The Picturebook Makers Part 2 edited by Sam McCullen

The Picturebook Makers series reveals the picturebook’s immense creative potential, celebrates outstanding international picturebooks and their creators, and constitutes an inspiring collection of picturebook knowledge for anyone interested in this unique 

and dynamic art form.

"When the words and the pictures communicate different things at the same time, a third reality is created in the mind of the reader."

"Picturebooks have the power to convey universal sentiments and challenging themes in deceptively simple ways, engaging with the hearts and minds of readers directly and concisely."

The editor of The Picturebook Makers says: 

"I was becoming increasingly frustrated with the all-too-common misconception that making picturebooks is an easy thing to do, and I wanted to show people the hard work, dedication, passion, skill and of course time it takes to make picturebooks of outstanding quality."

In 2014 dPICTUS launched their blog Picturebook Makers. "The artists who feature on the blog are not interviewed; they're just asked to tell the stories of how their picturebooks came to be."

In the first book from this series we meet these twelve illustrators: Jon Klassen, Kitty Crowther, Beatrice Alemagna, Shaun Tan, Eva Lindström, Blexbolex, Chris Haughton, Suzy Lee, Bernardo P. Carvalho, Isol, Manuel Marsol, and Johanna Schaible.

In the second book we meet: Carson Ellis, Axel Scheffler, Anna Höglund, Sydney Smith, Kristin Roskifte, André Letria, Issa Watanabe, Valerio Vidali & Violeta Lópiz, Anete Melece, Vincent Pianina, Marika Maijala, and Jimmy Liao.

Many of these names may be unfamiliar to you here in Australia but hopefully through this blog post you will make some new discoveries. 

See inside Part 2 here.

Valerio Vidali and Violeta Lopiz (Italy and Spain) The Forest.  I previously talked about Hundred illustrated by Valerio Vidali. 

This image is the front cover. The Forest has 70 pages. The bookseller notes say: A lyrical book about the adventure of life, The Forest is also a magnificent visual work, both painterly and a technical feat of paper engineering. Here, sensory experience and the textures of the material world are rendered through die-cuts, embossing, cutouts, and two gatefolds. A beautifully considered work. Riccardo Bozzi was born in Milan in 1966. He is a journalist for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Violeta Lópiz is an illustrator from the Spanish island of Ibiza. Her beautifully textured work is filled with personality and playfulness. Valerio Vidali is an Italian illustrator based in Berlin. Vidali enjoys botanical gardens and spends his spare time building kites that rarely fly.

Leonard Marcus "The Forest is one of the richest, most surprising picture books I've ever read. A true work of art in every sense, including as bookmaking. It's a landmark."

Here is the Kirkus review. 

Marika Maijala (Finland) Rosie Runs (Ruusun Matka).

Bookseller blurb: Rosie dreams of forests, meadows, hares, and freedom. Trapped at the racetrack, she sprints in endless circles - until one day, Rosie makes a fearless beeline to the enormous world beyond the track. Scared and a little excited too, Rosie runs through shadowy forests, a circus, a bustling train station, and even takes a quick dip alongside a ferry. She keeps running through small towns and whirling cities, observing the gentle, giddy moments of passersby. Readers will find peace in a private look at a man watering his plants, or a jolt of happiness at a long-snouted dog wearing a cap on a train. A book about taking in the wide world around you, Rosie Runs beckons young readers to rediscover their favorite hobbies and passions, and revel in the joy of playing and being among new friends.

Kirkus Star review.

Carson Ellis (USA) Home

Bookseller blurb: Home might be a house in the country, a flat in the city, or even a shoe. There are clean homes, messy homes, sea homes and bee homes. Home resides on the road or the sea, in the realm of myth, or in the artist's own studio. This loving look at the places where people live brims with intriguing characters and is a visual treat that demands many a return visit.

Here is the Kirkus review. Home is available here in Australia in paperback for a good price. 

Anete Melece (Latvia) The Kiosk

Bookseller blurb: For years, the kiosk has been Olga’s life. She spends her days inside reading travel magazines and dreaming of distant places. One day a chance occurrence turns her upside down—literally—and sets her off on an unexpected journey. The Kiosk is a warm and curious story about someone who is stuck finding a way to be free. The story was originally produced as a short animation which gained international recognition and was selected for over 100 festivals around the world.

