Meet the authors of Ig - Richard's fave book

2 min read

Richard's favourite book at the moment is Ig. It's a huge children's book about an enormous woodland creature called (you guessed it) Ig. It's a bit of a detour from Rich's usual Goosebumps and Horrid Henry books; an easy, comfortable read for him, meticulously illustrated with loads of hidden little details.

What's it about? Well, it's a little avant garde. Through a curious, unpredictable little adventure, the characters in the Ig book save the day with teamwork and healthy eating.

"There are lots of creatures who live in the woods

in lots of the books you've read,

but here's the story of a creature so large

he lives on the woods instead"

As you know, Richard and Lyall squabble like a cat and dog (I mean, that's putting it nicely) so anything that encourages teamwork is on point in our house!

Like the book's giant hero, the Ig book itself is enormous - in fact, trying to snap a picture of Richard while reading Ig was hard work because he can almost completely hide behind its pages.

The whole book is a gigantic work of art with big, bright, juicy illustrations. The style reminded us a little bit of game designer Keita Takahashi (which probably won't mean much to you unless you're a Katamari fan, like me).

I was lucky enough to meet Ig's clever author and illustrator team Jake and Matt at the weekend in London. Here, Jake and Matt tell me about their book.

Tell me about yourselves - how did you meet? We're Jake and Matt, we work together in the advertising industry as a creative team. I live in Hove with my girlfriend, Shotti and Matt lives in London with his girlfriend Rosie!

Tell me a little about Ig and the origins of your book. What inspired it? Ig's a children's book where healthy eating is at the heart of the story, so it comes with a recipe card so you can make the same fruit smoothies at home that the characters do in the book.

We really wanted to make something where a positive message was a key part of the narrative, so eating well, looking after the planet and the importance of community are all clear themes.

I heard about your crowdfunding appeal. How did that come about?

When we'd finished writing and designing Ig, we took to Kickstarter to raise funds to get it manufactured.

We were overwhelmed with generosity! Thanks to the support of an enthusiastic community, we were fortunate enough to raise well over our target to get the first run printed. Kickstarter even named us one of their 'Projects We Love'.

Richard's 8 and he LOVES your Ig book. What age range is Ig aimed at? We aimed the story at children between 4 and 9, but children younger than 4 seem to respond really well to the illustrations too.