Read the story again and leave spaces for children to join in with the story. They can add their own responses to the dramatic events. Tell the story

What I really appreciate about stories Quentin Blake has both written AND illustrated himself: They are kinder than the stories he illustrated for Roald Dahl and Roald Dahl’s chosen successor, David Walliams. For instance, Roald Dahl was hard on fat people. (This despite being an irrepresible sweet tooth and tobacco addict himself.) But in Quentin Blake’s Mister Magnolia, we are told that Mister Magnolia has two lovely sisters. And they are not both slim! One is large, the other small, and they are BOTH lovely. This simply would not happen in a Roald Dahl story, with the exception of the Grandmother figure in The Witches. (Grandmothers are exempt from female beauty standards, and the grandmother of The Witches does not conform to feminine expectations of behaviour.) The Every Child wishes to have fun. Children have most likely seen a homeless person in the streets before, and this book can help them to realise that even though homeless people have nothing for themselves, they are still human and have feelings even though some precautions should be taken. It would be worthwhile talking to children about being grateful for what we have because we could lose it all one day. What sort of man plays with other people’s children in the park? I personally rail against the idea that men playing with kids in children’s books should be avoided to spare those particular feelings of discomfort in adult gatekeepers. Men need to be more involved in childcare before equality is achieved, and if kids themselves grow up thinking that men are not the natural playmates of kids, that’s a problem for the next generation of fathers, step-fathers, uncles and male teachers. Fun builds! A wonderful rhyming tale about Mister Magnolia, a man with a trumpet that goes rooty-toot (but only one boot)! Blake was educated at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School. His English teacher, JH Walsh, influenced his ambition to become involved in literature. His first published drawing was for the satirical magazine Punch, at the age of 16. He read English Literature at Downing College, Cambridge (1953-6), received his postgraduate teaching diploma from the University of London, and later studied at the Chelsea School of Art. He gained another teaching diploma at the Institute of Education before working at the Royal College of Art.An adult character doesn’t require a Cat In The Hat figure to accompany them on their journey into fun because an adult has all the freedom they need to leave the house, live on their own, etc. Mister Magnolia’s ‘allies in fun’ are children. Hierarchy is overturned. Fun ensues. Mr Magnolia’s trumpet goes ‘rooty-toot’. Can you think of different types of sounds that instruments make? How are these sounds made? Make up a rhyme / story which explains what happens to the matching boot that Mr Magnolia is missing. This is a story about a man with only one boot. He's got a lot of friends and one day when this little girl came around he found a blue boot. I enjoyed this book because i like rhyming stories and it was quite a funny story. Although the magnolia is a well-known flower, it’s not all that common. That describes Blake’s Mister Magnolia character, right? Well-known in the neighbourhood, but beautifully unusual.

Notice that as the fun builds, Mister Magnolia’s pets get more and more unlikely. Okay, we believe he has birds ( another feminine attribute in art is to be surrounded by birds), but eventually we find he has a pet dinosaur (not just an unlikelihood, an impossibility). Peak Fun!Mister Magnolia is a picture book written and illustrated by Sir Quentin Blake. It won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1980, and the Red House Children’s Book Award in 1981. This story is an excellent lesson in simplicity. Even the rhyming is simple; everything rhymes with ‘boot’. Boots And Scooters A fun picture book will very likely have a carnivalesque story structure, so that’s what I’m using here to analyse the story. 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. Mister Magnolia has many things, such as an old trumpet that goes rooty-toot, some fat owls, who are learning to hoot, a big purple dinosaur, who’s a magnificent brute, two sisters who play on the flute, and even a swimming pool with a chute!