The Gavin Bishop Treasury 
 Gavin Bishop 

The Gavin Bishop Treasury Gavin Bishop 
 Puffin/ Penguin Random House (2024) 
Hardback, Picture book collection, 256 pages 
ISBN 978 1 77695 738 5 

This splendid collection brings together five of Gavin Bishop’s original picture books and five of his retellings of classic tales. All of course are illustrated by Gavin Bishop. 

The ten books which make up this collection are all as colourful and dramatic as when they were originally published. [See reviews below]

The ten are: 

1. Mrs McGinty and the Bizarre Plant (1981) 

2. Bidibidi (1982) 

3. Mr Fox (1982) 

4. Chicken Licken (1984) 

5. A Apple Pie (1984) 

6. The Three Little Pigs (1989) 

7. Little Rabbit and the Sea (1997) 

8. Stay Awake, Bear! (2000) 

9. The Three Billy-Goats Gruff (2003) 

10. Rats! (2007) 

This collection introduces a new generation to Gavin Bishop’s inspired storytelling and pictorial genius.

Trevor Agnew 
16 October 2024 [Review 3724]

Mrs McGinty and the Bizarre Plant
Gavin Bishop

 

Mrs McGinty and the Bizarre Plant        

  

Gavin Bishop (text and ill)
Oxford University Press, 1981
Picture book 32 pages, Paperback
ISBN 978 1 86941892 2

Grumpy Mrs McGinty finds life difficult, mainly because of her sourpuss approach to life. Her situation improves marvellously when a cucumber seedling she plants in her garden becomes a giant. Soon it overshadows her house and then the suburb. The amazingly complex plant soon brings her fame and friends. 

‘She was the pride of the street.’ 

By the end of the story the plant has been taken away (by hot air balloon) to a botanical garden, but another seedling is growing in Mrs McGinty’s garden…

Gavin Bishop’s exuberant drawings include several Christchurch features, particularly the old Edmond’s Baking Powder factory with its ‘SURE TO RISE’ slogan on the roof, which may have inspired the plant’s growth. Some of the other buildings found in the Linwood area of Christchurch are immortalised in his pictures.

As always, the tiny details of Gavin Bishop’s pictures reward closer scrutiny; Bidibidi, the famous sheep, appears on Mrs McGinty’s calendar, while the neighbourhood children will amuse Maurice Sendak.

Regularly reprinted, Mrs McGinty and the Bizarre Plant is a beloved classic.

 Winner: Russell Clark Award for Illustration, 1982

Note: A digital version of Mrs McGinty and the Bizarre Plant can be seen as part of the New Zealand National Library’s contribution to the International Children’s Digital Library at:

http://www.natlib.govt.nz/en/digital/2recent_books.html

Trevor Agnew

Bidibidi  Gavin Bishop

Bidibidi  Gavin Bishop
Oxford University Press (1982)
Scholastic (2014)
Picture book, 36 pages
ISBN 978 1 77543 192 3

 

 

Gavin Bishop’s first published book is a classic of the South Island high country, the adventures of a rebellious ewe. On a ‘hot and windless day in the mountains’ Bidibidi the sheep finds she is dissatisfied with life. She leaves the flock and heads up into the hills in search of the rainbow.

As she moves through the Canterbury high country, Bidibidi meets typical creatures (a kea, a trout, a sheep-dog) who help her in her quest. Eventually she finds a bearded old man, a strangely symbolic figure, ‘dressed in clothes the colour of the hills’. This is Rainbow Jackson, who lives in the mountains and makes the rainbows with a hurdy-gurdy. Bidibidi is happy to stay with him. When he grows old, Bidibidi takes over his work. 

‘I’ll make the rainbows now,’ she says.

This is a lovely picture book, with lots of jokes and the symbolism of Rainbow Jackson to think about. The various creatures depicted all have strongly individual voices and this makes it a good story to read aloud. Already Gavin Bishop's appreciation of New Zealand architecture can be seen in his depiction of the run-down remains of a country hotel.

An identical Māori language edition was published by Scholastic in 2001. The Māori language translation is by Apirana Mahuika.

Note: Piripiri is a New Zealand native plant which grows in a mat with clinging burr seeds. This Māori name was often anglicised as Biddybiddy or Bidibidi. Biddy is a disused term for an old woman, so Bidibidi’s name is doubly evocative.

In 2014 Scholastic re-issued Bidibidi in a sumptuous large format paperback edition.
Although his Mrs McGinty and the Bizarre Plant was published in 1981, Bidibidi (1982) was actually the first book that Gavin Bishop wrote and illustrated. It was appropriate that its re-issue came just as Gavin Bishop was named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to children’s literature in the 2014 New Year’s Honours List.

Awards:
Winner: Noma Concours Prize for Children’s Picture Books (Japan) 1982
Finalist: NZ Post Children’s Book Awards: Picture Book of the Year 1983

 Trevor Agnew, 2014

Mister Fox  Gavin Bishop

Mister Fox
Gavin Bishop
Oxford University Press, 1982
Scholastic, 2001
Picture book, 32 pages
ISBN 1 86943 462 5 (English ed)
ISBN 1 86943 512 5 (Māori ed)

 

 ‘One day Mister Fox found a fat juicy bumblebee so he popped it in his bag.’

Gavin Bishop retells and illustrates an old folktale about a fox who is defeated by his own greed. He goes from house to house looking for toothsome creatures to pop into his bag.  As each creature escapes from his bag, Mister Fox, pops another in, with a pig replacing a rooster and so on. After some deliciously sinister
repetition, Mister Fox finds a very large dog in his bag. The ending is satisfyingly traditional.

The beautiful illustrations include skilfully drawn vignettes of some typical New Zealand homes and Christchurch landscapes. The details of wallpaper, fabric patterns, and plants all reward careful study. The ‘little pink woman’, for example, has a pink house with strawberry patterned wallpaper, a pink spa pool, pink carnations and–of course–a pink pig.

In 2001 a Māori language edition of this book, Ta Pokiha, was published by Scholastic, paperback, ISBN 1 86943 512 5, with Māori translation by Katerina Mataira.

Trevor Agnew