This Sunday, the young and old will surround themselves with stories, adventures and unknown worlds. Encouraging kids to read has countless benefits: it stimulates their imaginations and creativity, it’s a source of learning, it awakens their curiosity, and it promotes concentration.
To give you a few ideas for World Book Day, we’ve compiled a few books of different kinds, where illustrations play a leading role. Fantastic!
Make Map Art: Creatively Illustrate Your World.
Nate Padavick and Salli Sue Swindell.
A book that provides creative tools for creating your own personal maps. It includes 18 projects for creative maps that use templates, craft paper, map keys and icons. Kids can imagine their next adventures and create one-of-a-kind and personal geographies.
Las mujeres y los hombres [Men and Women]
Equipo Plantel and Luci Gutiérrez
The publisher Media Vaca has issued a new edition of this book on equality between men and women, published in 1977-1978. Sadly, as the editors point out, the text is still incredibly relevant. One of the keys to building a more egalitarian world is education. That’s why this book explains the current situation to children, without mincing words, and talks about the importance of gender equality.
Nueva York en Pijamarama [New York in Pajamarama]
Michaël Leblond (text) and Frédérique Bertrand (illustrations)
A dynamic book to take you on a trip through the city of skyscrapers by moving a “magic film” across the page. Applying the 19th-century precinematic technique called “ombro-cinema”, which uses acetate film in a vertical stripe pattern overlaid on top of an illustrated page, surprising optical illusions are created when you move the film across the page. A magic book!
Botanicum (Welcome to the Museum)
Kathy Willis (author) and Katie Scott (illustrator)
A guide with beautiful illustrations to discover dozens of plant species. Botanicum is almost like a museum. A book for families who love botany, it will teach you about the history and variety of plant life, from the earliest plants, like algae, to trees, orchids, palm trees and herbs.
El niño que dibujaba sirenas [The Boy Who Drew Mermaids]
Javier Sobrino (author) and Carole Hénaff (illustrator)
Inspired by classical literature: The Odyssey. Ulysses has a lot in common with the famous Greek hero: love for the sea and a fascination with mermaids. An unforgettable story with gorgeous illustrations by Carole Hénaff.
El libro que hará que te encanten los libros [The Book that Will Make You Love Books]
Françoise Boucher (author and illustrator)
On these pages you’ll find thousands of true and very fun reasons to devour tons of books. Because, according to the author, reading makes you grow much faster than drinking your milk.
¿Cuánta tierra necesita un hombre? [How Much Land Does a Man Need?]
Annelise Heurtier (author) and Raphaël Urwiller (illustrator)
Adaptation of a moving story by Tolstoy about ambition and greed, with lovely illustrations by Urwiller. Pahom lives with his family on a small plot of land in Western Siberia. Although his family has everything they need, the main character is sad and thinks he might be happier if he had just a little more land. Will that really be true?
Yo, persona: ¿Cómo sabes que no eres un robot? [I, Person. How Do You Know that You Are not a Robot?]
Ellen Duthie (author) and Daniela Martagón (illustrator)
Are you really sure that you’re a person. How do you know you aren’t actually a robot? This book is full of humor and intrigue. A chance to introduce young readers to some of the big philosophical questions in a fun way.
The Ultimate Book of Space
Anne-Sophie Baumann and Olivier Latyck.
A guide to what every young astronaut needs to know about the universe and outer space. Young science buffs will enjoy this book full of pop-ups, pull tabs and moving parts that portray space travel, the galaxy or the solar system.
