The littlest drop must come only from the littles bird, a hummingbird. Jerry Pinkey is one of my favourite illustrators of all time. Brian, his son, has the same artistic eye as his late father and after finding his unfinished works at “The littlest drop” he started creating new lines and drawings for the story. That is one of the warmest and most emotional stories we’ve red lately. A story about resilience and unconditional maternal love, about helping others when in great need, to fight the greater danger together. A story that touched our hearts and brought joy at the end.
Grimm Brothers will be very proud to kmow jow many great artists had use their work to create new magic art: theater spectacles, operas, illustrations.
A few days ago was published Stephen King’s adaptation after Hansel and Gretel original stories , illustrated by Maurice Sendak.
An visual feast for the eyes and a beutiful adaptation of the story for the little readers.
Or 100 Divinations for Uncertain Days, depend what you prefer 🙂 Maria Popova had became one of my favourite artists 10 years ago, when I first discover her art. It inspired me to pursue my dreams and to write about beautiful stories and even to found an online books & art gallery for children. I feel like everything she does in art is enlighting and magical. So this collection of illustrated poems could not be any less. Is a beautiful gift for a rainy day, with a cup of tea in your hands. Or for a dear friend that enjoys art and beautiful things in his life. And maybe for your children if they want to discover more about life and nature and birds. Printed on the glorious ilustrations made by John James Audubon and by naturalists Elizabeth and John Gould the divinations were at first a way of bringing together the beauty of this world. First forty of them, than adding up until 100. So if you are looking for an art treat , be sure to know that you found it.
Island life. Independence. Settlers. Traditions. Generations. Simple yet hard life escaping time and rusticators. A visual delight offered by one of the greatest american artist and children books illustrators, Barbara Cooney. A book inspired by her beloved Maine. A beutiful gift today, on America’s day. Enjoy!
He was and still is the father or all stories and fairytales. He had just one dream, to tell stories to the kids. Because when himself were a kid, his mother would tell him stories. She didn’t know how to read, because in that era only the wealthy danish people were allowed to have an education. But that didn’t stop her from inventing the most amazong stories for her boy. Later in life, after a lot of hardships and attempts in other jobs, he will start writting his fairytales. 156 of them, to be more precise 🙂
In his honor, the greatest prize in children literature is being offered. I don’t think it exist a school or a household with children in it that hadn’t heard of him or red his fairy tales.
Now, a great author herself, Jane Yolen brings this beautiful homage to him. Together with the bright and warm illustrations of Brooke Boynton Hughes, this biography is one to be cherish and read.
A poem by Edward Lear illustrated by Charles and Nicholas Santore
What is a Pip? And more, what is a Scroobious Pip? My guess, is when you love children and words so much that you invent new ones of the latter to amuse the firsts ones 🙂
Edward Lear was a boy in his heart even when he was an adult. He loved to play with words and colors to change them and combine them as no other before him. Lots will tell you that he has the father of literary nonsense and that he loved the absurd in any form. I would say that he was beyond all that. That he imagined a world for him and him alone early in his childhood, when he first started having epilepsy seisures. And that he continued to work at it and to make it more and more beautiful and rich, for him to be able to have a space where he would feel at home. And later in life he chose to share his world with others like him, with a heart and imagination wide open and unaltered.
Charles Santore has an imaginative mind and great talent in depicting reality and fantasy alike in a unique way. He found joy in illustrating some of the great classics in children’s literature. The work at Scroobious Pip wasn’t finish at the time of his passing, so his son Nicholas, an visual artist himself, felt that he was the one meant to complete his father work. So it came one of the most anticipated and beautiful albums of 2025, that already has great reviews. Enjoy!
Astazi s-au decernat premiile Oscar 2025 si pentru a celebra Cinema-ul, va invit sa aruncam o privire asupra vietii unui mare cineast francez, Francois Truffaut. Cartea pe care o privim astazi a primit premiul Andersen 2021 pentru cel mai bun album ilustrat si este o biografie scrisa de Luca Tortolini si ilustrata de Victoria Semykina. Francois Truffaut a stiut inca de la 8 ani ca pasiunea sa cea mai mare va fi cinema-ul. Cinema-ul si lectura. “Trei filme pe zi, trei carti pe saptamana”, aceasta a fost deviza sa. Pentru ca pasiunea pentru arta are nevoie de mult studiu individual si un mare bagaj de cunostinte acumulate.
Sper sa va placa propunerea mea de astazi si sa ne aduca aminte ca orice copil cu un vis indeajuns de mare va gasi mereu o cale sa il vada transpus in realitate.
On Monday, in Phoenix Arizona were announced the winners of the most important awards in children literature from America.
The main atraction every year is the Caldecott medal. The medal is it named after the 19th century american illustrator Randolf Caldecott and it is offered to the “most distinguished American picture book for children”.
Another great recognition is the Newbery Medal, offered by ALSC to the author of „the most distinguished contributions to American literature for children”.
Named after Coretta Scott King, the wife of Martin Luther King, the Coretta Scott King award recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children created by African American artists that reflect the African American experience. Awards are given both to authors and to illustrators for universal human values.
Another distinguished prize is Pura Belpre Award, a recognition presented to a Latino or Latina author and illustrator whose work best portrays the Latino cultural experience in a work of literature for children or youth.
The Geisel Award recognizes the „author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year”.
The Sibert Informational Book Medal is awarded annually to the writer and illustrator of the most distinguished informational book published in English during the preceding year.
The Batchelder Award recognizes the publisher of the year’s „most outstanding” children’s book translated and published in the U.S.
This year recepients were of little surprise for many. Some of the most beloved books that were published in 2024 didn’t catch the jurrors attention so much to receive a medal.
Some of the laureates were new names in the industry and for some, odd choices.
Everything seems very specific and well targeted to a certain type of public. As if beauty in children art and a beautiful book in general is it not enough anymore for all of the children. But maybe this is normal in a nation that has so many cultures and people living together, each with a different history and reality. Each with their hopes and dreams of a future that feels totally uncertain now.
I tried to put myself in the shoes of a kid or a teacher and see what kind of books, messages and art from 2024 would be most suitable to be read.
I also took some time to see as many titles that appeared in 2024 as I could and picked my favourites.
Some of those choises are in the pictures below. And also you can see who the actual winners were.
As a final note, I salute any kind of human emotion that children art still been published offers us. In a few years we might have the surprise that the AI will try and do that also instead of us.
That for an artist that works a full year to create something so magic and unique as a quality picture book, the AI would do a similar work in a few seconds. It is something to put things in perspective, of course. As well as the limitations that some face in doing what they feel doing in kids art and culture.
We are more and more told what to do, what to wear or eat, what to read or listen to. It would be a great loss for the little readers of the world not being able to read and enjoy ehat they chose, the great works from all those talented artists out there.
But now let’s just enjoy all those beautiful books that 2024 brought us!
Today I saw the Oscar nominations and my surprise was so big to find out that a magical story, that also receive the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2022, is a nomination for the Animated Short Film Category. I am talking about Magic Candies, the animated movie made after the picture book imagined by Heena Baek. I hope the jury will love the movie at least as much as we enjoyed the book. Take a look , isn’t is magical?
little humans 