Animali in Viaggio

Pia Valentinis

After missing it when it first opened last March at Zoo in Bologna, 

this Saturday I was finally able to see the Animali in Viaggio exhibition 

when it arrived for a short stay at the Babele bookstore in Firenze. 

Antonio Marinoni

I was interested in this show for a good number of reasons: it's inspired by Franco Matticchio's latest book

 Libretto Postale, it's organized by two ladies I really like, the illustrator and blogger Anna Castagnoli

 and Stefania Camilli, publisher of Vànvere Edizioni, it's an innovative idea and it features

 lots of lovely animal pictures by many of my favorite Italian illustrators. 

Last but not least, I love mail art...

Daniela Tieni

Francesco Chiacchio

Anna and Stefania came up with the idea of a mail art game while discussing the aptness

of detaching the postcards included in Franco's beautiful book (Anna gave a very good account

 of the creative process behind the project on her blog Le figure dei libri). The final concept involved

 sending one of seven postcards from the book (dog, elephant, cat, penguins, chick, squirrel, crocodile)

to seven different illustrators, who would create a postcard continuing their animal's story

 and then send it to another illustrator, who would in turn do the same, 

resulting in a series of 62 postcards by Italian and Japanese artists.

Claudia Palmarucci

Mauro Evangelista

Beppe Giacobbe

Marina Marcolin

Simone Rea

Maurizio Quarello

Alessandra Vitelli

Sergio Ruzzier

Tiziana Romanin

Satoko Watanabe

Nanoa Katayama

Maya Miyama

I really enjoyed the show and am glad I finally caught up with it, if you want to see it too

its next stops will be in Udine, Tokyo and Barcelona...

Sunday Safari - Lots of Goats

Józef Wilkon

Nikolai Tyrsa, illustration from Kozlic (Little Goat), 1923

  Yevgeny Charushin, This is how they are

 Felix Hoffmann, The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids, 1957, via Curio Books

John Burningham, thanks to Children's Illustrations

Eileen Mayo, illustration from Animals on the farm

thanks to The Alphabet of Illustrators

Bruno Gambone

Charles Keeping, illustration from The nanny goat and the fierce dog, 1973

thanks to bookvart

 Lisa Congdon, Mountain Goat

Louis le Brocquy, Garlanded Goat tapestry, 1949-50

Dominique Pouchain

Solomea Loboda, linocut from Ukrainian folk Rhymes, thanks to polny shkaf

Suzy Sharpe, British Alpine Goat

Simone Rea

Simona & Simone

I've been wanting to take some photos of these beautiful volumes since I bought them 

at the Bologna Book Fair, but only now I've found the time to actually do it.

Last year I had already posted about Topipittori, one of my favorite Italian publishers

of illustrated children's books, and this time at the fair I had a chat with its founders,

Giovanna Zoboli and Paolo Canton. Turns out that Paolo and I knew each other

when we were teenagers! Anyway, I really love what they do, and was very happy

to get a copy of the wonderful Vorrei avere signed by the artist SImona Mulazzani...

GIovanna Zoboli's Vorrei avere (I wish I had) is an ode to the beauty and wonder of animals

sung through the poetic words of a child enamored with nature. Mulazzani's enchanting

 illustrations interpret every verse with great sensitivity and a richness of visual inventions.

Love the endpapers with the illustration sketches!

I have also previously featured the works of SImone Rea, one of Italy's brightest young illustrators. 

His elegant paintings illustrate this new translation of Aesop's Fables with warmth 

and a wonderful sense of color and composition. 

Coincidentally, I have already posted the equally sophisticated Aesop interpretation 

by Jean-François Martin which won the Bologna Ragazzi Award this year.

To each his own, I love them both!

Painting Mice from Italy

Illustration from Anselmo va a scuola by Simona Mulazzani

It's been a month since my visit to Bologna, and though there are many more artists 

and books I'd like to share, it's time for the blog to move on. But I will try to feature 

a different children's book, illustrator or small publisher every week, in addition to 

my usual postings. To conclude the fair reports, I want to talk a bit about one of 

our precious Italian small publishers. In a period when most news related to my country

 fall into the sad and embarassing cathegories, it's uplifting to witness the growing

 creative vitality of our independent book publishers, away from the noise and nonsense

 of the political arena, and unfortunately mostly ignored by our media and institutions. 

A nice aspect to point out is that despite the general crisis, the sales of many of 

these small companies are actually increasing, a sign that the reading public 

is curious and selective, and rewards quality in its choices.

Topipittori is one of the children's publishers I like the best.

And how could it be otherwise? Their outstanding catalogue  of 53 volumes features
 beautiful stories and some of my favorite contemporary illustrators. In fact, many 

of them have already appeared on Animalarium, like Beatrice Alemagna, Violeta Lopiz,
 Valerio Vidali, Gwénola Carrère, Kitty Crowther, Madalena Matoso, Simone Rea and 
Camilla Engman. The company was founded six years ago in Milan by Paolo Canton 

and Giovanna Zoboli, who is also an author and wrote quite a few of Topipittori's books. 

If you can read Italian, check the recent interview with Canton on Le figure dei libri.

This year, graphics by the Portuguese Planeta Tangerina were featured prominently 

at Topipittori's fair booth, since they have recently published the Italian edition of

  Madalena Matoso's Quando eu nascì. Apart from this and Kitty Crowther's Dentro di me, 

all their other titles are original productions which, in turn, are increasingly finding

 coeditors around the world, from Asia to Latin America. 

One of the new animal-themed titles this year is Vorrei avere... (I wish I had...), 

written by Giovanna Zoboli and beautifully illustrated by Simona Mulazzani. In the words

 of its publisher, Vorrei avere... is "a tribute to the perfection of animals through the 

loving care of a child who passionately desires to possess their extraordinary abilities". 

I haven't bought the book yet, but I do own and love Al supermercato degli animali 

(In the animals' supermarket) by the same creative duo, which introduces children 

to natural foods and the eating habits of animals through its fun concept, 

simple rhymes and colorful artworks.

I personally discovered Topipittori through another book by Zoboli, Due scimmie in cucina,

 a story about a little boy who loves monkeys (like most of us!) and his very busy sister. 

I love the playful text but honestly, as usual, the bright and modern illustrations by 

Guido Scarabottolo were the deciding factor in me buying it. Scarabottolo is a famous

 Milanese graphic designer, illustrator and art director, whose distinctive artworks 

define the house style of book publisher Guanda.

The illustration above is from one of Topipittori's new productions, the gorgeous 

and dreamy Una storia Guaraní by Alicia Badalan, inspired by traditional beliefs of 

the Guaraní indians. Also just published, Adele's journey features four animal tales

 narrated by Perrine Ledan and illustrated by Lotte Brauning.

Lion and mice by Simone Rea

And next fall, I'll be waiting for Aesop's fables illustrated by Simone Rea 

and new titles from Valerio Vidali and Camilla Engman!