SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: RED RED RED
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.pollydunbar.com/
CITY: Brighton, England
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
LAST VOLUME: SATA 335
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1977, in the Cotswolds, England; daughter of James and Joyce Dunbar; children: Sonny, Cody.
EDUCATION:Attended Norwich Art School; Brighton University, degree, 1999.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, illustrator, puppeteer, and educator. Long Nose Puppets (theatre company), Brighton, England, cofounder with Katherine Morton and puppeteer, 2006; BookTrust writer in residence, 2011; teacher of creative writing at Arvon Foundation; presenter at workshops at schools and libraries. Exhibitions: Fisher Theatre Gallery, Bungay, Suffolk, England, 2019.
AWARDS:Cuffie Award for Most Promising New Illustrator, Publishers Weekly, 2004, for both Flyaway Katie and Dog Blue; NASEN/Times Educational Supplement Special Education Needs Children’s Book Award, 2006, for Looking after Louis by Lesley Ely; Best Children’s Show honor, Brighton Festival, 2006, for puppet-theater adaptation of Shoe Baby by Joyce Dunbar; Nestlé Children’s Book Prize Silver Award for Children under Five, and Booktrust Early Years Award in preschool category, both 2007, Red House Children’s Book of the Year Award, 2008, and Kate Greenaway Medal shortlist, all for Penguin; International Board on Books for Young People Honor Book designation, 2008, for Here’s a Little Poem edited by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters; named among BookTrust Ten Best Illustrators, 2009; Charlotte Zolotow Award, Cooperative Children’s Book Center, 2018, for Buster and the Baby by Amy Hest.
WRITINGS
Adapter, with Katherine Morton, of Joyce Dunbar’s picture book Shoe Baby as a puppet play, produced in Brighton, England, 2006; has also adapted several of her self-illustrated stories for puppet plays produced by Long Nose Puppets, Brighton.
“Tilly and Friends” series has been adapted as an animated television series aired on the CBeebies channel.
SIDELIGHTS
Polly Dunbar is an award-winning British author and illustrator of children’s books. Dunbar’s critically acclaimed self-illustrated works include Penguin, Something Fishy, and Red Red Red, and she has also provided illustrations for other authors, among them her mother, children’s writer Joyce Dunbar.
Along with writing and illustrating, Dunbar is also a member of the Long Nose Puppets Theater Company, a collection of friends from her university days that stages puppet-show versions of her picture books. Based in Brighton, England, the Long Nose Puppets Theatre Company has produced award-winning adaptations of Shoe Baby, Flyaway Katie, and Penguin at theatres, schools, and festivals throughout the United Kingdom.
In her self-illustrated picture book Flyaway Katie Dunbar tells a story about the power of imagination to drive away the doldrums. Katie wakes up feeling gray, quite literally: her world is colorful, but Katie is depicted in gray tones. Trying to make herself feel more cheerful, she dons a bright green hat and yellow tights. As she adds more and more color to her ensemble, the colors begin to whirl and Katie is transformed into a colorful bird. Spending the afternoon flying about, Katie arrives home—happily pink—just in time for her bath.
“The magical makeover, a literal flight of fancy, will make readers’ spirits soar, too,” wrote a Publishers Weekly critic, and Cooper predicted that young readers will enjoy the “neatly framed pictures that eventually burst into a mixed-media multihued whirl.” Asserting that the picture book is “told at just the right pace,” Wanda Meyers-Hines added in School Library Journal that Dunbar’s “whimsical story presents a gentle reminder of the power of a child’s imagination.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor deemed Flyaway Katie “a joyous cure for a case of the doldrums.”
In her story for Dog Blue Dunbar also focused on the power of imagination. Here Bertie wants a dog in his favorite color, blue. Because he does not have a real-life pup, Bertie creates one in his mind, playing with his imaginary dog and fetching his own sticks. When a spotted dog arrives in Bertie’s life, the boy is disappointed that it is not blue, but instead of turning away, he names the dog Blue and now has a friend to play with.
“Young Bertie’s joy comes through loud and clear” in both the story and the artwork, according to a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Although she found the story’s resolution gratifying, Jennifer Mattson wrote in Booklist that “it’s Bertie’s ingenious self-sufficiency that truly resonates.” A Publishers Weekly contributor also praised the picture book, writing that Dog Blue features “polished artwork and skilled pacing.”
