Lenny is a boy discovering life. His loving parents and best friend make sure everyday brings something new. The series was devised for pre-school children and parents as a set of conversation pieces about everyday life. The books focus on the emotional moments between Lenny and his family and the gentle text is easy to read aloud, or repeat. Each book features a well known song.
It is always fascinating and challenging to create books for the very young. Some people ask me if I have to think like a child in order to make the stories. The answer is a lot more complicated and subtle. Some empathy is necessary, for sure, but it’s usually a combination what you observe from the young children in your environment combined with your own memories that make a good story.
The other thing is to work away at reducing the number of words but keeping the essence of the story strong, which takes some discipline. For this age group, the fewer words the better.
Lenny books are available in the US, and from August will be available in the UK from both online and walk-in shops. Needless to say if they aren’t in your favourite bookshop, then your bookshop isn’t as cool as you thought 🙂
The Illustrationist 