Meet the illustrator Jessica Souhami

 

Image Source: Mirrors, Windows and Doors

Last week I borrowed a folktale from the library - Sausages. The story is fun with a helpful message but it was the illustrations that really struck me. It was published in 2007 but it is still available.

When a poor woodcutter named John rescues an elf in distress, the elf rewards him with three magic wishes. Later, John and his wife Martha sit dreaming of all the lovely things they could ask for. But as the hours pass and John begins to get hungry, a chance remark begets not riches but a string of sizzling, succulent sausages! The argument this causes between the couple leads to a very silly situation, which only their last remaining wish can put right.

I was excited to discover Jessica Souhami contributed a page to this book:

Jessica Souhami studied at the Central School of Art and Design. In 1980 she formed Mme Souhami and Co, a travelling puppet company using colourful shadow puppets with a musical accompaniment and a storyteller. Her illustrations, like her puppets, use brilliant colour and bold shapes and her characters leap and swoop across the spreads. Her books for Frances Lincoln are Sausages!, In the Dark, Dark Wood, Baba Yaga and the Stolen Baby, Leopard's Drum, No Dinner!, Rama and the Demon King, The Famous Adventures of a Bird Brained Hen, The Little, Little House, Mrs McCool and the Giant Cuchulainn and King Pom and the Fox. Jessica lives in North London. Quarto Knows

I am very keen to see more of them. I wish books like In the Dark Dark Wood (Lift the flap) and Old MacDonald (Lift the flap) were still in print. I'd also like to see The Famous Adventures of a Bird-Brained Hen. Here are some review comments from Kirkus about Jessica Souhami's books. 

Foxy - The uncluttered collaged art is set off by wide expanses of white space, allowing the drama of the story to easily unfold. Children who like turning stories into dramatic play will enjoy this easy-to-memorize traditional tale, and teachers will find this an easy tale for young storytellers to memorize.

Gerald the Lion - Souhami’s simple text and lovable protagonist mirror the playful imaginations and mild fears of young children. Her simple but boldly colored illustrations will delight readers and keep the pages turning. The obvious textual irony makes this a good introduction to the art form for readers ready to question the obvious dissonance between words and pictures. (sounds like a book to compare with Drac and the Gremlin by Allan Baillie)

The Sticky Doll Trap - The marvelous illustrations are made with hand-painted watercolor Ingres papers patterned in burnished savannah colors. Grass and thorns, birds and leaves and each individual animal are placed against the sand-colored background. A visually enchanting and aurally engaging retelling of an old, old tale. 

The Leopard's Drum - Kaleidoscopic cut-paper collages of jungle scenes have a white background and black trees; by contrast, the animals are sleek and colorful. Patterns that suggest a stylized kente cloth cloak Nyame and the endpapers. A vibrant work.