Photo: Francesca Stenhouse
the scripts for both productions and, while Dear Zoo and the rest of his back catalogue continue to find new small readers, he also has a new flap book to add to Macmillan’s list.
Look After Us arose from an enquiry that Macmillan received about using Dear Zoo as part of a conservation campaign. Rod didn’t feel that Dear Zoo quite fitted the bill and he set himself the task of making a book that might address animal conservation for young children. He liked the challenge of introducing a complex subject to young children. Rather than arriving mysteriously in a crate, the animals on each page are initially nowhere to be found, ‘because we need to look after them better’. The front of each flap shows only an empty habitat – savannah for lions, desert for camels, jungle for orangutans and so on. The animals are revealed, of course, when the flaps are lifted. True to his policy of an upbeat ending, the end papers open out to reveal happy whales, ‘because kind people are looking after them really well’.
Rod says that he feels immensely grateful for his long career. ‘It’s astonishing really. I do what I do as best I can and it’s just happened. When I did school visits it was always a great pleasure to connect with the children and to share their enthusiasm, spontaneity and honesty. The other thing is meeting parents, them telling me how much their child enjoys, say, Dear Zoo, and then saying, of course, I loved it too. It’s a bit overwhelming’.
Books mentioned, all published by Macmillan Children’s Books Dear Zoo, 978-0230747722, £6.99 Look After Us, 978-1529045741, £6.99 Dear Santa, 978-1529050714, £6.99
Clive Barnes has retired from Southampton City where he was Principal Children’s Librarian and is now a freelance researcher and writer.
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