The Children’s Book Award is the only national award for children’s books that is voted for entirely by children. It is owned and coordinated by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups and is highly respected by teachers, parents and librarians. It has brought acclaim and strong sales to past winners such as J.K. Rowling, Patrick Ness, Andy Stanton, Malorie Blackman, Anthony Horowitz and Michael Morpurgo, who has won a record four times. The award has often been the first to recognise the future stars of children’s fiction and has the ability to turn popular authors into bestsellers.

This post is celebrating one of the Top Ten Books for Younger Children: ‘The Princess and the (Greedy) Pea’ – a great twist on the classic There Was an old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.

“There was a green pea who swallowed a sprout. Without a doubt, a Brussels sprout. What’s that about?

This little pea is SO hungry! So hungry that he has swallowed a sprout, slurped down some soup, munched all the bread, wolfed down the pie, gobbled the cake, noshed all the pickle, guzzled the cheese (that made him sneeze), drank all the tea, and then, chomped up the table! And after ALL that, he needs to have a rest. But just WHOSE food was he eating? And WHOSE bed is he resting in? Cue … one very grumpy, very hungry princess … with a taste for revenge.”

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How and why I made my book “The Princess and the Greedy Pea” by Leigh Hodgkinson.

So my book “The Princess and the Greedy Pea” is actually a wonky version of the story “There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly”. When I was a kid we used to listen to the Burl Ives song version which I just loved.

Then when I had children of my own I found a tatty old copy of the book in a charity shop.It was a square book with die cut holes in it and was illustrated by Pam Adams. I would read this book to our little children- who traced their chubby little fingers around the holes in the pages and found it all completely hilarious. Soon enough, the rhyming couplets of the story found their way into being sung to them every night at bedtime.

Eventually, it became the last song I sang before kissing them goodnight. It dawned on me that singing the last line of the song “she’s dead, of course” felt a trifle odd and macabre, as that would be the last thing they would hear before going to sleep. (The whole line was “I know an old lady who swallowed a horse, she’s dead of course”.) So I started making up silly humorous alternatives to sing instead. (Which incidentally did not make it conducive to falling to sleep as they got too excited, flinging out their crazy ideas to add into the mix!) Years later, I remembered this and wrote some of it down. I started drawing the Greedy Pea and thought that it would make a very fun book!

The Princess bit I added as I wanted a secondary narrative running through the book that added a funny and unexpected ending. The original story of the “Princess and the Pea” had always intrigued me and I always felt a bit sorry for the Pea (as it felt like the unsung hero- who nobody really cares about and was treated just like a narrative prop).

As a kid, I thought the story, this Princess test was SO ridiculously unbelievable… Like a Princess (or anyone!) would be able to tell if there was a tiny pea under her mattress! But HUGE pea- now that would be a different matter! This was perfect for my story and as luck would have it- I happened to know a HUGE pea that would be perfect!
The joys and challenges of making my book “The Princess and the Greedy Pea”

In my picture books I always strive to make each spread visually different to keep it interesting. This can be achieved by dramatically changing location, composition and characters.

However with this story- most of it all happens in ONE place (the royal banqueting table), most of it just has ONE character in it (the Greedy Pea). So the challenge was- how to make each page feel different, have its own identity and not be boring (I really didn’t want to make a boring book!) If you look at a challenge as a creative opportunity to do something new- it becomes much less scary and much more fun!

So that is what I did…I used a gradual colour change throughout the whole book with a subtle horizontal pan to the right with each page turn which gives a sense of movement. I also was playful with scale and proportion which helps add drama and energy to the book.

One of the design aspects I enjoyed the most while making the book was creating all of the fancy tableware. It was a great opportunity to get playful with colour, shape and pattern (all things I love!)

The story is set in just one inside location and I wanted to avoid it all looking a bit samey. So to help prevent this, I made scenery props (like the bowls and plates) really fun. The round edges of the crockery with twirly patterns of flora and fauna would provide a nice contrast to the straight harsh edges of the table, chairs and the room. I saw the long royal banqueting table like a sort of crockery catwalk fashion show. The chance for a lovely plate to grab the limelight before moving out of the way for the next one!

Oh I did have such fun making this book- I really hope you have as much fun reading it!

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Does this sound like a winner to you? If so, use the link below to head to the FCBG website and cast your vote…

Who Will Win?? FCBG groups are voting within their group and non-members can vote online via the link at https://fcbg.org.uk/cba-2024/. The deadline for voting is Friday 18th May. The category winners and the author of the best children’s book published in 2024 will be announced at a ceremony in Birmingham on 8th June, attended by representatives from all our local groups.

Jo.