Catherine Rayner – illustrator and author
March 29th, 2008 by Vanessa
There are illustrators whose work comes to life with the right author to work with and there are authors whose words sparkle and fizz when accompanied by the right illustrations but there aren’t that many authors who also illustrate their work who really pull it off. Edinburgh author and artist Catherine Rayner is one of them and her first book Augustus and His Smile has been one of our top sellers since we opened because we’ve all fallen in love with the big tiger and his quest to find the smile that was lost when he woke up one morning.
We hand sell masses of copies of this book because everytime we hand it to a customer they too are beguiled by his Catherine’s beautiful paintings and her story of the big Bengal tiger. Augustus was highly acclaimed – he was one of Richard and Judy’s Christmas books and was shortlisted for the 2007 Kate Greenaway Medal.
Now Catherine has had two more titles published. Harris Finds His Feet is written and illustrated by her and is the story of a young hare who wonders why his feet are so huge and whose Grandad shows him how to use them so that he can hop high in the sky and run very fast. The second title is Posy, written by Linda Newbery and illustrated by Catherine. Posy is an adorable kitten who bounces through her day with the utmost charm and both of them show well how Catherine can draw animals with real character but without tweeness. The texture of the paint is beautiful 
and her lines drawings so spare and expressive. Her paintings are also sold by a number of galleries and Malcolm has been issued with very clear hints as to future birthday and Christmas presents!
On Monday 7th April at 11am Catherine will be here to read from all three books and sign books for her young fans. Do come along and meet her and snap up a signed copy by an author and illustrator who is sure to be a huge name in the future. It’s best to call us to get a ticket – it’s free but places are limited.
Two-year-old daughter was sat on my knee earlier looking at the computer screen, which happened to be showing your blog. “Book! Sad!” she kept saying, pointing to the screen. “Sad! Sad!” I was puzzled and didn’t know what she meant. Until it finally dawned on me – she was remembering the opening line from Augustus. “Augustus the tiger was sad because he had lost his smile.” So, as you can see, she is already a big fan of the Big Tiger and, as for me, I’m looking forward to introducing her to more of Catherine Rayner’s work over the coming months.
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