Friday July 9^th saw Brighton’s Balfour Infants School in for a treat – not only did they get a visit from their newly-elected local Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, but also Tamarind illustrator Karin Littlewood! The Year 1 and 2 pupils listened cross-legged to a great speech from Caroline about biodiversity. She explained that if you imagined the world as an apple, only a quarter of it would be land, and the rest water… and only a half of that bit of land was habitable! So you can imagine how important it is to protect that relative slither of land we live on.

After Caroline spoke, Karin gave a brilliant reading of The Day the Rains Fell. The book explores the idea of how the watering holes appeared in the savannah desert and celebrates the diversity of the animals living in the plains. One by one, each animal lends its colours to Thandi’s beaded necklace until she has a rainbow assortment of colours! After the reading the children decorated their own beads with all the patterns of their favourite animals.

The children enjoyed the arts and crafts no end, but the event had a serious message. Caroline Lucas said “…young people need to learn about the earth’s fragile state.  We’ve taken the biosphere for granted for too long. The global climate talks last year in Copenhagen failed to tackle climate change in any meaningful way so time is running out.”

Caroline also praised the book, saying “The Day the Rains Fell is the best book I’ve seen for younger children – and for parents who want their children to enjoy and learn at the same time – about why humanity and every species on the planet is threatened.”

More of Tamarind’s ‘green’ books:

Last month in this feature you met Odette Elliott, a picture book author. Once we have a powerful story, we turn to illustrators to bring them to life. Here’s a little bit from an illustrator extraordinaire, Carl Pearce.

Which books have you had published?
I’ve illustrated The Silence Seeker, Big Eyes, Scary Voice, Ferris Fleet and The Night The Lights Went Out for Tamarind as well as a tonne of educational and fun books elsewhere.

What inspired your artwork on The Silence Seeker?
The 1993 Michael Douglas movie ‘Falling Down’. The way that film looks is a big influence on a lot of my work. Also, a lot of the scenes in the story are actual places local to me in North Wales and Chester.

What you’d be if you weren’t an artist?
I don’t think I am an ‘artist’ but I would either be a fireman or a nature photographer somewhere interesting like South Africa or Northern Canada. I may still change jobs, you never know.

What are your hobbies?
Drawing, obviously. Watching movies, reading books and comics, being outdoors and on the beach and making stuff, like models, toys, pictures, a mess…

What are you reading at the moment?
211 Things A Bright Boy Can Do by Tom Cutler. It’s my bible.

What’s your favourite Tamarind book and why?
Can I be selfish and pick Big Eyes, Scary Voice, merely because I had so much fun ‘researching’ it in Cornwall in 2007. I took over 400 photographs of bits and pieces I wanted to add into the pictures on that book.

If you’d like to book Carl for a signing, drawing workshop or talk with questions and answers in your school or library, please contact Kelly Tapper in our publicity team on ktapper@randomhouse.co.uk or 020 8231 6648. Carl is based in North Wales.

On the 5th – 9th October, the Shoreditch Trust held its first children’s literary festival in Hoxton Square. At the StarLit Festival, which coincided with National Children’s Book Week, pupils aged 5-15 from local schools participated in a week of workshops, book sales and signings. The guest authors included former children’s laureate Michael Rosen and RHCB author Catherine Johnson.

Tamarind authors and illustrators were invited to host workshops. Gillian Swordy, first-time author, joined the festival from Gloucestershire, and was delighted to see her book, Reading between the Lions, fly off the shelves.
Karin Littlewood, illustrator of Siddharth and Rinki and The Dragon Kite, led teachers and children from Burbage Primary in drawing their own dragons on a flowing frieze. Pupils at Randal Cremer Primary each designed their own noisy city scene with Carl Pearce, illustrator of The Silence Seeker and The Night the Lights Went Out.
Specialist children’s bookseller Victoria Park Books facilitated sales, and all the Tamarind titles sold out.

On Wednesday 7th October,  illustrator Patrice Aggs came up from Sussex to meet author Odette Elliott and launch their picture book My Big Brother JJ. The launch was held at a school local to Odette, Leopold Primary School, Willesden. The event was covered in the local press, and sales were organised by the Willesden Bookshop. Every copy of JJ sold out on the day, and 50 Tamarind catalogues were also snapped up by parents. Willesden Bookshop have arranged a further book signing date with Odette for lucky locals.