Cherubino let out a wild cry of anger and pain. Then he was off, kicking up sand, skidding through carefully laid picnics, trampling on wet towels, sending hats, sandcastles and sunshades flying…
‘Come back! Come back!’ Called Valerie.

But Cherubino did not return.

The adolescent passion of Valerie towards a statue brings 'Cherubino' to life ... but the sea-sprite is lost,
and even persecuted in the world of humans...

Arguably Mum's finest book, set in an imaginary - but very real - Italia... and in no small part based upon her sketchbooks from our family holidays there.

This beautiful illustration is from Enchantment in the Garden.

Who is joining us tonight at the Orange Beak Studio Shirley Hughes Sketchbook Award launch? I have treats for your eyes! And you need to know what Mum REALLY thought about quantum physics…
orangebeakstudio.com/shirley-hughes…

...genocide 'cheapens the word'. He also denied a report by Ed Vulliamy on the existence of Bosnian concentration camps, stating that Vulliamy 'got caught up in a story that probably wasn't true'. But it wasn't the first genocide Chomsky had denied. He also criticized...

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Between the water and the ice were white frosty stars. The ice cracked and splintered when Alfie stamped on it.

Alfie Weather

Probably Mum's best ending of them all: Grandpa burning the Christmas tree, but also a mysterious box of mysterious letters, with his pipe, and a 'grand blaze'.

William and Grandpa laid the Christmas tree in a dust sheet and dragged it as far as the back door, trying not to leave a trail of pine needles behind them. ‘Get your coat. We’ll have a bonfire,’ said Grandpa.

From Burning the Tree in Stories by Firelight

This week we will be looking at Burning the Tree from Stories by Firelight.

Christmas was over and it was time to put all the decorations away in the loft until next year. Grandpa pulled off the shiny glass balls and handed them to William who laid them carefully in their box.

A teatime post with the most vivid of colours and excitement to celebrate the new year.

From Olly and Me, and also Autumn in the Nursery Collection

The Brexiteers must be very proud…

This illustration, with its Shirley Hughes sky, is from Lucy and Tom at Christmas. It feels like the perfect one to share this Christmas Eve.
Wishing you a very Happy Christmas from everyone at SHHQ

Today's Shirley Hughes #12DaysofChristmas comes from Alfie's Christmas, one of the stories in the PuffinBooks collection A Shirley Hughes Christmas.

Great-Uncle Will and Alfie go out after lunch to test Alfie's new scooter.

One of Mum's last books, among her most magical & mystical. She always 'had a thing' about angels - what and who they are, and represent, between earth and Heaven. The 'whirl' motif around the angel's' head was recast to portray the mystery of music, for my book 'When Words Fail'

For today’s Shirley Hughes #12DaysofChristmas we turn to Angel on the Roof, the story of Lewis Brown who one day spots a single golden feather fluttering down from the sky and discovers an angel on the roof.

These are just AMAZING - found in a chest under Mum's work table when she died - been there for 67 years. The Magi, the amorous Harlequin... The angels flying over urban roofs... 'Traditional' - yet not at all.

Today's Shirley Hughes #12DaysofChristmas takes us to The Snow Lady, one of the stories in Snow in the Garden.

Today's Shirley Hughes #12DaysofChristmas takes us to this scene where Dave has left Dogger propped up on the windowsill. Mum, Bella and Dave are Christmas shopping and they are gone a very long time.

You'll find this in Dogger's Christmas & A Shirley Hughes Christmas.