Here is some of the back story…
Way back in 2007, my husband David was urging me to ‘write a phonics programme‘ as this could readily be delivered online as pdf resources. At first, I was very reluctant as I could not envisage the possibility (and knew this was a daunting task), but David pointed out that I was already creating my prototype overview Alphabetic Code Charts and some ‘cumulative, decodable texts’ for myself (for my needs as a practising primary teacher at that time) and for the use of other people – freely available as pdfs via the internet.
I protested and resisted – saying that a phonics programme would need many illustrations and I did not have the time to create both the printed content and the illustrations. I viewed his idea as impossible. Of course David was able to come up with the solution which was to search via the internet for an illustrator suitable for me/us to create a full phonics programme…
Enter… Arun B. Inamdar…
Our very first illustrator, Arun, has made an enormous, essential contribution to creating our very wide range of Alphabetic Code Charts (the ‘starting point’ of phonics knowledge and understanding) as the charts feature a ‘mnemonic‘ system (aid to memory) of Arun’s illustrations for ‘key picture-words‘ (pictures with accompanying printed words to exemplify the letter/s-sound correspondences). Arun’s brief was to provide ‘cartoon-like’ illustrations to cater for all ages rather than pictures one might associate only with ‘infants’ and young learners. Arun also provided some fuller illustrations for the cumulative, decodable ‘I can read‘ texts and comprehension questions available throughout all 12 Units of the online Phonics International programme.
Over the years, we have been able to utilise Arun’s original illustrations not only for our pdf online resources but also for our ‘hard copy, to buy’ further resources such as on our Flash Cards, Frieze Sheets, Mini Code Cards, Sounds Mats, Alphabet Posters and handwriting resources – and within the ‘No Nonsense Phonics’ Pupil Books for the ‘Phonemic Awareness Puzzle’ on the ‘Multi-skills Activities’ pages. Indeed, we developed the hard copy ‘No Nonsense Phonics’ programme from the ‘Phonics International’ programme using the same ‘key-picture word’ mnemonic system throughout. Therefore, any ‘hard copy, to buy’ resources can be used with either programme or both programmes in a complementary or supplementary way.
We have also been able to utilise Arun’s extensive range of little pictures throughout our pre-school series for which we have created two main bodies of work, ‘Teeny Reading Seeds‘ (non-systematic – working with literacy consultant, Rachel Hornsey) and ‘Phonics and Talk Time‘ (systematic, hard copy books and resources available).
Therefore, we have been able to use Arun’s original little pictures to provide links and consistency across the entirety of our phonics work published by our company, Phonics International Ltd. Arun also provided the ‘line drawing’ versions of his extensive bank of illustrations so that we could use these for children to colour and be creative with – all good ‘aids to memory’ of the lessons involved. We are immensely grateful to Arun for his work and his patience over the years.
Enter… Dan Rebegea…
First of all, I must mention that Dan is no longer with us on this Earth. Very, very sadly his son notified us of his father’s sudden death – and that is the only reason Dan’s wonderful, lively and modern illustrations are limited to our ‘Phonics and Talk Time’ pre-school series, our ‘No Nonsense Phonics’ programme, BUT ONLY the first five ‘Phonics and language play’ reading books. For some considerable time, Dan’s illustrations lay dormant whilst we gathered ourselves to use them for our pre-school ‘Phonics and Talk Time’ resources and for the front covers of our 11 core ‘No Nonsense Phonics’ Pupil Books. So you see, in a way, Dan is always with us through his work and we are so, so appreciative. We are not in touch with Dan’s family but wish them very well and will always remember Dan and his wonderful contribution bringing words, themes and characters to life.
Dan’s brief at first was to create 26 little ‘characters’ to exemplify the use of ALPHABET CAPITAL LETTERS for the beginning letter of personal names. Each little character’s picture also included the ‘key picture-words’ on our Alphabetic Code Charts and other resources. David created an ebookshelf to showcase the ‘Phonics and Talk Time‘ characters and their key picture words. Then we asked Dan to create the front covers of our ‘No Nonsense Phonics’ series of Pupil Books. This brief included scenes to enable children to spell lots of words from the front covers as a Summary Activity at the end of each Pupil Book. Many years later, we used Dan’s wonderful little characters to create our ‘Alphabet and Phonics Matching Cards’. So you can see that Dan’s work and memory continue to live on even in our newer resources.
