Tag: Stephen Michael King

Emily loves to bounce. Sometimes she sleeps, sometimes she eats, but most of the time she bounces.

As Emily bounces her way through the day and through the pages of this delightful picture book, young readers will find themselves springing along. The text is simple – full of boings and different kinds of bounces – and the plot is equally uncomplicated. We learn of Emily’s seemingly boundless energy and then we see what happens when the day comes to its end and she rests, finally, in her parents’ bed.

Emily is brought to life by author/illustrator Stephen Michael King’s gorgeous pen and ink rendering of Emily, complete with boinging ringlets and a bright red and yellow polka dot dress. King uses bold, bright colours effectively framed with lots of white space to keep the eye focussed on the action.

Toddlers and preschoolers will love this book and parents with energetic young ones will relate well.

Emily Loves to Bounce, by Stephen Michael King
Scholastic, 2005, first published 2000

Early one morning when Henry was out walking backwards, trying very hard to walk forwards, he bumped into Amy.

Whatever Henry tries to do, it turns out wrong. When he tries to draw a straight line, it turns out wiggly and when everyone around him is looking up, Henry looks down. When he meets Amy, who does everything perfectly, Henry thinks she is wonderful. Amy teaches Henry his right from his left and his front from his back. But deep down Amy wishes she didn’t do everything quite so perfectly, so Henry teaches her back-to-front and topsy-turvy. Together they become the very best of friends – right-way-round and upside down.

Henry and Amy is a gorgeous book about non-conformity and about friendship. Written by award winning author/illustrator Stephen Michael King, this treasure is filled with the whimsy which is his trademark. Henry and Amy are too good, too silly and too cute to be true – but that’s just the point. Youngsters (and adults) can enjoy the story whilst receiving a gentle but important message about individuality.

First published in 1998, Henry and Amy is in its sixth reprint, a testament to its popularity.

Henry and Amy (right-way-wound and upside down), by Stephen Michael King
Scholastic, 1998, reprinted 2005

Once there was man, Stephen Michael King writes, who loved boxes and who also loved his son. Unfortunately, he didn’t know how to tell his son that he loved him – so he made things with boxes to share with his son, to show his love. Other people thought that the man was strange, even a bit crazy, but the man didn’t mind, and neither did his son, because they had a special way of showing their love.

This delightful picture book, King’s first, was first published in 1995 and subsequently won the Australian Family Therapist’s Award as well as being shortlisted for the Chrichton Award for Children’s Book Illustration. The fact that Scholastic have seen fit to reprint the book some ten years later is of little surprise – it is a timeless piece with a timeless message about family relationships.

King’s whimiscal illustrations use a combination of watercolours with ink outlines and the use of dusky blues and greens captures the gentle tone of the piece.

This is a book which should be read by every father – both to himself and with his children – and would make perfect bedtime reading.

The one disappointment of this particular issue is the very thin card of the softback cover, which may not withstand the regular reading and rereading which such an offering is likely to inspire. Still, it is such a delightful book, that parents will look for a way to preserve iit, raather than passing it over.

The Man Who Loved Boxes, written and illustrated by Stephen Michael King
Scholastic, first Published 1995, this edition 2005