Category Archives: children

Hi folks,

I’m sorry about the radio silence over here on the blog – I’ve got good reason for that besides the Work/Art/Play workshop that I’m wrapping up this week! Long story cut short, I had oral surgery and I’m recuperating. It wasn’t fun at all. It essentially was one of my biggest nightmares come true (I’ll tell you about it later). But! It’s half-way done, and I’m going to have to sustain myself on soft-ish food for around 6 months. So here’s me saying yay to unexpected dieting (keeping it positive, peeps!) so I can move forward to more adventures.

As a result of me slacking away, some things have piled up. And not just about the guilt that I’m feeling. I’m talking about real, tangible stuff – things like books. Great people have been sending me books from all around the world and I feel terrible about not being well enough to show you the treats I’ve been getting (yes, my definition of a treat is books, books and more books – uh, book nerds unite?)

So to get things back on track, here’s one I received from the ever wonderful Gee Fan of Minifanfan  – it’s a story about Frida Kahlo, published by Alba Editorial, illustrated by Gee Fan and written by Mª Isabel Sanchez Vegara. (NOTE: The book is in Spanish!)

This title is part of a children’s books series that talks about some of the greatest achievements made by women from all over the world. Alba Editorial has 2 other titles out in the collection: Audrey Hepburn and Coco Chanel, illustrated by Amaia Arrazola and Ana Albero respectively.

I think it’s wonderful to have more titles like these that offer a glimpse of strong women figures in the arts scene (there’s so many!) With children’s books you can’t quite dive into their story so much, but it’s a great start to pique the curiosities of young minds! Now if only we can get these translated into English. Hmmmm.

Also, I made a flip through of the book which you can see below, and I’m so proud of Gee Fan’s work, especially since it’s her first children’s book!

You can order the book through Alba Editorial (where you can also see the rest of the book in the series).

I’ve been doing some research into children’s picture books recently, and was thrilled to hear that Martin Salisbury wrote another book after Children’s Picturebooks: The Art of Visual Storytelling. Published in April this year by Laurence King Publishing, 100 Great Children’s Picturebooks is a visual feast, and offers a nostalgic look at 100 children’s books from the last 100 years.

With the many, many children’s books out there, the selection criteria for the book ultimately boiled down to good art and good design; and it doesn’t disappoint. I could imagine how difficult it was for Salisbury to whittle down the selection of books to the ones contained in this tome; and especially since most of the books within are mainly from UK/USA/Europe (although not all of them were in English) – I was sure that to have Asian children’s books added to the mix would have made the task even more of a challenge.

Each profile is arranged chronologically, with details of the book covers, inside pages, publisher, date of publication, commentaries, storyline, and the illustrator’s process and body of work. An impressive amount of research was done for the book and it shows. Some of the books were from the author’s own collection (as well as some who were in his own words “begged and borrowed” from friends, colleagues and students.)

It was hard to pick out a favourite spread from the book (there’s just too many!), but Babar’s story – of how Laurent de Brunthoff’s father Jean created the series, but died from tuberculosis at the height of the characters (and the books) fame when Laurent was 12 years old. He picked up where his father left off when he was 21, and has since created more than 30 additional Babar titles in the last 60 years.

More than just eye-catching covers and informative, beautiful page spreads, 100 Great Children’s Picturebooks presents a historical look at how illustrations and stories have entertained children and adult alike, and will continue to do so in generations to come. It would make a wonderful addition to any picture book lover’s library.

{Available via Amazon}