The Fantastic Quentin Blake
February 10th, 2015 by jules
You know what makes me happy to see? A new book by Quentin Blake. Today’s post is a quick one, but it’s to share art from a new Blake title, which will be on shelves here in the U.S. next month from Tate Publishing. (The book was first published in London last year, and here in the States, Abrams distributes Tate’s books.)
The Five of Us is about five friends — Angie, Ollie, Simona, Mario, and Eric. “They were all fantastic,” Blake writes. Angie had amazing eyesight; Ollie, hearing. Simona and Mario were super strong. “Eric was just as amazing, but you will find out how later on,” Blake adds.
The five friends set out one day in a big yellow bus, which someone named Big Eddie is driving. While each child continues to do amazing things with their eyes and ears and muscles all day long, Eric merely says: “Erm … erm.” I take it this is a stutter of sorts — or perhaps he merely isn’t sure what to say. Each time the spotlight turns to Eric, it’s “erm … erm” every time.
But when disaster strikes, he finds his voice in more ways than one — and, with the help of his friends, saves the day. On one level, it’s a simple story about five fantastic friends, but it also strikes me as a story about the subtle and quiet power of the introvert in the group.
And I always love to see Blake’s art. Let’s take a look at some more illustrations from the book.
Big Eddie was driving.”
(Click to enlarge spread)
THE FIVE OF US. Copyright © 2014 by Quentin Blake. Published by Tate Publishing, London. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher.
Oh, joy! Love that “On the day of the outing” spread. I’m looking forward to reading the whole book.
Seeing Quentin Blake’s art immediately takes me back to childhood, such a great feeling – can’t wait to see the new book 🙂
[…] Impossible Things Before Breakfast looks at a new Quentin Blake book, The Five of Us. I’m a huge Quentin Blake fan, so I’ll be hunting this down next […]