Emilie Boon facts for kids

Emilie Boon is a talented Dutch-American children's author and illustrator. She was born in the Netherlands and studied art at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Emilie Boon is known for her fun and imaginative books, including Belinda's Balloon and the popular Peterkin series. The first book in this series, Peterkin Meets a Star, was even turned into an app for iPads and iPhones!

Emilie Boon's books have been published by many different companies and are available in 8 languages around the world. She has worked with other children's authors, like Harriet Ziefert, to create many books, including the "Little Hippo" series. Besides writing and illustrating, Emilie Boon also helps teach reading skills by illustrating online books for Houghton Mifflin. She also teaches children's book illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design.

About Emilie Boon

Emilie Boon was born in the Netherlands. When she was young, her family moved a lot, and she grew up in many different countries, including Mexico, where she lived for ten years. She later attended the Royal Academy of Art, where she studied graphic design.

Today, Emilie Boon is married and has two children. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts, in the United States.

How Emilie Boon Creates Books

After finishing her studies, Emilie Boon moved to London, England. There, she started writing and illustrating books for children. Her very first book, Peterkin Meets a Star, was published in England in 1983 and then in North America a year later. She wrote seven books in total. After that, she mostly focused on illustrating books for other authors. She has often worked with author Harriet Ziefert.

Emilie Boon uses a special way to create her illustrations. She combines watercolors with a crayon resist technique. This method helps her make unique and colorful pictures for her stories.

Working with Harriet Ziefert

Emilie Boon and Harriet Ziefert have worked together on many exciting book projects.

Benji Bear Books

In 1996, they published Benjy Bear's Halloween. This book was made for children aged 3 to 6. It came with reusable stickers, letting kids play and create different Halloween scenes. They could choose expressions for carved pumpkins, decide how much candy to give, and dress Benjy Bear for trick-or-treating.

Board Books for Young Readers

Ziefert and Boon also created "board books" for preschoolers. These books are special because they mix reading with games to help young children learn. For example, in Timothy's Numbers, the book came with colorful foam numbers. Children could put these numbers into special slots in the book as Timothy, a friendly rabbit, helped them count. Another book, Timothy's Shapes, helped children learn about different shapes. These board books were part of a trend to combine toys or games with books.

Little Hippo Books

Another big collaboration between Ziefert and Boon was the "Little Hippo" book series. The first book in this series came out in 1988. These books were written for children aged 1 1/2 to 5 years old. They were designed to help young children understand and deal with changes in their lives, like a new baby joining the family or moving to a new house. The Little Hippo character is drawn in a very special way, with unique features and soft, light-gray colors.

In 1997, a new series of "Little Hippo" books was published by Scholastic, Inc.. Emilie Boon felt that the characters in these new books looked very similar to her own distinctive illustrations. She also noticed they used the name "Little Hippo" and dressed the hippo character in ways she had already done. Scholastic also tried to get a special trademark for the hippo image for their line of books. Some of the original Little Hippo book titles include "Daddy Can You Play With Me?", "Little Hippo's New Baby," "Little Hippo's New House," and "Mummy Where Are You?".

Emilie Boon later got help from a lawyer, Seth Salinger, through a non-profit group called "Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts." In 1999, her lawyer filed a case in court in Boston against Scholastic. A spokesperson for Scholastic, Chuck Wentzel, said that Scholastic believed they had not copied anything and expected to win the case.

Online Reading Books

Emilie Boon has also illustrated online "leveled readers" for Houghton Mifflin. These digital books combine written words with audio to help students learn to read and understand different subjects. These books cover topics like fiction, math, science, and social studies. They are created for different reading levels, including for students who are learning English. She is a "Little Book Illustrator" for Houghton Mifflin's Leveled Literacy Intervention program, which helps kids improve their reading.

Digital Books and Apps

The very first book Emilie Boon wrote and illustrated, Peterkin Meets a Star, was turned into an app for iPads and iPhones. This app adds sounds to the story, making it even more fun. For example, when Peterkin walks on snow, you can hear a crunching sound! PicPocket Books published this app.

Teaching and Events

Emilie Boon teaches children's book illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. She also holds special sessions with children. During these events, she reads a book to the kids and then shows them how a book is made. Using a special accordion-folded book, the children get to use watercolors and crayons to write and illustrate their own stories.

Professional Groups

Emilie Boon is a member of several professional groups for artists and writers. These include the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Children's Book Artists, and Picture Book Artists.

Published Works

Emilie Boon's books have been published in many languages, including English, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Japanese. Her books have been released by well-known publishers like Knopf, Random House, Zonderkidz, Candlewick Press, D.K. Publishers, Sterling Publishing, Orchard Books, Cartwheel Books and Puffin Books.

Books Written and Illustrated by Emilie Boon

• Peterkin Meets a Star (1983)
• Peterkin's Wet Walk (1983)
• Belinda's Balloon (1985)
• It's Spring, Peterkin (1986)
• 1 2 3 How Many Animals Can You See? (1987)
• Peterkin's Very Own Garden (1987)
• Hannah's Helpers (1993)

Books Illustrated by Emilie Boon

Written by Harriet Ziefert

• Daddy Can You Play With Me? (1988)
• Mommy Where Are You? (1988)
• Benjy Bear's Halloween (1996)
• Benjy Bear's Christmas (1996)
• Timothy's Numbers (1996)
• Timothy's Shapes (1996)
• Little Hippo's New Baby (1997)
• Little Hippo's New House (1997)
• Little Hippo's New Friend (1999)
• Little Hippo's New School (1999)
• No Kiss for Grandpa (2001)
• Grandma, Where Are You? (2005)
• Grandpa, Will You Play With Me? (2005)

Written by other authors

• Ruth McCarthy, Katie and the Smallest Bear (1985)
• Joyce Dunbar, A Bun for Barney (1987)
• Orchard Books, The Orchard Children’s Treasury for Children of all Ages (1997)
• Orchard Books, The Orchard Baby and Toddler Collection (1999)

Houghton Mifflin online leveled books

• Bo Grayson, How the Coyote Stole Fire
• Regina Velazquez, How People Got Fire