One of Chaos Castle’s favourite websites to browse through has to be Children’s Book Illustration. It does exactly as the name implies and has a gallery of wonderful illustrations from a host of amazing illustrators. Not only that, but you can actually purchase original artwork or prints. It’s an illustration lover’s dream.
Even better, for those of us who can’t quite afford the original art (sniffles), there is the chance to see a selection up close and personal at Waterstones Piccadilly from Friday October 23rd to Thursday October 29th (very handily half term / term break for many schools – and in Chaos Castle a trip to a bookshop and exhibition counts as the best fun!)
We’re lucky to have a super-speedy visit to the castle from the amazing Lucy Cousins, creator of many luscious picture books including one of our absolute favourites, Maisy Mouse. Lucy Cousins is one of four illustrators I recommend to buy for all babies/toddlers, because the bright colours really appeal. Bella and Posie were both independently attracted to her books, and still love Maisy now they’re 8 and 6.
At the Children’s Book Illustration exhibition, Lucy’s favourite piece to be on display is from the Za-Za series of books (who doesn’t love zebras? Bella still dresses in her zebra onesie when she can), Za-Za’s Baby Brother. Over to Lucy…
I’m pleased to include an illustration of Za-Za in the show. ‘Za-Za’s baby brother’ is a book that is very nostalgic for me, because it was very autobiographical. It was the first book I made after my son Ollie was born. His arrival in the family was such an enormous experience for my two year old daughter. It’s such a common experience for little children, so I wanted to make a story about the good things and the difficult things, that come with a new baby sibling. Imagining us all as a family of zebras was great fun!
Reading about a family of zebras is great fun too. Thank-you so much to Lucy Cousins, and Children’s Book Illustration, for our mini interview. We hope we’ll get to see the exhibition, but if you can’t get to London that week, the artwork is also online to view and purchase.
Waterstones Bookshop, 203 – 206 Piccadilly, London W1J 9HD
You can come along and view the artwork in the Waterstones Jermyn St Cafe on the ground floor mezzanine at any time during normal shop opening hours. However, the Children’s Book Illustration team will be on hand for purchases and any queries during the exhibition:
Friday 23rd – Thursday 29th October
10am – 6.30pm Mon – Sat, 11am – 4pm Sunday
Enquiries: Linda Owen-Lloyd : Tel: 07799 690818