Motherhood, Virginia Wolf, and Dancing Flamingoes

So like I promised I've got some great picture books and illustrators to show you. First up is 

Josée Masse's illustrations of the book Motherbridge of Love.

Motherbridge of Love is about two mothers and adoption. 

"One became your guiding star; the other became your sun." (Source for Image here)

It's about how both mothers are special and how they both contributed to the love in a child's life.

"One gave you a body, the other taught you games" (Source for Image here)

It's seems like such a sweet story that actually has a charity behind it that's all about bridging that gap between Chinese and Western Cultures for the betterment of those families that have adopted children.

"The first gave you a need for love; the second was there to give it." (Source for Image here)

I love what Josée Masse does. It looks her pictures are painted on the page. I love the picture above the most. One mother is pregnant and the other has the baby when she's older. They both love her. The blue is so gorgeous! I love how it's added in as shadow in the mother's dresses. (Help with the summary was gotten from here.)

(Source for Image here) Same for two below.

Josée Masse is known for her contrasting images since she has illustrated books like Mirror Mirror. There is usually a choice that the reader can make so the book is more interactive than anything. Sh'll usually have this line in the middle of a picture and have it be... well contrasting. 

Here are some other illustrations she's done. Great nature vibe.

(Source for Image here.)

Virginia Wolf is a loosely based picture book about Virginia Wolf and her relationship with her sister, Vanessa who is a painter. (Help with the summary was taken from Goodreads)

"One day my sister Virginia woke up feeling wolfish. She made wolf sounds and did strange things..." Source Image from Kids Can Press

Vanessa's sister, Virginia, is in a bad mood - a wolfish mood.

"I made a garden. .." (Source for Image here.)

So Vanessa decides to paint her sister's perfect imaginary place - Bloomsberry. 

She said,"DO NOT WEAR THAT CHEERFUL YELLOW DRESS." (my favorite dress!) Source Image from Kids Can Press

As you can see. She definitely needed some cheering up.

"when I painted her picture, she growled, "VANESSA DOOOONNN'T." Source Image from Kids Can Press

 Isabelle Arsenault illustrated Virginia Wolf. I like that her everything is mostly black and white while Vanessa and her artwork are colorful. It really puts you in a dreary mood just like Virginia's in. I also have this weird thing for her shadows. I can just imagine the black marks on the side of hand as she fills those parts in.

(Source of Image here.)

I have a thing for wolves because of my love of Little Red Riding Hood I guess. I just like them so whenever they are portrayed in a picture book I get excited. By the way. Since Virginia is in a "wolfish mood" can you guess who the wolf is? 

Check out the trailer:

I kind of love that she puts these red or just circles on her characters cheeks. it feels old-fashioned in a way. 

(Source of images above here.)

(Source image here)

Flora and the Flamingo is about a girl and a flamingo and their friendship based on dancing.

(Source for Image here.)

Guys, this book. Is the cutest thing ever. It has these flaps and is this wordless picture book that's undeniably girly and pink.

(Source for Image here.)

The illustrations by Molly Idle remind me of a pixar movie or something. Like I could see the girl as a character in a movie which I love. 

Check the trailer out:

She apparently has a thing for dancing as you can see from her book Zombelina.

And no matter what she turns up the pink and I really like that about her. 

(Both images above from Molly Idle's blog)

So this was fun although it took forever. I got some great plans for next time. See you then!