In Penguin Dunbar focuses on a boy named Ben, who is dismayed to learn that his new pet penguin is unable to talk. When Ben employs drastic measures in an effort to elicit a comment from Penguin—even blasting the bird into outer space—his efforts backfire and the pet ultimately reveals his visual method of communication. Calling Penguin a “brief, brisk” tale, Randall Enos predicted in Booklist that “its message” about the importance of “communication and mutual respect bears repeated reading.” The author/illustrator’s “winsome mixed media illustrations carry the day” in Penguin, noted a Publishers Weekly contributor, the critic calling the book’s art “child-centered, deceptively simple, and satisfying.”
A “gentle fantasy” that Wendy Lukehart compared to David Small’s Imogene’s Antlers, Dunbar’s picture book Arthur’s Dream Boat finds a young lad hoping to share a very vivid dream with several members of his family. Captured in the author/illustrator’s mixed-media art, Arthur goes from his dog to his brother to his mom, trying to describe his dream about sailing a boat in a choppy sea, and as he embroiders his story with new elements at each retelling, the dream becomes real enough that it is transformed into a reality. While Lukehart noted the onomatopoeic elements Dunbar includes in her text, a Publishers Weekly critic was impressed with the picture book’s “loose, free-spirited images,” which “bear witness to the power of a child’s imagination.” “Humorous, exuberant pencil-and-watercolor illustrations give visual representation” to this imaginative story, wrote a Kirkus Reviews writer, the critic dubbing Arthur’s Dream Boat “a real attention-getter.”
A Kirkus Reviews writer praised the illustrations in Dunbar’s A Lion Is a Lion as “vivacious” and “ebullient.” Attending a lunch party, a lion—complete with hat, umbrella, and good manners—gives the impression that he is quite the gentleman. He remains, however, a lion, and so when he tries to turn the humans into dessert, the book’s protagonists, a sister and brother, must send him on his way. The writer remarked, “Art and text use just the right amount of thrills, chills, and comedy.” In School Library Journal, Lisa Lehmuller, praising Dunbar’s “trademark loose lines and ink wash with pops of color,” deemed A Lion Is a Lion a “fun and roaring good picture book.”
[NEW PROSE]
In Red Red Red, Dunbar explores how youngsters cope with strong emotions. While reaching for a cookie jar, a toddler tumbles off her step stool and bumps her head. Angry and frustrated, her temper reaches a boiling point when she finally retrieves the jar but finds the lid is shut tight. With help from her patient and understanding mother, however, the girl develops an effective strategy for calming herself.
London Sunday Times reviewer Nicole Jones called Red Red Red “a lively and reassuring book,” and Elizabeth Schlenther, writing in Books for Keeps, observed that “Dunbar’s always fun rhyming couplets and integrated text … are a joy to see.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor applauded Dunbar’s vivid portrait of the youngster’s temper tantrum, with “spiky red lines emanating forth to dominate the page and bold, block letters filling one half of the spread to evoke furious yelling.”
In Something Fishy, a pet cat grows suspicious when its owners begin behaving in odd ways, spending far more time purchasing tiny outfits, collecting stuffed toys, and redecorating a room in adorable colors than offering the creature its favorite snack—fish. Jones described the work as “a delightful way to tame a child’s dark feelings about a new arrival,” and LoveReading4Kids contributor Andrea Reece noted that “Dunbar’s illustrations are child-centered, deceptively simple and satisfying.”
[END NEW PROSE]
Dunbar’s self-illustrated “Tilly and Friends” series focuses on a little girl who lives with an unusual group of housemates: Tiptoe the rabbit, Hector the pig, Doodle the alligator, Pru the chicken, and Tumpty the elephant. Geared for toddlers, the simple stories in Hello Tilly, Happy Hector, Tumpty’s Plane, and Goodnight Tiptoe, capture a child’s attention through their humor and use of onomatopoeia. Dunbar matches her text for Happy Hector with “lovely, soothing drawings in gentle pastel colors,” according to School Library Journal contributor Madigan McGillicuddy. In Pretty Pru, in which the chicken discovers that her housemates have made use of all the cosmetics in her handbag, the author/illustrator pairs her “gentle” story of forgiveness with “colorful and expressive mixed-media” images, according to Anne Beier in another School Library Journal review. Calling Where’s Tumpty? a “delightful” installment in the “Tilly and Friends” series, Cooper praised it as an effective read-aloud choice that features a “diverse group of friends with personality.”
