Mister Magnolia: Celebrate Quentin Blake’s 90th Birthday

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Age 3-5 This much-loved classic picture book, introduces us to the world of Mr Magnolia, a character who is full of life and fun despite having only one boot. The rhyme is humorous and surprising, and shows him playfully dancing with his sisters, giving scooter rides to his friends and juggling fruit in the market place. It’s a perfect book for young readers, inspiring a love of rhyme and the joy of reading. See if you can make up a new story about Mr Magnolia together. Perhaps beginning ‘ Mr Magnolia had only one shoe….’You can play with the rhyme, taking it in turns to invent a new line. Mr Magnolia’s trumpet goes ‘rooty-toot’. Can you think of other words that can be used to describe the sounds that different instruments make?

Mr Magnolia’s trumpet goes ‘rooty-toot’. Can you think of different types of sounds that instruments make? How are these sounds made? Notice how seldom characters are depicted in long shots minus only their feet. Very seldom. In general, it’s not recommended. It’s not a typical shot at all, and the super careful reader will know even before opening the cover that something’s going on with the guy’s feet. It’s not something we notice consciously, though.

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What sort of man plays with other people’s children in the park? I personally rail against the idea that men playing with kids in children’s books should be avoided to spare those particular feelings of discomfort in adult gatekeepers. Men need to be more involved in childcare before equality is achieved, and if kids themselves grow up thinking that men are not the natural playmates of kids, that’s a problem for the next generation of fathers, step-fathers, uncles and male teachers. Fun builds! Magnificently, the boot does not match his other one. But he is delighted with it, and so are we, because now Mister Magnolia is free to roam no matter the weather. Return to the Home state I do wonder if a story like this would be published today. When Quentin Blake was creating Mister Magnolia at the end of the 1970s, there were still plenty of men in primary school teaching. The 1980s saw a rapid and permanent exodus of men from teaching as parents became more aware of sex abuse crimes against children. Suddenly, what had earlier been hidden, precisely because it was unthinkable to non-pedophiles, became a fleshed-out fear in the minds of parents, and book-buyers everywhere. Mr Magnolia is in the body of an adult but he is a child stand-in. For our purposes he is the child. Blake first depicts him inside the house, and tells us a little about his home.

Quentin was the inaugural Children's Laureate (1999-2001), an experience he recorded in his book Laureate's Progress. During his time in the role, he celebrated children's books and children's book illustration with a range of projects and exhibitions, and conceived the idea for the House of Illustration, the world's first centre dedicated to the art of illustration in all its forms. Go on a word hunt to see how many words rhyme with ‘boot.’ Read it aloud together and listen for the rhyme. Make a game A fun picture book will very likely have a carnivalesque story structure, so that’s what I’m using here to analyse the story. Children can use props such as a hat, scarf or single boot to dress up and act out the story as Mr Magnolia himself. With a cardboard tube or toy instrument as a trumpet they could dance to the rooty toot! It’s a really good way for them to get to know the character well and helps to build their confidence with books and stories. Make a picture Using pens or paint and paper, children can make a picture of a favourite part of the story, show their picture to someone else and talk about it. Find the rhymeNotice that as the fun builds, Mister Magnolia’s pets get more and more unlikely. Okay, we believe he has birds ( another feminine attribute in art is to be surrounded by birds), but eventually we find he has a pet dinosaur (not just an unlikelihood, an impossibility). Peak Fun! Mr Magnolia’s owls are learning to hoot. Think about the sounds that different animals make. Why do they make different sounds?

Read the story aloud, talking together about the pictures as you do. Encourage children to guess what the rhyming word will be by leaving space for them to join in. They can find clues in the pictures, too. Join in After hearing the story a few times, children will get to know it quite well. Encourage them tell it to you in their own words, with some words or phrases from the story, using the pictures to help them. Watch the Story

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Find out about the author / illustrator, Quentin Blake. What other illustrations has he drawn? Can you try to create a picture in a similar style / using similar techniques? Watch these videos for some ideas: Quentin Blake was born in 1932 and read English at Cambridge, before attending Chelsea Art College. He has won many major prizes for illustration, including the Kate Greenaway Medal (1980) and the Red House Children's Book Award (1981) for Mister Magnolia. He is also the winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration and in 1990 was voted 'The Illustrator's Illustrator' by Observer Magazine. A tireless promoter of children's literature – and a long-time collaborator with roald Dahl – Quentin Blake was awarded the OBE in 1988 and in 2005 he was awarded a CBE for services to Children's Literature. In the most recent New Year’s Honours list he has been knighted.

Read the story again and leave spaces for children to join in with the story. They can add their own responses to the dramatic events. Tell the story In this wittily rhyming picture book, Mr Magnolia has a full and happy life except for one serious omission – a boot. But one day, he receives a mysterious parcel, and at last Mr Magnolia can splash in the puddles with everyone else! marketing copy Mister Magnolia has many things, such as an old trumpet that goes rooty-toot, some fat owls, who are learning to hoot, a big purple dinosaur, who's a magnificent brute, two sisters who play the flute, and even a swimming pool with chute! But he still only has one boot! What forces are taking place when Mr Magnolia rides his scooter or when he slides down into his pool? Mister Magnolia is a picture book written and illustrated by Sir Quentin Blake. It won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1980, and the Red House Children’s Book Award in 1981. This story is an excellent lesson in simplicity. Even the rhyming is simple; everything rhymes with ‘boot’. Boots And ScootersBlake was educated at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School. His English teacher, JH Walsh, influenced his ambition to become involved in literature. His first published drawing was for the satirical magazine Punch, at the age of 16. He read English Literature at Downing College, Cambridge (1953-6), received his postgraduate teaching diploma from the University of London, and later studied at the Chelsea School of Art. He gained another teaching diploma at the Institute of Education before working at the Royal College of Art. Quite briefly, Mr Magnolia is the story of a lovely man who has a lot going on for him in life- he has a trumpet,two lovely sisters,a pond with frogs,parakeets,some very fat owls,lots of friends,a chute and a dinosaur ,but Mr Magnolia has just one boot all throughout the book.It seems really unfair that such a nice person as him has just one boot and cannot even ho utside outside on a rainy day.When he eventually finds a new second boot at the end of the book you can't help but be genuinely happy for him. An adult character doesn’t require a Cat In The Hat figure to accompany them on their journey into fun because an adult has all the freedom they need to leave the house, live on their own, etc. Mister Magnolia’s ‘allies in fun’ are children. Hierarchy is overturned. Fun ensues. What I really appreciate about stories Quentin Blake has both written AND illustrated himself: They are kinder than the stories he illustrated for Roald Dahl and Roald Dahl’s chosen successor, David Walliams. For instance, Roald Dahl was hard on fat people. (This despite being an irrepresible sweet tooth and tobacco addict himself.) But in Quentin Blake’s Mister Magnolia, we are told that Mister Magnolia has two lovely sisters. And they are not both slim! One is large, the other small, and they are BOTH lovely. This simply would not happen in a Roald Dahl story, with the exception of the Grandmother figure in The Witches. (Grandmothers are exempt from female beauty standards, and the grandmother of The Witches does not conform to feminine expectations of behaviour.) The Every Child wishes to have fun.