Monday, October 14, 2019

The New Kid Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick



What do you do when a new kid arrives in your neighbourhood? There are four kids in your group. Your mothers all say you have to be friendly.

"What's your name?' someone asks."

Is it teasing to take the name and twist it around? Ellie-in-the-grey-coat; Ellie-elephant.
If this was happening to you how would you react?

Ellie is smart. She does not react the way the other kids would expect, instead she turns their chanting taunts into a game. She makes her body move like an elephant and her shadow forms the shape. Then she charges at the kids and they run away. When they come back Ellie is acting like a performing seal. Three of the kids love this but our narrator is not sure.  He used to be the 'king of the kids' and now it seems the new kid has become the star.

What should this boy do? He could walk away. He could try to persuade his friends to follow him and ignore the new kid. No, we see that he is also clever. When the new kid turns her coat into a superman cape he copies her and the two of them race off to be superheroes. The other kids join in and soon everyone is having fun.

"There's a new kid on our street.
Her name is Ellie. And she's my friend."

I adore the light and shade in these illustrations and I like the way the kids all have different, quite textured hair. On this video you can see all the pages. I suggest you might like to read this book twice. On your second reading focus on the dog. His positioning and body language perfectly compliment the reactions and later acceptance by the group to the new kid.  I should also mention the end papers which are brilliant.




Vibrant, sensitively rendered paintings cover every centimetre of this thought-provoking book that demonstrates the power of the imagination in adversity. Red Reading Hub

Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick is from Ireland. She is the 2020 IBBY Ireland Hans Christian Andersen award nominee for illustration.

Marie-Louise was asked to contribute a page to this wonderful book which celebrates the Rights of the Child - We are all born Free. Some of the other famous names in this book are John Burningham, Korky Paul, Bob Graham and Axel Scheffler and lots more.



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