Meg & Mog - Meg's Fancy Dress (Meg and Mog Books)

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Helen Nicoll was born in Natland, Westmorland, in 1937. She was educated at schools in Bristol; Dartington Hall, Devon; and Froebel Education Institute, London. Helen Nicoll married Robert Kime in 1970 and they had one daughter and one son. Meg Goes to Bed is the latest of the iconic MEG and MOG picture books that continue to delight children up to the age of 3 with the brightly coloured and spellbinding antics of Meg the witch, Mog her cat and Owl. I've commented before on how hard it is to review picture books like this - I mean, by the time I've got into my flow here I'll have used more words than are contained within this entire book.

The bestselling MEG and MOG stories have been casting a unique spell for more than thirty-five years. They are perfect for sharing or reading alone and children love exploring the colours, sounds and shapes. Jan Pienkowski is a celebrated illustrator of children's books. He has won the Greenaway Medal twice - for his illustration of Joan Aiken's The Kingdom Under the Sea and for Haunted House. Jan lives in London. Helen Nicoll was a television producer with the BBC for many years. It was here, as Producer of the children's educational series WATCH, that she first met Jan Pienkowski. After working together for four years, they decided it was time to preserve their creativity in book form for future generations of children to enjoy. The result is the immensely popular MEG AND MOG series. Helen Nicoll worked with Jan Pienkowski for over forty years, first at the BBC and then on the Meg and Mog stories. She owned and ran the audio company Cover to Cover for many years. Helen lived in Marlborough, Wiltshire. She died on September 30, 2012.

In keeping

The activity should provide much cause for creativity, personal expression and – ultimately – celebration. The book selected is used as a stimulus for creative work over the next few weeks, and this is all displayed inside. The door/cover therefore becomes – quite literally – a portal into another world. Particularly valuable, I thought, were the costumes that couldn’tbe easily guessed: asking a child to explain who their character was and to articulate why they had made certain clothing decisions was entertaining (often hilarious), informative and educationally beneficial. In 2001, an animated TV series of 52 five-minute episodes was planned to be produced as a co-production between Telemagination, TV-Loonland AG and Absolutely Productions for a 2002–2003 delivery, with Loonland holding Non-UK rights to the series. [2] But then, alas – and particularly regrettable as the whole World Book Day initiative was born out of the desire to giveto children rather than take from them – the profiteers began to get involved and mass-produced costumes started to appear, expressly targeted (it was claimed) at “busy, hard-working parents” who – thanks to those dreadful teachers! – suddenly found themselves “required” to provide their child with an outfit for school themed around a character from literature.

Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski have worked together for over forty years, first at the BBC and then on the MEG and MOG books. Jan Pienkowski is a celebrated author of children's books, he has won the Greenaway Medal twice for his illustration of Joan Aiken's The Kingdom Under the Sea and Haunted House. It’s no wonder that World Book Day celebrations have established themselves as mainstays of many schools’ annual calendars. Over the years, I believe that almost everything about the endeavour has gone from strength to strength.

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Another productive partnership began for Jan in 1977, when he and writer Helen Nicoll created Meg and Mog - the much-loved duo of a witch and her cat. As illustrator Mark Southgate recently observed, 'Jan Pienkowski's wonderfully creative use of the picture book format looks ground-breaking even by today's standards.' Twenty years after the series began, the books remain contemporary and have lost none of their appeal. Meg and Mog books have achieved such a lasting affection with children and parents that in a Gallup poll, conducted for The Telegraph in 1992, Jan was the third most recognised contemporary children's author (after Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake). Originally published in 1972, this initial entry in author Helen Nicoll and illustrator Jan Pieńkowski's Meg and Mog picture-books, about a witch named Meg, and her cat Mog, pairs a simple text with boldly graphic illustrations that will grab the young child's attention. Following Meg as she gets up, gets dressed, prepares breakfast, and sets out (with Mog) for a witches' spell party, the narrative has a repetitive quality that will aid beginning readers, while the artwork is colorful (primary and secondary colors only), and makes use of simple shapes and clean lines. It involves every pupil, gives a book-centred focus for the entirety of the second half of the spring term each year, is both collaborative and creative, and makes our school environment a truly lovely place to be. So... Meg and Mog. Lovely artwork - simple, crisp, bright and expressive. Perfect for young minds (and their Daddy's). The story itself a bit of a let down. I was expecting more character development, more emotional angst - but there's nothing at stake here, nothing driving the tension... It's just a story about a witch, who lives with her cat and an owl. She gets ready to go out to a party, then goes to the party and the witches at the party all cast a spell, the spell goes wrong and turns the rest of the witches into mice (inexplicably sparing Meg herself), and the Meg's cat Mog chases the mice. The end. I mean.. who didn't see that twist at the end coming? But they cut out before the really juicy scene where Mog catches one of the mice, plays with it, teases it, slices it open, hooks out the purple wibbly organs with one claw, and eats the rest whole... Cover to Cover Cassettes is a company which Helen Nicoll founded which specialises in the production of complete and unabridged readings on audio cassette of 19th Century Classics and children's books. Puffin Cover to Cover story tapes offer children a wonderful listening experience and are the perfect introduction to the world of children's literature. Favourite Puffin stories, read by famous actors and actresses are brought vividly to life by the use of music and sound effects.

A successful stage play also ran in London in the 1980s, starring Maureen Lipman as Meg. [5] Titles [ edit ] Book series [ edit ] There are surprises galore for Meg, Mog and Owl in these three classic Meg and Mog stories: Meg's Eggs, Meg at Sea and Mog in the Fog. As ever, Meg casts her spells with the best of intentions but always with hilarious results. Children will love exploring the colours, sounds and shapes in this bumper volume, perfect for sharing or reading alone. It was produced by Carl Gorham and directed by Roger Mainwood, featuring the voices of Alan Bennett as Owl, Fay Ripley as Meg and Phil Cornwell as Mog with additional voices by Morwenna Banks and Paul Shearer.Dressing up to look like a fictional hero, therefore, should be a straightforward task: no particular amendments or embellishments are essential (and any individual parent’s desire to engage in a bit of one-upmanship should be firmly quashed). A couple of weeks prior to their voucher-spending bookshop excursion, each class decides on a title (through hustings and votes – it’s democracy in action) and they then work collaboratively on an alternative cover design which is produced at an appropriate scale to cover the classroom door. For unknown reasons, this plan never came through, and Absolutely instead teamed with Happy Life and Varcara to produce the series instead for a late-2003 delivery, with CITV purchasing UK broadcast rights. [3] The series was first broadcast in the UK within that time. [4] Over the years, titles chosen have ranged from The Three Little Pigs in Reception, through Q Pootle 5, The Bolds and The Ice Monster, to Chasing Vermeer, Running Wild and Wonder in Y6.

Helen Nicoll was born in Natland, Westmorland, in 1937. She was educated at schools in Bristol; Dartington Hall, Devon; and Froebel Education Institute, London. Helen Nicoll married Robert Kime in 1970 and they have one daughter and one son.Away from books, theatre has been a continuing interest of Jan's since Cambridge days. Among the shows he has designed are The Meg and Mog Show, two plays for Theatre de Complicité, Beauty And The Beast for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and a spectacular production of Sleeping Beauty for Disneyland, Paris. He studied English and Classics at Cambridge but spent most of his time designing posters, sets and costumes for student drama productions. While still in Cambridge, he was co-founder of the greetings card company, Gallery Five, of which he remains a director.