David Lucas
About Author
David Lucas grew up in Hackney, East London, and studied illustration at the Royal College of Art. He lives and works in West London. His first book for Andersen Press, Halibut Jackson was published to great acclaim.
Interview
August 2009
CAKE GIRL
(Andersen Press)
David Lucas Cake Girl is a lavishly-illustrated picture book about a witch who bakes a Cake Girl to keep her company on her birthday. Cake Girl is charged with entertaining the witch and doing the housework. Then, says the witch, I will eat you.
Happily, that is where the echoes of Hansel and Gretel end as Cake Girl finds a way to encourage the witch to become more likeable. Cake Girl realises that the witch is lonely rather than nasty and so teaches her how to make friends. Instead of getting eaten, Cake Girl shares the witchs birthday and they end up as best friends.
Lucas earlier stories have included Halibut Jackson, The Robot and the Bluebird and Whale. Each of his books delivers a fairly sophisticated message that will appeal to slightly older children aged four or five years plus, but the simplicity of their telling and the beautiful artwork will also appeal to younger children.
Cake Girl, for example, covers friendship and loneliness and is told with humour and warmth. Older readers will love the detail in the pages, such as the weather gauge on the witchs hat that whizzes around while she thinks, and the humour of the witchs reaction when Cake Girl suggests, You dont have to eat me? The witch eyes her up and says, Hmmm Difficult. You do look delicious. However, the witch does agree to eat a slice of bread and butter instead.
Of course Cake Girl is also all about food, a subject that has huge appeal to younger children, says the author David Lucas. Food is so important to children. The whole world seems to be edible in some way everything goes into their mouths.
For him, the story also revisits one of his favourite books as a child, a pop-up version of Hansel and Gretel where the witchs cottage looked so delicious but was combined with something so ugly.
Each of the spreads in Lucas work is beautifully detailed and offers many different ways to draw a child into a page. Lucas says, I enjoyed creating the scene where Cake Girl is doing the witchs washing up, it was an excuse to draw crazy interiors and a huge amount of junk. Even the end pages at the start and finish of each of his books set the scene and provide a view of the ending of the story.
The story is, ultimately, about creativity the witch is saved by her creation, Cake Girl, reflecting the importance of he authors own sense of design, beauty and creativity.
He says, I like to make the pages look decorative. Im interested in medieval and decorative arts and the way decoration was seen as something so important. A simple pattern can have a profound importance to the person creating it and that has been forgotten in our modern society. People used to decorate and enjoy the buildings they had made but now we dont.
He also describes a very austere childhood in a home that had little that was luxurious or beautiful. I was born in Middlesborough on the edge of a new development and I remember thinking how soulless the new shopping centre was, and I was only about three years old at the time.
After leaving school, he did a variety of jobs, including working at the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, but his first picture book, Halibut Jackson, wasnt published until 2003. He says, For me, picture books are about trying to fit a complicated idea into a simple structure and my stories are autobiographical.
In the book, Halibut Jackson, Halibut is very shy and prefers not to be noticed so he makes different clothing to match his surroundings. When hes invited to the palace, he decides to wear a suit of gold and silver, not realising its a garden party. Having been noticed, he realises that the only person he actually needs to be is himself.
Lucas says, Halibut Jackson was about me finding myself. I think people can wear lots of different disguises depending on who they are with, but they are only fooling themselves. Everyone knows what you are really like, and that is what Halibut Jackson discovers.
David Lucas' Cake Girl (Andersen Press) is about a witch who bakes a 'Cake Girl' to keep her company on her birthday. Cake Girl is charged with entertaining the witch and doing the housework. "Then", says the witch, "I will eat you".
Happily, that is where the similarities with Hansel and Gretel end as Cake Girl finds a way to encourage the witch to become more likeable. Cake Girl realises that the witch is lonely rather than nasty and so teaches her how to make friends. Instead of getting eaten, Cake Girl shares the witch's birthday and they end up as best friends.
Lucas' earlier stories have included Halibut Jackson, The Robot and the Bluebird and Whale. Each of his books delivers a fairly sophisticated message that will appeal to slightly older children aged four or five years plus, but the simplicity of their telling and the beautiful artwork will also appeal to younger children.
Cake Girl, for example, covers friendship and loneliness and is told with humour and warmth. Older readers will love the detail in the pages, such as the weather gauge on the witch's hat that whizzes around while she thinks, and the humour of the witch's reaction when Cake Girl suggests (nervously), "You don't have to eat me?" The witch eyes her up and says, "Hmmm... Difficult. You do look delicious," but agrees to a slice of bread and butter instead.
Of course Cake Girl is also all about food, a subject that has huge appeal to younger children, says the author David Lucas. "Food is so important to children. The whole world seems to be edible in some way everything goes into their mouths." For him, the story also revisits one of his favourite books as a child, a pop-up version of Hansel and Gretel where the witch's cottage "looked so delicious but was combined with something so ugly".
Each of the spreads in Lucas' work is beautifully detailed and offers many different ways to draw a child into a page. Lucas says, "I enjoyed creating the scene where Cake Girl is doing the witchs washing up, it was an excuse to draw crazy interiors and a huge amount of junk. Even the end pages at the start and finish of each of his books set the scene and provide a view of the ending of the story.
The story is, ultimately, about creativity the witch is saved by her creation, Cake Girl, reflecting the importance of the author's own sense of design, beauty and creativity. He says, "I like to make the pages look decorative. Im interested in medieval and decorative arts and the way decoration was seen as something so important. A simple pattern can have a profound importance to the person creating it and that has been forgotten in our modern society. People used to decorate and enjoy the buildings they had made but now we dont."
He also describes a very austere childhood in a home that had little that was luxurious or beautiful. "I was born in Middlesborough on the edge of a new development and I remember thinking how soulless the new shopping centre was, and I was only about three years old at the time."
After leaving school, he did a variety of jobs, including working at the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, but his first picture book, Halibut Jackson, wasn't published until 2003. He says, "For me, picture books are about trying to fit a complicated idea into a simple structure and my stories are autobiographical.
In the book, Halibut Jackson, Halibut is very shy and prefers not to be noticed so he makes different clothing to match his surroundings so he can blend in and disappear. When he's invited to the palace, he decides to wear a suit of gold and silver, not realising it's a garden party. Having been noticed, he realises that the only person he actually needs to be is himself.
Lucas says, "Halibut Jackson was about me finding myself. I think people can wear lots of different disguises depending on who they are with, but they are only fooling themselves. Everyone knows what you are really like, and that is what Halibut Jackson discovers."
David Lucas's new book, Cake Girl (Andersen Press), is a feast for the eyes. A lonely witch creates a 'Cake Girl' to share her birthday - but will she make friends with Cake Girl, or eat her?
