Milja Praagman (b. 1971) is a celebrated illustrator and writer, whose fresh and distinctive graphic style results in colourful and naive pictures. She won numerous awards, including a Zilveren Penseel for Omdat ik je zo graag zie (2016) and Prentenboek van het jaar (2013). Her texts reveal a subtle sense of humour, which also appeals to the parents who are reading them out loud. Her stories are an ode to the imagination.
A lamb playing in the mud? That’s not really the done thing. The sheep and the pigs all say he’s mad, but the lamb doesn’t get it. He’s a pig, isn’t he? So the farmer takes him to the vet, who uses a shaver and curling tongs to give him a new identity.
A picture book about the natural warmth and love between a grandma and her grandchild, in which cultural diversity is taken as given.
The bright-blue monkey Ebbie needs a wash. ‘Do you want to go in the bath, Ebbie?’ the book says. ‘No, Ebbie does not want to go in the bath. The bath is too big.’ This clever dialogue form invites interaction between book, parent and toddler.
A little girl who wants a pet – Gideon Samson and Milja Praagman have taken this everyday story and created a happy picture book with a twist.
What has gone wrong since the Brothers Grimm recorded all those funny and violent orally transmitted folk stories? Who exactly decided that you have to be a ‘proper’ writer in order to write such stories? The best tales come about naturally at the bedside and are passed on by mums and dads and grandmas and grandpas, weaving together events of the day and things they’ve heard elsewhere to create nonsense stories that aren’t really nonsensical at all.
