Social distancing with the Gruffalo

Illustration © by Axel Scheffler 2020, based on characters from The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler © 1999 (Macmillan Children’s Books)

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo.
‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

— J.R.R. Tolkein

It’s funny how quickly we can adapt to new situations.

Before COVID-19, I found video chat pretty uncomfortable. Now it feels quite normal. Yet there are still great feelings of uncertainty about the future.

How long will we need to remain socially distanced?

When will a vaccine be found?

This is how one young boy, Jaheim, expressed himself in a recent BBC News video:

 

“I’m really scared of this coronavirus because it kills people. And I am also sick of it and worried.”

- Coronavirus: When can we hug our friends and family again?

 

Mixed and muddled messages from the government and media don’t help either. This statement, in an article yesterday on the staggered reopening of UK schools, left me very confused: If any pupils or staff - or anyone they live with - develop coronavirus symptoms, they will be advised to stay away from school.

Advised? I thought we still had to self isolate if we displayed symptoms! No wonder people still feel confused.

 Perhaps the recent COVID themed work by The Gruffalo creators Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler should have been mandatory reading.

Because it’s really rather good.

It was Scheffler who had the idea of updating some of their iconic characters (Stick Man, Zog et al.) to reflect how life was changing:

 

I am not a nurse, I am not a doctor, and the situation is awful. And I thought, what can I do? As an illustrator, this is what I can do.

 

Donaldson didn’t want to appear preachy, and Scheffler’s work is naturally humorous. So the results are a lighthearted way to instruct kids on the new norm: twelve illustrations ‘depicting their famous characters adjusting to social distancing, home-schooling and helping others during the COVID-19 crisis’.

I especially enjoyed their reimagined scene from Room on the Broom. It features appropriately distanced characters - the witch is wearing a protective face mask (although her nose remains uncovered) and her cauldron is full of loo rolls!

 

Artwork and verse © Axel Scheffler and Julia Donaldson 2020, based on characters from Room on the Broom © 2001 (Macmillan Children’s Books)

 

But I think Scheffler does himself a great disservice by saying, “It’s really more about entertainment than serious information.”

Sometimes serious information is best served in a fun package.

Like sugar-coating a bitter pill.

 

Text © Nosy Crow 2020 | Illustration © Axel Scheffler 2020 | Shared under a Creative Commons Licence

 Scheffler has also illustrated a free coronavirus booklet for primary school-age children. Coronavirus: A book for children (Nosy Crow 2020).

Written with input from a child psychologist, two headteachers and a Professor of Infectious Disease, it answers key questions in simple language: 

 

What is the coronavirus? 

How do you catch it?

How can I help control it?

Why have some places closed? 

What might happen next?

 

Text © Nosy Crow 2020 | Illustration © Axel Scheffler 2020 | Shared under a Creative Commons Licence

 

Professor Graham Medley, (Professor of Infectious Disease Modelling at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine) advisor to the project, explains why products like this are so important:

 

This pandemic is changing children’s lives across the globe and will have a lasting impact on us all. Helping children understand what is going on is an important step in helping them cope and making them part of the story – this is something that we are all going through, not something being done to them. This book puts children IN the picture rather just watching it happen, and in a way that makes the scary parts easier to cope with.

 

Text © Nosy Crow 2020 | Illustration © Axel Scheffler 2020 | Shared under a Creative Commons Licence

 

‘Fear and worry and feeling scared are totally normal and appropriate at the moment,’ says Dr Radha Modgil, GP and Wellbeing Expert. ‘Tell a trusted adult, a parent, a teacher, or a carer how you feel.’

That’s why resources like those described her, aimed at families, are invaluable. They help address our fears and make sense of what is becoming the new norm. By putting children in the picture, we are including them in these conversations.

Coronavirus: A book for children concludes with the line:

 

One day, this strange time will end.

 I can relate to Scheffler’s sense of helplessness: What can I do? When the pandemic really kicked off, I asked myself the same question. 

And, like Scheffler, I concluded I should continue doing what I do best. 

Tell stories.

Because that is what I can do.

So I have read to my nephew (via video chat), several times a week.

I have written several articles on this blog, guiding parents and carers to books that might help them support their children.

And I have been busy working on my own creative response: Gus Munchie: My Lockdown Diary.

I planned to release Gus Munchie before lockdown lifted, which is not going to happen (I am still writing it). But things will take a long time to really get back to anything like ‘normal’. And with predicted future spikes in COVID and localised lockdowns ahead of us, it will remain relevant for some time.

To quote Gus Munchie: ‘My Lockdown Diary might become historically important, like the Secret Diary of Samuel Pepys or the Wimpy Kid.’

 

From Gus Munchie: My Lockdown Diary © by Tim Warnes 2020

Gus Munchie: My Lockdown Diary will be released in fourteen daily instalments online, beginning June 19th, 2020.

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Download a free copy of Coronavirus: book for children hereSourcesThe Lord of the Rings Book 1: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein 11 LITERARY QUOTES THAT SPEAK TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC by Lily Dunn (Bookriot.com, Mar 31, 2020)Coronavirus: When can we hug our friends and family again? (BBC News) Coronavirus: When are schools reopening? by Ben Milne & Paul Kerley (BBC News) Stay in your cave: the Gruffalo lends a claw to the coronavirus effort by Esther Addley (The Guardian 04 April 2020)The Gruffalo on Facebook The Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson shows her characters social distancing (BBC News, 03 April 2020) Actor Hugh Bonneville voices audio for Nosy Crow’s coronavirus book for children (Nosy Crow Blog April 20, 2020 Coronavirus: A book for children by Elizabeth Jenner, Kate Wilson and Nia Robert (Nosy Crow 2020) The Gruffalo, Stick Man and the Smartest Giant in Town lend a paw, a stick and a hand to help with the coronavirus effort (BookTrust, 06 April 2020)Gus Munchie: My Lockdown Diary by Tim Warnes (2020)