In August 2022 we heard the news that the British author and illustrator Raymond Briggs had passed away. Best known for his cartoon-strip picture books for older children including The Snowman, Father Christmas and Fungus the Bogeyman, the work of Raymond Briggs has enchanted and enthralled children and families for over four decades.
I revisited two of Brigg’s classics recently to great delight.
The Snowman - a gentle, quiet story told purely through pictures – tells the tale of a young boy who builds a snowman that comes to life in the night. As the boy invites his new friend inside the house, we see the mundane objects of daily life transform into joyful objects to be explored and investigated. The Snowman is full of wonder at how a light switch turns the lights on and off, relishes the delicious taste of cold ice cubes, and gets a shock at the squeezy exuberance of a bottle of dishwashing detergent.
After exploring the boy’s world thoroughly, the Snowman takes the boy by the hand and leads him outside into a different world – the Snowman’s world. Together they lift off, flying through the snow across the white landscape below. With the coming of dawn, it’s time to race back to bed. As the friends say goodbye, and the Snowman takes his place once again in the garden, we can’t help but get an inkling of what is coming next. With the arrival of the day, the young boy wakes and rushes out into the garden to discover his friend has melted with the sun.
The Snowman, forty-four years after it was first published, is still a beautiful reminder for readers both young and old to seize the moment, find joy in the small things and bask in the pleasure of our friends while we can.
By contrast, Brigg’s cartoon-strip picture book Father Christmas gives the usually jolly man a definite grumpy twist to great, and often very funny, effect. The book covers the entirety of the 24th of December from Father Christmas’s point of view; from waking up as his alarm clock rings – shattering blissful dreams of sunny beaches and surf – to his curmudgeonly approach to his night’s work. The only text in the book is his grumpy outbursts as he curses the snow (“Blooming snow”), chimneys (“Blooming chimneys”) and even TV aerials (“Blooming aerials”). And yet, as he returns home after a hard night’s work, we see another, slightly softer side of this Santa, as he prepares his solo turkey feast and pudding, unwraps his presents (“Horrible socks from Cousin Violet”) and gently falls asleep in front of the telly.
I remember poring over the detail of each cartoon strip in the book as a kid – revelling in the detail of Christmas Eve packed into each picture. The family asleep in their beds, as their neighbours throw a late-night party, the every-day details of Father Christmas’s morning routine, his habit of making a hot water bottle before he heads upstairs to bed, the aging posters of sun-baked holiday spots on the walls of his kitchen. There is a feast of jokes and fascination in each strip for keen eyes, and as we head towards the holiday season, I think young readers will love this detailed and funny portrait of the Man in Red.
Find The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
Find Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs
Rowena
Format
Picture Book
Subject
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