lois & Bram Sharon
  • Irresistible Igor by Bobby (Boris) Pickett



    • Other activities which might be fun to try alongside reading Odd Dog include:

  • Making dogs to play with! I like these dog faces from Walnut Acre, and these dogs from polystyrene cups from Danielle’s Place.
  • Baking something delicious with apples. We like this recipe from the BBC children’s programme, “I can cook”.
  • Baking a cake to resemble an apple – here’s a (US) recipe from FamilyFun, and here’s a (UK) recipe from Total Food Geeks.



    • Disclosure: I received my copy of Odd Dog from the publishers. Nevertheless, this review reflects my own and honest opinion.

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    Category: Apples, Behaviour (good or bad), Claudia Boldt, Dogs, Friendship, Kindness, Picnics, Sharing, Trees

    Kidlit radio #15

    Posted on | May 5, 2012 | No Comments

    The coming week’s bookish radio delights to listen out for include:

    Sunday 6 May

  • 09:00–09:30 and 16:00-16:30 Radio 4 Extra JM Barrie – Peter Pan
    Away to Neverland
    1/4. A strange visitor transforms the Darling household one bedtime.


  • 09:30–10:00 and 16:30-17:00 Radio 4 Extra Philippa Pearce – Tom’s Midnight Garden
    4/4. Tom makes a remarkable discovery at Ely Cathedral and meets the mysterious Mrs Bartholomew


  • 07:55 Radio 4 Radio 4 Appeal
    Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson presents an appeal on behalf of the charity Bag Books.


  • 15:00 Radio 4 Classic Serial
    The Great Gatsby, Episode 1
    1/2. F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel on the fallibility of the American dream.


    • Tuesday 8 May

  • 14:45–15:00 Radio 4 Extra The Invention of Childhood
    17/30. Michael Morpurgo discovers how Victorian obsession with childhood – both real and romanticised – appeared in art and literature.


  • 16:00 Radio 4 Word of Mouth – Chugger Chat
    Michael Rosen tackles the language of chuggers and street vendors. Which words work best?


  • 13:30–14:00 and 20:30-21:00 Radio 4 Extra Boxer and Doberman – Murder is Child’s Play
    Rival Glasgow gangsters compete for a coveted children’s book award < what a synopsis for a radio play!



    • Thursday 10 May

  • 11:30 Radio 4 The Library Returns
    Jonathan Glancey argues that amid closures, the public library is also being reinvented.


    • All these radio programmes are available to listen to online worldwide, usually for one week after initial broadcast in the UK.

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    Category: Kidlit on the radio
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