Reviews: The Carnival of the Animals

Poetry, music and art come together in a vibrant celebration Saint-Sa�ns� Carnival of the Animals. This review was first published The Camden New Journal, 22 December, 2005.

   The music was inspired by the movement of animals, and although the composer thought it frivolous at the time, The Carnival of the Animals has become his most popular composition. Now 13 poets have, in their turn, been inspired by that music by the French composer Camille Saint-Sa�ns.

   And those poems have inspired a Japanese illustrator who lives in Belsize Park [This contradicts a later assertion in this article that Satoshi lives in Muswell Hill. Muswell Hill is correct.] . All are collected in this beautiful book. The poets were chosen by the founders of the Poems on the Underground, Judith Chernaik, who lives in Gospel Oak, Gerard Benson of Highgate and Cicerly Herbert, from Hampstead.

   They were chosen for their likeness to the animals in the Saint-Sa�ns� zoological fantasy and all had previously been included in the popular Poems on the Underground collection. �James Berry just had to be the lion,� explains writer Judith Chernaik. �He is just so dignified.�

   Adrian Mitchell was perfect for the plodding elephant because he signs his books with a little elephant�s head. Kit Wright was the cock, Charles Gausley seemed a swan, and so on. The poets were chosen, as the award-winning Japanese children�s writer and illustrator, Satoshi Kitamura, has illustrated the book. He spent much of the last year going to Hampstead Heath, Primrose Hill and London Zoo to draw the animals, and says this is one of his best works. Complete with a Saint-Sa�ns CD directed by Chernaik�s son David, the end product � with music inspired by animals, poems inspired by music, and illustrations by all three � the book is its own carnival of mammals.

   More than 100 years ago, Saint-Sa�ns� pictured animals dancing to popular songs. He dashed off scores and sent them to his friend. Saint-Sa�ns� felt the music was too frivolous to publish. Today, the Carnival is among the most popular compositions. All the poets have had the work published by Poems on the Underground � which celebrates its 20th anniversary in January. The charity, funded by the Arts Council since its conception, has proved a huge success. But why is Chernaik, who wrote a poem for the collection, the tortoise?

   She says: �It�s something personal. Anyone who knows me well enough will know.� Beneath the mottled shell of Chernaik�s tortoise, �beats the heart of a young dancer�. It dreams of twirling on table tops, turning cartwheels and longs for a kiss. She says: �There was an illustrated version of the Carnival by Ogden Nash. But I found it very tedious. I once saw that Satoshi�s artwork went up in the Metro in Tokyo. It was a bit like Poems on the Underground � ever since I�ve wanted to work with him.

   �Satoshi brings the whole thing to life. He listened to all the music and read the poems before he started drawing. He is quite wonderful.� Kitamura was born in 1956 in Tokyo. When he was young he read comics and these influenced his style. He says he was influenced by anything visual from a tin of sardines to fine art. Although not trained as an artist, aged 19 he worked commercially in Japan as an illustrator for adverts and magazines. He moved to London in 1979 and mainly designed greeting cards. Speaking at his Muswell Hill home, Kitamura says: �I like music very much and the poems of Adrian Mitchell and Wendy Cope. It really is the most brilliant book � it is not often you get a really good idea from publishers. I feel very lucky to be given the job.

   �I really wanted to do it but it was difficult. I had to experiment with new styles and mingle the music in my head. I would sit listening to music watching the animals at the zoo move.�

   But life has not always been a walk in the park for Kitamura. �It isn�t easy living in London as an illustrator,� he says. �I had to get by doing some translating work.� Kitamura revealed his anguish at not being recognised in his home country. He says: �They think that I am fooling in Japan. It�s sad. They can�t relate to the pictures. They say they are un-Japanese but I was influenced by traditional Japanese drawing.�

Reviewed by Tom Foot.

An online review.

   The front cover is unmistakable Kitamura; reminiscent of another set of poems that he enlivened with his artistry � We Animals Would Like a Word With You. But there is no uniformity about his style within the pages. He has clearly matched his illustrations to the tone of the poem, so we get large-eyed hens, their bodies full of expression, amongst a field of green dots and dashes, counterpointed with a majestic gliding swan or silhouetted bouncing kangaroos against a vivid blue background.

   Some of the fourteen poems are excellent. I particularly liked Charles Causley�s Swan, (could this have been his final offering before his death in the same year?), Wendy Cope�s witty Pianists, Kit Wright�s humorous Cocks and Hens and Cicely Herbert�s clever Horses of Tartary. Some of the others do not work quite so well, being perhaps too simple.

   To suggest a possible audience is difficult due to the scope of the poems, with some seeming to appeal to a very young readership whilst others require much more experience. Perhaps families with children of mixed ages would be happy to spend �10.99 on such a book � after all, it does come with a CD, and it is certainly a bonus to be able to hear the poems read. Schools could select and make use of extracts to enliven either music or literacy lessons.

Reviewed by Pam Craig.

A Paper Tigers review, March 2006, No. 157.

   The multi-layered collaboration is exuberant. Poets such as James Berry, Adrian Mitchell, Wendy Cope and Gillian Clarke match the pace and rhythm of language and image to the music, which although written in 1886 is still witty, lyrical and irresistible. Kitamura's familiar bold inky style, lively images and humour stretch and deepen the characters in the music and in the poetry. From illustrating Charles Causley's exquisite swan 'It is a music of the eye. The swan / Assumes the heavy garment of the stream...' to Gerard Benson's Fossils who become dinosaur skeletons playing clarinets and cellos, his imagination brings text, image and sound together to create a carnival for the senses.

   Either book or CD can be enjoyed alone , but together the music, poetry and illustrations work in beautiful harmony to allow a deeper contemplation and enjoyment of all three elements. Stunning.

Reviewed by Helen Taylor. **** 4 stars, very good