In addition to her solo efforts, Dunbar has provided the illustrations for numerous books by other writers. Lesley Ely’s Looking after Louis is a story about accepting differences that features an autistic boy who is mainstreamed in school. “Dunbar’s childlike paintings cleverly show how Louis is essentially the same as the other kids,” wrote Kathleen Kelly MacMillan in School Library Journal, and a Kirkus Reviews contributor noted the artist’s use of “sketchy scenes rendered in a childlike, cartoon style.” Another illustration project, David Almond’s The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon, comes to life in “whimsical pencil and ink illustrations” that create “a pleasing mix of silliness and creative thinking.”
[NEW PROSE]
The Hug, written by Eoin McLaughlin, follows the exploits of an unhappy, hard-shelled tortoise and a sad, spiny hedgehog, both of whom embark on a quest to find another animal willing to engage in a simple embrace. “Hedgehog has the appealingly pink-cheeked softness typical of Dunbar’s art, and the gentle watercolors are nonthreatening,” observed a Kirkus Reviews writer, and a contributor in Publishers Weekly stated that the illustrator’s “animal portraits, drawn along a single, cream-colored plane with minimal background detailing, are funny and astute.”
[END NEW PROSE]
Dunbar’s work with well-known poet Margaret Mahy includes the whimsically titled Down the Back of the Chair, Bubble Trouble, and The Man from the Land of Fandango. In Down the Back of the Chair “cacophonous, sunny, paint-and-paper collages” pair with Mahy’s text, according to Booklist critic Gillian Engberg, and a Kirkus Reviews writer noted that the “whimsical creatures, juicy colors and … motion” in Dunbar’s art “match the kinetic energy of the text.” In the “mountains of mayhem” that readers encounter in Bubble Trouble, Dunbar’s “energetic watercolor and cut-paper” illustrations contribute to the “over-the-top silliness” of Mahy’s tale, according to School Library Journal contributor Marianne Saccardi. According to Booklist contributor Andrew Medlar, the artist’s illustrations for The Man from Fandango come to life in “joyful nonsense shapes made with watercolor and collage [that] do their own dances of silly fun in step to the undulating words.”
A joint project of Dunbar and mom Joyce Dunbar, Shoe Baby finds an infant traveling to fantastic locations in a shoe. “The mixed-media artwork is particularly enticing,” wrote Cooper in Booklist, and a Kirkus Reviews contributor noted that Polly Dunbar’s “delightful mixed-media collage illustrations of eccentric creatures great and small burst forth with … glee.”
Other collaborations between mother and daughter include Pat-a-Cake Baby, in which a cute and precocious infant joins several friends for a late-night baking session, preparing a sugary treat for the Man in the Moon and finishing before the rest of the household wakes up. In her School Library Journal review of Pat-a-Cake Baby, Jenna Boles cited the “pastel colors, sparkles, and dreamlike star-spangled backgrounds” in Dunbar’s art, while a Publishers Weekly critic concluded that her “pictures are a confectionary dream: ingredients fly around the pages in balletic swoops, the typography dances, and the babies’ energy is boundless.”
Dunbar illustrated another baby-centered book with Buster and the Baby, by Amy Hest, in which a toddler and his terrier have a blast playing hide-and-seek. In Kirkus Reviews, a writer noted that the “digitally composed illustrations have a cheerful charm, with particularly funny expressions on Buster’s face.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that the simple, exclamatory text helps make the fun infectious, as does “the inviting energy of the sunny-hued pictures, which give the familiar rhythms and tensions of the game delicious immediacy.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, April 15, 2004, Connie Fletcher, review of Looking after Louis, p. 1445; June 1, 2004, Ilene Cooper, review of Flyaway Katie, p. 1740; July, 2004, Jennifer Mattson, review of Dog Blue, p. 1846; June 1, 2005, Ilene Cooper, review of Shoe Baby, p. 1821; May 1, 2006, Gillian Engberg, review of Down the Back of the Chair, p. 92; June 1, 2007, Randall Enos, review of Penguin, p. 84; March 1, 2009, Ilene Cooper, review of Where’s Tumpty?, p. 53; January 1, 2010, review of The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon, p. 79; February 15, 2012, Ann Kelley, review of Arthur’s Dream Boat, p. 58; November 1, 2012, review of The Man from the Land of Fandango, p. 76.
