2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration – Part 1/6

The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are given every other year to a living author and an illustrator, selected by the Int’l. Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) for their complete work in children’s literature. Yep, we don’t talk much about it in the States, but it’s the highest international recognition for kid-lit. The winners for 2014 have been announced, but I’d like to introduce (in 6 posts) everyone on the short list for illustration, because I didn’t know all of them, and I thought, if I am interested maybe someone else is!

The six short-listed illustrators in alphabetical order are: Rotraut Susanne Berner, Germany; John Burningham, UK; Eva Lindström, Sweden; Roger Mello, Brazil (winner); François Place, France; Øyvind Torseter, Norway.

Rotraut Susanne Berner has been working as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator since 1977. She has written and illustrated her own books, but illustrated for many others, has a big list of awards on her wikipedia page, a website HERE and a blog. She’s famous! And here is an interesting tid-bit: according to a 2008 Spiegel article, one of her Wimmelbuecher books, was finally given the green light to hit bookstores in the States. The publisher wanted to ‘get rid of’ a few things from the original book for the American market, including the ‘exposed’ little man below. Read about the original struggle in 2007 HERE

I did manage to find this very book through my library system!

Publisher: Chronicle Books, 2008
Ages: 2-5
Themes: city and town life, seasons
Opening: It’s mainly a wordless book, but the first page of each season’s section gives us a few character story-lines to follow in the coming pictures, like “Andrea oversleeps and misses the bus.”
Summary: (from the publisher) Big, colorful illustrations and minimal text set the stage for a delightful cast of characters as they go about their day-to-day adventures in one little town throughout the year. Playing, chasing pets, running errands, going to work: following what happens and looking for the many small surprises in the pictures will absorb and amuse children and parents alike.

The following video was made from her ‘Karlchen’ stories, funny everyday happenings in the life of a little rabbit!