Nadine Robert had a pleasant surprise lately. The Varenne author and editor has indeed learned that one of her books has been selected by the New York Times and the New York Public Library for inclusion in the annual list of the ten best illustrated children’s books of the past year.
Created in the company of illustrator Gérard DuBois, On the Other Side of the Forest (Beyond the forest in French) was published five years ago on the Quebec market and tells the story of the rabbit Arthur and his father living on a small farm surrounded by a forest inhabited, it is said, by a thousand perils.
Distributed in the United States by Greystone Kids, a Vancouver-based publisher, On the Other Side of the Forest has been described by editor, author and children’s literature critic Catherine Hong in a most complimentary manner.
“This book is like a jewel from an ancient era,” writes the one who was part of the trio of the jury. His images evoke the comforting aspect of Beatrix Potter books, but at the same time possess qualities which are not unlike the work of artists like Henry Darger and Amy Cutler and which bring an attractive darkness to this fable. “
“It was the publisher to whom I sold the rights who told me the news,” says Nadine Robert, visibly delighted with this recognition. What’s great is that the book was published in French in Quebec in 2016, so it’s wonderful to see that it has a second life thanks to the English edition and that it pleased the jury of the New York Times. I’ve been told they review about 20,000 titles a year to pick 10, so that’s something. “
Needless to say, such a reward should have an impact on the level of sales of the book. A few weeks before Christmas moreover. “I would even say that, for 48 hours, it relaunched requests for rights, adds the author. I have received offers from foreign publishers who wish to sell the album in their market following the publication of the article. “
The year was also very busy for the president and editor of the publishing house Comme des géants, who decided to conquer the English-speaking market with a new division of books in English, Milky Way Picture Book, whose first books have been available since last August.
“It was a big move, laughs the editor. For the past few years, I have been selling most of the titles in our catalog to American or English Canadian publishers. I would say maybe 60%. But as a Quebec cultural company, we have all the necessary resources to produce books in English here, so it came as a natural evolution. It was still a bit daring. Our first instinct is first to try to distribute our books in French-speaking Europe. Our system is somewhat modeled on that of France, whereas elsewhere in Canada and the United States, it is quite different. “