Andre Letria (Portugal) War (A Guerra)

Here is the Kirkus Star review.

Issa Watanabe (Peru) Migrants

Bookseller blurb: A heart-stoppingly beautiful wordless picture book about migration and empathy. The migrants must leave the forest. Borders are crossed, sacrifices made, loved ones are lost. It takes such courage to reach the end. At last the journey is over and the migrants arrive. This is the new place. Through extraordinarily powerful images, Migrants narrates the journey of a group of animals that leaves behind a leafless forest. With forceful simplicity, Migrants shows us the courage, loss and underlying hope migration takes. And that arriving in a new land may mean burying a portion of the past. Children will empathise quickly with the elegantly illustrated animal characters, each of whom have their own identity with details like clothing, colour choices and expressions. The dark pages add weight to the silence of their journey and the individual animals help make the story a universal one. A perfect book to help teach children about refugees and migration, with humanity, inclusivity and empathy. Readers can’t fail to be moved by this deeply emotional and thought-provoking tale.

Read the Kirkus Star review. 

Sydney Smith (Canada) Do you remember?

Bookseller blurb: Tucked up in bed at their new flat, a boy and his mum share memories. Some are idyllic, like a picnic with Dad, but others are more surprising: a fall from a bike into soft piled hay, the smell of an old oil lamp when a rainstorm blew the power out. Now it’s just the two of them, and the house where all of those memories happened is far away. But maybe someday, this will be a favourite memory, too: happy and sad, an end and a beginning intertwined.

Here are all my previous posts about Sydney Smith winner of the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Medal. He will be a keynote speaker at the 40th IBBY Congress this year - 2026.

Axel Scheffler (Germany) The Gruffalo

Jimmy Liao (Taiwan) The Starry Starry Night

Jimmy Liao is the illustrator of a very important book - The Sound of Colours. I talked about his book When the Moon forgot here. I'm not sure that the book featured in The Picturebook Makers  (The Starry Starry Night) is available in Engish. I did have this glorious book in my former school library. 

Kristin Roskifte (Norway) Everybody Counts 

Book seller blurb: This fun book teaches you to count from 0 to 7.5 billion, but also to do so much more. Follow the characters' stories through the book and see how their lives collide with those of others. There are a lot of secrets to be discovered for the sharp-eyed! You'll see that everyone is different, everyone has their own life, and that - most importantly - everybody counts. At the end, a spotting section allows you to go back and have even more fun.

The sequel to Everybody Counts is Everybody Travels. 

Anna Hoglund (Sweden) There are three titles to explore - The Shadow; Didi and Gogo waiting for the bus; and Whereof one only speaks with Rabbits.

None of these titles are available in English. But you may have seen this one:

You can see Shaun Tan listed for Book One - I would like to suggest these Australian illustrators if Book Three is published in the future: Bob Graham; Freya Blackwood; Jeannie Baker; Zeno Sworder; Marc Martin; and Ann James.

Candle Island Lauren Wolk

"Six mysteries waited for me on Candle Island.

One involved a bird.

The second a hidden room.

A song the third.

A poet the fourth.

A cat fifth.

A fire sixth.

Each of them exciting in its own way.

But none more interesting than the mystery I took there with me."

Begin with the cover - I really like it and after reading this book you will want to go back and see how an important story element has been incorporated into this illustration. 

Here is the quote on the opening page - it is very pertinent to this story:

"As music is the poetry of sound, so is painting the poetry of sight." James McNeill Whistler

I think sensitive readers (with some reading stamina) aged 10+ will really enjoy Candle Island. I had no idea this story was set in the 1970s (see the Kirkus review).  I loved the island setting and the way Lucretia and her mum were keeping the identity of the artist of their famous paintings a secret kept me turning the pages knowing that they were sure to be discovered. I was also happy that there was no twist at the end and that the bad things that happened on the island were all down to those awful rich kids as Lucretia, Bastian and Murdock suspected. If you look at the labels I have assigned this post you can see the plot covers a lot of things - Lucretia finds a wounded baby bird (an osprey) and she nurses him back to health; there are three summer kids who are dreadful bullies; there is an art theft; the island is small and suspicious of strangers; Lucretia and her mum are experiencing terrible pain after the death of her father; and each of the three island kids has a special talent. Oh, and I do need to mention two more things - mum cooks delicious food in this book and I adore the town librarian (I think I need to make a list of books that feature very special librarians).

