Illustrators

Dallas Clayton is Awesome

11 May 2011 by Lou · 1 Comment

True inspiration…

We are so glad that you have found these opportunities Dallas because we have seen your incredible books bring so much joy to children and adults alike!

Dallas has created the Awesome World Foundation to promote children’s literacy across the USA and the world. For every copy of his books sold the foundation donates a copy to a child in need.

You can read all about Clayton and his books and foundation on his website – Very Awesome World

We ♥ books is proud to stock The Awesome Book and The Awesome Book of Thanks

Filed Under: Age 0+, Art, Illustrators, Picture books, Self Published, We Heart Books Store

Whatever

2 March 2011 by Lou · 10 Comments

I really love it when Ned gets totally enamored with a book. It has been the case recently with an extraordinary picture book called Whatever by British author/illustrator William Bee.

We saw this book read on a great BBC/ABC TV show called Bookaboo. There have been many tries at creating TV shows to promote reading, mostly all of them have been daggy or the stories lame but Bookaboo is different and Ned loves it.

Bookaboo is the name of the character, a puppet dog who is a drummer in a heavy metal band and his tag line is ‘a story a day or I just can’t play‘. A UK celebrity features in each episode, turning up with the book bag to read a story to Bookaboo so that he can later play his drums in the band.

Looking past the fact that when I say celebrity I didn’t know who many of them were (although I did see Meatloaf on one episode) the stories they read are fantastic and thoughtfully chosen. The pictures are animated slightly which makes for great television and Bookaboo, the puppet, asks questions throughout so there is plenty of interaction with the story.

Ned loved it and laughed and laughed and then made me promise to get him the book. Ned’s dad and I have now read this fantastic book sooo many times between us.

Everything about the book is funny and clever. The text is great fun to read aloud and the pictures are a psychedelic, retro delight.

Billy the central character in the book is a little boy who is difficult to please – a theme that is recurrent at our place.

Billy’s father tries everything to get him excited, showing him something really tall or very small, the speediest spaceship and the smokiest train but Billy’s answer is always a very off hand ‘whatever’. Ned loves yelling out the ‘whatever’!

That is until Billy’s dad gives Billy this just deserts. Billy is swallowed by a tiger and what does Billy’s dad say? Whatever!!

Although so simple the concept and the humour really grabs Ned and it is delightful to see him grasp the funny side of the story that as adults we can appreciate as well.

Here is a clip from the Bookaboo website explaining why they chose to use Whatever on the show…

Find more videos like this on Bookaboo Grown-Ups

The reviews on Amazon are mostly all absolutely glowing about this book but there are a couple that are critical of the fact that a child gets eaten and dad says ‘whatever’. What do you think? Is this type of humour damaging in a picture book? Do you have favourites at your house that are a bit crazy?

Filed Under: Age 3+, Illustrators, Picture books

Foxy Loxy

18 February 2011 by Lou · Leave a Comment

Katie and Rowan are reading the quintessential classic, Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl. They need one of these divine bookplates to pop in the front of their book…

This gorgeous bookplate is from the Etsy store Lineanongrata. The artist, Julia lives in the South of France and is a freelance illustrator.

Her art is spectacular and I think would make for sublime picture book illustrations.I think this is my favourite print, which is called Night Walk, along with the Polar Bear Angel but it’s very hard to choose.

Julia also writes a really beautiful blog called Lineanongrata.

Filed Under: Illustrators

Borrowed and Thrifted – and Gifted!

11 February 2011 by Lou · 2 Comments

A little while ago I was gifted a divine little book by my aunt. She’d found it while having a clean up and it had originally been at my grandma’s house. The little book is ‘A Pixie Book’ called Happy Days that was published in 1954.

The ‘Pixie Series’ was printed in Great Britain by Collins – “Publishers For The Children”. There is a sweet little bit of text on the inside jacket that reads – “The Pixie Book Series. Ask your bookseller to show them to you, and build up your own Pixie Library”.

Some of the other titles in the series sound interesting, for example Kittie-Poosies?

The illustrator is simply listed as Eulalie and with a bit of searching I have found that it is Eulalie Banks a prolific and beautiful UK artist. She published her first book when she was 18 and worked extensively from the 1920′s through to the 1970′s. She was highly respected in the publishing world it seems, and was highly sought after for pieces of her art including painting a nursery mural for Charlie Chaplin’s house.

And the thing that thrilled me the most is that she did the original illustrations for Helen Bannerman’s Little Black Sambo.

In Happy Days the story is very sweet and simple. The characters are Jack and Jill and their dog Jippy. The story, in rhyme, follows their day from waking up to going to bed.

‘The Bluebirds sing “Wake up and play.

Tweet tweet it is a lovely day.”

“Good morning Bluebirds we are ready,”

Say Jack and Jill and sleepy Teddy.’

Jack and Jill are positively cherubic, their little cheeks glow pink and their hair falls in little waves around their faces. The colours are incredible and it constantly amazes me how these gorgeous old books are seemingly still as vibrant today and they were when first published.

Eulalie Banks died in 1999 but has left behind a legacy of beautiful children’s books. There is a great bio of her here and also some beautiful flickr albums with more examples of Eulalie’s work here and more examples from the Pixie Book Series here.

Filed Under: Borrowed and thrifted, Illustrators, Picture books, Vintage

London in 3D

10 February 2011 by Lou · Leave a Comment

Just out this month from Walker Books is a gorgeous piece of innovative publishing – that I just had to have! London A Three Dimensional Expanding City Skyline is a 1.5 metre foldout book, with the most incredible illustrations by UK artist Sarah McMenemy.

They call it a souvenir on the blurb but it’s so much more than that. Sarah has illustrated twelve of the most famous sites around London in her beautiful style that you can see more of on her website. I find her work a bit like that of Ludwig Bemelmans in the Madeline books and I have well and truly fallen in love with her.

Printed on both the front and back, Sarah’s recreation of the sites of London is simply perfect. My favourite spot and one where I have fantastic memories is the Royal Observatory…

I just want to walk into that painting and lie on that grass amongst the trees – do a bit of thinking about Greenwich Mean Time!

It is difficult to photograph this book and do it justice but you can see that this is definitely not only a souvenir, it is a gorgeous combination of innovative publishing and the most divine illustrations. The whole package is a delight, including the sturdy red box the book is packaged in and it is certainly beautiful for children but if you are like me then as an adult you’ll love it too.

If you have been to London with a child or are dreaming of a trip then this is such a lovely book to share. Ned has never been and we are dreaming but he has really loved the interactivity and intricacy of the book.

There is a New York version scheduled hopefully for around July and then fingers crossed for more wonderful cities.

P.S. Good things do come in little packages and you will not believe the price on this special little box! Check it out at your local Indie bookstore.

Filed Under: Art, Illustrators, Pop Up, World