Amandina in Japanese!

Published by Mitsumura Educational Co., and translated by Yumiko Fukumoto.

The band on the cover says: "I will stop being so shy."

Bologna and Lisbon

I just came back from Bologna, via Lisbon. 

At the children's book fair I had a chat with Heidi about a book project of mine. 

I was also very happy to see the Disney/Hyperion booth nicely decorated with a blow-up of the cover (still not in its final look) of my Bear and Bee. To make the thing even more pleasant, I shared the wall with Matthew Cordell's Hello! Hello!  

Bear and Bee is the first of a series of picture books and it will be out in January 2013.

On my way back, I stopped in Lisbon. Here I am in front of one of the most beautiful paintings I know: The Temptations of Saint Anthony by Hieronymus Bosch. 

There are many nice things in Lisbon, including this pavement:

Jules alla bolognese

Julie Danielson is back from Bologna, where she was one of the judges for the 2012 BolognaRagazzi awards. Read her report here!

Another warm applause for Amandina

The British but Madrid-based translator Ellen Duthie reviews children's books on her blog, We read it like this. Today, she posted a particularly attentive and thoughtful review of Amandina. Thank you!

La piccola fuggitiva (The Little Fugitive)

I would like to share images from a picture book that is particularly dear to me. The author and illustrator is Franco Matticchio, who also happens to be a friend of mine (unfortunately I don't see him nearly as often as I would like to). I think he is one of the very few truly extraordinary book artists working in Italy today. The book - the story of a little girl who runs away who knows where - was published in Milan in 2009 by the meritorious Nuages gallery.

The Tiny Visitor

A few days ago I joined an interesting discussion about strangeness in picture books on Roger Sutton's blog. I have to confess that I hadn't heard of Oscar de Mejo before, so I looked around and bought this nice copy of what is apparently his first children's book: a 64-page picture book, published by Pantheon in 1982.

Oscar de Mejo with his first wife, actress Alida Valli.

Albert Dubout

I came to realize that not enough people outside of France know of Albert Dubout.