A flamboyant flock, Bob's Big Day, and something scary in Denmark

Story Street #27

Welcome to Story Street – a monthly newsletter from children’s author and illustrator Jane Porter. Read on for ramblings about my life as a picture book maker, community artist, comic diarist, under-confident fiddle player and very, very amateur luthier.

Here’s a beautiful flock of birds welcoming you to the new year. They were made by Kingfisher Class at Bedfont Primary School where I had a LOVELY visit just before Christmas. I think it might just have been the most enthusiastic and affectionate primary school I’ve ever been to - and I have been to a LOT! I worked with four classes and the birds are now forming a joyous colourful flock on the back wall of the hall.

Bob’s Big Day

It’s an exciting start for 2025 as I have a brand new book out TOMORROW! January 2nd is publication day for Be Bold Bob, written by me, illustrated by Jenni Desmond and published by Walker Books. To celebrate, I had a chat with Jenni and made this video - put the kettle on and enjoy watching with a cup of tea.

In the video I talk about how Bob wasn’t always an elephant (can you guess what he started off as? Watch the video to find out how the story evolved), and Jenni shows lots of early sketches including this marvellous watercolour grid, where she worked out the rough shape and tone of the layouts for the whole story. What a great idea - I’m definitely going to try it for my next book.

I wrote this story for shy children everywhere: if you know of of them, why not treat them to a copy? I’m really hoping it will help build confidence in those who have trouble speaking up in a group, as that was me throughout my entire school years - and quite a lot of my adult life. If you’d like to buy Be Bold Bob, do ask in your local independent bookshop and I’m sure they will be happy to order it in for you - and it would be great to get it on their radar. Alternatively you can easily find it online, or order from the handy link below this picture:

The cherry on top

My online comics class starts up for a new term on Wednesday 15th January, and there are still just a few spots left in each of the time slots. Over ten weeks we’ll be exploring playful visual storytelling, inventing new characters, making zines - and having a lot of fun. Here’s what one student said about the course:

"I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the comics course and I'm really looking forward to doing it again next year! Having the course over live calls really helped me to get going with comics, something I've wanted to do for a long time. Each week was so much fun and the zine swap at the end was like the cherry on top! " Josephine, Sheffield

If you’d like to join us, all the info you need can be found through the link below:

Danish inspiration

Last month I went on a spontaneous mini-break to Copenhagen with my sister - she had organised a flat swap and invited me along. My eyes were on stalks the whole weekend taking in the marvellous lights, relaxed cyclists, Danish design and more. I particularly loved this poster spotted on a church just near where we were staying - what brilliantly effective bold paper cutting, and I think I spy some old-school Letraset too:

We also went to Tivoli - a wish many decades in the making, as the last time I was in the city I was about 10, and it was too early in the season for the world’s second-oldest theme park to be open. I was dazzled by the waterfalls of lights on every tree, marvelled at the singing Santa dioramas - and rashly agreed to go in the haunted house walk-through featuring live actors. I’m sorry to say I was terrified…

…and screamed all the way round, which apparently behind-the-scenes is known as a ‘jackpot’. I came out with a pounding heart and I was indeed glad to be alive. Meanwhile my sister was cool as a cucumber throughout - I don’t know how she did it!

Another Danish treat was an exhibition of ceramic snacks by the marvellous Claydies: we were lucky to stumble on this by accident and meet one of the Claydies in person - and she explained some of the techniques behind making the astoundingly realistic food.

Picture quiz answer

If you were reading Story Street #26 you might remember I set you a picture quiz. Guesses included the inside of an oven, a badly burned baking tray or a bit of a boat… but I can now reveal, it’s the inside of an Etch-a-Sketch! Congratulations to Elayne Crain and Hannah who guessed correctly.

Younger readers may be wondering what on earth an Etch-a-Sketch is. I will explain… before computer games (yes, even before Pong) you could buy a toy that looked like a little TV screen with two knobs at the bottom. You then twirled the knobs to draw – one way created a horizontal line, the other made a vertical one, and if you twiddled carefully enough you could make a sort of curve. It seemed like magic at the time – I always wanted one but never had one of my own. Eventually I got one in a charity shop, and took it apart to find out what the secret was – and – ta-dah! Now you know too!

The joy of retouching

No - I haven’t finished making my violin. Instead I have got side-tracked into restoration. I was given this fiddle a year ago (thankyou Fen!), and my aim is to make it playable. I loved mixing the right colours to touch up the scratches – I was right in my comfort zone compared with the agonies of bending the ribs. And I loved giving it a polish to make it as shiny as a conker. I can’t wait to hear what it sounds like…

A cheerful camel for a Happy New Year

This linocut camel is to wish all the very best to you in 2025. I’ve got some interesting plans to get the year started, including some illustrations for Historic Royal Palaces and a schools project about clean air in Camden, as well as a poetry book with my friends at Albemarle Primary School.

I’ve got a couple of diary dates for you too: if you’d like to come and hear me read Be Bold Bob, I’ll be at Nomad Books in Parsons Green at 11am on Saturday 8th February, then at Paper Cat Bookshop in Herne Hill on Thursday February 13th, and at The Straw Yard in Berwick-upon-Tweed all day on Saturday 22nd February for storytime and collage workshops. I’ll tell you all the details next month.

If you enjoyed this edition of Story Street, do subscribe and share. See you in February!