All posts filed under: Featured Books

Behind the Scenes of What Makes A Baby: A Kickstarter Children’s Book

June 10, 2013
by Robin
Featured Books / Inspiration / Interviews

Last October, Liz introduced me to a great book called What Makes a Baby, written by Cory Silverberg and illustrated by Fiona Smyth. (I talked about it in my post on picture books and doing it.) Cory’s book, which approaches the reproductive process from a more inclusive perspective, was a Kickstarter smash hit: $65,516 pledged of a $9,500 goal. The first, self-published printing of What Makes a Baby sold out and it is now in its second print run […]

Carter is a Painter’s Cat

May 17, 2013
by Robin
Featured Books / Inspiration

Today, some inspiration from Carter is a Painter’s Cat, by Carolyn Sloan, with illustrations by Fritz Wegner, published in 1971. Carter is about an artist’s cat who gets repainted every morning on a new sheet of paper. He looks different every day and he’s never sure what to expect. It’s a great story, and Wegner clearly had fun creating each and every illustration. He combined lots of cool techniques in his watercolors throughout—textures, patterns, splatters. His […]

Beautiful books from Czech publisher Baobab (some of which might have a hard time getting published here)

March 26, 2013
by Liz
Featured Books / Foreign Exchange

It might not surprise you to hear that I love to visit bookstores in other countries. Even when I don’t understand the language they’re written in, picture books are quite satisfying to page through. Foreign picture books are a part of the travel experience, as illustration styles and tastes vary from country to country. When I visited Prague a few years ago, I bought a couple of books from a wonderful artsy publisher, Baobab. Check […]

In which Sergio Ruzzier shares the making of Bear and Bee

March 12, 2013
by Liz
Featured Books / Guest Post / News / Process

We’re always happy to share good news from our stubbled Italian fairy godfather, Sergio Ruzzier. He’s with us now to talk about the creation of his new book, Bear and Bee, which comes out today. And with that, we hand over the conch shell. Take it away, Sergio! When my daughter Viola was in, I believe, third grade, I was asked by her school, P.S. 295 in Brooklyn, to come up with a bee character […]

3 German illustrators whose work you may or may not know*

March 8, 2013
by Liz
Favorites / Featured Books / Foreign Exchange / Indie Picture Books That Are Awesome

My friend Diana, from Germany, is visiting this week. We met back when I lived (and studied illustration) in Leipzig. Diana is a linguist; she studies an endangered language in Nepal and has interesting things to say about the role of picture books in endangered language communities. More on that some other time. But since I’m thinking about Germany today, I wanted to mention a few German illustrators whose work I like a lot. The […]

The Seamstress of Salzburg by Anita Lobel

January 9, 2013
by Robin
Featured Books

On my 25th birthday my sister gave me one of the best gifts I have ever received. It came wrapped in a beautiful floral print. As I looked at the wrapping paper, I slowly realized where I knew that pattern from: the end pages of my all-time favorite picture book, The Seamstress of Salzburg by Anita Lobel. My sister had found an old library copy on sale on eBay and photocopied the end papers to […]

“Epigrams succeed where epics fail.”

January 7, 2013
by Liz
Featured Books / Foreign Exchange / Indie Picture Books That Are Awesome / Show and Tell

If anyone ever wants to buy me a wonderful and expensive present, I suggest a copy of Thoughts and Aphorisms from the Fruits of Meditation of Kozma Prutkov, a rare pamphlet illustrated by Quentin Blake in 1978. This post is not about the ever-wonderful Mr. Blake, however, but about quotations and maxims. I write my own stories, which is sometimes great (more freedom!) and sometimes burdensome (more freedom!). In the worst cases, fiddling around with […]

Behind the Scenes: Where’s Walrus?

December 19, 2012
by Robin
Featured Books / Interviews / Process

Last week we interviewed children’s book illustrator, Stephen Savage. Stephen sent me so many great images I couldn’t fit it all into one post! Today, Stephen talks to us about his award-winning, wordless picture book Where’s Walrus? and takes us through his process, from the very first sketch to the final color comps for the cover. Stephen’s style is fresh, spare, and seems effortless, so it’s fascinating to see the amount of work and planning that goes into his finished pieces. […]

Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby: Picture Books and Doing It

December 6, 2012
by Robin
Featured Books / Thoughts

Last week, out of the blue, my 4.5 year old asked me, ” but how does the baby get IN the mommy’s belly?” In a not-my-best-parenting moment I cheerily said, “Hmmm I forget! I’ll have to look it up and get back to you.” Up until this point we had gotten by with a great book called Amazing You. It’s a perfect first book on where babies come from and I recommend it, but it does […]