Charlie and Lola: My Completely Best Story Collection

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Child decided that each Charlie and Lola story would focus on the small, everyday issues that feature in the lives of young children and yet resonate with adults as well, such as likes and dislikes, envy and fear: There’s not enough understanding of how sophisticated picture books can be,” said Child, who supported the project. “If we don’t understand that, then we don’t understand how amazingly sophisticated children are and that they think very deeply and powerfully about things. And we do them a disservice if we don’t see this.” Nonetheless, her style is unique - her illustrations (like her characters) are quirky, mischievous and multi-faceted, combining bright colours and bold, chunky outlines with photographic collages and ‘cut out’ images. The endearing quality of the illustrations is enhanced by Child’s perceptive detail, particularly with regard to facial expressions. The result - a juxtaposition of traditional children’s illustrations and contemporary artistic styles - is delightful and captivating for both young and old. The Bestest in the Barn", "Dancing Dogs", "Batcat" and "It's Snowing" promos animated by Tiger Aspect Productions.

Charlie and Lola author Lauren Child says children’s books Charlie and Lola author Lauren Child says children’s books

Charlie and Lola is the charming and heart-warming pre-school series created by Lauren Child. Using quirky illustrations and hilarious text, these books make school, bed and eating your veg, look not so bad after all! Charlie and Lola's Best Bestest Play is based on the characters created by Lauren Child and adapted by Jonathan Lloyd, artistic director of Polka Theatre. A sequel, Charlie and Lola's Extremely New Play premiered at King's College School in 2012 before also touring internationally. Charlie and Lola's Best Bestest Play directed by Roman Stefanski with music by Julian Butler was first performed at Polka Theatre on 26 April 2008 and has subsequently been performed at the venue again in 2010 and 2012. Following a series of international tours, it was staged for the first time at Glow, the events and exhibition space at Bluewater in Kent, by Watershed Productions over the Christmas period of 2013. [7] One might as well suggest that shorter books hold less meaning than longer ones, or large paintings are better than small. Nevertheless, the view prevails, something which leads one to wonder: what unhappy reality does its existence reveal about the way many view our children, and our child selves?”Tom Beattie, Betti Doherty, Alistair Douglas, Catherine T. Elliot, Tim Fehrenbach, Claudia Lloyd, James O'Shea, Caroline Parkinson, Mark Patterson, Steve Perkins, Kitty Taylor, Clare Winkworth, Andrew Zein. Clarice’s voice is that of a perceptive and astute child who comments with deadpan humour on the goings-on around her, highlighting the ridiculousness of adult behaviour, as well as the adolescent shenanigans of her older brother and sister, and the sheer irritation of little Minal. Clarice’s comical yet shrewd articulation of the child’s perspective can be compared with the work of Roald Dahl, who always empathised with the child’s experience of life and exposed adult unfairness and hypocrisy: The Princess and the Pea; The Secret Garden; Who Wants to be a Poodle? I don't!; Maude, the Not-So-Noticeable Shrimpton; Clarice Bean; Ruby Redfort My Wobbly Tooth Must Not Ever Never Fall Out (TV episode title: I Do Not Ever Never Want My Wobbly Tooth to Fall Out) Charlie is Lola’s big brother, and it is a BIG job being Lola’s big brother. She doesn’t want to eat her vegetables, or go to school, or to bed. Lola is very good at coming up with reasons for why she shouldn’t have to do any of these things, Charlie is even better at coming up with fun and imaginative reasons why she should.

I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato | BookTrust I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato | BookTrust

Most of these things are just bigger for children because they haven’t learnt to deal with those situations so they seem much more scary. But I think pretty much everything, even the fussy eater […] carries on applying at any age.' Other characters who feature in the stories are Charlie’s best friend Marv (who lives in the flat downstairs) and his sausage dog, Sizzles; Lola’s best friend Lotta; and Lola’s imaginary friend, Soren Lorensen. She studied Art at Manchester Polytechnic and London Art School, after which she worked in a variety of jobs, including assistant to Damien Hirst. She also started her own company, 'Chandeliers for the People', making exotic lampshades. Charlie has this little sister, Lola, and together they have lots of extremely good adventures and do some very fun things. All Charlie and Lola fans will love this collection of five favourite stories, featuring Charlie and Lola, their friends Lotta and Marv and, of course, Marv's dog Sizzles! We Honestly Can Look After Your Dog (TV episode title: We Do Promise Honestly We Can Look After Your Dog)

