The young, male protagonist in Ted is often left to his own devices by a father struggling to cope with the twin demands of work and single parenthood. His loneliness leads to a friendship with Ted who, though he seems to be great fun, would most likely be viewed by an adult as a bad influence.
Ted is a mischievous and lovable monster, who always knows just the right thing to help his little friend cheer up. Unfortunately, Ted’s ideas always seem to end up with an awful mess and Dad is never happy when he sees what they have done.
The story is separated into five chapters and has a much longer word count than your average picture book. However, DiTerlizzi’s illustrations are a constant source of visual humour and full of enough interesting details to keep even the youngest children interested despite the book’s length.
Throughout most of the book, the characters of the boy and his dad behave in ways that are very typical for their age group. DiTerlizzi expertly portrays the way each generation views their world and how the differences between these viewpoints can cause friction between loved ones. It is the twist at the end however, where one character strays from the usual path, that makes Ted such a satisfying book to read.
About Tony DiTerlizzi
Born into a creative family on September 6th 1969, even from a young age, Tony loved to read and draw. Drawn to the fantastical, he read books by Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl, and watched movies like The Dark Crystal.
In 1982, at the age of twelve, he created a book about scientists who discover an island of fantasy creatures. He called the book Gondwanaland and although it was never published the idea stayed with him, eventually becoming the inspiration for The Spiderwick Chronicles.
The strength of Tony DiTerlizzi’s work is in his humour and imagination. He is an accomplished illustrator and collaborator on works such as the best-selling Spiderwick Chronicles but it is in his stand-alone work that DiTerlizzi proves that not only can he draw, he is also a talented writer.
Awards
- In 2002, DiTerlizzi received the Zena Sutherland Award for Ted. It also won a Young Hoosier Book Award and was nominated for the Buckeye Children’s Book Award, the Georgia Children’s Picture Book Award and the Nevada Young Reader’s Award.
- In 2003, The Spider and the Fly, illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi, was named a Caldecott Honor Book.
Jodie Wells-Slowgrove - You might say my life has revolved around kids. At university I studied teacher-librarianship. Working in public libraries on the ...