Curious readers might want to know more about osprey birds after reading this book. Also Lucretia is named after Lucretia Mott - a Quaker suffragist and anti-slavery campaigner. You might also want to learn more about the scale of being or the Great Chain of Being. 

Candle Island is set on an island - I know that is obvious - so I was not surprised to read Lauren Wolk lives on Cape Cod. I really enjoy visiting islands and I enjoy books set on islands and even though I have not been there for some reason Maine, USA has a special fascination for me.

Here are some text quotes:

"When I let myself spill onto the canvas like melted wax, I built a world where I felt exactly right, entirely who I really was. Free. Unwatched. Alone."

"He was singing a story. A sad one that suddenly became something else and then something else again, the colour changing as the story did, from a radiant magenta to some kind of violet. And then a gold I rarely heard."

"When I hit the water, my head exploded. Every particle of my body panicked. It was as if I'd been injected with frozen mint. As if my skin was size too small. As if I'd been scoured with a wire brush dipped in acid. All of that, all at once."

The town librarian - notice the placement of the word beautiful: "She was old. Thin. In a black dress with a lace collar. Her hair was a beautiful white, twisted into a crown on top of her head. Her skin was the same deep brown as my eyes. ... At her full height she was smaller than I was, but she seemed much taller."

"The most common form of despair is not being who you are - Soren Kierkegaard"

There are certain authors for children that are capable of the kind of writing that is not merely full of strong character growth and interesting plotting, but legitimately lovely prose as well. On a single page I found lines that end with glimpses of a “bruise-blue sea.” Or, when Lucretia thinks about befriending the prickly Murdock, she is thinking of, “How adding even a little yellow to the coldest gray could warm it toward something altogether new. But Murdock was a girl, not a painting. I would have to remember that.” I mark in my copy of this book the lines I like best. What’s remarkable about them is how seamlessly they’re integrated into the plot. Betsy Bird SLJ

And bottom line, this is a beautiful book set on a beautiful island off the coast of Maine. It will linger in your heart. Sonder Books

Wolk’s latest novel wonderfully portrays new relationships while tackling grief and self-discovery. The characters are well developed, and readers can see parts of themselves and those they know. The book also has several small mysteries that readers will be itching to solve. While a work of historical fiction, the story has the modern feel of a quiet life without current technology and trends. School Library Journal

Here is an interview with Lauren Wolk.

I spied this book some weeks ago and knowing how much I loved every previous book by Lauren Wolk, I added it to my 'to read' and 'to buy' list. Luckily for me this book has appeared in the library where I work as a volunteer, so I borrowed it and read it over one or two days. This is a longish book with 340 pages, but the print size makes it easy to read and of course Lauren Wolk creates a page turning story with characters you really care about. The library has a copy because this book was sold as a Scholastic Australia Book Club title (issue 5, 2025 AUS$12). We are having extreme rain conditions in my city and so today (after some very necessary chores) I snuggled down beside my heater and finished read Candle Island.

Publisher (Scholastic Australia) blurb: Lucretia and her mother have come to tiny Candle Island, Maine (Population: Summer, 986; Winter, 315) with a secret to keep ... and to escape—escape memories of the car accident that killed her father and escape the journalists that hound her mother, a famous and reclusive artist. The rocky coast and ocean breeze are a welcome respite for Lucretia, who dedicates her summer days to painting, exploring the island, and caring for an orphaned osprey chick. But Candle Island also has secrets—a hidden room in her new house, a mysterious boy with a beautiful voice—and just like the strong tides that surround the shores, they will catch Lucretia in their wake. With an unforgettable New England setting and a complex web of relationships old and new, this is a powerful story about art, loss and the power of being true to your own voice.

