Meet the illustrator Jarvis

 

I saw this book mentioned on a Facebook page (it was published in March 2023) and it made me curious about the UK illustrator/author Jarvis. A second Bear and Bird book will be released in October.

Here is an interview with Jarvis from 2017. He has written and illustrated seven books and illustrated another six books for other authors.

• Alan's big scary teeth
• Mrs Mole, I'm Home!
• Lazy Dave
• Tropical Terry
• Follow me, Flo
• This Little Piggie: A counting book
• The boy with Flowers in his Hair

Alan's big scary teeth was shortlisted for the Red Dot Book Award (2017-218). Alan is an alligator (alliteration). He enjoys scaring all of the jungle creatures with his snap snap and grrr grrr!

"After a long day of scaring the jungle animals, Alan would head back home to the swamp, relax and finish off the crossword in the Jungle Times and ... "

Pause here - what will come next - is Alan lonely, does Alan really enjoy frightening everyone, NO - he can do some thing very surprising in the comfort of his own home - he can take out his false teeth!

Then Beaver discovers Alan's secret and he takes the teeth. 

"Alan slunk back to the swamp. He had never been more embarrassed. ... What would Alan do now?"

When you turn the next page you will get another surprise. Alan begins to cry. This is a book you could use to talk about expressing our emotions. The jungle animals feel sorry for him but they make a bargain - no more scaring. Alan now has to find other things to do - gardening, hairdressing and he even becomes a dentist.

My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything recently talked about other picture books featuring False Teeth. 

Morris Mole has had a long, hard day at work and is finally ready to go home, but he's lost his glasses. He can't find them anywhere, so decides to set off home without them. Yet every time he thinks he's found home, he pops up into a different family's dinner. When all looks lost, Morris is able to find his way back by following the smell of his wife's worm noodles.

David is the boy with flowers in his hair. He’s sweet and gentle, just like his petals. But when David’s flowers begin to fall – a single petal at first, then every last blossom – his best friend never leaves his side. And through kindness and creativity, he even finds a way to give David his colour back…

I am keen to see Together with You by Patricia Toht because Jarvis has a very different art style in this book and in others by Patricia Toht.