LoveReading4Kids Says
LoveReading4Kids Says
Interest Age 5-8 Ian Beck has created a new fairy story with all the magical sensibility of a classic. Princess Opal lives on the island of Ashes, where cold grey sea washes up against the granite rocks, and it’s always raining. Everything in the kingdom is grey, weather, landscape, people. Then one day a boat arrives, a bright red boat. The young man on board has a special gift, everything he touches is flooded with colour. The princess recognises this as a blessing and the two young people fall in love, living colourfully ever after. The book blooms as the story unfolds, the illustrations bringing bigger, bolder splashes of colour as the pages turn. This joyful tale will make readers look at the world around them with different eyes. ~ Andrea Reece
About the Little Gems series: Little Gems are in a gorgeous new chunky format, with high-spec production including coloured endpapers and jacketed flaps with activities. Additional features include high quality cream paper, Barrington Stoke font and illustrations on every page. They are perfect for 5-8's. These quality stories promote good reading practice for all newly independent readers.
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Grey Island, Red Boat Synopsis
A jewel of a book illustrated throughout in silhouette and colour by award-winning Ian Beck (Tom Trueheart). Pictures and words weave together to create a hymn to colour, light and life.
Everything on the Island of Ashes is grey, from the weather to the castle, the grass and the flowers. But then the red boat arrives, and with it a young man who believes he is cursed - everything he touches turns to colour. Princess Opal and the people of the island are enchanted, but the King is suspicious and imprisons Wendell. Opal must find a way to escape to a life filled with love and colour.
High quality cream paper and a special easy to read font ensure a smooth read for all.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781781125212 |
| Publication date: |
15th February 2016 |
| Author: |
Ian Beck |
| Illustrator: |
Ian Beck |
| Publisher: |
Barrington Stoke Ltd |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
80 pages |
| Series: |
Little Gems |
| Suitable For: |
|
Press Reviews
Ian Beck Press Reviews
“What a lovely story for young children. The illustrations are as magical as the text. They resemble shadow puppets and really add another layer of enjoyment to this wonderful little book.” – Bookbag blog on The First Third Wish
Author
About Ian Beck
Ian Beck was born in Hove on the Sussex coast in 1947. At the age of thirteen, after seeing an exhibition of drawings for the Radio Times, he was fired with enthusiasm about illustration and began attending Saturday painting classes at the nearby Brighton College of Art.
Ian left school at fifteen and went immediately to Brighton to study art full-time. There he was taught by both Raymond Briggs and John Vernon Lord.
Ian has worked in many fields of illustration. He's been involved in the record industry, and painted the cover of one of the most popular records of all time: Elton John's 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'. One of Ian's titles, Lost in Snow, was made into an animated film for TV and his books have now sold a million copies worldwide.
Q & A with Ian Beck
1. When did you first start to write stories or draw?
I drew incessantly as a child, but came late to writing stories.
2. In general, where do your ideas come from?
From life or from other stories.
3. What made you write this book?
The main character of Tom Trueheart popped into my head and refused to go away, he demanded to have his stories told.
4. What have you enjoyed most about working on this book?
The process of trimming changing and cutting the book from the first draft, and working with the editor and designer on the whole book, design, illustrations, layout etc.
5. What is your earliest memory?
Being sent to bed early in summer and looking enviously out of the bedroom window at other children playing happily in the sunlit street.
6. What did you enjoy most at school?
At school I enjoyed Art classes and drama, I managed to appear in two Shakespeare productions at school which gave me a lifelong love of Shakespeare.
7. Of all the places you have lived, where have you felt most at home and why?
Where I live now in the western suburbs of London surrounded by the song of blackbirds and near the Thames.
8. Is there a particular holiday destination that you have visited that you would love to return to?
A little seaside town in France called St Jacut De La Mare.
9. Is there anything you’d like to tell us about your pets, past or present?
We have no pets at the moment, although we have had two very nice Hamsters over the years.
10. What would you say is your greatest talent?
Noticing things in detail and long term patience.
11. What new skill – it can be anything at all – would you love to learn?
Although much too old I would love to surf the beaches of Cornwall.
12. What is the most unusual job you have done?
Singing as part of a cabaret group in restaurants in Soho.
13. What is your most treasured possession?
A beautiful and immaculate copy of Now We Are Six by A A Milne which was given to me for a birthday present many years ago.
14. Is there a particular book, author, or film that had a great impact on you in your childhood?
Book: The Just William stories by Richmal Crompton. Film: Forbidden Planet.
15. What are your hobbies?
Listening to film music and going to the cinema as often as possible.
More About Ian Beck
