Sunday, September 17, 2017

Favourite childrens authors - Judith Kerr

Judith Kerr  (pronounced Kar) was born in 1923 the same year as my Mother.  My Mother made it to her 90th Birthday a good age but we still miss her. Fortunately Mrs Kerr seems to still be going strong.



I was introduced to Mrs Kerr's work by her Mog the Cat stories and these were followed on by her Classic "The Tiger who came to Tea".  I know she actually wrote Tiger first but as a Cat fan I met Mog first and have kept a soft spot for the daft cat.



Mog is the family pet of the Thomas family and gets into fixes sometimes with most surprising results. I was born too soon to have enjoyed these as a child, But teaching Primary aged children Mog came into her own. Then later my own children enjoyed her stories and so did I! There are a series of Mog adventures including Mog's final adventure Review here



The Tiger who came to tea is a stand alone. A satisfying story about a Tiger coming for tea and adding a little excitement to the day. The Tiger was very hungry but also very polite and this story is curiously satifactory for small children.

Mrs Kerr has led a most interesting life born in Germany, escaping from Hitler aged 9 moving to Switzerland then France and finally Britain. She tells her story in her semi-autobiographical novel "When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit"

There are some lovely videos of Judith Kerr talking about her work and life on youtube.



When Judith Kerr draws

Interview

Documentary

An interesting and quietly amazing Lady who has given many people a n awful lot of please ..me included. Thank you Mrs Kerr.

4 comments:

  1. They are beautiful books. We were given the Tiger who came to Tea as a hand me down from cousins, when my youngest was born. Loved it. Still do. Many conversations about how the tiger managed to drink all the water from the tap.

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    1. I think that tiger must've had a cold water tank in the roof of the house (I grew up with one) the new idea of straight from the mains might've foxed even the most thirsty tiger :)

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  2. I only discovered Judith Kerr when my girlie was little. The Tiger Who Came To Tea was a favourite then and it still is now.

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    1. It must be fun to introduce Old favourites to the new Generation! I still can't get rid of our girls favourites but I may have to keep them on the shelves for quite a while ...and perhaps just read them to the cat to keep in practice! (that'll cement my reputation for dottiness for sure)

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from an old gravestone

If you hold your nose to the Grindstone
and you leave it there long enough,
Then soon you'll say
there's no such things
as brooks that babble
and birds that sing,
these three will all your world compose,
just you, the stone and your poor old nose.

(from memory so may not be word perfect)