Dinner Ladies Don't Count
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Cover Story
On the cover of this issue we feature a selection of illustrations from the Walker Books List. Can you identify the artists? (Answers below). We are grateful for the help from Walker Books in using this material.
1. Helen Oxenbury (First Picture Books).
2. Shirley Hughes (Nursery Collection).
3. John Burningham (First Words).
4. Patrick Benson (William Mayne's Hob Stories).
5. Kenneth Lilly (Large as Life).
6. Nicola Bayley (Copycats).
7. Philippe Dupasquier (Little Robert).
8. E. J. Taylor (Biscuits, Buttons and Pickles).
9. Jan Ormerod (Baby Books).
10. Colin McNaughton (Allan Ahlberg's Red Nose Readers).
11. Helen Craig (Susie and Alfred).
12. Peter Cross (David Lloyd's Dinosaur Days).
Titles are of the series, not individual books.
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Dinner Ladies Don't Count
Janet Duchesne
Two small masterpieces from Ashley, set in the same primary classroom. I know of so few writers who can, as Ashley does in the title story and in Linda's Lie, make the sights, the sounds, and the structure of feeling within a school live within a book. Children the same age as those in the stories (seven or eight) enjoy the tale of the boy who's often in trouble yet has to get himself off the hook for something he didn't do, and of the girl who tells a lie to save her face and then has to un-tell it. Those a little older will see, with help, that such writing provides a space between private and public concerns --- a chance to reflect upon powerful ideas. Stories to be shared and talked about.