And I said, “Oh you think these are carrots. These are not carrots. They are orange twiglets from Jupiter.” We Honestly Can Look After Your Dog, Whoops! But It Wasn't Me, My Wobbly Tooth Must Not Ever Never Fall Out, I've Won, No I've Won, No I've Won and Snow Is My Favourite and My Best

Lauren Child Books | Waterstones Lauren Child Books | Waterstones

I have this little sister Lola.She is small and very funny.Sometimes I have to keep an eye on her.Sometimes Mum and Dad ask me to give her her dinner.This is a hard job because she is a very fussy eater.' ( I Will Not Ever, Never Eat A Tomato) That’s true,” says Lola. “Well I might just try one if they’re all the way from Jupiter. Mmm, not bad,” she says, taking another bite.' A television series based on her 'Charlie and Lola' books has been made into an animated series for CBBC, and she has written several books recently which are based on these tales. Lauren Child's humorous illustrations contain many different mediums including magazine cuttings, collage, material and photography as well as traditional watercolours. As well as being author of several highly successful books, she is the illustrator of the Definitely Daisy series by Jenny Oldfield. For that first book in the series, Child won the 2000 Kate Greenaway All-Medal Trophy from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. For the 50th anniversary of the Medal (1955–2005) it was named one of the top ten winning works, selected by a 2007 panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. [2]In Child’s series, the focus is completely on the endearing sibling relationship between seven-year-old Charlie and his sister Lola, who is nearly five. As Charlie tells us:

Charlie and Lola - Penguin Books UK

The stories explore the way in which Charlie and Lola use their imaginations and creativity to deal with these everyday dilemmas, and their sibling relationship is founded on the way they help each other to do this. Thus, the absence of adult presence enables Child to highlight this element of their relationship. In I Will Not Ever, Never Eat A Tomato, Charlie use his imagination to persuade Lola to eat her vegetables: Lauren Child cites her artistic inspirations as E.H. Shepherd, Quentin Blake, Carl Larssen (the Swedish illustrator) and Ludwig Bemelman’s Madeleine books. E.H. Shepherd was of course the famous illustrator of A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh books, and Child’s characters and stories in many ways echo Milne’s writing as well as Shepherd’s illustrations. Like Milne, she captures the humorous idiosyncrasies of human nature, in characters who appeal to both children and adults. She is often described as having a fascination with childhood, yet it is more than this, for it encompasses an exploration of human nature as a whole. Child’s titles, particularly those in the ‘Charlie and Lola’ series, appear at first glance to be toddler-like statements, yet they also capture the ‘inner child’ that most adults (if they are being honest) will recognise in themselves. I Will Not Ever, Never Eat a Tomato (2000), But Excuse Me That Is My Book (2005) and I Absolutely Must Do Colouring-In Now (2006) encapsulate both child-nature and adult-nature with the same comical insight that is evident in Eeyore’s glumness, Piglet’s excitability and Pooh’s pondering. Perhaps the delight of such books, and the reason they appeal to adults as well as children, is that they bridge the gulf between childhood and adulthood, encouraging adults to identify and embrace their own childlike qualities, while also celebrating those qualities in children.

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There is a common, and lazy, assumption that creating work with children in mind is easier or less demanding, and that a writer or artist would approach it with a lesser degree of seriousness or sincerity than when creating for an adult audience. I do not believe that to be true,” writes Child in the manifesto. Based on the award-winning books by Lauren Child, Charlie and Lola is now a top-rated BBC children's television show. Lauren is also the creator of Clarice Bean and the co-creator of the widely acclaimed The Princess and the Pea. Charlie and Lola is produced by Tiger Aspect Productions. The "Charlie and Lola" books have been translated into Welsh under the name Cai a Lois and into many other languages.