what's in your pocket? purse? handbag?

via LENS blog NYT

via Francois Roberts' "Contents"--a collection of photographs documenting the contents of 120 people's backpacks, pants, pockets, purses, handbags...

Of course he forgot to ask The Handbag Friends what ought to be in a handbag... (clue it's not keys and lipstick) and I don't see Clasp anywhere. But now is as good a time as any to sing The Handbag Song--won't you join me? Sing along, ready, steady, ... sing!

what's in YOUR handbag?

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from s@lly l-j

a big bag hat, hat bag

(Isaac Mizrahi) What can you say? no, but you could sing something. Oh I don't know. Something like, for instance, what about, for example, say, I know, The Handbag Song?

sue heap in the TIMES

Look. There she is. In the London Times no less! She's a genius, by the way. She's also the one who illustrated HOW TO BE A BABY and the soon to be released companion, HOW TO GET MARRIED: by Me, the Bride (as well as Handbag Friends). Best of all, she's a great friend. She also is extremely courageous and this article is about something she never speaks of: her brave struggles with rheumatoid arthritis. To read it, click here.

thoughts about Hot Air Ballooning

That's me in there. In that balloon. Floating about out there. Above that field in between the trees. It really is.

I had the chance to go last year. It was brilliant. You speed (with the right wind) inches from the ground. You dart up suddenly just before you hit a tree. You touch the tops of trees and see Lama, darting rabbits, deer, fawns, foxes. You float over people's heads and back yards and can inspect their roofs. And one time, a labrador chased us with such abandon through corn fields it seemed to me to be exactly what joy looks like.

Also, I wonder. Is this how it feels to be Balloon Bird? He really is the luckiest of all birds to be able to float about like that. If I possibly could, it's the only way I'd travel.

As you waft along in the silence you can hear the tiniest sounds below you.

One thing I never knew about hot air balloons: you can control the up and down, but you can't steer. You just have to go wherever the wind blows you.

Hmm. Sounds a bit like something wise ...

Olivia and her Pink Handbag

This is Olivia when she was about 3 with her pink handbag. (Oh she's my lovely niece, did I tell you?)

(Photo taken with my plastic toy Holga camera.)

My nephew, Harry (6), wanted to play machine guns in the trenches with his little sister; Olivia (3), just wanted to play princesses with Harry. It was a predicament.

It didn’t stop Olivia. She went fearlessly into battle but here’s the thing: in the middle of the machine gun fire—down there in the trenches with Harry—knee deep in all that mud—there she was, carrying her pink handbag.

Clearly—even in no-man’s land—Olivia would not be seen dead without her handbag.

But what to put in a handbag that goes with you into battle?

For that I approached the expert. "Olivia," I asked. "What do you keep your handbag?" She looked up at me as if I was the most foolish aunt any child could possibly have--and said, "My friends."

Of course. Do children have to explain EVERYTHING to grown ups? I think so. Probably. Sorry.

She then proceeded to pull out of her handbag: a plastic carrot, a furry bear, a tiny doll with one arm and bad hair, a strange knitted creature, a teapot and a purple troll.

But anyway, that's how Handbag Friends began. And it's for Oliva (and her pink handbag) that I wrote it.

Wait. Isn't it? shouldn't we? what about?
I think so.

Let's sing The Handbag Song! (You know you want to.)

the DFC launches today!

Exciting news. A weekly comic has been launched by David Fickling (my lovely publisher who published the glorious Handbag Friends).

The first issue is scheduled to arrive in U.K. mailboxes on Friday, May 30. More at the DFC website. And will be in the States soon.

Read the article in Publishers Weekly

Project Sunshine: Lincoln Hospital

Last week, I had the privilege of visiting the children at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx with Project Sunshine, a non-profit charity that sends volunteers to visit hospitalized children.

Needless to say, whatever I thought I was giving, I got back ten thousand fold. Thanks to my brilliant publisher (Random House) and editor (Anne Schwartz) and publicist (Noreen Marchisi) we were able to give away 70 books to these children. How cool is that?

They are a very brave group of children. What an honor. I got to chat with them in the wards and in the ICU and read to them and laugh with them. We read How To Be A Baby: By Me, The Big Sister and Handbag Friends and we sang The Handbag Song and watched the mini movie.

For more information or to volunteer for this great organization, click here.

