Winged Chariot Press

I'm hugely excited when I hear of publishers such as Gecko Press, who translate and publish quirky and innovative children's books, making otherwise inaccessible titles available to the english speaker. So, I'm delighted to have been made aware of Winged Chariot Press, a UK based publisher who does just that. Their list features beautiful books from authors and illustrators from across the globe. You can find out more and flick through the books here http://www.wingedchariot.com/content.php?page_id=12

The First Charity Shop Children's Book of the Month

This month I've been scouring the charity shops of Bray in search of children's book gold. And I found it! There was one book that trumped the lot but first there's a couple of others I'd like to share:

This Robin Annual from 1976 is both kitsch and creepy. It's chock full of bizzare little poems and comic strips including a story about 'Dick and Danny' in which the reader is asked 'Now, can you guess what Dick was planning to do with his hose?' Hmmmm... There's also the strange and pointless story of Snap the rabbit and his friend Snip- the massive talking scissors.

The second gem I stumbled upon was Pigs Might Fly by Liz Underhill which was first published in 1984 and seems to be long out print. The illustration is rich and intricately detailed and each page has windows which you can peek through to the next one. I got a bit sentimental when I found it because it reminds of a book I had when I was little which I loved and lost :(

The humdinger of the haul though is a tiny book called Daniel's Mysterious Monster by Inger and Lasse Sandberg, and this is my Charity Shop Children's Book of the Month. It was originally published in Sweden in 1968 under the title 'Mathias och trollet' and was published in english in 1973. It's a sweet little story about a boy who asks his mum if she believes in monsters to which she replies that there aren't such things. But Daniel says "I know a monster and it lives here." and he goes on to describe the monster as hating cats and having no hands having great big brown eyes and rows of sharp white teeth. There's a clue and an illustration on each page and in the end the monster turns out to be...the dog! Mystery solved! I love the simplicity, the playfulness and the childlike drawings. It's a wee, twee winner!

P.S. The total cost of the three books was €1.50. What a bargain!