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Books for newly fluent independent readers often have great pace (to entice just one more page turn) and lovely characterization (encouraging growing kids to explore their own unfurling wings), but books for this age group with turns of phrases and fine, fine threads of words which make your heart sing are quite unusual.

And yet, Mango & Bambang: Tapir All at Sea written by Polly Faber (@Pollylwh) and illustrated by Clara Vulliamy (@ClaraVulliamy) has all of this, plus buckets more. Illustrated on every spread with immense charm, humour and warmth, and with an overall design to make small hands hug it close to their heart, this little hardback is everything you’d dream of, if trying to come up with something to foster an association of sheer joy and enchantment with books.

Mango Allsorts and her best friend Bambang (a friend who just happens to be a tapir) are looking for a new hobby, and would you believe it, but it turns out that after failures with ballet and baking, flamenco dancing hits the spot. 

Bambang, however, doesn’t get the chance to attend many lessons before an escapade involving climbing trees (there’s nothing a tapir can’t do when it comes to snaffling cake), a diamond engagement ring and a devious neighbour result in Bambang being put behind bars, not just once, but twice! Will the friends be able to use Bambang’s new dancing prowess and Mango’s clever problem-solving skills to save the day? Or could it be that their very partnership is put in peril as a result of Bambang’s newly discovered skill?

Joyous, open-hearted and very funny, these tales of Mango and Bambang are simply brilliant. A charismatic exploration of friendship, with a dash of quirkiness and oodles of wit, along with endearing illustrations (reminding me of Joyce Lankester Brisley and her Milly Molly Mandy books) that really draw out the beauty of the stories, Mango & Bambang: Tapir All at Sea is utterly delightful. My girls and I are really hoping that this second set of tales featuring Mango and Bambang won’t be the last.

If you spend any time at all hanging out with Clara Vulliamy you’ll very quickly learn that she is the Queen of Secret Haberdashery Supplies. I know of no other author or illustrator who has such an eye for beautiful ribbons, notions and buttons. With this in mind the girls and I wanted to create something Mango and Bambang-y which Clara herself (and, of course, Polly too) might enjoy making and thus we came up with the idea of designing flamenco costumes. This quickly developed into puppets of Mango, Bambang and friends all dress up in flamenco finery.

Generous as ever, Clara allowed the girls and me to adapt some of the images from Mango & Bambang: Tapir All at Sea to create paper dolls which we cut out and stuck on cardboard (you can download them here as a single pdf file).

Then we designed our flamenco costumes, colouring in the dolls and adding ribbons and trims, flowers and fans.

Finally our friends were ready to dance!

And dance we all did:

• Tamacun by Rodrigo y Gabriela (this is what you can hear in the background to the video above)
  
• Leyenda by Albeniz played by Andres Segovia
  
• Paco Peña and his show Flamenco sin Fronteras
  
• A just for fun… a bit of fancy footwork from Joaquín Cortés

Other activities which might work well alongside reading Mango & Bambang: Tapir All at Sea include:

• Making a sailor’s cap like Bambang wears. Here’s a video tutorial (just swap the blue paint for red!)
• Baking sticky ginger cake. My very favourite sticky ginger cake comes from Argos Bakery in Stromness, but as that’s a bit far for many of us to travel, here’s a recipe from Delia, and another from Nigella
• Creating your own Museum of the Unusual. Of course, I wouldn’t encourage you to be as mean as Dr Cynthia Prickly-Posset, but starting a collection of things you find weird and wonderful (without resorting to stealing them from your neighbours!) is a fun idea. Maybe your museum will be full of strange shaped stones, or bizarre things you’ve found down the back of the sofa… If you’re looking for some display ideas for your museum, you might find inspiration in past museums we’ve created here, here and here

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Disclosure: I was sent a free review copy of this book by the publisher.

It all began with a jokey conversation on Twitter.

Polly (who has her début collection of stories, Mango & Bambang: The Not-a-Pig, out this September, illustrated by Clara Vulliamy) shared a picture of an igloo built of books and from there, things pretty quickly spiralled out of control.

I just knew I had to build something out of books. It was one of those moments where you are vaguely aware that the idea is slightly bonkers but you know the thought won’t leave you alone until you succumb to it.

And so it was I set about planning to build a book den out of books, using the opportunity to raise some funds for a charity I’ve a long-standing relationship with, Book Aid International.

First I did my research and scoured the web for other buildings made from books.

Then I started stockpiling books from all over my home in one place.

It was rather disconcerting to see my shelves gradually empty.

I stocked up on coffee and cake and then World Book Day arrived.

It was time to start building.

The kitchen table was dismantled to create enough space for the den; I knew I wanted it to be large enough to comfortably sit inside and read.

Then building began in earnest. I used encyclopedias and other large non-fiction books to create foundations. The big Dorling Kindersley books were excellent for providing stability!

Although my hands got very dry handling all the books, and there were dust fairies flying everywhere, it was a sheer delight to go through my books, remembering when and where I’d read them, who had given them to me, who I’d given copies to. It was a little like watching my life on a screen before me, going through so many memories of people, places and times.

Much as I adore picture books, I soon learned that paperback picture books are not the best thing to build with; you need about a zillion to gain any height, and they tend to be rather slippy. Topsy and Tim books and Beatrix Potter books worked excellently for chinking, but the books I really loved building with were great tomes like SF Said’s Phoenix, or Marcus Alexander’s Charlie Keeper books; these are not only immensely satisfying to read, they give you a real sense of achievement and reliable strength when building!

My biggest worry in all the building was the roof. I really wanted to build using the fabulous technique seen in Maes Howe and other chambered cairns I’ve visited in Orkney, a technique known as corbelling (here’s a good example, and one I’m hoping to revisit this summer), but I felt that for safety’s sake I had to go for something more lightweight.

Thanks to inspiration from my engineer Dad I decided to give magazine and comic tiling a go instead. And I’m very pleased I did so! (Thanks, Dad!)

All in all, once the books were stockpiled, it took me about five hours to build. It’s only up for 24 hours, but we’ve made excellent use of it in this time.

We’ve eaten in it, read in it, simply relaxed in it, giggled in it and generally had a VERY good time!

Late last night I was going to treat myself to a glass of wine and a little bit of piece and quiet in it, but when I went into the kitchen I found my eldest has snuck out of bed to read in it!

I left her to it and took my wine elsewhere

And now it is the morning after the night before and shortly I’ll begin dismantling my dear book den. But what did I learn in the process? What are my top tips for building with books?

NOW. Before you click on to your next blog or read your next email, here comes the serious bit.

I did all of this to raise funds for Book Aid International, and it’s not too late to add a small donation (you can donate from anywhere in the world, in several local currencies):

If you’ve ever enjoyed my blog or my banter on Twitter, please consider donating a small amount today. Book Aid International works in partnership with libraries in Africa, including in Zambia where I was born (hence my support of this charity), providing books, resources and training to support an environment in which reading for pleasure, study and lifelong learning can flourish.

I want to say an enormous THANK YOU to everyone who has already donated, including Daisy, Katherine, Anamaria, Elli, Zehra, Damyanti, Catherine, Polly, Jonathan, Ann, Helen, Anabel, Melanie, Abi, Book Island, my parents, my sister, Emma, Clare, Colin, Anne-Marie, Lizz, Natalie, Maxine, Sara, Kate, Bea, Tasha, Sam, Susie, Sandra, SF, Christine, James, Anne, Dan, @storyvilled, Alex, Nicky, @OlivaceousD and all the anonymous donors. YOU are the real stars in all of this.

February 14 is International Book Giving Day, a day dedicated to getting new, used, and borrowed books in the hands of as many children as possible.

I’ll certainly be giving some books away and sharing others on February 14, and I hope you will too. For those books you’re giving away, you might like to put an International Book Giving Day bookplate inside them.

Last year Clara Vulliamy designed a gorgeous bookplate for International Book Giving Day:

This year Nicola L Robinson has designed another really fun bookplate you can download, print off, and stick in your books:

To download the full size bookplate from Nicola L Robinson click here.

If you are an illustrator and would like to design a bookplate for International Book Giving Day, please get in touch! We welcome bookplates written in a variety of languages. The bookplates must be 11.4 cm x 6.9 cm (or 4.5 inches x 2.7 inches) in size. We will make the bookplates available for free at International Book Giving Day’s website for people to download and print themselves.

It’s always handy to have a few activity sheets up one’s metaphorical sleeve when it comes to the summer holidays and so once again I’ve sought out some great free resources created by children’s authors and illustrators for us all to enjoy.

Click on the relevant image or coloured link to be taken to activity sheets you can download.

Debi Gliori has created an entire fun pack you can download

On Neal Layton’s site you can find Emily B activity sheets and an Oscar and Arabella colouring Sheet

Illustrator Claire Sells has two colouring-in sheets (a fairy, and some dinosaurs) for a quick and easy 5-minute activity.

If you loved Maudie Smith’s Opal Moonbaby, you won’t want to miss out on her Mingle Maker

Clara Vulliamy has enough crafty goodness on her website to keep you out of mischief the whole summer. Although of it was created for an advent calendar, not all of it is wintery themed (and those bits which are may be just right for friends in the Southern Hemisphere right now). I particularly like the Bunny Rocket and the bear thaumatrope.

3 Comments on 1st set of free activity sheets from authors and illustrators – Summer 2012, last added: 8/5/2012