I'm part of the Book Club. Here's how they describe it:
"The Project Sunshine Book Club brings distinguished children’s book authors, illustrators and celebrities into pediatric medical facilities to provide special reading events. The Book Club enables children to meet authors and illustrators, to expand their interest in literacy, and to share in the joy of reading by learning how books are created."

handbag friends give away!

here's Connor and his new book.

Sensibly he is trying to eat it because it looks so terribly delicious. What a very good idea.

Or is he perhaps imitating Clasp's famous, scarifying line from the book: "I'm going to eat you... with my mouth!"

Find out more by visiting his mom's blog. She is giving away a signed copy of Handbag Friends.

p.s. about Jessica

p.s to previous post: another very important thing about Jessica, of course, is her pink blanket.
she is DEFINITELY very completely related to another certain Hippo of my acquaintance. (Seen above with pink blanket, and the Handbag Friends.)

How many Hippos you know have a pink blanket?
Or a good friend who is a dog?
Or can sing?
(Which I'm sure she can)

Speaking of singing, shouldn't we?
I do think it's time, don't you?
Really. Wouldn't it be rather rude not to?
For Jessica's sake?

Sing along now!

Elvira, the Tri-Cornered Bag

LATEST HANDBAG SCOOP: following yesterday's "Scary Handbags" segment, a handbag expert has written in telling me,

"That triangle thing is named 'Elvira'. I threw her away in 1960. How did she end up on your blog?"

I don't know exactly. It's a very good question. Turning up like this 47 years later.

Except that nasty bad handbags do have a way of turning up when you least expect them. Take Clasp for instance. But that's another story (well, it's The Handbag Friends' story, to be exact).

Regardless, that big show off bag has a name and it is ELVIRA.

Of course it is.

What else could it be?

(I happen to know for a fact she is best friends with Clasp--seen below in full swing scaring one of the poor Handbag Friends.)


Quick, all this talk of nasty handbags, we better sing the Handbag song again. Just in case.

Scary Handbags

I've come across some frightening handbags in my time. But have you ever? Just look at them. Sitting there like that. They have to be some of the worst handbags I've ever seen. Quite awful. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it turns out they're Friends and Relations of Clasp herself. (If you don't know who Clasp is, never fear, you soon will.)

I don't know their names (if you do, please let me know). But I do know one thing: they are up to no good looking like this. (Particularly that "tri-cornered" one at the bottom. What a horrible show off she is.) And I know one thing else: I wouldn't want any of these dangling off my arm--would you?


This concludes Part 1 in our Handbag Series. In Part Two we will be meeting some more unsavory bags. But no posting about handbags is complete without a recital of the famous, the notorious, the completely addictive... the song everyone is singing... the song that belongs to The Handbag Friends--and to... YOU!

Get ready ... (really, it's the only sensible thing to do when faced with such dreadful handbags) ... sing!

Moo Moo and Ya Ya

THIS JUST IN FROM OUR INTREPID CORRESPONDENT IN LONDON, SAM THE TIGER (caught below--unusually without Tiger Disguise):

Moo Moo and Ya Ya have been spotted over the Atlantic Ocean and are believed to be winging their way to New York City even as we speak. They are wearing their famous Helicopter Hats (as seen above in S-T-T's brilliant rendering). What they plan to do when they arrive is anyone's guess. But you may be sure, whatever it is, it's very naughty indeed.

But we can sleep easily knowing that S-T-T will be the first to report it whatever it. Stay tuned. And thanks S-T-T for this tremendous scoop! (For those unfamiliar with Moo Moo and Ya Ya, they appear in embryo in the final credits of Handbag Friends.)

Let's Sing The Handbag Song!

isn't it time?

yes, of course it is

(it's always time
because you just never know when
a not altogether friendly
very large
purple
handbag might be in the vicinity
lurking)

QUICK! Let's help those poor Handbag Friends and do what Harry says and sing! (dancing's allowed, too--but not so much running away and screaming).

Niss: a blanket

Here's Niss (with Ellie underneath).

Niss of course is a blanket and his name came about, quite simply, because of Ellie pointing at him and saying, "I want niss" (this) when she was too little to be able to use her mouth for TH words quite properly yet.

Ellie's Niss was the inspiration behind Binky's Blanket in Handbag Friends. In fact, Ellie was the inspiration behind a great deal of Handbag Friends. She invented the brilliant word: "misappeared", for instance. She is also "The Beautiful Princess Eleanor" (but you don't need me to tell you that. It's plain to see--she's so completely umdidlyscrumptiously oodlingforthingfull princesstral in every way.)

