Aldo
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Cover Story
The anarchic hero of many daring adventures, William, as depicted on our cover by Thomas Henry in one of his effective, humorous pen and ink illustrations, is now a period piece. A William de nos jours illustrated by Tony Ross and aimed at a younger audience stands alongside him. This new William will be featured in adaptations of the stories by Martin Jarvis. Richmal Crompton, author of the William books, is the subject of this issue's Authorgraph. Thanks to Macmillan Children’s Books for their help with this November cover.
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The little girl in Aldo is one of Burningham's characters whose interior life is richer than are her exterior doings. She is no Shirley, however. Rather than fighting pirates and performing deeds of derring-do, her consolation for the shortcomings of everyday life is in the form of Aldo, a large rabbit-like creature, her special friend who is with her 'when things get really bad'. A victim of bullying and of quarrelling parents, she is sketched lightly without much colour and isolated on the pages by expanses of white space. With Aldo comes colour, and a sense that he enables her to at least imagine herself doing things she would not dare do in reality. The intensity of the little girl's loneliness is chilling when she declares 'I spend a lot of time on my own' and in a scene in a cafŽ where we observe her sitting apart from the other children. Aldo offers no happy ending, only a hope that matters will improve as she asserts that some days she forgets about Aldo, but knows that when things are bad he will be there for her. Originally published in 1991, it is good to see Aldo reissued. Books like this should stay in print.
