Page 8 - Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright

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Introduction
Iamluckyenoughtoeditpicturebooksforyoungchildrenfor myliving.Idreamaboutstories,
beginnings, middles and endings, andlove ho w words and pictures worktogether brilliantlytotell atale.
Theverybestbooksofall make myheartsingand myskintingle.
But...IthinkI mightbequiteapoetryperson,too. Asachild,I missedayearofschoolduetoillness,
and a kindly andinspirationalteacher( Ms Gaskell,thank you) gave me bags and bags of books. Up until
then,I mainlytrailedafter myolderbrotherandsister,butthosebagsofbooks madeabookwormof me.
WhenI wasbetter,I wasallowedto walktothetinyvillagelibraryon myownandfoundnotjust more
storiesbutpoetry,too.Ilovedthereassuringrhythms–they weresobeautifullypredictable–andIliked
the wayapoemcouldlook. The wordsdidn’tfillallthe whitebutleftfunnyspaces,asiftogive meroom
tothink. Myfavouritecollection was my mu m’s belovedAlbatross Bookof Verse. Atseven,I didn’talways
understandvery much,but Ms Gaskellsaidthat was OK;shesaidit was“thereadingthat mattered”.
Thereadingreallydid matterandhere weare, manyyearslater.I’velearntso muchabout wordsand
picturesand meaningsandnowseehowpoemsandpicturebooksaresoverysimilar.Picturebooks,
asa wisepersononcesaid,shouldbeboth windowsand mirrors:theyenablechildrentoseeoutinto
other worlds whilstalsoreflectingtheirown. Theyprovidecomfortorreassuranceorsometimesjust
good old entertain ment, or maybe a co mbination of manythings. A poe m does all ofthis,too. Look
athowatinycollectionofwords,carefullyarranged,cansayso much.Poemsarebite-size, mini-story
worldsthatcanbenibbledupon wordby wordorjustswallowed wholeinonebiggulp. And,likea
picture book,a poe malways,always makes usfeelso mething.
When we werethinkingaboutideasforthis book, wetalkedaboutthefunnyspacesthat poe msleave
onthe pageand how picturescan makea poe mso much more. Wealsothoughtaboutthethingsthat
childrenreallyloveand whatpoems mightappealtothem.Ithoughtabout myson, whoattheageof
three, wasinlove withhisencyclopediaofanimals.It wasalmostbiggerthanhimandhadhundreds
of pictures of nearly every ani mal you couldthink of.