There is a huge error in my Scholastic Australia copy of this book. This book was originally published in hardcover by the Penguin Young Readers Group [9780593698549]. My copy in paperback is a new 'edition' BUT the imprint page does not acknowledge the original publisher or date of publication AND the author's name is spelt incorrectly as Wolke. This is funny but also disturbing. 

Other books I have loved by Lauren Wolk:

Wolf Hollow

My Own Lightning

Beyond the Bright Sea

Echo Mountain

Charlotte in London by Joan MacPhail Knight illustrated by Melissa Sweet

This book is so charming but it was published in 2008 and so now it is sadly out of print. Charlotte in London one title from the series which includes Charlotte in Givernay, Charlotte in Paris and Charlotte in New York. Charlotte in London is the fourth book in the series. It would be lovely to have a full set of these on your home books shelves. There is quite a bit of text on each page but I think you could share these books each night as a family read aloud especially if you have some travel plans or you are going to an art gallery. 

In this book Melissa Sweet incorporates the art of fifteen famous artists and at the back of the book there is a brief biography of each. Artists such as Claude Monet; John Singer Sargent; and Joseph Turner.  This book is a lovely introduction to art and to the city of London and also into the personal diary of a little girl named Charlotte. 

Bookseller blurb: It’s 1895. Charlotte and her American family came to France three years ago so her father could learn to paint in the French Impressionist style. Now Charlotte and her parents are traveling to London to see if the famous—and very busy—artist John Singer Sargeant will paint Charlotte’s mother’s portrait. In London, Charlotte and her best friend, Lizzy, share a room at the Savoy Hotel, Charlotte decides to help track down Mr. Sargeant and records her many adventures with Lizzy: They watch fireworks on the banks of the Thames, keep an eye out for London’s legendary ghosts, find out why ravens are kept in the Tower of London, and visit Madame Tussaud’s waxworks. Illustrated with stunning museum reproductions and exquisite watercolor paintings, Charlotte in London also includes biographical sketches of the featured painters. This vibrant journal of Charlotte’s exciting journey will make any reader long for lovely, lively London.

Here is the illustration from the title page:

Charlotte’s witty voice, peppered with French phrases, resonates brightly as she relates her tour of England from the Tower of London to the Cotswold countryside and includes interesting tidbits of historical detail for readers to savor. A terrific choice for readers with an interest in art history, this is a strong, appealing story on its own. Kirkus

In this trip to London, Charlotte keeps a diary from April to September of 1895. Opening with a visit to Monet's garden at Giverny, she tells Monsieur Claude her art-loving family are off to Londres with their friends the Fosters. Lizzy Foster is Charlotte's best friend and together they can't wait to explore the British capital. Dotted with photos, illustrations, diagrams and real life paintings from the masters, Charlotte describes her journey with a true artist's eye, pointing out the colours and forms and beauty she sees as she explores the streets and River Thames. Kids' Book Review

As you read this I am about to head into London. Perhaps I will be able to enjoy a delicious meal at The savoy hotel just like Charlotte:

"I love lobster, so I ordered 'Homard Thermidor' and Lizzy had her favourite 'Supremes de Volaille' - chicken with cream sauce. And since we both like potatoes, we shared 'Pommes Anna' - a yummy French potato cake. Then out came dessert - 'crepes Suzette' - thin pancakes with orange sauce. Monsieur Ecoffier served it himself. 'Bon appetit!' he said. Enjoy your dessert! And we did!"

You can see inside this book here and read an interview with Melissa Sweet where she talks about the research she conducted for this book. 

Here are the other three books from this series:

Meet the illustrator Beth Krommes

One of our large chain bookstores recently filled a table with children's books that had been on their shelves since 2018. All of the books were 50% off the retail price. I saw Blue on Blue by Joyce Sidman (2014) illustrated by Beth Krommes. Silly me - I didn't buy it - and now I regret that decision. When I visited a school library this week, I grabbed three other books by Joyce Sidman illustrated by Beth Krommes. I really love her illustration style. Sadly, here in Australia her books are fairly expensive but perhaps you can add one or two to your library or pop them onto your wish list. 

Here are some Kirkus star review comments that describe her work:

Before Morning: Krommes' inimitable scratchboard illustrations play with perspective and point of view as they flesh out Sidman’s short poem, written in the form of an invocation. Washed with orange, tan, and icy blue, they open and close with landscapes reminiscent of Virginia Lee Burton’s work.

