posted on 07 Oct 2015

A Great Big Cuddle: Poems for the very young by Michael Rosen and Chris Riddell

This picture book is another example of a literary marriage made in heaven. It is after all written by Michael Rosen,  an ex Children’s Laureate and illustrated by Chris Riddell, the current Children’s Laureate who between them have written and illustrated scores of books for children of all ages for many years. 

First and foremost, Rosen is a poet and a linguist who is fascinated by words and their patterns. He is also very knowledgeable about how children develop language and how important it is to stimulate their interest in new vocabulary.  Another string to his bow is that he understands how to communicate with his audience without ever patronising them. In this way even the simplest poems are reverently presented for young children to consider and enjoy. He evidently enjoys writing and sharing them with others. Most importantly and despite his many other writing and broadcasting commitments he travels the length and breadth of the country visiting schools and book shops  – he clearly likes the company of children and conveys this as soon as he begins talking. I was lucky to see him with Chris Riddell performing some of the poems in the book to a live audience of very excited young children last week. This showcased Rosen at his very best as he has the ability to talk to children of any age as equals, whilst at the same time appealing to the adults in the audience, for instance with references to his renowned left wing political views.  He presented every poem at least three times to allow the audience to savour the words and join in so that even the youngest were engrossed. This is the way to teach a love of poetry to children and I felt really encouraged by the energy in the tightly packed theatre as he involved us in the various refrains. Most of the poems are very silly and appeal directly to the sense of humour of the average three year old (even I laughed at the delight in repeating the word’ bottom’ in one of the poems).

The illustrations are sublime with the very familiar Riddell style children standing solidly often looking out directly at the reader.  As we turn the pages they cavort with lions, bears, elephants and a wide range of other strange friendly looking creatures. It is a childlike view of the world that he invites the reader to enjoy and become immersed in. During the live performance, he demonstrated his flair for drawing ‘on the spot’ as he instantly interpreted Rosen’s very funny ramblings with original cartoons including speech bubbles and jokes at his expense.

This is a beautiful unsentimental but loving depiction of childhood by two people who clearly relish their jobs as author and illustrator.    

Karen Agent

October 2015