Here comes the bride: The Scarecrows’ Wedding enters Living Paintings library

Wedding bells are ringing at Living Paintings, because The Scarecrows’ Wedding is joining the our library! Thanks to funding from Magic Light, who is producing the animated The Scarecrows’ Wedding for the BBC this Christmas, it’s the 15th title we’ve adapted from legendary children’s author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler!

What’s it about?

The Scarecrows’ Wedding follows two scarecrows, Betty O’Barley and Harry O’Hay, who are planning the perfect wedding. But a wicked scarecrow, Reginald Rake, is set on ruining their special day, and Harry must become a hero to make sure he and Betty can have the wedding of their dreams.

Like all the Julia Donaldson/Axel Scheffler titles in our collection, it’s a delightful affair with vibrant illustrations and a playful rhyming patter that makes it an absolute joy to read. Now, with our tactile-audio adaptation, blind children can experience the magic of these illustrations, just like their sighted peers!

What goes into the Living Paintings adaptation?

At Living Paintings, every book is handcrafted by an incredible team of volunteers, which the Magic Light team saw first-hand when they visited Living Paintings HQ.

To start, we take those delightful Axel Scheffler illustrations and turn them into line drawings. These line drawings are then carved into wood by our master carvers and placed into a thermoform machine, where a plastic sheet is pressed over top, forming the tactile image. Lastly, the images are painted by our skilled painters, who give that last splash of colour to bring Scheffler’s illustrations to life for blind and visually impaired readers.

Thank you to Magic Light, the brilliant animation company behind many Donaldson and Scheffler animated film adaptations, for funding the audio tactile version of The Scarecrows’ Wedding.  The animated film version of the book will air on BBC One this Christmas.

The Magic Light team visited us at Living Paintings HQ to film the production process of our audio tactile version of Betty and Harry’s story.  Here’s their lovely film all about it!

How to order

The Scarecrows’ Wedding is now available to borrow for free from our postal library!

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