3D review - The Dawn Chorus - Suzanne Barton - editor review

Fiz Osborne  is Senior Editor of picture books, novelty and eBooks at Bloomsbury Children's Books and is editor of debut author/illustrator Suzanne Barton's picture book 'The Dawn Chorus', which we are featuring as our 3D review for April.

What was your favourite children’s book as a child?

There were a few! Ramsbottom Rag by Christopher Masters, Roald Dahl’s Matlida and George’s Marvellous Medicine, the Heidi books by Joanna Spyri and Beyond the Rolling River by Kate Andrew and Chris Riddell. I didn’t actually own lots of books, but I was constantly borrowing from my local library.

What is your favourite children’s book as an adult?

I love any book by Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie, and Rhinos Don’t Eat Pancakes is a firm favourite. Aaaarrgghh, Spider! by Lydia Monks is another book after my own heart and I am in love with anything by Yasmeen Ismail, especially Time For Bed, Fred!, If I Had a Cat and Specs For Rex.

What do you think makes children’s books so inspirational?

They can challenge, excite, help, stimulate, and effect us so strongly – in a way that nothing else can – and that is exactly what I think makes children’s books inspirational.

What is it that you like most about picture books?

The way that the perfect balance between story and illustrations creates a little bit of magic. Anything can happen in a book. That’s quite fantastic.

What do you love about this book and what makes it stand out?

I love how Suzanne’s illustrations sing out from the pages. Her story is almost like a lullaby, surrounded by beautifully detailed, characterful illustrations that are incredibly endearing. The Dawn Chorus feels very special, there’s nothing else quite like it.

How many people have worked on this book and for how long?

So many people! I mean, in the confines of the Bloomsbury picture books team there was an editor (me) and a designer working with Suzanne. But while the book evolves, the Bloomsbury children’s team works hard to support it. Marketing, publicity, sales, rights, production . . . Every book has the entire team behind it.

Time-wise, the average picture book takes about 18 months-2 years to be published.

What made you want to work in children’s publishing?

I just love children’s books. I can still remember the excitement I’d feel when my dad read me bedtime stories as a child, and I can also remember quite clearly how it felt to read Harry Potter for the first time. I naturally gravitated towards children’s publishing and I’m very passionate about what I do. There’s a little piece of my heart that I set aside for each book that I work on.

3D Review - The Dawn Chorus - Suzanne Barton - author interview

Suzanne Barton's delightful debut picture book 'The Dawn Chorus' is published by Bloomsbury April 2014 and is about a tiny bird who can't ever seem to wake up in time to join the Dawn Chorus. 

Suzanne's illustrations formed the basis of a spectacular window at Mostly Books where children decorated birds to produce a whole flock to join the Dawn Chorus. The result was stunning - Thank you Suzanne! And also thank you to Bloomsbury who set the whole thing up.

Suzanne worked on the book when she studied for an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art.

What was your favourite children’s book as a child?

Can I pick more than one? Carbonel by Barbara Sleigh and anything by Noel Streatfeild. But when I was very young Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever.

What is your favourite children’s book as an adult?

A Hole is to Dig by Ruth Krauss illustrated by Maurice Sendak. It captures what it is to be a child.

What do you think makes children’s books so inspirational?

Anything is possible in a story, you can identify with the characters and go anywhere, do anything.

Do you see yourself as an illustrator that writes or a writer that illustrates?

An illustrator that writes.

How did you become a writer / illustrator?

I always wanted to make pictures, but when I was young I thought I wasn’t good enough because there were so many things that I couldn’t draw straight out of my head like motor bikes and horses. But then I gradually realised that you could look at things and practise and get better. So I studied, eventually ending up on a fantastic MA in Children’s Book Illustration in Cambridge, where I started working on my first story, The Dawn Chorus.

What comes first, the ideas for pictures or the text?

For The Dawn Chorus the story idea came first together with some clear pictures in my head that I wanted to make. I think they evolve together which is the great thing about having the opportunity to both write and illustrate.

Which do you like most, the writing or the illustrating?

I love illustrating. Writing is a more recent activity for me, but I am fascinated by what makes a really good story. I have a lot to learn and studying storytelling is a great excuse to collect even more books.

Suzanne finished a hectic day at Mostly Books with a book signing - something she will have to get used to!

And was kind enough to draw us a picture to offer as a prize.

The next part of our 3D Review will be an interview with Suzanne's editor at Bloomsbury who we asked what makes Suzanne's work so special.

3D review - The Dawn Chorus - Suzanne Barton - review

Out today is 'The Dawn Chorus' by Suzanne Barton - and she is celebrating the launch at Mostly Books by designing a whole window based on the book.

Tiny little Peep is drawn to the sound of beautiful singing. He adores singing and discovers all the birds join together to create the magical, beautiful music of the dawn chorus. Peep longs to be part of it, but finds it a struggle to get up at dawn to join them.

Will Peep ever be able to be like other birds and create such wonderful music?

Suzanne Barton's debut book 'The Dawn Chorus' is a charming story, with such sweet illustrations, full of brightly coloured birds and tiny details, like the leaves on the trees being multi-hued.
I love all the movement that covers the page - from tiny mice trying to help Peep find his way, to all the expressions of the birds as they sing.

Although full of colour, I also like the way Suzanne manages this without a blaze of primary colours, which I think makes this illustrated picture book a little different.
I also like the fact that there is a subtle message in the story that not all of us are morning people, but that we can all find a way to be part of things in our own way.
A really outstanding debut. And thank you, Suzanne, for such a splendid day at Mostly Books and for producing such a fabulous window.