Books for Keeps, July, 2019, Elizabeth Schlenther, review of Something Fishy; January, 2019, Jill Bennett, review of The Hug.
Daily Mail (London, England), February 23, 2018, Sally Morris, review of A Lion Is A Lion, p. 56.
Horn Book, September-October, 2004, Joanna Rudge Long, review of Dog Blue, p. 566; May-June, 2009, Robin L. Smith, review of Bubble Trouble, p. 284; May-June, 2010, review of The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon, p. 74; November-December, 2012, Kathleen T. Horning, review of The Man from the Land of Fandango, p. 72; July-August, 2018, Julie Roach, review of A Lion Is a Lion, p. 87.
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2004, review of Looking after Louis, p. 268; June 15, 2004, review of Flyaway Katie, p. 576; July 1, 2004, review of Dog Blue, p. 627; July 1, 2005, review of Shoe Baby, p. 733; May 15, 2006, review of Down the Back of the Chair, p. 520; March 1, 2010, review of The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon; January 1, 2012, review of Arthur’s Dream Boat; September 15, 2012, review of The Man from the Land of Fandango; April 1, 2015, review of Pat-a-Cake Baby; October 15, 2017, review of Buster and the Baby; March 1, 2018, review of A Lion Is a Lion; February 1, 2019, review of The Hug; January 15, 2020, review of Red Red Red.
New York Times Book Review, May 13, 2007, Joanna Rudge Long, review of Here’s a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry, p. 16.
Publishers Weekly, July 5, 2004, review of Flyaway Katie, p. 54; August 30, 2004, review of Dog Blue, p. 53; September 5, 2005, review of Shoe Baby, p. 60; April 10, 2006, review of Down the Back of the Chair, p. 70; July 23, 2007, review of Penguin, p. 66; March 29, 2010, review of The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon, p. 59; January 9, 2012, review of Arthur’s Dream Boat, p. 51; August 27, 2012, review of The Man from the Land of Fandango, p. 74; April 20, 2015, review of Pat-a-Cake Baby, p. 74; October 2, 2017, review of Buster and the Baby, p. 136; December 4, 2017, review of Buster and the Baby, p. S22; January 28, 2019, review of The Hug, p. 93.
School Librarian, autumn, 2015, review of Pat-a-Cake Baby, p. 154.
School Library Journal, April, 2004, Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, review of Looking after Louis, p. 109; September, 2004, Janet M. Bair, review of Dog Blue, and Wanda Meyers-Hines, review of Flyaway Katie, both p. 158; August, 2005, Marianne Saccardi, review of Shoe Baby, p. 93; June, 2006, Carol L. MacKay, review of Down the Back of the Chair, p. 122; May, 2008, Margaret A. Chang, review of My Dad’s a Birdman, p. 92; March, 2009, review of Measuring Angels, p. 112; May, 2009, Anne Beier, review of Pretty Prue, and Lori A. Guenthner, review of Where’s Tumpty?, both p. 74, and Marianne Saccardi, review of Bubble Trouble, p. 83; June, 2009, Madigan McGillicuddy, reviews of Happy Hector and Hello Tilly, both p. 84; March, 2012, Wendy Lukehart, review of Arthur’s Dream Boat, p. 120; August, 2015, review of Pat-a-Cake Baby, p. 62; March, 2018, Lisa Lehmuller, review of A Lion Is a Lion, p. 81.
Sunday Times (London, England), October 21, 2007, Nicolette Jones, review of My Dad’s a Birdman, p. 49; June 17, 2018, Nicolette Jones, review of Something Fishy; August 4, 2019, Nicolette Jones, review of Red Red Red.
Times Educational Supplement, October 27, 2006, Karen Gold, “All Together Now,” p. 30, Jane Doonan, “Art World Is Their Oyster,” p. 34.
Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), July 2, 2006, Mary Harris Russell, review of Down the Back of the Chair, p. 7.
