What led you to create Simon’s world? Once I had Simon, everything clicked, and I was no longer working with the abstract idea of writing a book or making beautiful images. Books became my second language and Simon an extension of myself. I had a new freedom to play with words and images. I allowed myself to write the way I wanted to.
Juliette MacIver is a picture-book writer and mother of four, who lives in Wellington, New Zealand.
What is the origin of the Grizzled Grist story? A good friend of mine asked his nine-year-old son, Jonny, what he would like to be a master of—the best in the world!
Clotilde Perrin is an illustrator and author living in Strasbourg, France. We asked her to tell us more about her new release, Gotcha!
An interview with Jörg Mühle where he discusses how he created the Tickle My Ears series, including his illustration technique and trialing version of the story with his daughter. “It was amazing. My book was working! Well, in a way. It didn’t make her go to sleep. But she really loved it.”
Ulrich Hub trained as an actor and now lives in Berlin, Germany. He works as a director for stage and writes plays, screenplays and children’s books, which have won numerous awards. What inspired the story of the blind chicken and the duck with a limp? When we use these phrases in German we… Read more »
The story of Jonna and Gorilla is about growing up with a parent who is not the norm. How one so often wishes that one’s parent could be more like all the others—and how one realizes, as the years pass, the advantages of being the child of someone who is an individual and walks their own path.
Hiroshi Ito was born in Tokyo, Japan, and graduated from Waseda University with a degree in education. “A good children’s book has depth, despite its simplicity. The reader should find something new every time they open the book. They will also see different aspects depending on their feelings or situation at that time.”
When I was a child, my best friend lived with about 15 people in a shared house, a big old villa. It had absolutely everything! There was a big garden with fruit trees, and a cosy treehouse.
When I created the character of Lionel, I tried to reconnect with the deep feelings of two- and three-year-olds, and I found myself confronting some contrasting and powerful emotions! It’s a very rich universe that you don’t always find in stories for toddlers, where things are often soft and kind.
“When I was eleven I used to pretend I was a boy a lot, and I was longing for love. All I wanted to do was to play-wrestle with my friend Michael. He had bleached hair and could play Nirvana songs on his guitar. But I was so tall and skinny it was hard to get boys interested. They liked the short and cute girls, not ones with cricket legs like me.”
