Mr MacMurdo's Guide to Ghostkeeping
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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.
Mr MacMurdo's Guide to Ghostkeeping
This is a splendid book. The art of ghost keeping has been very neglected of late and far too many people decide to go in for ghost keeping just on a whim or because, since films such as Ghostbusters, it is a craze among their friends. Without proper preparation and information about housing, feeding and training many of these ghosts, acquired unwisely, will end up abandoned in church yards or need to be rescued by the ghost protection organizations and have to be exorcised-homeless and unloved. It is to prevent such tragedies that MacMurdo has written this guide. From choosing the sort of ghost suitable for your home (headless horsemen should never be kept in built up areas, for instance) to entering your pet in the Ghost of the Year Show (for the serious fancier) every aspect of responsible ghost keeping is covered. No ghost keeper should be without this book, for as MacMurdo reminds us, 'a ghost is for life, not just for Halloween.'


