V&A exhibition goodies: The Tiger Who Came To Tea

Looking for World Book Day costumes? Step this way….

Practically every household has a fondness for one of Judith Kerr’s picture books, whether it’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea or one of the Mog series. Somehow, this purveyor of slightly naive drawing, whose style became noticeably more adept as the years went by, has come to be regarded as a seminal illustrator.

Now the V&A Museum of Childhood is celebrating this lifetime oeuvre with an exhibition. I’m very much hoping to get up to Bethnal Green to see it before it ends on 4th September, and not least because ‘little visitors to the exhibition can have tea with a life-size tiger in Sophie’s kitchen or read the adventures of Mog curled up inside her cosy basket’. Wow, how cool does that sound?

Now, fabulous as all that may be, everyone knows that one of the best bits of the V&A is its shop, and there are some rather lovely tie-ins to this exhibition which you can buy in their online store, even if you don’t visit. Here are my favourites:

The Tiger Who Came To Tea mounted prints, top, would make a perfect nursery decoration. There are three different designs (plus one Mog), and they’re just £10 each. Paper masks, above, are perhaps a little steep at £5, but very pleasing.

To my mind, the tubes of biscuits marked ‘Tiger food’ and tea named ‘Tiger tea’, both £3.50, are the very nicest souvenirs of all, despite also being some of the cheapest. Plus you can recreate the story once you get home – excellent. Shipping costs are £3.95 for orders up to the value of £15, £5.95 for orders between £15 and £100.