Published in 2000, and later adapted into the popular CBeebies TV show, Charlie and Lola is a children’s book series written and illustrated by Children’s Laureate Lauren Child, CBE. Centred around Lola, her vibrant imagination, and her older brother Charlie teaching her new things, Child’s collage art style, 2D illustrations and most importantly, use of a child’s voice engaged young readers in a way that many other children’s books did not.
Before I explain this point further, it would be good to give an overview of two of the books just to get to grips with the writing style as well as getting to know the titular characters in more detail.
I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato
Written grammatically incorrectly on purpose, the title establishes Lola’s childlike voice. The story follows Lola being, as Charlie puts it, “a very fussy eater”, refusing to eat any of her vegetables due to reasons such as peas being “too small and too green” and carrots being “for rabbits”. To ease his little sister into trying these foods, Charlie tricks her by enabling her to use her limitless imagination, claiming these vegetables are “orange twiglets from Jupiter” or “green drops from Greenland”. These images are brought to life, as the illustrations picture Lola eating next to an alien from Jupiter and sitting on the peak of a mountain surrounded by clouds amongst other adventures. Additionally, shape writing is used to join this out-of-the-box imagery that both children have conjured in their minds. At the end of the story, Lola overcomes her fussiness, asking Charlie to pass her a “moonsquirter” – the tomato that she so vehemently refused to eat at the beginning of the story!
I Will Be Especially Very Careful
The illustrations in this book really reminded me of the effective utilisation of the distinct collage art style. The story focuses on Lola’s best friend Lotta’s white fluffy coat and how much the former marvels over it. Again, the reader is taken on a journey through Lola’s vibrant inner world, with similes and imagery comparing the coat to snow, white feathers and a baby kitten. Overlaying real pictures of feathers, Lotta’s coat and other objects amongst simple and almost juvenile 2D illustrations give the pictures this sense of texture, successfully engaging the aimed age demographic of readers.
Lola offers to swap her handbag for Lotta’s coat and promises earnestly to take very good care of it. Following a craftily illustrated sequence of events, the coat manages to avoid damage a few times until, eventually, Lola loses it in the library. This later serves as a lesson to not only her, but the reader too, about the responsibility you have taking care of borrowed items – this is indicated at the end when Lotta is reluctant to lend her curious best friend her equally fluffy pencil case.
Why Allowing the Children in the Stories to Control the Narrative Worked
A child’s world is small, carefree and should not be disturbed. Having Charlie driving the narrative for Lola, as well as not including any adult character, gave these children the space and time to thrive in their inner worlds – which Child has confirmed as a reason why parents were not included. While reading some articles about the makings of Charlie and Lola, the author has displayed her profound understanding of children, which I found refreshing as it is rare for an adult to allow and advocate for children’s voices and thoughts to be heard and rightfully validated. Each page is a loud and proud display of Lola’s way of thinking through literal imagery and minimal writing.
When I was younger, I had never resonated with a character’s imagination as deeply as I did with Lola’s. Looking back at these books now, I realise that there was this freedom, trust and independence given to the characters to navigate and learn about the world around them, without their ideas being patronised or ridiculed. Mistakes are often made, but what these stories teach children is that they shouldn’t be stopped from being made because how else will they learn, as well as encourage their creativity? Whether intentional or not, I see that one of a few crucial points about children was made: despite their lack of awareness of the big wide world, they have the capacity to think and feel as deeply about certain things as teenagers and adults do – and the books do a great job of acknowledging this.
On the surface, Charlie and Lola is just a picture book series for toddlers and children to enjoy. And it’s perfectly fine to glance back to the past and think fondly and briefly about how reading these books was an enjoyable experience before refocusing on the present and getting on with your day. However, the mark this book and TV series left on me personally is rather indelible which is why I wanted to revisit the series and find a reason why it made such an impact in my childhood, as well as what sets it apart from other children’s books.
Words by Aisha Oppong
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