ONLINE
Long Nose Puppets website, https://www.longnosepuppets.com/ (July 1, 2020).
LoveReading4Kids website, https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/ (July 1, 2020), Andrea Reece, review of Something Fishy.
Polly Dunbar website, http://www.pollydunbar.com (July 1, 2020).
Polly Dunbar is an author/illustrator working in the UK, she has created many much loved books for children. Polly was born in the Cotswolds and grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon. After school, she completed a foundation course at Norwich School of Art and then went on to do a degree in illustration at Brighton University.
Polly's bestselling book, Penguin, has won numerous awards including the Book Trust Early Year's Award 2007, the Nestle Silver Children's Book Prize 2007, the Practical Pre-School Award 2007, the Red House Children's Book of the Year Award 2008 and was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal.
In 2009 Polly was chosen as one of Booktrust's Ten Best illustrators and in 2011 she was Booktrust Writer in Residence. She is also co-founder of Long Nose Puppets, the award winning theatre company. They have made successful adaptations of the books Shoe Baby, Fly Away Katie, Penguin and Arthur's Dream Boat.
Picture
Polly is the daughter of the distinguished author Joyce Dunbar with whom she collaborated on the picture books Shoe Baby and Pat-a-Cake Baby. She is also the illustrator of My Dad's a Birdman and The boy who climbed into the Moon, both written by David Almond. Polly created Tilly and Friends, a series of six books following a little girl and her animal friends. Tilly and her friends are now television stars with their own animated series on the CBeebies channel.
As well as puppeteering with the Long Nose team Polly has performed at book festivals in Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Hay on Wye, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong. Polly often runs workshops in schools and universities and regularly teaches creative writing at the Arvon Foundation.
Polly lives in the Waveny Valley, Suffolk with her partner and their two boys Sonny and Cody.
Polly Dunbar is one of the most well known illustrators working today. Polly's bestselling book, Penguin, has won numerous awards and was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Polly is the illustrator of Shoe Baby, Pat-a-Cake Baby and two picture books written by David Almond. Polly lives in the Waveny Valley, Suffolk with her partner and their two boys.
Polly Dunbar graduated from Brighton Art School in 1999 where she studied illustration. Polly still lives and works in Brighton. Author and illustrator of Penguin, Dog Blue and Flyaway Katie. Polly is the daughter of the distinguished author Joyce Dunbar who she collaborated with on the picture book Shoe Baby. She is the illustrator of My Dad's a Birdman and The boy who climbed into the Moon, both written by David Almond. Polly also illustrated Here's a Little Poem, an anthology of poems for very young children. Her best selling book Penguin won the Nestle Silver award 2007, The Book trust early Years award 2007, The Red house award 2008 and was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Polly is the author and illustrator of Tilly and Friends, a humorous and colourful series of six books following the escapades of a little girl and her animal friends who all live together in a little yellow house.
Polly is the co-founder of Long Nose puppets, an award winning puppet company, they have made successful adaptations of the books Shoe Baby, Fly Away Katie and Penguin. Long Nose Puppets are currently touring the UK.
Polly Dunbar
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Polly Dunbar
Born Cotswolds, England
Occupation Illustrator, writer
Nationality British
Genre Children's picture books
Website
pollydunbar.com
Polly Dunbar (born in Cotswolds) is an author-illustrator. Dunbar is known for her self-illustrated books Dog Blue, Flyaway Katie and Penguin. She is the daughter of children's book writer Joyce Dunbar, whom she worked with to publish the picture book Shoe Baby. She is also the illustrator for Here's a Little Poem by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters, and My Dad's a Birdman by David Almond.
