This book is the result of forty years working with many thousands of children in schools all over the world. It contains twenty-two illustrated instructions on how to make puppets that range from giraffes to mice, dolphins to dogs and humans to frogs. All from simple, accessible materials and for all ages. There are seven world creation myths reimagined by children and four original myths written purely by children. Plus a gallery of seventy-six, make-them-yourself puppets. The whole book is a lovingly and beautifully hand illustrated guide to making your own worlds come to life. It is suitable for parents, educationalists, artists and, of course, the children who are the ones who made it possible over and over again with delight and joy. The book is designed to bring that delight and joy to you.
My working life spans 50 years. It has been diverse and captivating. At the heart of my work are imagination, stories and children. Through sheer serendipity, one day I became a puppeteer. From that one fine day when circumstances collided, all sorts of incredible experiences emerged. I performed street shows and in big London theatres. I travelled to distant lands, worked with First Nations in Canada, made shows with children in care, led workshops at the Royal College of Arts and set world records for the biggest puppet show on earth. I have taught in universities, set up training for artists and written many plays for and with children. At the core of my practice has been bringing creation myths from many world cultures to life with large groups of elementary school children - as many as 650 in one show. We've made shows with children in countries as far apart as Taiwan and Ireland, and Switzerland and Palestine. None of this would have been possible without the collaboration of a fantastic crew of generous and talented artists who've been my colleagues on this odyssey through the lands of the imagination. I am a very lucky man. I have a brilliant wife, three fantastic adult children and three luminous, bouncy granddaughters. I love travelling, walking, music, food, tennis and Tottenham Hotspur. I'm fascinated by the unknown and unknowable such as what was really going on 4000 years ago? Every culture that has ever been has valuable lessons within it. I'm a hopeless linguist but a good communicator so when we travel this can sometimes lead to some interesting adventures. We are story. The stories we tell, the stories we learn, stories foisted upon us and the story we choose to be. I like these words by Ted Hughes from his book of essays called Winter Pollen: "Every single person is vulnerable to unexpected defeat in this inmost emotional self. At every moment, behind the most efficient seeming adult exterior, the whole world of the person's childhood is being carefully held like a glass of water bulging above the brim. And in fact, that child is the only real thing in them. It's their humanity, their real individuality, the one that can't understand why it was born and that knows it will have to die, in no matter how crowded a place, quite on its own. That's the carrier of all the living qualities. It's the centre of all the possible magic and revelation."
