Book Week Illustration

We are thrilled to have award-winning author and illustrated Eugenie Fernandes creating this year’s poster image. Eugenie’s image perfectly captures our Book Week theme – Changing the World, One Child at a Time – and will be the focal image for Book Week 2011 and appear on all of the Book Week materials.

When creating this year’s poster image, Eugenie took many things into consideration:

“…fresh water, the ocean (without an oil slick!), pine tree, palm tree, food, finance, “effort”, co-operation, nurturing (plants and books… and ideas), city, country, pets, endangered species (‘one hen’), mangoes, a beach (ahhh…), a bike (no pollution), sunshine, clean air, ozone (implied), joy (dancing), peace (not world conflict)… and of course, children – involved with the world – and books – and each other…”

About Eugenie Fernandes

Eugenie Fernandes’ memories of her childhood are full of the wonder of animals and nature. “I draw children in bare feet as much as I can, because that’s me — frogs in my pocket and starfish in my hair!” laughs Eugenie. “I love warm beaches and turquoise water,” she admits, “and I’d rather do trees than buildings.” She looks back to her childhood to locate the inspiration that led her to become the successful writer and illustrator she is today. “My father, a comic-book illustrator, had his studio overlooking Huntington Bay in Long Island. I had my own desk right next to his, where I spent much of my youth.”

When Eugenie graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, she began designing greeting cards and knocking on publishers’ doors with her portfolio. Before long she was submitting stories with her art, which led to the publication of her first book.

In the 1980s, Eugenie wrote and illustrated a number of Little Golden Books. One of her first books published in Canada was the acclaimed A Difficult Day. Since then she has worked on several projects a year and now lays claim to over 80 books, including several Annick Press titles. She is most proud of Just You and Me, a story she wrote that was brought to life with three-dimensional illustrations by her daughter, Kim.

Eugenie's A Cat Adrift is about Teelo the Cat who finds himself drifting farther and farther out to sea until he is rescued by young Lilya and her grandfather in their wooden sailboat. In A Seal in the Family, Teelo discovers an abandoned seal pup on the shores of Cloud Island. A Cat in a Kayak introduced Teelo to his new friends on Cloud Island and was reissued in 2005.

Eugenie and her husband, Henry, also an illustrator, have two children, Kim and Matthew. Eugenie, who has lived in places as diverse as New York City and a thatch hut in the South Pacific, now lives beside a lake in Ontario. She works in a glass studio surrounded by her favorite things: trees, birds, brushes, water, frogs, sunshine, snow, her family, and there is never a dull moment. Yesterday, there were otters sliding along the ice and diving into the water to catch their lunch while she ate her lunch snug and warm in a puddle of sunshine.

She can usually be found at home, except when she is off traveling to warm destinations by the sea. In her free time, she paints ... and has been exploring the wild and wonderful world of non-objective painting, “visual poetry” ...

Used with permission from Annick Press.

Books by Eugenie Fernandes:

Kitten's Autumn (Kids Can Press, 2010)
Kitten's Spring (Kids Can Press, 2010)
One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference. Written by Katie Smith Milway. (Kids Can Press, 2008)
Earth Magic: Poems. Written by Dionne Brand. (Kids Can Press, 2006)
Busy Little Mouse. Illustrated by Kim Fernandes. (Kids Can Press, 2006)
Mermaid in the Bathtub. Wirtten by Laura Peetoom. (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2006)
Big Week for Little Mouse. Illustrated by Kim Fernandes. (Kids Can Press, 2005)
Busy Little Mouse. Illustrated by Kim Fernandes. (Kids Can Press, 2002)
Cappuccina Goes to Town. Written by Mary Ann Smith and Katie Smith Milway. (Kids Can Press, 2002)
A Cat Adrift. Written by Maria Coffey. (Annick Press, 2002)
One More Pet (Scholastic Canada, 2002)
Sleepy Little Mouse. Illustrated by Kim Fernandes. (Kids Can Press, 2000)
A Seal in the Family. Written by Maria Coffey. (Annick Press, 1999)
Aaron's Awful Allergies. Written by Troon Harrison. (Kids Can Press, 1996)
Waves in the Bathtub (Scholastic Canada, 1993)
A Difficult Day (Kids Can Press, 1987)
The Little Boy Who Cried Himself to Sea (Kids Can Press, 1982)