Blue on Blue: Folk-art–inspired illustrations, astonishing in both their technical accomplishment and their heart, harmonize beautifully with lyrical language.

Beth Krommes is a Caldecott medalist (The House in the Night) and Joyce Sidman is a Newbery Honor winner (Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night). Beth Krommes lives in Peterborough, USA. Read more about her Caldecott medal here. 

Here is a list of all books illustrated by Beth Krommes with details of the awards they have won. Check out my previous post about Butterfly eyes and Other Secrets. 

We are Branches is the latest book illustrated by Beth. In this book readers can explore the myriad of ways you can see branches at work. Yes, they are part of trees but also the way tree roots stretch through the soil is another example of branches. Flowers are found at the end of the branches on plants. Rivers form branches as they flow towards the ocean. Look up at lightning and you will see branches of light and energy. The dry land after years of drought is filled with branches carved into the soil. And think about ice crystals and coral, the bones that show on the wings of a bat, and the branches inside each of us as our blood pumps through arteries and veins. 

In Swirl by Swirl even the imprint page is presented in a swirl. On the first page we see a coiled snake which, on turning the page, uncoils. The obvious spiral is a snail shell but what about a Nautilus shell and a fern frond, a hedgehog curled into a protective ball and the horns on a ram. Elephants coil their trunks to hold each other's tails and grab forest branches - the shape is a swirl. And there are spirals in plants - sunflower, rose, hibiscus, and daisy. Oh, and the tornado page is spectacular.

Before Morning is a poem:

In the deep woolen dark,
as we slumber unknowing,
let the sky fill with flurry and flight.
Let the air turn to feathers,
the earth turn to sugar,
and all that is heavy turn light.
Let quick things be swaddled,
Let urgent plans flounder,
let pathways be hidden from sight.
Please - just this once
change the world before morning:
make it slow
and delightful
and white.

Imagine receiving this lyrical text (you are the illustrator) what do you see? Beth Krommes interprets each line in a delightful way and there are also pages in between with no words - to my mind they work to give a reader time to pause, and breathe, and ponder. See inside this book here. And read this review which has teaching ideas for Before Morning. 

Blurb: There are planes to fly and buses to catch, but a small child wishes for a different sort of day. When clouds gather and heavy flakes begin to fall, her invocation comes true.

Book List

• We Are Branches Clarion/HarperCollins, 2023
• Before Morning HMH Books for Young Readers, Fall 2016
• Blue on Blue Beach Lane Books, 2014
• Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature Houghton Mifflin, 2011
• The House in the Night Houghton Mifflin, 2008 
• Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow Houghton Mifflin, 2006 
• The Hidden Folk Houghton Mifflin, 2004 
• The Barefoot Book of Earth Poems (formerly The Sun in Me) Barefoot Books, 2003
• The Lamp, the Ice, and the Boat Called Fish Houghton Mifflin, 2001
• Grandmother Winter Houghton Mifflin, 1999

Scratchboard and Watercolor Illustration Demo by Beth Krommes

Beth Krommes | Steps to Illustrating a Picture Book

“I found my way to this medium through my interest in wood engraving,” says Krommes, who was working as an art director for a computer magazine when she began creating commercial art of her own. “Back in 1982, I happened to attend an exhibition called ‘Three New Hampshire Wood Engravers: Nora Unwin, Herbert Waters, and Randy Miller’ at the Sharon Arts Center in New Hampshire. Soon afterward I took up wood engraving and was juried into the 

League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.”

