supplements – and some exciting covers, such as those for the books of Primo Levi. Most of all she was interested in portraiture.
She could afford to travel and with Stella Gibbons’ grandsons she took off for Peru and many adventures. A year away, it included driving a 1936 Ford from La Paz to Honduras, and an extraordinary time there: ‘a richly diverse place with the descendants of pirates, slaves, Spanish settlers’. She sailed along the coast to Belize, then hopped across to Jamaica and the Sunsplash festival, before returning to the UK with a wealth of photos, sketchbooks and stories: ‘I’ve some wicked pictures of the places I’ve been.’
It was back to the ‘grim reality’ of advertising and romantic book covers – but then came Crown Jewel – Ralph de Boissiere’s novel about the Caribbean and Caroline’s first black cover. This brought recognition for her multicultural work, leading to more such covers including those for teenage books by the US writer Rosa Guy. Chris Kloet, editor at Gollancz, suggested that Rosa and Caroline together do a picture book – a first for both of them. On Caroline’s suggestion, Rosa wrote Billy the Great so that Kanju, Caroline’s 6-year-old son, could be the model. At the same time the story of Amazing Grace arrived. Caroline’s small canon of picture books had begun.
Caroline also writes and illustrates her own books, several of them published by Frances Lincoln. With her story ideas she first writes the text to submit to her editor. Then she finds the people to act out the story, taking many photographs from which she works to create the illustrations. ‘Doing a picture book is like running a film. You find the people, set the scene, and direct the characters.’ For each scene there’s a quick thumbnail sketch, showing the setting and the pose or action needed.
The chosen photographs are then turned into drawings. Choosing which to use is ‘the hardest part’ – there’s the page layout, variety, the match with the text. ‘It’s important to me that the facial expressions and body language are true, and clearly tell the story for young non-readers.’ Once these roughs are agreed, she paints the pictures.
It can take up to a year to complete a book. For Gregory Cool, about a city boy staying with his relatives in Tobago, she went to the Caribbean, finding a family willing to be photographed. At the last minute ‘Grandma’ got cold feet but then along came Aunty, perfect in her striped dress and wonderful straw hat! Since Dad Left is the story of Sid, whose parents have split up, and his adjustment to the new patterns in his life. It’s set in Cornwall and Caroline’s rich pictures and spare, sympathetic text, powerfully show Sid’s feelings and his parents’ love for him.
Christy’s Dream, as Caroline says, is her own story. Christy longs for a horse, and with his savings he buys his very own pony. He just has to win round his ma… This shoot was with a family on a Dublin estate: lots of characters to coordinate, a race to get the last picture, and Christy’s happiness shining from the page. Road Horse is a full- length story with black and white drawings about another boy and a horse, and about Gypsies, Travellers, and the Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria which she visits to draw and photograph each year – ‘the best show on earth.’
And then there is Amazing Grace, a ground-breaking book about diversity. ‘Reading Amazing Grace for the first time I felt a tingle of excitement. Yes! I would love to visualise this terrific character and her world.’
She remembers the publisher saying ‘This won’t be a commercial book, black books don’t sell…’ 25 years later with over a million copies sold around the world, Amazing Grace shows that such a book, written and illustrated with perception and passion, is wanted and needed. Launching its 2015 Diverse Voices booklist, which includes both Amazing Grace and Hue Boy, the Guardian said, ‘In today’s multicultural and multiracial UK, with 13% of the population non-white, even more young readers are hungry for stories where difference is a source of richness. And that’s why the plea for more diverse books is so important.’ Diversity is key in all Caroline’s books. Children can recognise themselves there, and meet other children, and learn about their lives. As a librarian I have seen so many children and parents discovering and enjoying Grace and Christy, Hue Boy and Petar, and all the other characters painted with such skill and love.
We had talked all afternoon and now it was dusk. Time to take Betty for her evening walk across the fields.
Amazing Grace Anniversary Edition, Mary Hoffman illus Caroline Binch, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 978-1847805935, £12.99 Hue Boy, Rita Phillips Mitchell illus Caroline Binch, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 978-1847803030, £6.99 Gregory Cool, Caroline Binch, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 978-1847802583, £6.99
Christy’s Dream, Caroline Binch, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 978-1845074722, £6.99
Road Horse, Caroline Binch, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 978-1847800701, £6.99
The Princess and the Castle, Caroline Binch, Otter-Barry Books, 978-1910959480, £6.99 (May 2016)
Tricia Kings is a freelance children’s librarian; she is a consultant for the Reading Agency’s Chatterbooks reading groups programme, and writes resources and reading notes for children’s books.
Books for Keeps No.216 January 2016 9
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