Listen to the Dark
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Cover Story
The cover of this issue is a design incorporating illustrations from four books illustrated by the subject of our Authorgraph, Ian Beck. The top left illustration is from Five Little Ducks (Orchard), the top right from Poppy and Pip's Picnic (to be published Autumn '97 by HarperCollins), the bottom left from The Owl and the Pussy-cat (Transworld) and the bottom right from Home Before Dark (to be published September '97 by Scholastic). Ian Beck's Picture Book (Hippo) is reviewed in this issue.
Beck talks to BfK's interviewer, Julia Eccleshare, also in this issue. His distinctive decorative style with its sensitive pen line and cross hatching has a nostalgic but sometimes also a surreal quality - he describes it as 'a look that is floating, strong and wistful all at the same time'.
Thanks to Orchard, HarperCollins, Transworld and Scholastic for their help in producing this composite cover.
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Listen to the Dark
Mark has no friends and is bullied at school. Dad is unemployed and has retreated to silence and the comfort of the bottle. Mum is losing the battle and becoming more resentful. A depressing and realistic portrait of a dysfunctional family. Then Mark hears someone calling his name in a deserted park and the name 'Lucy' appears on the window of the pretty pink and white spare room; the room that seems to belong to a different, happier family. Mark gradually unfolds the secret that has been kept from him - the brain-damaged older sister who lies in a hospital bed visited once a month by Mum. It is her accident that has almost destroyed the family and it is through admitting the truth that the healing can begin. Some remarkably deft characterisation in this short yet moving book which asks us to understand why and how this dreadful situation was allowed to develop.
