In Graham Harrop’s world, eagles check out the salmon special on the menu, bears pose for a photo op and birds drive their car onto the ferry. His latest little book of cartoons is titled The Sunshine Coast Is, and the author takes the reader on a journey from Horseshoe Bay to Powell River in a series of amusing scenes.
Harrop is best known for a comic strip called Back Bench that appeared in The Globe and Mail for 25 years. These days he draws editorial cartoons for Vancouver Sun. Why a book about the Coast? Though he was born in Liverpool, England, he has lived in both Egmont and Powell River where his first cartoon ever was published in the Powell River News in 1962.
Like most artists, he worked at a variety of jobs to earn a living, driving taxi among them. In his lengthy career he has also illustrated greeting cards and created presentation or training cartoons for corporations.
This little book is one of many he has published that offers a chuckle. Some others can be found on his website gryndstoneandfusspotpress.com. In A World Without Bees he uses humour to describe a sad and serious situation and in Cat Café Colouring Book he draws on his Ten Cats comic strip to make a book for feline fans.
The book will be available at Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives, Ambrosia Organic Living, Artworks Gallery and Framing, IGA in Madeira Park, the Flying Anvil Studio, and at the PaperWorks Gallery in Powell River.
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About 20 years ago, Harbour Publishing released a children’s picture book, The Ferryboat Ride, featuring a story by Robert Perry and illustrations by Gibsons artist Greta Guzek. It proved popular among the junior set aged around five to eight and has now been re-released by Nightwood Editions as a sturdy board book for younger kids.
“This little book keeps on selling and selling,” Guzek said. “It’s marvellous. Kids who read it then now have their own kids, and they give good feedback.”
Similar books for children have also enjoyed popularity. Down at the Seaweed Café (Nightwood Editions, 2010), also written by Perry and illustrated by Guzek, was chosen to give out to pupils to encourage literacy.
There are no new illustrations by Guzek in the board book, although the cover is different from the original; it depicts a windy day on the water with a BC ferry cresting the waves. The publishers have shortened the story to fit the standard board book size but tried to keep the continuity that takes kids on an adventure where they will see seagulls racing the boat and pods of whales in the ocean. It’s available for $9.95 at bookstores.
