The Lipstick

Experimental mark making is an important part of young children’s development so it’s never a good idea to leave such things as your best bright pink lipstick lying around at home like the mother of the small child narrator of this story does.

Not content with trying it out on his lips, he decides to take the lipstick ‘for a little walk’. Something of a euphemism as it turns out, for it isn’t long before the odd daub has become an entire graffiti covered house, both upstairs and down, as the little boy has his best ever day. ‘I let the lipstick take charge.’ he tells readers.

Oddly, said child has been left completely unsupervised (apart from by the family’s moggy Martin) and thus his doodles multiply in parallel with his mounting enthusiasm as all the other family members are busily engaged in various parts of the house.

But all good things … and eventually disaster! Caught, not red- handed but pink lipsticked. Definitely a case of artistic expression that’s got just a tad out of hand and it’s brilliantly related both verbally and visually. Maria Karipidou’s illustrations are an absolute hoot showing the young narrator getting into flow state - the perfect accompaniment to the tongue-in-cheek text.

It’s just as well that home-schooling is coming to an end as a sharing of this might just result in some copycat creativity.