author/illustrator: Sophie Guerrive
ages: 1+
24 pages
12 x 12cm
Board book with round corners
French
4048
Rights sold: Simpl. Chinese
Crocus - series
The life of a young child is not easy every day... and actually it neither is for his mum who sometimes doesn't really know which way to turn! These tender and humourous daily scenes with Crocus the fearful snake deal with big and small issues of everyday life.
Sophie Guerrive continues to expand the universe of the bear Tulipe: whether it is for adults, in the main series Tulipe, or for young readers with awarded The Friends Club, Sophie Guerrive always hits the mark! She knows better than anyone how to guide our gaze towards these little things that are right in front of us, but that we had missed. Comforting for every parent who knows the perfect parent doesn't exist, delightful for kids thanks to Crocus' mischief.
9 available titles:
- Crocus Likes Noises - Vol. 1
- Crocus and the Monsters - Vol. 2
- Crocus and the Poop - Vol. 3
- Crocus and School - Vol. 4
- Crocus is Punished - Vol. 5
- Crocus and the Vegetable - Vol. 6
- Crocus is Upset - Vol. 7
- Crocus is Ill - Vol. 8
- Crocus's Bike - Vol. 9
- Crocus and the Booger - Vol. 10
- Crocus Cooks - Vol. 11
- Crocus and the Bath - Vol. 12
IN THE MEDIA
★ "A taste for absurd humour, a great delicacy tinged with melancholy, a compendium of philosophical and existential thoughts... Guerrive has a unique talent for observing details - about things, about people" — Le Monde, about her exhibition, France
★ "This series of small board books contains short stories about everyday life, full of tenderness and mischief. Here [in Crocus and School], Crocus doesn't want to go to school. But ‘school's fun’, says Mum. ‘If you like it, you can go yourself’, replies Crocus. But no, Mum doesn't want to go either... and neither does the teacher! To enjoy with family" — La Revue des Livres pour Enfants, France
★ "Thanks to the simplicity of her writing, tinged with absurd humour, the author reinvents with insight and a certain nonconformity scenes that, nevertheless, have been written a thousand times." — Le Devoir, Canada
★ "With each new book, you can’t help but exclaim: that’s exactly it! Mischievous, hot‑tempered, tender—Crocus is both the alter ego and the hero of little ones. As for the mother, we see ourselves in her: being a parent is a tough job, but oh, how we love these children!" — Le Temps, Switzerland
★ "The irresistible universe of Sophie Guerrive. (...) a subtle twist on this kind of literature, achieved through the encounter between words and illustrations. (...) The story of this duo: he, a child with the intensity unique to his age; she, exhausted, sometimes overwhelmed. (...) The delicacy and humour of it all are all the more inspiring because they are executed with remarkable economy: no background, minimalist lines. Sophie Guerrive also has a genius for endings. (...) And it finishes like that—no solution, no remedy, no moral. Here, just the collection of common struggles we call life or parenthood, which doesn’t prevent moments of joy. It may seem unassuming, but in reality, it is utterly subversive." — France Culture radio channel, Le Bookclub
THE AUTHOR
Sophie Guerrive was born in 1983 in Marseille (France) and studied art in Aix-en-Provence then illustration in Strasbourg. She took part in various newspapers, magazines, fanzines. Since 2007, she has published several comic and illustration books. Besides her short and minimalistic stories influenced by comic strips like Peanuts or Mafalda, she also works on larger and very detailed drawings inspired by medieval illumination, oriental miniatures or Japanese prints. Her stories are often tinged with adventure and absurd humour, and feature her favourite themes: the marine world, initiatory journeys, the ancient and medieval periods, and visual and narrative symbolism.
She received the prestigious FIBD Angoulême award for her children's comics series The Friends Club, published by 4048.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR