His books have touched millions of people all around the world, and what a debt of gratitude I owe to his greatest creation of all," he added. Anyone requiring a detailed and lavishly illustrated account of Briggs’ development as an artist and social satirist need look no further than Nicolette Jones’ excellent study Blooming Books (Cape, 2003). His early career as a children’s book illustrator reached high points with The Mother Goose Treasury (1966), and Elfrida Vipont’s The Elephant and the Bad Baby (1969), a morally ambiguous tale in which a bad-tempered baby rides the thieving elephant and is chased by tradesmen all the way home. The work was partly motivated by his previous book; Briggs wrote that "For two years I worked on Fungus, buried amongst muck, slime and words, so. When the Wind Blows (1982) confronted the trusting, optimistic Bloggs couple with the horror of nuclear war, and was praised in the British House of Commons for its timeliness and originality.

The Bear by Raymond Briggs (9780141374079/Paperback The Bear by Raymond Briggs (9780141374079/Paperback

I particularly like how colossal and monumental the bear is, this ghostly void on each page taking up the room in the house. His work has won numerous awards and been adapted for film on several occasions including Ethel and Ernest. There were also some revealing parts where Tilly spoke to the bear unkindly, that the reader could read into Tilly's relationship with her parents perhaps. The only downside for us, both with the book and the film, is that Tilly gets cross and frustrated with the bear and doesn't treat the bear kindly in places, I think we are meant to see this as Tilly treating the bear as she has experienced herself perhaps but when my children read this and saw this they both felt fed up with the way Tilly treated the bear. Yet the careful construction of the story, showing the growing friendship between snowman and boy, makes its sudden end more resonant and moving than this pragmatic explanation allows.In story, the relationship between the child and bear tells more about the characters, but what I love most about this story is the imagery. The reader was shown how Tilly's mum, busy to get off to work used similar cross expressions with Tilly. Discover the joy of reading with us, your trusted source for affordable books that do not compromise on quality. It is not as famous as Snowman and I suspect a lot fewer people have seen it, which is probably a reason in itself for seeking it out as an alternative next time the festivities come around.

Raymond Briggs - Literature - British Council Raymond Briggs - Literature - British Council

From the beloved creator of The Snowman comes an enchanting big book featuring 124 beautiful pastel illustration panels. This is a hugely enjoyable story, and anyone who has enjoyed this, I would urge to watch the animated film version that has some beautiful extra sequences. Fee Fi Fo Fum (1964) and The Snowman (1978) were Commended and Highly Commended runners-up for the Greenaway Medal. Other books he has written and illustrated himself include Fungus the Bogeyman (1977) , Unlucky Wally (1987) and The Bear (1994). So it may well be The Snowman with more polar bear but it is still a good short film for the family at Christmas time.As I never got to read the book as a child I decided I would read it now, honestly thought I prefer the short film then the story in the book, the most enjoyable part were the illustrations. D. Martin, "Raymond Briggs", in Douglas Martin, The Telling Line: Essays on Fifteen Contemporary Book Illustrators (Julia MacRae Books, 1989), pp. In 2000, it won the Golden Butterfly Award for the best short film in the international cinema competition of the 15th Isfahan International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Iran. Drawings on display include illustrations from Briggs’ nursey rhyme collections Fee Fi Fo Fum (1964) and the cover illustration for The Christmas Book (1968), which featured stories by authors Charles Dickens, Dylan Thomas and Kenneth Grahame. Pen scribbling filling in the letters in the title on the front cover and ISBN bar code circled on back cover.