Frankie Gritton on her debut novel A House Made of Books

Storytelling brings people together and this is what inspired me to write A House Made Of Books. Whether it’s at bedtime, on the carpet at school, or between an author and a reader, stories are shared every time a book is opened. The beauty is that you’re suddenly inside the head of someone else. A voice other than yours can be heard, and magic ensues. Through stories we listen, hear different perspectives, learn to empathise, and the result is that communities are formed. This is the seed from which A House Made Of Books grew. 

The first draft was written in 2023 while I was studying Children’s Book Illustration at Goldsmiths University. I was coming out the other side of a bumpy identity shift at the time, but I’d recently found myself again through volunteering and later working at a charity called Age Exchange. Age Exchange is a hub for community. From its cafe doors that open onto Blackheath High Street, to the old Bakehouse Theatre at the back where they host creative classes for people living with dementia, to their downstairs library with a healthy sized children’s section, there is an understanding that everyone is welcome. Being there nourished me; not only had I found a new community for myself but part of my job was to help build the community from the inside out in order to help others feel the same social and creative connection. 

With all those thoughts and feelings floating around my head, I started to imagine that books were someone’s literal world. For Simon, books are his home. While this idea alone celebrates literature, it felt lonely. It was important to me that Simon would also be able to see beyond his four walls of books, to find a community that understands him, and to feel a connection with others that love reading as much as him. Storytelling has a long history of sitting together in a circle or around a fire, to help us make sense of the world. Stories are made to be shared and Simon was the perfect character to do this. 

Between university and Ladybird, the book and its illustrations went through many iterations. I re-worked every spread from my original dummy, creating different thumbnail options for each one until we settled on the best version possible. Sometimes this meant sticking with the original, but mostly the composition improved until we had something more interesting and refined. I like to work in black and white for as long as possible, so I can focus on tone and atmosphere before throwing colour and consequently hundreds more variables into the mix. As a result, final artwork consists of black ink only, before scanning and then colouring digitally. I use a drawing app called Procreate to transform my work into colour. My colour palette consists mostly of warm oranges, browns, yellows and shades of reds, with a few greens and blues thrown in there for balance. Digital colouring allows me to test colour choices while retaining the organic shapes and textures you can only find using traditional drawing materials. 

My journey with A House Made Of Books was totally unexpected. I’m so proud that it’s out in the world and I really hope that it encourages people to connect, through being themselves and sharing their stories.