We’re so delighted to FINALLY be able to share more details about our fantastic 2023 shortlist, which we will be posting here between now and the winner announcement on 9 May. Please read them all, and see if you have a favourite to become our tenth winner!
Our first story to shine in the OBP spotlight is the amazing The Boy with Flowers in his Hair by Jarvis.
Judges called this book ‘delicate and beautiful’ and ‘timeless’ …. but wait, don’t take our word for it. Here’s what judge Benji Davies had to say:
We highly endorse borrowing or buying a copy, whether from a library, your local independent bookshop or of course our sponsor Amazon, who have a dedicated shortlist page: amazon.co.uk/oscarsbookprize
But that’s not all. The brilliant Jarvis, author and illustrator of this gorgeous book, has ever so kindly agreed to tell us more.
He’s also sent a special friend to help celebrate the shortlist….David himself!
Copyright Jarvis 2023
Please read on to find out a little more about Jarvis, and to read the answers he very kindly supplied for our Q&A…which includes telling us what Bob Shea books automatically do to their readers, and which books he’d gift to some very special characters.
Jarvis, good luck, and thank you so much!
What is the picture book that you have enjoyed reading with someone else most, and why?
Any Bob Shea book makes the person who reads it aloud into the funniest person. I would probably go with Who Wet My Pants (Illustrated by Zachariah Ohora) or Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great. But he has written so many wonderfully funny books that are so unique to him. I enjoy reading any of his aloud to my friend's kids.
What’s your favourite thing about each of the characters in The Boy with Flowers in His Hair?
Actually, my favourite thing is that at there is a boy who has flowers growing out of his head and none of the class mates treat him differently. I wanted all the characters to just be absolutely fine with that...because children often are completely fine with difference. It's only when he loses them that things change a little. And obviously my favourite character is the narrator, the best friend who sticks by David through his twiggy-ness, because that's something we all want in a friend.
Which picture book would you give as a gift to David and the narrator, and why?
Well for the narrator who likes a bit of paper cutting and painting i'd give him a book called The Great Paint by Alex Willmore about an artistic frog.
And for David, the boy with flowers in his hair, I'd go with Butterfly Child by Marc Majewski, which is a very beautifully flowery book about a boy who makes his own butterfly wings.
Photo: credit Matt Burgess