When I was recently taking a 'Childrens Book Workshop' at UBC, the editor from Simply Read Books came in and brought a selection of books from his catalogue, and this was one of them, which I picked out to subsequently borrow from the library. Their catalogue is really worth checking out, the books are are real quality and beautifully designed from what I have seen.
Paulina P. is written and illustrated by Vancouver author/illustrator Lisa Cinar, who has an excellent website and also a blog about childrens book illustration from which I have already learnt quite a lot about significant illustrators.
Paulina P. is a grey cat-like character with red hair and a spotty body. She loves things that start with P and cannot comprehend the obsessions of others, such as her friend Penny Lee who loves hearts. Cinar's work involves bold crayon lines, scanned patterns, and photographic collage, as well as some elements that are clearly computer-generated. The rhyming text is fun, with all the 'p's being printed in different colours, as well as there being the use of comic-strip like speech bubbles. I love the eclectic use of media and the dynamism of all the pages. The drawings are child-like which I suspect is a much harder thing to achieve than it appears, and, whilst I find the crayon lines a little heavy at times, there is real energy in the work which I find exciting. Over the course of the book Paulina comes to a level of acceptance of people's differences and develops greater tolerance for the predelictions of others such as her friend Penny. A wise life lesson told in a fun way.
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