For five years now, children’s book illustrators have posted their work online on the first Thursday of each month with the hashtag #KidLitArtPostcard. The illustrator Gina Perry started the event during the pandemic as a way for illustrators to get their work in front of publishers and editors during a time when no one was in the office to receive physical postcards.

I’ve joined on and off over the last few years, sometimes using it as an excuse to create new portfolio illustrations, sometimes using it as an excuse to post an old illustration that I still love.

You, as a kid

This month, June 2026, is the five year anniversary of the event being created and Gina has set an optional theme of “You, as a kid” for the postcards. I decided to make a version of the artist “starter packs” that were popular a while ago.

The things shown here probably span about 7 years of me as a kid. The outfit is from a photo of when I was about 8, I got glasses when I was 11 and braces when I was 14.

It was hard to choose all the accessories!

I don’t really think of myself as having been an outdoorsy kid, but when I was remembering my favourite toys they included roller boots, a space hopper, a pogo stick, and even pairs of stilts my dad made for me and my friends. They weren’t hugely tall, but we would go all around the neighbourhood on them. I guess what I’m realising is, I’d rather travel any way except walking 🙂

Let’s dig in to a few of the things that did make it into the starter pack accessories:

Spirograph

Spirograph was one of my very favourite toys, and I’m super happy that it’s still around for kids to enjoy these days. It was probably on a par with Screwball Scramble, which I could complete in less than 30 seconds, blindfolded. If only it had been an Olympic event my life could have turned out very differently…

Point Horror

Was anyone else obsessed with the Point Horror series of books? When I was looking up covers to draw, I realised I recognised and had read all of them! The Girlfriend, The Snowman, The Invitation, lots and lots more. From these I moved onto Stephen King and read most of his books too. It’s so strange to think about this now, because I’m not a fan of reading or watching horror at all these days. I’m very tempted to try reading one of the Point Horrors again to see what I think of them now.

Tamagotchi

This is standing in for all sorts of little electronic games I loved as a kid. The one I remember most was a car racing game where you just moved left and right to avoid other cars while your car got faster and faster. You had to learn the patterns and get them into your muscle memory for when it was going too fast to think. In another, you are catching things being dropped from a boat. I’m actually holding one of them in the original photo of the zebra print t-shirt outfit. But I also had a Tamagotchi (or more likely a cheap copy) and it is just a wonderfully recognisable little egg that most people had or wanted so that’s the one I drew. So cute.

This took me down such a nostalgia trip that, when I saw some gen 2 Tamagotchi for sale in a local shop, I couldn’t resist picking one up for my daughter. The first thing she did once it hatched was make it a little bed in her room so it could sleep near her. Her favourite thing about it is when it poos. Of course.