Contents
1 Biography
2 Career
3 Bibliography
3.1 Help series
3.2 Middle books
3.3 Tilly series
3.4 As illustrator
4 References
5 External links
Biography
Dunbar was born in the Cotswolds and moved to Stratford upon Avon when she was an eight-month-old.[1] She went to school there until she was eleven and moved to Norwich with her family. There she attended City of Norwich School and Norwich Art school, now known as Norwich University College of the Arts . She started writing and illustrating at age 16, when she published two books – which she describes as "cartoon books inspired by teenage antics".[1] She went to Brighton university and graduated in 1999 with a degree in illustration.[2]
As of February 2008, Dunbar lives in Brighton, England.[3]
Career
Dunbar published Dog Blue and Flyaway Katie in 2004.[4] The following year, she co-operated with her mother, author Joyce Dunbar, to produce the picture book Shoe Baby.[4] Dunbar's 2007 book Penguin is her most critically successful book to date, winning the Booktrust Early Years Awards in pre-school category.[5] and the silver award in the Nestle Children's Book Prize for children under five years old.[6] Dunbar is also the illustrator for Here's A Little Poem which is on the IBBY honour's book list for 2008.[7]
Polly Dunbar was named "Most promising new illustrator" in Publisher Weekly's Cuffie Awards in 2004.[8][9] In 2008, she is featured in The Times's list of "The best new picture book illustrators".[10]
Bibliography
Help series
Help I've forgotten my Brain Kingfisher 1996
Help I'm out with the in-crowd Kingfisher 1996
Middle books
A Saucepan on his Head, Collected Nonsense Poems Walker Books 2001
Henry VIII, Hole Story Scholastic 2002
Cleopatra, Hole Story Scholastic 2002
Scrooge, Hole Story Scholastic 2002
The Dragon Test written by June Crebbin, Walker Books 2003
Hal the Highway Man written by June Crebbin, Walker Books 2003
Lucy and the Fire Stone written by June Crebbin, Walker Books 2004
Hal the Pirate written by June Crebbin, Walker Books 2004
Looking after Louis written by Lesly Ely, Francis Lincoln 2004
Flyaway Katie Walker Books 2004
Dog Blue Walker Books 2004
Shoe Baby written by Joyce Dunbar, Walker Books 2005
Down the Back of the Chair written by Margaret Mahy, Francis Lincoln 2006
My Dad's a Birdman written by David Almond, Walker Books 2007
Penguin Walker Books 2007
"Here's a Little Poem" Walker Books 2007
"Measuring Angels" written by Lesly Ely, Francis Lincoln 2007
"Bubble Trouble" written by Margaret Mahy, Francis Lincoln 2008
The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon written by David Almond, Walker Books 2010[11]
Tilly series
all published via Walker Books
adapted into BBC series[12] 2012 cartoon Tilly and Friends on TVO Kids.
"Hello Tilly" 2008, MIDI edition 6 September 2012[13] about a human girl
"Happy Hector" 2008, MIDI edition 6 September 2012[14] about a pig boy
"Pretty Pru" 2009, MIDI edition 6 September 2012[15] about a bird girl
"Where's Tumpty?" 2009, MIDI edition 6 September 2012[16] about an elephant boy
"Doodle Bites" 2009, MIDI edition 6 September 2012[17] about a girl crocodile[18]
"Goodnight, Tiptoe" 2009, MIDI edition 6 September 2012[19] about a boy bunny
"Let's Get Wheeling!" 1 August 2013[20]
"Listen to Me!" 1 August 2013[21]
"Star Party" 1 August 2013[22]
"The Best Day Ever" 1 August 2013[23]
"What's Everyone Doing?" 3 April 2014[24]
"Who's Hiding?" 3 April 2014[25]
"Doctor Tilly" 3 July 2014[26]
"Tumpty's Plane" 3 July 2014[27]
Sticker Activity Books:
"Dressing Up" 3 October 2013[28]
"Play All Day" 3 October 2013[29]
As illustrator
A cat called Penguin, Holly Webb (author), 2011 ISBN 978-14-0712165-9[30]
As an artist
Polly Dunbar studied illustration at Brighton Art School and now lives and works in London. Author and illustrator of Penguin, Dog Blue and Flyaway Katie, she thinks that colour is a brilliant way to cheer yourself up and whenever she’s feeling grey, she puts on her best pink frock and paints! Polly is the daughter of the distinguished author Joyce Dunbar who she collaborated with on the picture books Shoe Baby and Pat-a-Cake Baby. She is the author of the Tilly and Friends series, which is now a TV show. She is also the illustrator of My Dad's a Birdman and The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon, written by David Almond, and Here's a Little Poem, an anthology of poems for very young children. To see a fun video interview with Polly simply follow the link below: http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/shadowingsite/video/polly.html
Dunbar, Polly RED RED RED Kane/Miller (Children's Fiction) $14.99 3, 1 ISBN: 978-1-68464-026-3
This British import serves up lessons in emotional regulation, with a side of biscuits.
