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Q&A: M.G Leonard & Polly Dunbar answer our questions about The Adventures of Portly the Otter

Cast your mind back to The Wind in the Willows and you might recall a young otter called Portly, well children’s fiction favourites M.G Leonard and Polly Dunbar have expanded Portly’s story in The Adventures of Portly the Otter.

Featuring all your favourites from the original story, and packed full of fun adventure across 4 seasons The Adventures of Portly the Otter will enchant young readers and genuinely is reading for pleasure.

M.G Leonard and Polly Dunbar very kindly answered some questions for us about their new collaboration…

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The Adventures of Portly the Otter: Q&A M.G Leonard

How does taking a genuinely loved classic and expanding it with new lovely characters and adventures work? Is it stressful?

I can only speak about the story I have written to expand the world of The Wind in the Willows. I was inspired to write The Adventures of Portly the Otter because, when I was a girl, The Wind in the Willows was read to me at bedtime and when Portly went missing, I worried about him. I wanted to know what had happened to him. Where he had been for days? The book never answered my questions. I have wondered about Portly for most of my life. That is the story I felt compelled to tell.

I wanted my story to weave between and through Kenneth Grahame’s original work. My book is staged along the same timeline, set in the same places and contains the beloved characters from the original work, only Portly and the Otter family are at the centre of this story. Another author would have done it differently.

It was a profound honour to be given the opportunity to write this book. I didn’t find it stressful, although I took my responsibilities very seriously. I read and reread the source text. I visited the places that inspired Kenneth Grahame to write the original book. I put a lot of thought into how I would structure the story to mirror that of the original book. The whole experience was a joy.

Who’s your favourite of the 4 OG Grahame characters and why?

I love Toad for his naughtiness, but I also find him exasperating. Mole’s naivety and kindness is adorable, but his timidity used to frustrate me. Badger has always frightened me a little. It’s hard to pick a favourite character, but mine is Ratty. I love his boat and attitude to picnics. He’s sociable and loyal, relaxed about the stresses of the world, and he has a sense of humour about Toad’s outlandish behaviour. In primary school we performed the play of the book. I was cast as Ratty. That might have made me a little biased.

Why focus on Portly over other potential animals? Were there other contenders or he was always going to be the focus?

If you read chapter seven, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, of The Wind in the Willows, you’ll understand the power and mystery of Portly’s story on a young mind. While Toad acts like a child, Portly is the only child character named in The Wind in the Willows – And can we pause for a moment to enjoy how perfect a name it is for the chubby little adventurer. As a child, I identified with Portly. If he had been a gosling, then my book would have been about a young goose. I was attracted to the fact that Portly wasn’t a strong swimmer but nevertheless he has an adventuring spirit and a curious nature. I have spent many years thinking about him. I was only ever going to write his story.

What was your favourite of Portly’s adventures to write and is that also the one you’d most like to do?

I loved writing Portly’s adventure in the Wild Wood. The story has echoes of Mole’s adventure, when he goes looking for Badger’s house and gets lost. Wicked Weasel and sneaky Stoat, who con and then rob poor little Portly were fun characters to write. And, in fact, when researching for the book, I ventured into Bisham Woods, in Cookham Dean, which is the place said to have inspired Kenneth Grahame’s Wild Wood. It is an ancient woodland with rare trees, beautiful wildflowers and is home to many wild creatures. Sadly, I wasn’t accosted by a weasel or a stoat, but I could imagine how frightening it might be to be lost in the woods at night.

Such a warm celebration of nature and wildlife in this book, what do you hope readers take from it?

The Wind in the Willows was one of the first books that made me want to go out and play beside a river, to look for riverbank creatures and fall in love with the natural world. I hope that readers will feel the same way about Portly’s world, because we urgently need to protect our rivers, to retain the wildlife we still have. David Attenborough once said, “People will only protect what they care about . . .” I think stories are a wonderful way of getting people to care about nature.

How are the illustrations decided, do you have much say? Do you have a favourite spread?

I had very little to do with the illustrating of the book. When Farshore told me Polly Dunbar had agreed to do it, I was utterly delighted. I’m a huge fan of her work. I think she is the perfect artist for this story. I love all of the scenes she’s created, especially the party in the Wild Wood and the one of Portly floating on his back, talking to a kingfisher. However, Polly gifted me an original watercolour of Portly standing on a stool, strapped into a rucksack stuffed with fireworks and it is framed in my home. I love it.

The Adventures of Portly the Otter: Q&A Polly Dunbar

Portly lives in such a well-loved and frequently depicted world. What was it like adding your own version to the riverside?

There is a familiarity, nostalgia and warmth that bubbles up when I think of The Wind in the Willows. I had it on cassette tape and listened to it every night as a child. It was my “going to sleep” book, so the characters became part of the fabric of my childhood, as they have for so many over the years.

When I was first given MG Leonard’s text to read, that feeling of being small and safe and warm in bed, yet completely transported, came straight back. I was struck by how beautifully she had captured the essence of the original, and I felt excited to try and do the same in the pictures.

