Wonders and 'dedications' at the French children's book fair (Salon du Livre Jeunesse, Montreuil, Paris)

I have enthused more than once before after signing my books at the inspiring treasure trove of books that is the French national children's book fair (the Salon du Livre Jeunesse).  What a paradise for lovers of children's books, old and young!  Surely it is one of the reasons why French children's publishing thrives. 

Is there an enterprising someone who could dig out a nice big exhibition space and rally British children's publishers here to create the equivalent - a national 'selling' fair for the UK children's book market? It would be such a big boost for the UK publishing industry, bookshops included.  

French publishers at the Montreuil work with different independent bookshops who run the sales tills at each of their stands at the book fair.  The point is that unlike at the London Book Fair, publishers could actually sell books (and apps and a few related products) directly to parents and children of all ages (babies too!) school groups (in France they come in their droves to visit the fair, sometimes with special book tokens to spend) as well as teachers, librarians, book lovers and art students, not to mention us authors and illustrators.

Here's my illustrator's eye view from the Bayard stand, as armed with coloured pencils and stickers I got ready to sign my new book,  Bridget's Book of English  (That's the title my French publishers chose).  It's a large board book full of flaps and details - and English words - showing a funny furry family going through their day. On the back is a QR code and link to a site where I pronounce every word online - and be warned - I even sing the few songs in the the book.  

How to sign a big shiny board book? Well I did a drawing on sticky-backed paper, stuck it onto the door on the right here alongside the name of the child and my signature.

 Regis Faller, the creator of Polo,  was signing just to my left.  Polo is the adventurous dog whose exploits feature in brilliant wordless comic books for pre-readers.  Polo is a big success in France and also won a prize in the US.  I told Regis that I was lucky enough to witness our Bayard editor Isabelle Bézard presenting it at our SCBWI Bologna conference some years back and as a result the great editor Neal Porter, of Roaring Brook bought the US rights for Polo.

At the 2011 Bayard stand at the fair, I signed my books alongside a very popular friend,  Hervé Tullet. Some of his books were on a table behind me.  Bayard sold coeditions to Tate UK/ Abrams US of my books and Herve's.  It was great to watch Hervé perform and interact with kids and adults of all ages at the Tate when I first moved back to London.  He is amazing - and he continues to create stunningly innovative books which are causing a stir in the US too.   Bayard published one of his first big doodle books in the same format as my Petites Mains Dessinent (The Big Book for Little Hands) which - hooray....

...has just been reprinted with a new cover in France. So I signed this book too. 

Oh - here is Hervé - in one of his books!  

Pity this is the only caught glimpse I caught of him at the fair.

Authors and illustrators were kept busy everywhere -  including comic artist Emile Bravo (I love his Trois Ours Nains series) in the middle here signing at the Seuil stand.

Art, doodles and drawing books were everywhere too this year - in books and on backcloths. Above is the Sarbacane stand which published one of my favourite books this year by Serge Bloch. 

It felt appropriate that the art and new kids book publishers Thames & Hudson had a stand at Montreuil.  (Wish I had had enough battery left to photograph their wares!)

Wow- was the fair busy!  Nice that the Paris libraries had a suitably quiet corner stand of their own for kids and adults to relax in and  browse.

Monday, the last day is the 'professional' day, when more adults attend than kids.
I wonder how many of the people here with their noses buried in books, are teachers and librarians buying their stock for the year.
Ouch! My Iphone battery went flat too soon and I missed taking a photo of my other friend Marc Boutavant who was signing all over the place. Queues for him were huge so I will have to wait to get my latest Marc Boutavant treasures signed when I see him for another fun dinner chez lui or hey - let's get him to London.

The day after I signed at Montreuil I had fun at my first fully fledged Bridget's Book 

workshop at Anglofun.  

But more about that next post!

Sneak peek 2 - a whole new wild wolf, French style

Well, the feedback from my loyal French art director was that the wolves in my first roughs weren't  quite scary enough for small kids.  They want a thrill...at least in France they do.  Which is fun, so I'm working on scaring kids some more. 

Here's wild Mrs Wolf admiring her new born.  Our little hero looks like he's got what it takes, she believes, to a Big Bad Wolf one day, just like Grandpa. 

And here  - almost done but... is a colour version of the rough I showed in my previous post, where Dad Wolf is showing his son how to be a Big Bad hunter.    

I'm still working on the look and feel of all this, 3 weeks before the final deadline. Back to work asap!

