Tag: Quentin Blake

The Great Piratical Rumbustification

by Derelict Space Sheep on March 17, 2015 in 42 Word Retrospectives • 0 Comments

The Great Piratical Rumbustification (& The Librarian and the Robbers)

by Margaret Mahy (J. M. Dent, 1978)

Two stories by New Zealand’s doyen of children’s books: the second, a quietly subversive extolment of libraries; the first, a droll yet puckishly young-at-heart parable on quality of life, with bonhomous pictures by Quentin Blake and an endearingly rumtiddlyumptious neologism to boot!

Lester and the Unusual Pet

by Derelict Space Sheep on February 8, 2015 in 42 Word Retrospectives • 0 Comments

Lester and the Unusual Pet

by Quentin Blake (Picture Lions, 1975)

Known for illustrating other people’s books (most notably Roald Dahl’s), Quentin Blake also writes many himself. Lester and the Unusual Pet showcases his understated absurdism — Salvador Dalí for children, almost — in a joyous, freewheeling, lazy afternoon paean to young imaginations running rife.