Of course the characters have been drawn many times over the decades, by different illustrators, so it’s both an honour and slightly intimidating to be handed the baton. There’s no imitating E. H. Shepard. That would feel false. I knew I had to respond as myself and draw them with love. I treasure my copies illustrated by Jon Burningham and Arthur Rackham, and more recently David Roberts.

What MG Leonard has done so well is keep the tone and warmth of the original while giving it a freshness and clarity that feels wonderfully “page-turny” for today’s readers. I imagine families who begin with Portly will naturally be drawn back to the original too.

What mediums do you use? How long does it take, and what are the steps from idea to finished page?

I start with the text printed out on good old A4 paper and read it for the first time, pencil in hand, responding almost like a child. Which moments would I have wanted to see illustrated? I scribble drawings and notes in the margins as I go, underlining the moments that really leap out at me. The text is so rich and visual that I could have kept adding more and more pictures.

The final artwork is created in watercolour. It feels important to have real paint involved. There’s an unpredictability to watercolour that feels right for the riverside. I use Photoshop for corrections and to layer scenes together. It is very much one foot in tradition and the other making use of technology.

Who’s your favourite of the four original Grahame characters, and why?

I’ve always loved Toad. Don’t we all? The scene where he’s shot into the sky by fireworks was irresistible to draw. There’s such theatrical chaos about him.

There is also something deeply reassuring about Mole and Ratty they feel like dear old friends, almost great uncles in children’s literature. MG Leonard and I were lucky enough to see the original Shepard drawings in the archive. One particular illustration of Ratty and Mole in the snow was so alive and endearing. Seeing the pencil marks and splodges of painterly snow on their little winter coats was incredibly moving. You could feel the presence of Shepard.

What was your favourite of Portly’s adventures to illustrate?

I was delighted when Jennifer was introduced, a young girl captured in the Wild Wood. When I reached that chapter, my eyes widened. It was so unexpected. As a child I would have seen her and thought, that’s me, I’ve entered the actual story. Woo-hoo!

And then there’s the extraordinary Pan chapter. It’s transporting and mystical, and yet often overlooked. For me, that was the most glorious image to create. I love the bustling river scenes, picnics and parties in the Wild Wood, but this chapter has a stillness: the sense that childhood is magical and fleeting, difficult to hold, like the light just before dawn, there one minute, gone the next.

The illustrations are an invitation into nature. What do you hope readers take from them?

I’m lucky enough to live by the River Waveney in Suffolk, and I have a young and energetic dog who needs walking twice a day whatever the weather. While I was illustrating the book, I would step outside between pages. While Frankie sniffed, I took in the hedgerows, the dragonflies and the way the river rippled depending on the sky. I noticed the ferns slowly unfurling over the weeks as I worked.

My youngest son is eight years old, and Portly is the kind of reassuring book I’ve longed to happen across. It’s beautiful to read aloud, and it’s perfect for that in-between chapter book and picture book stage. He loves the story so much he has chosen to dress as Portly for World Book Day, the first time he has ever picked a character I’ve illustrated, and there was absolutely no prompting from me. I think that is the highest compliment. It feels as though the baton has been passed from my childhood to his, and that makes me very happy.

Many thanks to M.G Leonard and Polly Dunbar for sharing these answers about the absolutely glorious The Adventures of Portly the Otter. If you are looking for a story to read aloud to your class this beautiful series of adventures is sure to bring a stillness and a wonder to your classroom.

The Adventures of Portly the Otter

M.G. Leonard | Polly Dunbar ISBN: 9780008667771

Follow the thrilling animal adventures of young otter Portly – including all your favourite characters such as Mole, Ratty and Toad, from the countryside classic, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. 🦦 “A magical tale of one mischievous otter bursting with charm, wit and wonder” – Hannah Gold Beautifully illustrated in full colour by award-winning illustrator of The Hug, Polly Dunbar, this gorgeous hardback gift book celebrates the 95th anniversary of EH Shepard’s iconic artwork for The Wind in the Willows. “Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING – absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats” There is a time in a young otter’s life when they must be introduced to their river. For Portly, today was that day … Told across four seasons in one year, little Portly has the greatest of adventures. Among other fur-raising encounters, the youngest of Mrs Otter’s pups learns to swim, battles a large trout, rescues a human girl, outwits the weasels and stoats of the Wild Wood and sleeps in the care of the god Pan – a scene familiar to readers of the original book. Full of all the charm, nostalgia and sounds of splashing in the river that fans of The Wind in the Willows have fallen in love with over the years, M.G.Leonard’s faithful spin-off will enchant an entirely new generation. The perfect Easter gift for both new readers and existing fans – young and old! 🦦 “This magical retelling bubbles with wonder, joy and love.” – Piers Torday, author of The Last Wild “A glorious future classic” – Alexander Armstrong, author of Evenfall “Marvellous tales, full of sparkle and charm” – Sophie Anderson, author of The Girl Who Speaks Bear “One of the loveliest books I’ve read in a long time” – Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Girl of Ink and Stars “A story that ripples with the gentleness of childhood wonder and friendship.” – Leah Lane, @mymulberryhouse 🦦 Pre-order now!

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