The National Literacy Trust and Wild in Art have jointly launched their new website: Books About Town today. This extraordinary idea sees 50 book shaped benches installed all over London for the Summer. It’s a wonderful incentive, a joyous celebration of books and reading and surely guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face and encourage more people to pick up the books and get reading!
From Mary Poppins, to Poirot, Treasure Island to the Gruffalo; from Paddington Bear to Narnia, and onwards to James Bond… all the classics are there! And guess who is beside the Tower of London/London Bridge? It’s Katie, in her 25th anniversary year!
Because of the chosen city where the benches were to be placed, Katie in London was the obvious subject to choose. While most benches have been created by commissioned artists, a few rare benches have been created by the ORIGINAL illustrator of the book. And in just one case, the original author (who is also the illustrator) has hand-painted the bench. Can you guess who?
I confess it was quite a tricky task. The curve of the bench makes everything distorted to almost Salvador Dali extremes! And because I did not know the exact destination for the finished bench, it was hard to choose a particular scene from the book. In the end, I created Katie’s own playful map of London, which seemed just the right child-friendly solution.
And this is a detail of the back view… which sort of represents the “cover” of the book bench!
And so… you can now sit on my bench of Katie in London – the perfect place to include on your Summer holiday trips to the capital city and the Tower of London. And where better to read the NEW EDITION of Katie in London, just published in a bigger, better format? How handy that Tower Bridge is on the new cover!
Send me your pictures of the bench! I may even put a few on the website… like these!
Oh and many thanks to Hachette for sponsoring the bench. It will be auctioned on October 7th for the charity, so if you want the most unique piece of Katie art in the whole world, get your purses ready then!
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