The latest children’s book by local writer and illustrator Oliver Brooks, Stranger Things Happen at Sea, is due to hit the shelves this week going on sale on Saturday, April 1 at the first Rye Arts and Crafts Fair.
The bright colourful illustrations tell the story of Polly’s adventures in Professor Physh’s newly invented sailing boat. Portrayed in a fun, lively and humorous way, it is a great introduction for young children to the themes, creatures and characters found in other myths and stories from the sea, including Polly’s encounters with a sea dragon, pirates, King Neptune and flying fish.
Oliver says: “I wanted it to feel like a novelty book from the 1930s, I am very much influenced by the newspaper comics of the early 20th century, like Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay and The Kin-der Kids by Lyonnel Feininger (who would later go onto to co-found the Bauhaus school), and Stranger Things Happen at Sea is my attempt at that kind of storytelling, where the characters aren’t so important, it’s what happens to them, the strange things they encounter. It’s like a game a child plays with their action figures, where there’s no structure, or logic; things happen because the child playing the game says it can. It’s child logic.”
Rye Arts and Crafts Fair – Saturday April 1 at the Community Centre, Lion Street from 10am to 4pm.
Image Credits: Oliver Brrooks Used for book review with permission. , Oliver Brrooks Used for book review with permission .