Mister Boo! is published! It is the latest book I’ve illustrated, and it is written by the lovely Joyce Dunbar.

Mister Boo! is the second book that Joyce has written for me. The first book ‘Grumpy Duck’ was awarded ‘Picture Book of the Year 2020′ in the Netherlands. I wrote a blog about it here.

I met Joyce almost five years ago at The Ted Hughes Arvon Centre, Lumb Bank where we were tutors. Over the week I worked with Joyce, and with the students had an amazing time. Seeing Joyce working, teaching, witnessing how creative she is, was a real life-enhancing experience and that week I learned so much from her. I would say, that Grumpy Duck was a natural result of our friendship and cooperation at the Arvon Center.

I must have done something good with the illustrations for ‘Grumpy Duck’, because a couple of years later Joyce wrote another book and asked me to illustrate it.

Mister Boo! is a story of a tom cat who is a bit mischievous, but he can’t help it. Many cats are like him.

One day, Mister Boo realises, that he is not as fast as he used to be and that things around him are slowly changing.

I loved the gentle, touching story straight away and although I consider cats to be rather difficult to draw (always challenging to draw a smiling cat), I couldn’t wait to start working on the book.

In an ideal world  I would start illustrating and keep going until the book is finished. It doesn’t always happen this way. I started working on Mister Boo! and then my work took me somewhere else a couple of times, but funnily enough, going back to the book was like coming home and meeting a cat who is waiting for you. I loved illustrating the book, painting the different seasons, seeing Mister Boo getting older.

I would like to say a big THANK YOU to my editors Denise Johnstone- Burt and Louise Jackson, who gave Joyce and me great support and and all the help we needed and THANK YOU to Walker Books who produced a book of great quality as always.

Thank you Joyce for the beautiful book and your friendship. It is a real joy working with you!