A sneak peek: recent roughs...

rough for Belles Histoires - 'Baby wolf has got his grandpa's black eyes....

'Pa teaching little Wolfie how to hunt'.

Signing at the French children's book fair, Montreuil with Hervé Tullet, Brian Selznick (of Hugo Cabret), Lorenzo Mattotti, and all...

I caught this boy reading - totally absorbed - on the Sunday of the French national children's book fair in Montreuil near Paris....

Then I looked left and up - and at the top of the pile of cubes was my bouncing black rabbit from my box of my Sept Comptines à Chanter!

Here's me getting distracted by another child wandering past, while I was signing my Sept Comptines, the original French edition of The Big Book for Little Hands and other books I've illustrated at the Bayard stall. I was sandwiched between (to the right) Nicolas Hubesch, a brilliant comic book illustrator among other things, of Serge Bloch's Zouk series,  and to the left, the amazing, innovative artist Hervé Tullet, and author of Moi, c'est Blops.  

You can see Hervé Tullet's pink and orange Blops above and the blue spot from the cover of the minimalist Press Me! which is a huge success in the US, as well as in France (where it's simply called Un Livre.)  

And there's a blue and green Blops in front of a girl watching Hervé draw. 

Does anyone know of another book with a cover that comes in a choice of colours?

Or another book with a whole in the spine like Hervé's Book with a Hole?  

And the best thing is that it's not just about the cover - his work changes the way you see and think, all the way through each book....and they are fun and always surprising.

 Brian Selznick was also signing at the Bayard stall on Sunday.  He seemed to be having a great time behind piles of the French translation of his book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret.   

I love this book for the innovative way it  alternates with words, great swathes of pictures when words aren't needed.  You need to use your eyes to follow the story.  It's a perfect example of the power of visual story telling.  Martin Scorcese understands that alright, being a film maker.  I heard Selznick talk in Bologna about how film had always been a huge influence on him.   (Coincidentally, Shaun Tan said the same thing in Newcastle).   I can't wait to see Hugo, Scorcese's film adaptation just out in France and the UK. 

And while we're still on guys and Italians -  here is the great comic book artist and illustrator Lorenzo Mattotti signing his black and white Hansel and Gretel

However for me, the best thing about the French children's book fair is the huge diversity of beautifully designed books and pictures and illustrators signing with creative colourful 'dedicaces'  on every publisher's stall.  Above Rue du Monde....below Editions Memo.

and above all a huge diversity of kids of all ages from tiny tots... 

to toddlers, not to mention teens.... 

and their parents and teachers.  

What better way to encourage kids to love books than to show all the love and attention put into the creation of books of all kinds at fairs such as this? 

Voice not style

You can whisper or shout, hum or sing, but we'll recognize your voice  - unless you're a perfect mimic.  It's that simple, I tell my students who often fret about 'style'.  I tell them the style's not what matters...any style could work as long as they are sure about what they're doing, the content that they're talking about - as long as they have a voice.

But not everyone's voice is  confident and clear, especially when you're having to prove yourself, do a test piece for a competition or hook a publisher.
It's just like walking onto a stage. You become self-conscious and then shaky.
It's only when you forget about yourself and you think of the message you want to get across, then your voice takes off.

The metaphor works for me, at least, especially as I've often played with styles - and worried in the past, about having different styles.   It wasn't until Bayard Jeunesse 'found me out'  a few years ago, that I started to relax about my different styles.  Bayard had used my bold graphic style in games for their magazines and posters for toddlers,  which culminated in this, the Big Book for Little Hands....

which was first published in France in 2006 and then in the UK and elsewhere (and was one  of the first  'doodle books'  of many following in the wake of Taro Gomi's books for older children)
By that time, they had already tumbled other styles I used for other books in other countries, discovering this

  at the 2003  Bologna Book Fair and later this

"But my Kiss, kiss! style is so different from what you know of me! " I  told my Bayard art director.   "Yes is it",  she said,  "but  it has the same voice".
Funny thing is, you can't quite hear your own voice as it sounds to others.   And most people, including me, don't like listening to their own recorded voices.  So you can't be self-conscious about it.  It just IS!

And here today is Anthony Browne, master of the picture book  and British Children's Laureate  saying the same thing about voice, at  the end of this video. What a wide variety of voices were chosen for this years UK Best New Illustrators awards!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/audioslideshow/2011/mar/22/best-new-illustrators-awards-audio-slideshow?CMP=twt_gu