With so many birthdays, this will be one of those a-little-bit -about-each-with-no-meat entries. For children T.S Eliot is probably best known for his poem Macavity - The Mystery Cat which I could recite movingly by mid-primary school. I think I even recited it at an eisteddfod one year. This poem comes from Eliot's book Old Pussum's Book of Practical Cats, a new edition of which was published last year. It is a beautiful book with illustrations by Axel Scheffler (of Gruffalo fame) which make it even more appropriate for young children.
Libby Hathorn is an Australian author who writes novels and picture books. I especially like her novels, but for my clientele her picture books are more relevant and recently I discovered one I hadn't read, Zahara's Rose. This wordy picture book (complete with six chapters) is set in the Middle East and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It has the feel of an exotic fairy tale with the added bonus of garden images. To learn more about Libby and her books see her website.
Rob Scotton is the English author/illustrator responsible for those irreverent characters Splat the Cat and Russell the Sheep, both of which now have a series of books about them. Rob's recent Splat title Scaredy-Cat, Splat has arrived just in time for Halloween. I had a giggle at the page where Splat's cat friends, Spike and Plank are dressed as a mummy and a skeleton. Splat is a sock spider. That's the sort of dress-up idea my mother would have had!
And lastly, Mark Haddon, famous for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is an English author who writes novels, but has several picture books that we have in the library.
See Ocean Star Express; The Ice Bear's Cave and The Sea of Tranquility. The last of these is beautifully illustrated by Christian Birmingham and it is about the first moon landing.
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