Best illustrated books all over the world
Five Tales of Love brings together some of Hans Christian Andersen’s most enduring stories — Thumbelina, The Tinderbox, The Little Mermaid, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, and The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep. Each of them speaks about love in a different register: quiet devotion, reckless passion, longing, loyalty, sacrifice. In […]
Cossack Holota belongs to the golden treasury of the Vesyolka publishing house. It was created by the Ukrainian writer Maria Prygara and the artist Heorhiy Yakutovich, and first appeared in print in 1966, becoming beloved by many generations of young readers. The story is set in the 17th–18th centuries, at […]
The first “golden age of children’s literature” in Sweden came at the beginning of the 20th century, and it is inseparable from the names of Selma Lagerlöf, Anna Wahlenberg, Helena Nyblom, and of course Elsa Beskow. Beskow not only wrote fairy tales for children, but was also an outstanding children’s […]
In the book Fox, the story of relationships is told metaphorically by author Margaret Wild and illustrator Ron Brooks. Readers encounter several tragic situations, complicated breakups, betrayal, and attempts at redemption. These are portrayed through three characters, a magpie and a dog, both disabled by a forest fire, and a […]
One day, Sven the swan bursts into the peaceful, festive life of a quiet little village. He makes an epic entrance on a skateboard, wearing cool sunglasses and holding a cup of coffee in his wing. Meeting three villagers: a dog, a horse, and a butterfly, Sven offers to grant […]
Have you ever stopped, looking at a bridge spanning a river or canyon, and wondered how it came to be or who first conceived it? Bridges can be truly captivating: sometimes for their height, sometimes for their shape, sometimes for their curves, and sometimes for their liveliness and dynamism. Some […]
The Hungry Moon is a collection of Mexican nursery tales, including two songs and thirteen stories, illustrated by Mérida for American publishers. Though original artworks by Mérida are rare and valuable, his illustrations bring his characteristic style to the realm of children’s literature, merging cultural motifs with modernist aesthetics.
In this Caldecott-winning book, Ed Young works simultaneously as author and illustrator, offering his own retelling of the traditional Chinese “Granny Wolf” story — a tale that shares roots with the European Little Red Riding Hood but unfolds with different dynamics. Instead of one child walking through a forest, Young […]
Dahlov Ipcar’s book about an underwater farmer, published in 1961, sheds light on the hidden world beneath the water, where a tireless merman tends to his marine farm. With the help of two seahorses, he patrols his domain, protects manatees from fierce tiger sharks, and frees creatures caught in the […]
This Is Rome is one of those books where you open the first spread and immediately feel the weight of centuries settling around you, but in Šašek’s playful way, never solemn, never heavy. Rome in his hands is not a postcard city polished for tourists, it’s a living place, a […]
The Adventures of Cipollino tells the story of the brave little onion boy who stands up against injustice in a world of fruit and vegetable characters. Gheorghe Zlobin’s illustrations bring this playful tale to life with bright, energetic drawings full of movement and personality. Zlobin’s style is unusual and lively: […]
Paul and Peter are twins, and from the first page, the book opens a window into a world where numbers take shape. Father Lion tends three cubs, Mother Mole keeps track of four little ones, and a barn owl watches over five eggs. Each family is shown with small, thoughtful […]
Gabriel Pacheco offers a distinctly atmospheric reading of Kipling’s The Jungle Book in this edition from Sexto Piso. His illustrations move between reality and the surreal, giving the familiar stories a dense, breathing presence. Layers of ink, pencil, acrylic, scanned textures, and digital work create images that feel tactile and […]
“La feria abandonada” (“The Abandoned Fair”) is a collection of twelve melancholic texts created by Spanish artist Pablo Auladell together with two of his friends, journalist Rafa Burgos and poet Julián López Medina. Stylistically distinct, these poetic short pieces share a common atmosphere of loss and quiet sorrow – stories […]
Who Dreams of Cheese? is a picture book built around simple riddles about what different animals might dream of. Each riddle becomes an entry point into a small dream world, and the reading experience turns into a journey through shifting moods and images. Weisgard uses a warm palette, soft transitions, […]
Leonard Weisgard’s 1949 edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass is one of those rare encounters with a classic that feels both familiar and completely new. His illustrations, bold and textured, bring a distinctly mid-century sensibility to Carroll’s world — a mix of graphic clarity and imaginative […]
In Look at the Moon, Leonard Weisgard uses collagraph, a layered printmaking technique in which a collage is inked, pressed, and then hand-colored to create images that feel rich, textured, and vivid. The visual result is striking: depth and detail emerge from what might otherwise seem simple, turning each page […]
The Little Island is a classic picture book written by Margaret Wise Brown under the pseudonym Golden MacDonald and illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. Released in 1946, it won the Caldecott Medal for illustration in 1947. The story centers on a small island in the ocean and the creatures that inhabit […]
Neighbors is a quiet, introspective picture book about a girl who has just moved into a new apartment and begins to think about the people living around her. The neighbors are close in space yet unknown, present only through sounds and small clues behind the walls, ceiling, and floor. Through […]
Renowned German artist and acclaimed master of book illustration Binette Schroeder has received many of the most prestigious international awards, including the Silver Medal at the Leipzig International Fair, the Golden Apple of the Bratislava Biennale, the Japanese Owl Prize, and many others. Her first picture book, Lupinchen, is set […]