Eventually, David and I decided to provide our own range of cumulative, decodable reading books to complement/supplement both the ‘Phonics International’ and ‘No Nonsense Phonics’ programmes. Believe me, it’s not easy to come up with interesting storylines when restricted to a very small handful of letter/s-sound correspondences. So, our first five reading books, ‘Phonics and language play‘, feature just one family, and a family friend – and the pet cat, Pip, and the annoying ants – PESTS! Dan’s interpretation is amazingly sensitive and brings the storyline to life in the most delightful way. We did not start to create and publish our reading book series until 2020, and it was not completed until 2026! As you can see, this was a long haul – and to build on Dan’s first five books, we needed to find another, or further, illustrators…
Enter… Husnain Yousaf, followed by Carlos Junior…
Having tragically lost Dan as our illustrator, David searched for another illustrator so we could continue with our reading books’ series. Husnain provided 12 full illustrations for the next two reading books, and Carlos provided six illustrations for the following reading book. We are very grateful for their contribution which added a different flavour to the books – but I cannot even remember why we did not continue with either of them! In hindsight it could be that we have taken a very long time to create our reading books and other projects and demands got in the way! Creating and publishing the reading books’ series has not been a consistent process at all.
A MAJOR TURN OF EVENTS…
Bear in mind that life changed for many us with the advent of ‘covid’. In our lives, for example, the national lockdowns meant a drastic change from David and I travelling all over the UK – particularly in England (constantly) providing teacher training for, by this time, THREE phonics programmes. We lived out of suitcases and stayed in hotels during the period prior to the lockdowns. Thus, we were not based at ‘home’ and we were unable to focus on creating more of our reading books.
So, with the covid lockdowns, this meant that all our efforts turned to a focus on creating a substitute for our face-to-face, in-school training provision which was making training ‘videos’. And we had to do this for all three of our phonics programmes! This was no mean feat! Also, my training and consultancy became ‘virtual’ with Zoom training substituting previous in-school training. Writing and creating the phonics reading books was very much on the back burner for a while – until eventually…
At last we had more or less catered for all three phonics programmes with transparent information and training videos and PowerPoints – but during this period also, literacy consultant Carl Pattison had approached me as he recognised we had similar views and experiences about the importance of ‘paper-based’ practice, including for writing, for phonics and foundational literacy (we have gone on to become good friends and often worked collaboratively). Carl recommended me to his Flying High Trust associates and asked if we would provide two additional phonics Pupil Books for the ‘No Nonsense Phonics’ programme. The purpose was to bring forward some of the letter/s-sound correspondences of the alphabetic code to enable the schools in the Flying High Trust to utilise their existing phonics reading books by a different publisher with a slightly different ‘order’ of introducing the letter/s-sound correspondences of the alphabetic code.
David and I groaned! This was such a big ask/task – but very sensible – and we did exactly as Carl suggested (and we don’t regret this development at all). Thus, we created ‘optional’ No Nonsense Phonics Pupil Books 2+ and 5+ (front covers from some original Dan Rebegea illustrations).
Enter… Rudradeep Bose…
Meanwhile, illustrator Rudra Bose had joined our team to continue with our reading books’ series. We worked extremely well with Rudra – for five years or so – and he has produced 282 gloriously rich, imaginative illustrations for the following 47 reading books. We thought we had completed the whole series with a total of 44 books – but with the extra two Pupil Books (2+ and 5+) requested by Carl for the ‘No Nonsense Phonics’ programme, we then asked Rudra to continue with us for a further 11 books. Thus, the whole ‘Phonics and vocabulary books’ series now has 55 reading books – most of them (47) illustrated by Rudra to wonderful effect. It takes a lot of skill and creativity to take an author’s description of pictures and the story themes to then translate these into exciting and imaginative pictures. Rudra has done this so well for his 282 full illustrations! You can see the range of our books via this screenshot of our eBookshelf.
And you can also see in full Rudra’s illustrations for the 11 additional reading books for the ‘No Nonsense Phonics’ Pupil Books 2+ and 5+ via another eBookshelf.
I would say that our reading books’ series has very ambitious vocabulary and gloriously rich illustrations. Many people have commented about the illustrations – and said that the children love the books which noticeably increase their vocabulary too.
Conclusion…
Shame on me that it has taken this long to dedicate a post to our illustrators. I am IN NO DOUBT that our phonics work is successful, enjoyable, memorable and effective to use precisely BECAUSE of the contribution of our illustrators.
Arun, Dan and Rudra in particular are at the very heart of our work, and we are steeped in the creative brilliance of their work every day of our lives. I am so proud of our collective team effort and contribution to education.
Thank you so much, gentlemen!