The Spark Gap
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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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The Spark Gap
Gran is dead and Kessie cannot face the prospect of going to live with her feckless mother and her even more feckless boyfriend. Initially the idea of living with the two drop-outs on the roof of the Glasgow tower-block seems ridiculous but Kessie can see no other option. Friendship develops with Mauve who makes a little money from her stunning skyscraper and rather more slowly with the emotionally battered Skip, who does a little busking. The gritty first half of the novel gives way to a more idyllic second as a less-than-believable deal with a gallery owner allows them to travel north and see a different Scotland. The end is further complicated by some unnecessary supernatural shenanigans. This is a first novel from a talented writer - but the three elements of this story do not quite come together.