The young protagonist of this picture book has light brown skin, curly dark hair, and a taste for biscuits. (This British term for what Americans call cookies is preserved in the American edition.) Via first-person narration, the child thinks out loud while climbing a stool to reach a cookie jar high on the shelf--until "CRASH! BANG! BUMP!" Mum (who shares the child's coloring) comes running to provide comfort, but she can't head off her little one's ensuing fit. Upset about the fall, the child rages, "My socks are down. My pants are twisted. / I want...I want...I WANT A BISCUIT!" A climactic spread gives the protagonist of Molly Bang's When Sophie Gets Angry--Really Really Angry (1999) a run for her money. It depicts the child in a full-blown tantrum, spiky red lines emanating forth to dominate the page and bold, block letters filling one half of the spread to evoke furious yelling. Patient Mum intercedes and helps her child count to 10 to calm down while Dunbar's art, typography, and symbolic scribbly lines combine to depict the child eventually relaxing. A scene of deep breathing precedes the final reward of a biscuit, and then another to stave off any risk of additional tantrums.
Help for coping when the cookie crumbles. (Picture book. 2-5)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
"Dunbar, Polly: RED RED RED." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2020. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A611140267/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=df8482e4. Accessed 25 Feb. 2020.
The Hug
Eoin McLaughlin, illus. by Polly Dunbar. Faber & Faber, $15.95 (48p) ISBN 978-0-571-34875-6
Open this double-sided book one way and meet sad and very cute Tortoise, whose polite request for a restorative hug is met with equally polite but clearly cooked-up excuses from other animals ("Unfortunately, I'm digging a very important hole," says Rabbit, who isn't). "It's your shell," Owl explains. "It's just so very hard. But don't worry, there's someone for everyone." Flip the book over, and it's the same trajectory for sad and adorable Hedgehog, whose quills are the deal-breaker. Tortoise and Hedgehog retreat from the world into tight little spheres of shell and prickles, respectively, until they notice each other. In a vertically oriented spread that serves as a visual center between the two versions, they embrace without any qualms at all, "as happy as two someones can be." Debut author McLaughlin doesn't break new ground in this story of two lonely animals finding comfort and friendship, but he and Dunbar (A Lion Is a Lion) bring a good measure of wit to the story. Dunbar's animal portraits, drawn along a single, cream-colored plane with minimal background detailing, are funny and astute, suggesting that animals can be every bit as awkward and endearing as humans. Ages 3-up. (Apr.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
"The Hug." Publishers Weekly, vol. 266, no. 4, 28 Jan. 2019, p. 93. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A572146018/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=7716bfbe. Accessed 25 Feb. 2020.
McLaughlin, Eoin THE HUG Faber & Faber (Children's Fiction) $15.95 4, 2 ISBN: 978-0-571-34875-6
What to do when you're a prickly animal hankering for a hug? Why, find another misfit animal also searching for an embrace!
Sweet but "tricky to hug" little Hedgehog is down in the dumps. Wandering the forest, Hedgehog begs different animals for hugs, but each rejects them. Readers will giggle at their panicked excuses--an evasive squirrel must suddenly count its three measly acorns; a magpie begins a drawn-out song--but will also be indignant on poor hedgehog's behalf. Hedgehog has the appealingly pink-cheeked softness typical of Dunbar's art, and the gentle watercolors are nonthreatening, though she also captures the animals' genuine concern about being poked. A wise owl counsels the dejected hedgehog that while the prickles may frighten some, "there's someone for everyone." That's when Hedgehog spots a similarly lonely tortoise, rejected due to its "very hard" shell but perfectly matched for a spiky new friend. They race toward each other until the glorious meeting, marked with swoony peach swirls and overjoyed grins. At this point, readers flip the book to hear the same gloomy tale from the tortoise's perspective until it again culminates in that joyous hug, a book turn that's made a pleasure with thick creamy paper and solid binding.
Watching unlikely friends finally be as "happy as two someones can be" feels like being enveloped in your very own hug. (Picture book. 3-5)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
"McLaughlin, Eoin: THE HUG." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2019. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A571549070/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2041860a. Accessed 25 Feb. 2020.