From The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson

Image source: Artists network (note this site contains advertisements)

Glowrushes by Roberto Piumini translated by Leah Janeczko

An entire generation of Italians was raised with his stories and has grown up to read them to their own children. But if you’re from an English-speaking country, chances are you’ve never heard of this award-winning author. World Kid Lit

Madurer is the son of a great lord, with untold wealth, but he is also the victim of a mysterious disease that means he cannot be exposed to sunlight or fresh air. He is confined to three windowless rooms inside a palace, but his doting father summons a famous artist to cover the walls of the rooms with paintings showing the world his son cannot experience for real. As the painter works on his murals, his relationship with the boy begins to deepen until they forge a firm friendship. How can he show this child the beauty of the world with only his paintbrush to work with? Glowrushes is a heartbreakingly beautiful classic of Italian children’s literature, published here in English for the first time. Pushkin Press

This is a big call but this might be my book of the year and by coincidence it is the last day of the year! Philip Pullman has a quote on the wrapper on my book which is perfect:

"I don't think I have read anything like this before - a tale of life, death, love and beauty that by the storyteller's art makes those things true, fresh, real and important. I hope this unforgettable story finds all the readers it deserves."

Thanks to Pushkin Press this book will find lots of readers because they have taken this famous Italian book from 1987 and given us an English translation in 2022. I don't speak Italian but this book does feel very authentic.

“Stralisco” is a strange word, which is not found in the dictionary: it is part of a game between Madurer – a child – and Sakumat – a painter. Madurer is ill and must always be locked up in the dark. Sakumat has the task of showing him the world through his paintings. Their relationship turns into a story of total friendship that unites a child, a man and – in the background – a father, in a very intense adventure. “Lo Stralisco” is a fable about the possible happiness of those who fully accept to look at the world through the eyes of poetry and signs of art. A tale for kids that even the adult public has been able to appreciate. UTE Korner

It is interesting that it has taken so long to produce a version of this story in English because it has already been translated into other languages:

• Netherlands- dutch language (Querido, Amsterdam 1993)
• France- french language (Hachette, Parigi 1992)
• Spain- castillan and catalan language (Edebé, Barcellona 1991)
• Germany- german language (Hanser, Monaco-Vienna)
• Japan- japanese language (Komine Shoren, Tokio)

This is a mature, deeply poignant and beautifully drawn book of love, wonder and life. We recommend this title as a thoughtful gift, and then, a wonderful story to read and know together. Book Wagon

I highly recommend this wonderful book to share with a reader aged 10+. It would be better to share this book rather than just hand it to a reader because it it so very different and there are sure to be so many important issues to talk about as you read. 

Opening sentences: "In the Turkish city of Malatya lived a painter named Sakumat, who was neither young nor even old. He was the age at which wise men know how to be their own friend without risking their friendship with others."

About the boy Madurer: "He suffers from a strange illness: every trace of sunshine and dust is harmful to him: his eyes swell, he grows short of breath, a rash and even sores form on his skin. He cannot go outdoors, and run and play in the palace gardens as my servant's children do. Furthermore, he cannot live in a room like this, with a window that lets the mountain air and sunlight enter freely and abundantly. All the doctors in Turkey who boast science and knowledge have visited this palace ... They all strongly recommend Madurer live in the most sheltered, innermost area of the palace. He can only breathe air filtered through layers of damp gauze ... and so it has been for over five years."

The task: "I would like my son's rooms to be decorated with pictures and colours."

What happens: Sakumat and Madurer work together and create an enormous mural of mountains, fields, the ocean and memorable characters and "soon there is a fabulous world on the walls, a colourful, shifting landscape people by shepherds and lover, criss-crossed by armies and pirate ships. ... Can he show this child the richness and beauty of the world and of life itself with nothing but paints and brushes?" (jacket blurb)

The title: Glowrushes come from the artist's imagination with additional idea from Madurer himself. "This is a plant I have never heard of ... it's a sort of firefly plant ... on clear nights it lights up ... the boy sat up in bed. All around him, in the darkness, hundreds of slender wisps glowed with a golden light. Bending this way and that, they shone throughout the dark meadow and seemed to sway in the wind."

Here are three Italian covers for this book with the title Lo Stralisco:

Roberto Pumini was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award (IBBY) in 2020. Here are some of his books:

The Hans Christian Andersen dossier talks about Glowrushes (the Italian edition) "Sakumat is a painter, and he’s called to do a delicate job: a very rich man’ son has a serious illness that forced him to live inside a room, without ever seeing the light of the sun. The painter will have to paint him some landscapes to make him know the world and distract him. And then, maybe, won’t a contact so unbridled and continuous with creativity and imagination save him from death? The novel doesn’t answer these questions in a negative way, it demolishes them."