Mister Magnolia: Celebrate Quentin Blake’s 90th Birthday

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Mr Magnolia’s trumpet goes ‘rooty-toot’. Can you think of different types of sounds that instruments make? How are these sounds made? Using pens or paint and paper, children can make a picture of a favourite part of the story, show their picture to someone else and talk about it. Find the rhyme A wonderful rhyming tale about Mister Magnolia, a man with a trumpet that goes rooty-toot (but only one boot)! Mister Magnolia is shown having lots of fun. He scoots through the park with children clinging onto his leg and so on and so forth. The fun of this book derives from watching Mister Magnolia have fun. He is more fun than a child figure because of the comical juxtaposition: Like a hat wearing a dog, grown-ups don’t normally have this kind of fun. Appearance of an Ally in Fun See if you can make up a new story about Mr Magnolia together. Perhaps beginning ‘ Mr Magnolia had only one shoe….’You can play with the rhyme, taking it in turns to invent a new line.

Children can use props such as a hat, scarf or single boot to dress up and act out the story as Mr Magnolia himself. With a cardboard tube or toy instrument as a trumpet they could dance to the rooty toot! It’s a really good way for them to get to know the character well and helps to build their confidence with books and stories. Make a picture This book has a rhyming pattern throughout with each sentence only being a few lines long – this will make it easy for children to read in particular early years, KS1.The book itself centres on Mr. Magnolia who has only one boot. We are introduced to all the thing’s Mr. Magnolia does whilst wearing only one boot – he goes swimming; visit’s his friends, juggles fruit! Towards the end of the book the pictures show us a little girl who has a present from Mr. Magnolia – you’ve guessed it, it is a new boot!

Go on a word hunt to see how many words rhyme with ‘boot.’ Read it aloud together and listen for the rhyme. Make a game Draw a picture of a gift that Mr Magnolia might give to the girl as a thank you for his new boot (see Resources below). Octagon Inclusive Dance Class Octagon Inclusive Dance Class & Octagon Lunchtime Tappers Octagon Inclusive Dance Class & Octagon Lunchtime Tappers & Plus1 more... Octagon Inclusive Dance Class & Octagon Lunchtime Tappers & Plus1 more... & Plus2 more... Octagon Inclusive Dance Class & Octagon Lunchtime Tappers & Plus1 more... & Plus2 more... & Plus3 more... Octagon Inclusive Dance Class & Octagon Lunchtime Tappers & Plus1 more... & Plus2 more... & Plus3 more... & Plus4 more... But one day, he receives a mysterious parcel, and at last Mr. Magnolia can splash in the puddles with everyone else.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. Science: Think about the pond habitat in Mr Magnolia’s garden. What other creatures might live there? Can you plan an investigation to find the best surface for scooting/sliding on? Which has the most/least friction?

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 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.A wonderful, rhyming book that I grew up & remember loving as a small child. My son now loves it & often asks us to read it again & again! An absolute classic with terrific pictures, as you'd expect from Quentin Blake.

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.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. Quite briefly, Mr Magnolia is the story of a lovely man who has a lot going on for him in life- he has a trumpet,two lovely sisters,a pond with frogs,parakeets,some very fat owls,lots of friends,a chute and a dinosaur ,but Mr Magnolia has just one boot all throughout the book.It seems really unfair that such a nice person as him has just one boot and cannot even ho utside outside on a rainy day.When he eventually finds a new second boot at the end of the book you can't help but be genuinely happy for him. Carnivalesque stories look a bit different when the star is a child hero. Below I go into how a carnivalesque story works when the main character is an adult. An Every Child is at home Find out about the author / illustrator, Quentin Blake. What other illustrations has he drawn? Can you try to create a picture in a similar style / using similar techniques? Watch these videos for some ideas: