Double Delight: Celebrating Beauty with Sophie Blacknall
Beauty comes in many forms: the bizarre, the whimsical, the wondrous. Author illustrator and two-time Caldecott Medallist, Sophie Blacknall embraces the very best of beauty in her visual and imaginative picture book narratives creating imagery that makes your heart swoon. Here are two of her latest masterpieces.
When I was much shorter, I dreamed
of owing a horse. It was a dead-end desire however my love for all things
equine never diminished so instead of walking, I galloped. Instead of speaking,
I whinnied. Instead of sitting in the shelter shed at lunchtimes, I careened
around the school oval …like a horse. I didn’t just want a horse. I was a horse.
This is the premise of Blackall’s 2023 release; exploring what a child would do
if she were a horse.
This joyful expose of imaginative
play and sense of self is splendidly supported by Blacknall’s exquisite
illustrations created with a combination of media including watercolours,
pencils, and collaged materials resulting in a rich tapestry of textures and
feelings. Being a horse poses intriguing questions like, how would you fit into
your clothes? How would your school friends react? And is bath time really a
die-hard necessity after all!
Conversely, a universe of wild
exciting possibilities also results from being a horse not least of which is
being your little sister’s best most faithful companion. If
I Was A Horse reflects the beauty of unharnessed imagination in one of
the most child-relatable ways; through empathetic character identification. At
least it does for this little horse lover.
Title: If I Was A Horse
Author / Illustrator: Sophie Blacknall
Publisher: Lothian Children’s Books (Hachette imprint), $24.99
Publication Date: 27 September 2023
Format: Hardcover (with dustjacket)
ISBN: 9780734422712
For ages: 3+
Type: Picture Book
Buy the Book: Hachette
Australia, Boomerang
Books
Released last year, Farmhouse
is another example of unfettered beauty; that which is current, past and lost.
Rather like filming one scene of a movie in one take, Blacknall employs a
similar technique by telling the tale of a farmhouse in one continuous sentence.
This gorgeous ambling poetic piece perfectly suits the location of the
farmhouse (by a glittering stream that twists and turns …), its
personality and the inhabitants that dwell within, all 14 of them!
Through the years and lilting prose,
we come to know the farmhouse’s 12 children, their quirks and squabbles, their
triumphs and misgivings. We are privy to their dreams and hidden treasures. We
are witness to their daily routines and simple pleasures like apple picking and
fishing in the stream. Moments blossom into years and years turn into lifetimes
until one by one, the children leave the home that sheltered, nurtured and
embraced them.
Bereft of human occupation, the
house falls into decline but is not entirely empty. As it ages and slumps into
disrepair, nature reclaims its organic components. Nooks and crannies, basements
and even parlour organs become places for creatures that flutter and fly and
snooze throughout winter until finally the narrator, the one creates this ode
of love, happens upon an overgrown farmhouse and discovers its many treasures.
These in turn prompt her to record the farmhouse’s story and that of all who dwelled
within its walls.
Farmhouse is based on Blacknall’s real life
experiences told additionally through the beautiful endpapers that grace this
book. (As a fan of resonating endpapers, Blackall’s are exceptional). The
luxuriously multi-layered illustrations abound with rich colour and intricate
detail each breathing life into the house and its inhabitants.
The old derelict farmhouse she discovered
in the woods is now demolished but its story, or rather the potential tales once
hidden within its timbers, resound in this exquisite picture book, where
they’ll live on, so long as they’re told.
Title: Farmhouse
Author /Illustrator: Sophie Blacknall
Publisher: Lothian Children’s Books (Hachette imprint), $24.99
Publication Date: 31 August 2022
Format: Hardcover (with dustjacket)
ISBN: 9780734421654
For ages: 5+
Type: Picture Book
Buy the Book: Hachette Australia,
Boomerang
Books
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