I think I might have mentioned the shiny first editions that have started arriving at my door? Gorgeous covers, thick powdery pages (oh, so many pages!), and the most glorious endpapers you’ve ever seen. This divine image from the front of the UK edition made me cry when I first glimpsed it, and I’m not an easy-crier. The artist has actually made real Juniper’s lost letter: there’s an historically accurate stamp, a proper postmark, and don’t even get me started on the scratchy handwriting and little mouse nibble at the bottom.
There has been much stroking of said covers, much gazing at endpapers and an awful lot of page sniffing going on around here. Which is probably why it struck me so hard when I opened the door to my office this morning and found my two year old, who had been out of sight no more than a minute, standing at my desk with his red felt pen poised.
There is a lot of clutter on my desk. I am not a neat worker. There were any number of things on which he might have chosen to focus his attention. He chose my newest arrival and augmented it thus. This is the dedication page. I’m not going to show you the endpapers. Or the cover. Suffice it to say, they have also been amended.
It is our first collaboration and, although unexpected, I think he has a point. What isn’t improved with a bold splash of red? (And, I’m sure you’ll agree, for a two year old he draws a mean circle.)
I think I will put the book away somewhere safe and give it to him one day when he’s all grown up and has long forgotten his fondness for covering every unsuspecting surface with circles.