She's also the inspiration for the Big Sister in How To Be A Baby: by Me, The Big Sister. Best of all, she's my niece and I get to be her aunt.

You could say she's a bit of a muse for me. But then you could say that about every one of my nieces and nephews. And actually pretty much every child I meet.

Semolina and the Ginger Cats

NEWEST NEWS JUST IN: Semolina and this blog have just been tagged by The Ginger Cats (aka The Ginger Darlings) on their True Confessions Meme. (We had to check and find out what exactly a "meme" is. It's kind of a virtual "tag you're it" all around a theme, as far as we can tell. And clearly it's our turn... so now we know, here we go.)

(Semolina is of course the clever ginger cat seen in this picture of The Handbag Friends.)

We're supposed to give away deep dark cat secrets is the idea but of course Semolina is a cat far too clever for such things. However, she will say this. As anyone who knows her will tell you, Semolina loves to say the word "ACTUALLY" rather loudly, quite without warning and very much all the time. Because first of all, it sounds nice to say; second of all, it feels nice to say; and third of all, she doesn't have a third of all.

In case you don't believe her, try it and ACTUALLY you'll soon see what she means. And ACTUALLY now Semolina is going to ACTUALLY tag: Jago. (We aren't sure if he ACTUALLY has a cat, but we know he ACTUALLY can draw one!)

Tip toe through the bluebells

Blue bells are all very well but what must it be like to have them come up to your head?

Remember what that felt like? To be in a world where you weren't much bigger than blue bells? Everything so electric and startling and strange. I have one particularly vivid memory of walking through a busy departement store with my mother when I was about 5 and all the ladies' handbags coming up and hitting me on my head.

It's a wonder I am not in mortal terror of handbags. Thankfully I'm not. And only completely adore them instead.

(Just as well. Otherwise, where on earth would Handbag Friends be?)

(this photo, by the way, is of little Lily Peach, daughter of Jago, my friend and fab illustrator of The Jesus Storybook Bible.)

semolina sighting

THIS JUST IN from our intrepid correspondent in London, Alice. On the fly Alice sketched this brilliant and very life-like portrait of Semolina. Thank you, Alice.

According to our intellegence, we believe Semolina was on a secret mission at the time. It is unconfirmed. None of the Handbag Friends were available for comment (probably because of the great secrecy and extreme sensitivity of their mission). And the only thing Clasp said was too rude to print here, I'm afraid.

Nevertheless, we are happy to know The Handbag Friends are still going on exciting adventures together. Missed their first adventure? Quick, find out more: Click here!

And before you go, why not join in their famous song and do a little dance? What could be the harm? Click here!

Sir Wilberforce Ping

This is Jonathan. He's got lovely blond hair (as you can see), he runs around really fast (which you can't see here because the photo caught him during a momentary break) and he's a glorious rascal (which you can probably guess).

But the best thing of all?

He's my nephew.

He is also rather bouncy and sometimes known as... Balloon Bird (aka Sir Wilberforce Ping).

Haven't met Balloon Bird yet? Or Sir Wilberforce Ping? Good heavens, we have no time to lose.

Meet him quick:
Click here!

hop spot (with fairy cakes)

Sam (the Tiger) from our London Bureau took time out of his very busy schedule discovering and unearthing new Pinklish Words to pen this beautiful portrait of Hop Spot--who, unusually, by lucky chance, was standing still having in turn taken time out of her equally busy schedule eating fairycakes. (Thank you Sam The Tiger for this scoop!)

I think you'll agree Hop Spot is very photogenic. As are her fairy cakes. (Who, sadly, of course are now no longer with us. This is probably the very last portrait of them, in fact. Being just prior to their being gobbled all up.)

On a happier note, to find out more about Hop Spot and to watch her dance and sing with her cakes (and the other Handbag Friends): Click here!

handbag toast

Here's Ellie (aka The Beautiful Princess Eleanor) with her lovely Handbag Toast she made one morning.

It's certainly quite the most Fashionable Fabulous Famous Toast I've ever seen.

What a shame to eat it. And not walk about with it on your arm being a lady and wondering where to go.

Actually, I don't see why not. When you're at your next Important Meeting to discuss Important Things with Important People, you might well consider taking along your Handbag Toast to keep things unusual and surprising. What could be the harm? It would certainly keep everyone on their toes and off balance which always works to your advantage.

(So long as it doesn't rain because then of course you'd have Handbag Soggy Toast on your hands and that, as everyone knows, never helped anyone.)