Another beautifully illustrated story and a discovery box of sorts

I couldnt resist paying 50p for this story book at a charity shop.
Whilst I will read it with my grandson, it's really for me!
Just look .............

These above are the inside front cover pics....notice anything unusual?
 If you enlarge them I think you'll get an idea how clever these illustrations are...

And remember, these are pages from the book.
This edition was published by Walker Books Ltd in 2001 and at the back the author Jeannie Baker says the following..
"All the pictures in the book are collage constructions."
It took her 2 years to make them and she collected grasses, feathers and other found items which she treated especially to strengthen them, for example grasses and leaves were bleached with chemicals and soaked in glycerine for several days.
Then they were sprayed with oil paint as near to their natural colour as possible.
Tree trunks were modelled from clay and beyond the creative skills used to illustrate it, the story is simple but quite delightful.

Mister Punch has been gessoed in readyness for painting.....

and today Ive been making a discovery box for use with our VI kids.
I started with a car boot buy that I machine washed, a set of several fabric square boxes, in reducing sizes.

the idea is to put items in the container/box and the child takes them out one by one, discusses them and hopefully recognises them!

obviously still missing a 4th flap at this stage......

I've cut pelmet vilene flaps and covered them in fabric, so small hands can push nicely into the box through them.
There's a similar kind of solid box in one of the educational catalogues but its an arm and a leg price, so it will be interesting to see if this does the job just as well.
If you get chance to buy or see the 'Home in the Sky' book, you too may be as enthralled as I was, it' s worth enquiring about it at the library at the very least.