Un Lion a Paris: Charming Illustrations from Beatrice Alemagna

From an outsider's perspective, it seems like children's book illustrators don't get as much respect in the art world as they deserve. Not only do they capture the forever-chased after imagination of childhood, they're also responsible for some of the most iconic images in our memories. There are few books that have developed my creativity the way some of my very first books did -- think about The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Where the Wild Things Are and The Little Prince (a great list is available here)

So even though I barely know anyone with kids, let alone kids themselves, I get super excited about really great work in this field. By way of some circuitous route through the "series of tubes" that is the World Wide Web, I discovered the work of Beatrice Alemagna, an Italian-born author and illustrator, who as a child herself, aspired to be a "painter of novels." In particular, I fell in love with her collage-style illustrations for Un Lion de Paris in which a very fierce (and very adorable) lion tours the sights of Paris. More of Beatrice's charming work below: