On his left arm, among many others, is a tattoo of a fish designed by Dr. seuss. This world-famous American cartoonist is the great hero of Andy Griffiths, one of today’s most successful children’s authors. ‘Brilliant how he in One fish, two fish starts with counting and ends with the utmost nonsense. Fun is everywhere, for those who want to see it, rhymes Dr. seuss. That’s my life motto.’
Anyone who knows the rough punk rock past of Griffths (Melbourne, 1961) might just think that those tattoos are from back then. But he has only recently started having his children’s book heroes put on his skin by a son of a former colleague. He remembers it from the time he was an English teacher and heard from his students how stupid they thought reading was. He wanted to change that and he does so with great success.
Together with his regular illustrator Terry Denton, he is now good for 1.4 million books in the Dutch language area, especially The crazy tree house. The Australian is the author of the Children’s Book Week Gift. In the coming days he will visit bookstores where he will talk mainly in sign language with long lines of Dutch children.
Can you pronounce the word Children’s Book Week Gift?
‘Children’s book gift. Ugh, failed again. Waan-zin-ni-ge Tree-hut. That’s still going. I’m trying my best. I’m here for the fourth time now.’
That has been different. One of your first books, The Bad Bookwas sold under the counter.
‘They didn’t want me for a long time. I toured Australia mainly to persuade teachers and booksellers to buy my stories, which I copied in the school library, stapled together in the motel at night and sold for 20 cents. Once they saw me working with their students, they moved quickly. Oh, I heard them say, it’s humor.’
Not just any humor, shocking humor. At least for parents. Is that necessary now?
‘I watched as a literature student The Young Ones and Monty Python’s Flying Circus and always made up things to entertain my friends. Weird stories, filthy rhymes, insane lyrics. Punk rock uses shock effects to attract attention. I also found that necessary in children’s books. Fairy tales were rewritten in the late 1980s. Little Red Riding Hood was no longer eaten by the wolf. That irritated me. If nothing goes wrong, you don’t have any heroes. Meanwhile, children ran away from books, towards comics and games. I want to win them back for reading.’
What have you learned about writing children’s books over the years?
‘A good children’s book contains about 5 percent absurd humour, throwing and throwing. Our first book contained 70 percent. Some of the kids and adults think that’s great, for most it’s too much. The treehouse heroes regularly beat each other’s brains, but they remain friends. Always.’
Do you think that’s a pity?
‘I am proud that we have found a form that works. I think we’ve gotten better at our craft. Terry is sorry, he would like to return to our hit and run-books. I think it’s good that our work is now on the edge, but not over it. Almost not then.’
You didn’t bring Terry Denton, your illustrator.
‘Terry likes touring together, but prefers to sit in his studio. I can work anywhere, on planes and hotels. He can’t do much on the road.”
It must be a sensation, you together on stage.
‘At the end we hit marshmallows across the room with tennis rackets. Children climbing over the balcony fence to catch some too. We sometimes lost control, usually after a few minutes. That had to be a little less.’
You are regularly described as idealists. What does your ideal world look like?
‘We love making noise and nature. In Australia bushwalking popular, nice camping with the whole class, without parents. That’s the most beautiful thing there is. With unrestrained imagination and plenty of room for adventure, you can tackle seemingly insoluble problems. Also war or environmental problems. We try to improve the world by looking at it differently, with humour.’
Not everyone was happy that you were allowed to make the Children’s Book Week gift.
‘I understand that some Dutch writers are angry. I get it. That’s one of the reasons I came. I don’t want to hide on the other side of the world. At the same time: don’t we read what we like, regardless of where it comes from? My greatest heroes, Dr. Seuss, Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl are not Australians.’
Does it hurt that your work is portrayed as commercial?
‘No, because we give children what we want. And that apparently has something to do with what they want. That’s great, we believe in this and we work hard for it. Our books not elegant enough for literary awards? Too bad. For many children’s book experts, attractiveness is an afterthought. I think that’s dangerous. Partly because of this, children too often have better things to do than read.’
The crazy tree house
As an English teacher, Andy Griffiths (Melbourne, 1961) made up absurd stories for his students. His first book was a workbook for his colleagues, which they could use to make classroom reading fun again. It was illustrated by Terry Denton (Melbourne, 1950). They went on together; their greatest success is The crazy tree houseseries, translated by Edward van de Vendel and sold 1.4 million times in the Dutch language area. The Gi-ga-green Children’s Book Week lasts from 5 to 16 October. The children’s book week gift Amazing tree house stories buyers receive 12.50 euros worth of children’s books.