How do you picture Peter Pan? Disney-style, all neat and nimble? How about Willy Wonka? Or Paddington Bear? This British Library exhibition takes a look at how we identify with characters through illustration by presenting drawings based on ten classic children’s titles. ‘The Iron Man’, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, ‘The Wind in the Willows’, ‘Paddington Bear’ and ‘The Secret Garden’ are among the books explored, and illustrations by Quentin Blake, Michael Foreman, Rudyard Kipling and JRR Tolkien show how differently artists can interpret the same story and how a character can grow over time in the hands of different illustrators.
