Books / Features
The fantastical reality of Mikey Please
Neatly arranged on a shelf in Mikey Please’s home studio in Bristol are sculptures of Rene and Glumfoot, two characters from his award-winning picture book, The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods, that also appear in his upcoming picture book, The Cave Downwind of the Cafe.
The wide-eyed, animated appearances of the characters might seem fantastical, except that they were born out of Mikey’s world, Rene, the owner of the said cafe, is modelled on his wife Jessie, and the little blonde waiter, Glumfoot, is an extension of the author and animator’s firstborn, Axel.
“The book came about through a game that me, Jessie and Axel would play called Cafes, where I would be a very difficult customer, Jessie would be the pompous, sophisticated chef, and Axel was the waiter. I loved the dynamic between these characters,” Mikey said.
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Mikey Please is already working on his third book, which is slated for a release in September 2026
While the two books were originally written together, Mikey thought they were “too long for a kids’ book”, thereby breaking them up into two shorter books. Both books are now part of a series of five, set to be published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, with Mikey planning to make the last two young adult novels.
He added: “The idea is that the characters grow with the readers. As the readers get older, they can like progress to the slightly in-depth stories.”
For Mikey the “huge wealth of influences” hidden beneath the world of picture books, guided his own imagination as a novice author.
“There are the classic ones – like Raymond Briggs and Maurice Sendak – all the kind of literary heroes in that world of yesteryear,” Mikey said as he walked across the room to his bookshelf to grab a few favourites.
Pointing to illustrations in a book from his collection, he added: “I’ve always been drawn to these sort of big characters, but kind of very baroque and painterly. Long before I even had children or thought of doing picture books, I would still buy picture books. They’re such amazing vessels of very refined storytelling. You have to say a lot with not very much. They’re also such incredible packages of personality.”
In contemporary times, Mikey admits being inspired by the likes of Emily Hughes, Briony May Smith, Carson Ellis and John Klassen. A quote from Klassen is also etched on the back cover of The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods.
Sculptures of Rene and Glumfoot, handmade by Mikey and his family, are in pride of place on a shelf in his home studio
Mikey, who has also written an adult fiction novel with hundreds of illustrations tucked within its word-filled pages, finds a stark difference between drawing for kids and adults.
He said: “You have to be slightly different in your approach when drawing for adults. You don’t want to be too prescriptive. You don’t want to like override the reader’s imagination by showing too much. I try to keep them more abstract.”
In his first book, Mikey introduces a whimsical world, where an ogre hopes to feast on slugs, bats and maggots but is tricked into tasting sophisticated dishes made by the very efficient chef. The second book is a prequel to this story, rooted in Glum-foot’s journey of how he started working at the cafe at the edge of the woods.
The Cave Downwind of the Cafe releases on Thursday and will then be available to purchase from Amazon and bookshops across the city.
This article first appeared in the Bristol24/7 September/October 2025 magazine, which also features an autumnal cover designed by Mikey Please
Bristol24/7’s September/October magazine can be viewed here: https://flickread.com/edition/html/68bac05bbe2ec#1
Main photo: Karen Johnson
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