The Artist

Product Information

Vere worked with CLPE to co-create the Power of Pictures, a 12-week scheme in which author/illustrators teach teachers about writing techniques.

Kirkus starred review-'Colorful, boldly imaginative, dynamic, quirky, and wonderfully child-appealing illustrations. . . . This book proclaims what children already know: Creativity and making art spark joy.' By the time a child arrives at primary school they’re able to use this visual vocabulary creatively when they‘read’pictures and when they draw, yet we don’t harness either. Worse still, most children have given up drawing by the age of 9 or 10 (believing there’s a right and wrong way – there isn’t). In doing so, they lose a vital form of self-expression which they don’t have another outlet for. Careless of us in these times where we’re supposedly more aware than ever of emotional wellbeing. A fable celebrating ingenuity, teamwork, and asking for help from the New York Times-bestselling author of Max the Brave and How to Be a Lion. Ed worked with CLPE toco-createthe award winning Power of Picturesprogrammewhich encourages visual literacy in primary schooleducation andhas received major funding from the Arts Council, EEF & RSA.You can read an article in The Guardian relating to this work here .Even if readers don't need encouragement to unleash their own talents, they should be intrigued by this protagonist's arc toward artistic assurance Publishers Weekly

We understand complex expressions and emotions through drawings from a very early age, in ways we can’t yet do with the written word or spoken language.There is something very special about that space in between the pictures and the words. A place which asks your imagination to fill the gap. A good picture book should leave room between words and pictures. Pictures don’t simply illustrate the words – they tell their own story, on a multitude of levels. If we make time to examine them. How to Be a Lion, by Ed Vere (Penguin Random House, June 2018) Nominated for the 2019 Kate Greenaway Medal and the 2019 Carnegie Medal Vere describes the book as 'a painted and written travelogue, a journey of discovery, it aims to engender a love of nature in a world increasingly disconnected from it. The book will discuss issues around freedom, conservation and what we can do to create a world in which wildlife thrives, rather than perishes.' The book aims to properly discuss the issues at hand and consequently is aimed at a wide-ranging audience from 8 year-old to adult. As I mentioned at the beginning,it’s about howwe connect with another person. By using drawing and pictures, we engage, we animate - we get an idea to live in another mind. Positive role models showing boys how to be a whole person are few and far between these days. This marvelous book triumphs in that essential job." Kirkus

Ed Vere is an award winning and New York Times bestselling writer & illustrator of picture books. He is a patron at CLPE and isthe artist in residence at the Born Free Foundation.From the moment a child comes into the world they are searching for visual clues. Trying to understand if you are friend or foe, through facial expression and body language. Pictures speak this language fluently. Pictures intimate emotions, feelings and nuances that words cannot because of this sophisticated visual vocabulary (which we are constantly building). Pictures are open to interpretation – there’s nothing concrete to get right or wrong - which means they’re open to discussion. Yn ddiweddarach, mae hi'n penderfynu mynd i fyw yn y ddinas gyda llawer o waliau gwag i'w paentio fel bod mwy o bobl yn gallu gweld ei chelf ac edrych o ddifrif. Ond mae hi'n colli'i hyder pan mae hi'n dechrau gwneud camgymeriadau a lliwio y tu allan i'r llinellau. Mae bron â rhoi'r ffidl yn y to â'i chelf nes iddi sylweddoli mai'r galon yn y celf sy'n wirioneddol bwysig. I struggled enormously with literacy projects at school, English comprehension was an unending nightmare. I just didn’t get it. Drawing was another matter. Some children are academic thinkers – others, just as bright, think in other ways; spatially or visually. We must learn how to engage them, so they don’t come to believe, as I did, that they aren’t worth much. He has also been an invited speaker at many literary festivals in the UK and internationally, including;Hay Festival,Bath Festival,Edinburgh International Book festival in the UK.And;Cuirt International Book Festival, Galway, Ireland;Towers and Tales, Waterford, Ireland;International Literarture Festival, Dublin;Guadalajara FIL, Mexico (British Council); Hay Festival Kerala, India (British Council); Flupp International literature festival, Rio, Brazil (British Council);VallettaFestival of Children's Literature, Malta (British Council) Someone who sees beauty... Someone with a mind full of colours, feelings, and ideas... Someone who plays and dreams and makes...