After 鈥楾iger鈥 and 鈥楬itler,鈥 Kerr still spinning yarns
Print Edition
At 92 years of age and with over 9 million books sold, British children鈥檚 writer and illustrator Judith Kerr could be enjoying a restful retirement, but no.
The author of bestselling picture book 鈥淭he Tiger Who Came To Tea鈥 and of 鈥淲hen Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit,鈥 an account of her childhood as a Jewish refugee fleeing Nazi Germany, Kerr has just published a new book and is keen to find her next project.
鈥淚鈥檓 miserable now because I haven鈥檛 thought of the next one yet,鈥 she joked at her home in Barnes, a leafy corner of south west London, where she has lived and worked since 1962.
Elegant in a long grey dress and pearl necklace, and fit from her frequent walks by the Thames, Kerr effortlessly climbed two steep flights of stairs to her studio, a small room with a drawing board and table cluttered with pencils and sketchbooks.
Faded family photos vie for shelf space there with books and trinkets including cuddly toy versions of Mog the cat, one of Kerr鈥檚 most popular creations who features in many of her books.
Her new work, 鈥淢ister Cleghorn鈥檚 Seal,鈥 is a novella illustrated with black-and-white pencil drawings, a departure for Kerr. 鈥溾楳ister Cleghorn鈥 I really am pleased with, because it鈥檚 something I鈥檝e never done before,鈥 she said.
The tale of a man whose snap decision to save a motherless seal pup turns his life upside down, it was inspired by a true episode from the youth of her father, Alfred Kerr, a famous writer and drama critic in Germany before World War II.
鈥淥nly my father would have thought he could do this mad thing,鈥 said Kerr, chuckling at the thought of him struggling to keep a seal on his Berlin balcony. The story did not end well for the real seal, although the novella has a happy conclusion.
Alfred later had his adopted seal stuffed, and as a little girl Judith used to sit on it and stroke its fur in the family home in Berlin. But after they fled Germany in 1933, when Judith was nine, the Nazis seized it along with all their possessions.
They also publicly burnt Alfred Kerr鈥檚 books and put a price on his head. In exile in Switzerland, he joked that he felt insulted because the amount was too low.
Those events, and the family鈥檚 subsequent struggle to get by as impoverished refugees in Paris and then wartime London formed the subject of Judith Kerr鈥檚 autobiographical trilogy that started with 鈥淲hen Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit,鈥 published in 1971.
The book has been translated into many languages and taught to schoolchildren as an introduction to a dark chapter of history. It won the prestigious Youth Book Prize in Germany, and in 1993 a school was named after Kerr in her native Berlin.
Kerr said that as she had got older she had thought more often about the Jewish children from her generation who perished in the Holocaust, and of the lives they might have lived.
鈥淚f you鈥檝e got a life that so many people didn鈥檛 have, you can鈥檛 waste it,鈥 she said.
鈥楾alk the tiger鈥
As a young woman, Kerr worked as a textile designer, art teacher and script writer at the BBC, before taking time out from work to raise her and her husband Tom鈥檚 two children.
It was while looking after her daughter Tacy when she was a toddler that Kerr made up the story of a little girl and her mother who are having tea at home when a friendly tiger arrives unannounced, eats all the food and then leaves, never to return.
鈥淭alk the tiger,鈥 Tacy would often say, and years later, when both of Kerr鈥檚 children were at school and she was wondering what to do next, she hit upon the idea of a book.
鈥淭he Tiger Who Came To Tea鈥 came out in 1968 to critical acclaim and has been a bestseller ever since, with 鈥淢og the Forgetful Cat鈥 following in 1970, the first of a long series.
Kerr had found her calling, and has since produced a vast body of work that is currently the subject of a retrospective at the Jewish Museum in north London, where she has given talks to adoring audiences in a packed auditorium.
The exhibition includes drawings of pre-war Berlin, penned by Kerr as a little girl and saved by her mother who packed them along with a precious few items when the family fled the city.
Kerr is often asked whether the tiger has a hidden meaning, and some people have suggested that it might represent Hitler or the Nazis, invading her home and stealing her possessions. Kerr dismissed this, saying the idea for the tiger simply came from a visit to the zoo with Tacy, and the creature was harmless.
Some of Kerr鈥檚 more recent work reflects her changing perspective on life.
In 鈥淢y Henry,鈥 which is dedicated to Kerr鈥檚 late husband Tom, she depicts an elderly widow who appears to be blankly waiting for her tea but who in her imagination is enjoying amazing adventures with her husband, like riding a unicorn.
鈥淵ou see a lady sitting there and she鈥檚 not doing anything and you tend to forget that of course she wasn鈥檛 always a little old lady. There鈥檚 all this colored stuff inside her,鈥 said Kerr. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all inside, bubbling.鈥
In 鈥淭he Great Granny Gang,鈥 a group of fit and fearsome old ladies who enjoy activities like repairing chimneys, mending cars or fixing potholes come together to foil a robbery.
Kerr strongly rejected suggestions that these works were her way of gently tackling ageism or stereotypical portrayals of women, saying it would be wrong to seek messages in her books.
鈥淚鈥檓 terribly resistant to that. It鈥檚 not a thing you should do,鈥 she said sternly, before breaking into a broad grin. 鈥淚 never think about telling small children what to think.鈥
鈥淓verything I do is autobiographical. I鈥檓 into old ladies because I鈥檝e been one for some considerable time now.鈥
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