The Green Ship: Celebrate Quentin Blake’s 90th Birthday

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Have you ever played imaginary games like the children in this story? You may want to record or write your story and keep it in a memory box. If you liked this book, you might enjoy… An old favourite from the days of bedtime reading. Two children climb over a wall and discover a large and wild garden with a green ship made out of trees and bushes. They befriend the elderly owner and spend happy days here during their summer holidays. I often think of this book at the end of the summer. Why do you think she says, ‘ What would the captain have done?’ and later, ‘ The captain would have been proud of you.‘?

The Green Ship: Celebrate Quentin Blake’s 90th Birthday The Green Ship: Celebrate Quentin Blake’s 90th Birthday

Does anyone know what the different parts of the ship are? (bow, stern, funnel, masts, wheelhouse).Quentin was the inaugural Children's Laureate (1999-2001), an experience he recorded in his book Laureate's Progress. During his time in the role, he celebrated children's books and children's book illustration with a range of projects and exhibitions, and conceived the idea for the House of Illustration, the world's first centre dedicated to the art of illustration in all its forms. This is a beautiful example of how powerful our imagination is and how we should remember that as we get older. Share first thoughts and record the children’s questions. You can use these to initiate discussion. Either read the book with the children or if you have sufficient copies, allow them to read it independently and make notes using a few open prompts such as:

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Quentin Blake was born in 1932 and read English at Cambridge, before attending Chelsea Art College. He has won many major prizes for illustration, including the Kate Greenaway Medal (1980) and the Red House Children's Book Award (1981) for Mister Magnolia. He is also the winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration and in 1990 was voted 'The Illustrator's Illustrator' by Observer Magazine. A tireless promoter of children's literature – and a long-time collaborator with roald Dahl – Quentin Blake was awarded the OBE in 1988 and in 2005 he was awarded a CBE for services to Children's Literature. In the most recent New Year’s Honours list he has been knighted.

Two children find the Green Ship when they climb over the wall into what is more like a forest than a garden. The ship has bushes for bows and stern and its funnels are trees; a small garden shed on an ancient stump is the wheelhouse and in command of the ship is the owner of the garden, old Mrs Tredegar. Throughout the summer she, the Bosun and the two children sail the Seven Seas visiting exotic faraway places and having wonderful adventures. Alice says they should go and look at the ship. What would you have done, if you were in the same position?