'I am confidently convinced that animal minds are as diverse, complex and beautiful as humans'
Have you ever looked at your pet cat, dog, stick insect, or polar bear, and wondered what they're thinking?
Amber Fossey - aka Zeppelinmoon - is back. And with this exclusive, full-colour double special, the artist explores the inner world of some of her favourite animals.
Featuring a very grouchy porcupine, nods to icons from children's books, brand new stories, and the secret, complicated lives of potoos, penguins, and many more.
Compelling, splendidly illustrated, and just a little bit naughty, VGP is a fun way to remember we are all badass beasts, just trying to get through another day in paradise.
Words on The VGP
"When I was three foot something I loved making books out of tiny pieces of my dad’s office paper ripped up and stapled together with colour pencil drawings inside. I found them in an old suitcase recently; they contain dogs who join the circus and sheep with really strong wool and bees who sting people to get revenge. Making real books is my literal dream come true.
"I prefer animals to humans. They rarely act like massive turnips, they buck societal constructs, they are a little bit bonkers and always, always inspiring to me.
"I forgot about children’s books for decades, as you do when you grow up and are forced to abandon childish things. Then I cracked open the boardback classics for my own micro people, discovered books I had never read before, and became enamoured with their simple magic.
"I’m enthralled by the genius it takes to captivate a very distractible audience and tell a whole meaningful story in less than a dozen pages. To me, that is god level writing.
"It’s evidently not easy. I’ve read a lot of crappy kids books in recent years hehe. People like Eric Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar), Margaret Wise Brown (The Runaway Bunny) and Julia Donaldson (The Snail and the Whale) are poets, there’s such beauty. And then you have the pure comedy of authors like Jon Klassen (I Want My Hat Back), who create sheer joy in a handful of minutes. I aspire to be like them.
"But anyway, I am 5 foot 6 now and I don’t want to read cute innocent stories all the time. I want to rant and vent and laugh about what a shitstorm adulting is. And I imagine if a porcupine had a shit day, he might want to catharse that stuff too.
"With these books I just hope people laugh, or do a half smile half laugh, or smile inside a tiny bit. Frowning is not the outcome I am hoping for. Throwing the book on the floor in disgust would be terrible. Anything but the floor, really."
