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In honor of this post<\/a><\/strong> this week—and Cristiana<\/a><\/strong>-posts-to-come about international picture books and their creators—I’m featuring an illustrator from Spain today, Ulises Wensell<\/a><\/strong>. Wensell was born in Madrid in 1945 and was originally trained as a chemical engineer, later becoming a self-taught painter and illustrator. His many honors include the Spanish National Prize for Children’s Literature. In 2008, he was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award and in 2009 for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. <\/p>\n Writes Kirkus<\/em>, “The warmth of Wensell’s illustrations matches the gentle narrative, a modern fairy tale. This Spanish import does not seek to explain anything about the adoption process, thus rendering it nicely universal. It distinguishes itself further from other books on the topic by posing a preschool-age child as its protagonist, rather than a child adopted as an infant.”<\/em> Booklist<\/em> states, “the artwork glows with warmth and light. Showing different scenes from different angles, the handsome illustrations have a certain elegance of composition, combined with undeniable child appeal in characterization.”<\/em><\/p>\n Here are some more spreads. Enjoy. <\/p>\n THE BEST FAMILY IN THE WORLD. Text copyright \u00a9 2008 by Susana L\u00f3pez. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2008 by Ulises Wensell. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Kane Miller, Tulsa, OK. (First American Edition 2010).<\/em><\/p>\n As a reminder, 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. <\/p>\n 2). The whole site from which this link<\/a><\/strong> comes is funny enough, but that particular description of the evil that is glitter made me laugh so hard I nearly hurt myself. <\/p>\n 3). Oh, and this<\/a><\/strong>. Warning: Not for the easily-offended-by-colorful-language. But also made me laugh outloud very hard. Thanks to Eisha (who else?) for the link. <\/p>\n 4). I got to meet British author Liz Kessler<\/a><\/strong>, hear her speak at a Nashville bookstore, and watch my first grader get addicted in no time flat to her Emily Windsnap<\/a><\/strong><\/em> series. Bonus: I also got to meet someone from Candlewick, the folks who will be publishing our book<\/a><\/strong> in 2012. Unfortunately, since my four-year-old got ill this week, I didn’t get to attend a lunch with Liz and said Candlewick rep (and other book-lovers) the following day, all the more reason I was glad to have driven out to hear Liz the day prior. <\/p>\n 5). Four-year-old is no longer sick. <\/p>\n 6). Cristiana!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n 7). My two new favorite songs of the week, “High Time Baby” by The Greenhornes<\/a><\/strong> and “Nobody Gets Me Down” by T-Model Ford<\/a><\/strong>. Actually, you can type in both over at Grooveshark<\/a><\/strong> and listen to them in their entirety for free, if you’re so inclined to hear some great tune-age. (Or you can hear “Nobody Gets Me Down” at T-Model’s MySpace site<\/a><\/strong>, too. His bio there is a good read, too.)<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/9781935279471.jpg\")
This morning’s featured title, The Best Family in the World<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, written by Susana L\u00f3pez, is the First American Edition (released early this year from Kane Miller) of La mejor familia del mundo<\/em>, first published in Spain in 2008. It tells the story of a young girl who is adopted from an orphanage into a loving family. Before she meets them—and too nervous to sleep—this half-glass-full child imagines what they could be like. Will they be a family of pastry chefs? Pirates? Tiger trainers? Astronauts? Each, she determines, would be the best family in the world. Turns out the P\u00e9rez family lives a life not as exhilarating as that of training wild animals or flying through space, and Carlota, the young girl, immediately sees how extraordinary ordinary can be — and that she actually gets what she had wished for all along. <\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/pastrychefrightside.jpg\")
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(Click to enlarge — P.S.: This image is just for Jama<\/a><\/strong>.)<\/center><\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/piratespreadbestfamily.jpg\")
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(Click to enlarge spread.)<\/center><\/p>\n<\/a>
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but sometimes on her way home from work,
she brings Carlota a pastry for an afternoon snack.”<\/em>
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but he loves digging for buried treasure in the vacant lot next door.”<\/em>
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1). I know I sound like a broken record, but I think I’ve maybe possibly perhaps said here before that reading with my girls is My Best Thing Ever in life. Well, there’s nothing like falling head over heels into a series. I actually had never read the Spiderwick<\/em> books but knew enough to know my first grader, in particular, would probably dig them, so we read the first book in under an hour and then ran to the library—thirty minutes before they closed on Friday—to get the next four. And our kickin’ children’s librarian is going to keep her eye out for the Field Guide<\/a><\/strong><\/em> for us. Such fun! {Illustration re-posted here
\nfrom my October ’09 interview<\/a><\/strong> with Tony and Angela DiTerlizzi.}<\/em><\/p>\n
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