Guest Blogger - We Heart Books

Today's guest blogger is the lovely Katie from We Heart Books. Take it away Katie...

We are so thrilled to be guest posting on Cinti's My Poppet - we've admired her beautiful store and blog for a long time and it's been lovely to have a chance to meet her (and the gorgeous Emma!) in person at markets over the years. It's an honour to be here!

One of our favourite things at We Heart Books is delving behind the covers of our picture books and finding out a little bit more about their makers. Just as people love to meet the maker at craft markets and through blogs, our customers really value the stories we can share of things we have learnt over the years and from the blogosphere about our authors and illustrators.

Artist Johanna Wright learnt to peddle her wares the hard way – she set up a table on the streets of New York, near MoMA, to sell her art. It’s a story worth a picture book in its own right; she painted at her table and describes days when her paintbrush literally froze in its water dish. Like all good stories it has a wonderful climax and a happy ending - some pretty influential people bought her handmade postcards and canvas paintings along the way, and her work ended up on the Style Channel and in Japanese Elle magazine among other places. And following some classes in illustration, her first book was accepted for publication and released in 2009, which is The Secret Circus.

The Secret Circus is made of the things kids dream about – a miniature world, hidden from view, one that only the mice know. Tiny acrobats form mouse pyramids and giant house cats are tamed – all the magic of a circus of dreams. Beautiful repetition of the text makes for a soothing and quiet read, while sepia tones complimented by muddy pinks and greens portray the Parisian setting perfectly. A simple final illustration of a mouse holding its finger to its mouth, smiling a hush, says so much about the tone of the whole book – inviting the reader to share a special secret in a tone calm and quiet.

Sometimes you just KNOW that you’ve found just one of those books that will make people’s hearts sing, and the author's story only makes you know it must be shared. The Secret Circus is one of these.

The Secret Circus is available from We Heart Books. Johanna Wright has a website and Etsy store.