April 27th, 2021
A-Z of ArtistsBruce Ingman and The Pencil
This week we have reached letter 'I' in our alphabet and we are celebrating the brilliant work of author and illustrator Bruce Ingman. He has worked for many years with Allan Ahlberg illustrating gems such as The Pencil and The Runaway Dinner. Bruce loved the Pink Panther as a child and The Children’s Bookshow team still reminisce about the time that Bruce danced across the stage to The Pink Panther theme tune!
Book of the Week: The Pencil
by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Bruce Ingman

The Pencil is a playful, witty, wonderfully quirky story about the power of imagination. "Say hi to a boy called Banjo!" Once a pencil draws him, there's no telling what will come next - a dog, a cat, a chase (of course), and a paintbrush to colour in an ever-expanding group of family and friends. But it's not long before the complaints begin - "This hat looks silly!" "My ears are too big!" - until the poor pencil has no choice but to draw ... a rubber. Oh no!
Author in focus

Watch this reading of The Pencil
Activities!
Take Your Pencil for a Walk


Draw an Imaginary World
In the book, The Pencil creates a whole world of its own and everything it draws comes to life. If your art could come to life, what would you draw? Perhaps a new pet or a special friend? A rocket ship or a time machine? Maybe an enchanted forest or a world made of chocolate? Let your imagination (and your pencil) run wild!
Creative Characters
Create your own characters based on different inanimate objects. If they could speak, what would they say? Give them a voice and a personality by adding speech bubbles. You could even bring them to life using an animation app such as Chatterpix.
We’d love to see your creative drawings! To send us your work to display in our gallery use the link below, or upload to twitter with the hashtag #BookshowA-Z.