The Mouse Looked Good

Axel Scheffler, illustrator of The Gruffalo and other picture books like Room on the Broom, Monkey Puzzle and the Tales from Acorn Wood series was in town for a week (12th to 19th June) as the guest of the Goethe-Institut.

Scheffler was invited to launch the Contemporary Picturebook Illustrations in Germany Exhibition, held in Kuching on the 14th (it has now moved to Miri), and to speak at a seminar.

On 18th June Scheffler held a workshop at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in Kuala Lumpur.

It was unfortunate that there was hardly any publicity for the exhibition and talks. I found out only about 10 days before they happened and then it was too late to rearrange my schedule and I could not attend, especially not the exhibition ... in Kuching of all places!

However, Pansing (local distributor of Scheffler's books) kindly arranged an interview with him. We spoke at length about his work in the lobby of his hotel and then had lunch, during which he was kind enough to sign a big pile of books and draw in them too! Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my copy of Bernard McCabe's Bottle Rabbit and Bottle Rabbit and Friends, which Scheffler illustrated and were published in 1989 and 1990 respectively. They are now out of print.

One of the things that Scheffler revealed during our chat is that he didn't really enjoy illustrating The Gruffalo.  I emailed him later to ask him why this was so and he replied, "I'm afraid I've forgotten why I got so worked up about the book - maybe drawing all those trees..."

Scheffler's next book with Donaldson is Stick Man: "(He) is a little branch person who goes for a jog one day and is mistaken for an  ordinary stick by various other people and animals, who do things to him that you would do with a stick with him. There is a happy, christmassy end to the story. I enjoyed the story. I enjoy illustrating less when the story is set in reality. There was a great variation of different scenes to draw." Scholastic is publishing Stick Man in September.

Scheffler feels that both he and the authors of books he illustrates should be seen as the joint creators of these stories. However, he also says, "I think the impact of the pictures is more immediate and probably easier to take in then the stories or their meanings. I find that younger children can enjoy looking at the Gruffalo book without even understanding what's going on.It varies who people see as the 'creator',"

My full interview with Scheffler will be out in StarMag on 6th July.