A Sailing Boat in the Sky
by Quentin Blake
The result of a collaborative effort ten years ago between Quentin Blake and children from all over the world, but particularly schoolchildren in France, this delightful book shows us how good it is to help each other.
Isobel and Nicholas mend a boat which magically flies them over many places where something evil is happening, and where they save children who are victims of prejudice, pollution, slavery and war.
When they land in a country where they see an old, green-faced, scary-looking woman they are afraid of her, but, once they discover she's actually the granny of one of their new friends, they see she's not different just because she looks different.
Blake's distinctive quirky illustrations enormously enhance the book's important message.
Publisher: Red Fox
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Quentin Blake
Children's Laureate 1999-2001
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.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.
Reading Age: 5+
Interest level: 4+
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