Mr Big

Product Information

Vere is the 2020 Illustrator in Residence for Booktrust. While there he will champion drawing in primary education and attempt to start a national conversation about the benefits of drawing for mental health. Ed worked with CLPE toco-createthe award winning Power of Picturesprogrammewhich encourages visual literacy in primary schooleducation andhas received major funding from the Arts Council, EEF & RSA.You can read an article in The Guardian relating to this work here . Ed Vere is an award winning and New York Times bestselling writer & illustrator of picture books. He is a patron at CLPE and isthe artist in residence at the Born Free Foundation. Vere’s core message – that being big (or in some way different) is not scary – is delivered with a light touch, notes The Book Bag: ‘The person who looks different has the same feelings as everyone else. Inside we are all the same.’ It’s an important lesson for kids to learn and a theme covered in a few of my own books (including DANGEROUS! and Boris Starts School). Meaning Mr Big– as with many of my recommendations – is a great way to teach your child empathy.

This book was initially unknown to me, but is a favorite of my very fussy four year old nephew, so I decided to give it a go. The book itself is aimed at early years readers and this is reflected in the simplistic and minimal text, however the book is engaging and in my view appealing due to the large, vivid illustrations and comical but meaningful plot.Vere staged 'Mr Big plays Jazz' at Wigmore Hall, London & Birmingham Symphony & Town Halls with the Neil Cowley Trio. Made in Me have produced Bedtime for Monsters, Banana and The Getaway as apps for the iPad with narration by Rik Mayall. Recently Ed worked with Tiger Aspect to develop an animated TV series and is currently working with the Little Angel Theatre developing a puppetry production of Mr Big.

This story is based on Mr big who is bigger in size compared to everyone else. Even though he is big everywhere he goes everyone runs away from him as they see someone big and scary, therefore Mr big inside felt very small and lonely from inside. One day Mr big was walking past a shop and noticed a piano in the window, he felt it looked all alone just like him so he decided to buy it and take it home. Mr Big began to play the piano thinking of all the things that made him sad, he played and played. Everyone in the neighbourhood could hear the beautiful music and wondered where it was coming from; people came from all over town every night to listen to the beautiful music. However Mr big was still alone and sad, until one morning when he received his first ever letter to the pianist. The letter read thank you for your beautiful music, everyone has been listening to your music and who are you? Leading to an invitation to come and join their band at the blue note. The story went on as Mr big joined the band and everyone had a great time and at last everyone could see the real Mr big ending with Mr big having loads of fans and having no time to be alone which is just the way he likes it. Mr. Big is the story of a lonely gorilla who is judged by his appearance. He does not have any friends because his size intimidates the other characters in the story. Mr. Big is avoided wherever he goes. He buys a piano and expresses his loneliness through his music. Happily, his music draws people from all over town who want to know who is playing such beautiful music. At the conclusion of the story Mr. Big has become a popular musician and is no longer lonely. Ed's books have been reviewed in the news media extensively and internationally. His books were also featured in the Book 'Puffin by Design' by Phil Baines.Vere travelled to Kenya in early 2019 to explore, paint and write about Born Free’s work. Writing about and painting lions, their natural habitats and the local populations they live alongside. Discovering the work Born Free does to ensure that the world's remaining 20000 wild lions have a secure and sustainable future. Ed and Born Free will be publishing a book in 2022. There will also be an exhibition and fund-raising auction. Bedtime for Monsters' was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize in 2011 and the next year Ed had the honour of being one of the four Roald Dahl Funny Prize judges, along with Michael Rosen. Vere describes the book as 'a painted and written travelogue, a journey of discovery, it aims to engender a love of nature in a world increasingly disconnected from it. The book will discuss issues around freedom, conservation and what we can do to create a world in which wildlife thrives, rather than perishes.' The book aims to properly discuss the issues at hand and consequently is aimed at a wide-ranging audience from 8 year-old to adult. What is empathy? ‘T he ability to understand and experience the feelings of others, and to respond in helpful ways.’

Ed has worked extensively in schools across the UK and abroad running reading and drawing workshops... including teachingat International Schools in Kathmandu, Nanjing &SauPaolo. He has also been an invited speaker at many literary festivals in the UK and internationally, including;Hay Festival,Bath Festival,Edinburgh International Book festival in the UK.And;Cuirt International Book Festival, Galway, Ireland;Towers and Tales, Waterford, Ireland;International Literarture Festival, Dublin;Guadalajara FIL, Mexico (British Council); Hay Festival Kerala, India (British Council); Flupp International literature festival, Rio, Brazil (British Council);VallettaFestival of Children's Literature, Malta (British Council) Mr Bigis so well-designed. Vere’s illustrations – peppered with kid-friendly speech bubbles – complement his pared-down text. The typography is also clever - text size varies to emphasise different words, which helps both children and adults intonate the story as they read it aloud. (For example, ‘big’ and ‘scary’ are in larger type size, whereas the word ‘small’ is in, well, a very small size.)

Agent

Vere worked with CLPE to co-create the Power of Pictures, a 12-week scheme in which author/illustrators teach teachers about writing techniques. Ed has performed on stage, live drawing with (amongst others) The Britten Sinfoniaand The Neil Cowley Triofor the 'Mr Big plays Jazz' concerts. Selected venues have been; The Barbican Centre (London), Wigmore Hall (London), The Hexagon (Reading), Saffron Hall (Saffron Waldon), Norwich Cathedral and Cuirt International Literary Festival in Galway, Ireland. Ed has worked extensively in schools across the UK and abroad running reading and drawing workshops. He has also been an invited speaker at many literary festivals in the UK and internationally, including;Hay Festival, Bath Festival, Edinburgh International Book festival, Cuirt International Book Festival, Galway, Ireland, Hay Festival Kerala, India (British Council), Flupp International literature festival, Rio, Brazil (British Council), Valletta Festival of Children's Literature, Malta (British Council). In late 2015, he went with the British Council to FIL Guadalajara, Mexico.