Nicolette Jones

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Gill Smith from Where Are You, Eddie? by Michael Rosen, about a cat’s wisdom and how those we’ve lost are present in memories. Thoughtful image, in watercolour and crayon, with reminders of joys. Walker 12 March. @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social @walkerbooksuk.bsky.social

#NewIllustrationoftheDay by Yuval Zommer from his picturebook The Whale That Sings in the Deep, which follows a whale's journey from the Arctic to warm waters. The three panels of this colourful & decorative page pan out from a close-up. Oxford Children's Books 5 March. @oxfordchildrens.bsky.social

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Anders Frang from Whack A Moley, with text by Bethan Clarke. Graphic, comic image that shows one of the games Goat suggests but Mole doesn’t want to play, for obvious reasons. Accessible, characterful paperback from Little Tiger Press 5 March. @littletigeruk.bsky.social

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Japanese illustrator Ryo Takemasa from Locomotion: A Visual History of Trains by Alastair Steele. Big Picture Press 5 March. Graphic visual storytelling in the style of classic travel posters, with featureless faces and satisfying composition. @ryotakemasa.bsky.social

This should be @quartokids.bsky.social (Frances Lincoln)

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Dutch printmaker Jan Hamstra from Cluck: The Eggstaordinary Story of Chickens by Evelien De Vlieger, translated by Michele Hutchison. Magic Cat 5 March. One of the spectacular, elegant & decorative prints in this enlightening non-fiction. @magiccatpublishing.bsky.social

Sorry - mistake re publisher. This is @quartokids.bsky.social - Frances Lincoln.

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Natalia Shaloshvili, from her picturebook Bear Worries, out in paperback from Pushkin Press on 5 March. A forest scene with softness and texture, birds and trees that intentionally imitate children’s artwork, and a bear that makes you smile.
@pushkinchildrens.bsky.social

I sympathise but I also think the centre of the stick is at the centre of the mouse, if not slightly to the right (since the double end is the heavier). What looks like a stick which is all to the left of the tightrope only appears to be because of the angle we are looking from. Does that help?

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Aysha Tengiz from Big Brilliant World which has spreads about 12 cities around the world: colourful, fact-filled patterns peopled by surreal, anthropomorphised animals as well as humans. With words from local languages. Big Picture Press 5 March. @ayshatengiz.bsky.social

Perhaps it’s okay because it’s an imaginary tightrope walk and the stick is sort of magic.

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Fiona Lumbers from her picturebook Mo’s Stick. Simplified shapes, pure colours and cut-outs tell a story succinctly. A mouse finds inventive things to do with a special stick, including walking a tightrope in the mountains. Little Tiger 5 March @littletigeruk.bsky.social

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Corey Egbert from Mr Norton’s New Truck which has cumulative text by Huw Lewis Jones. This comical image of Horace on his scooter is reminiscent of vintage Little Golden Books, with their flat colour and stylised animals. Little Tiger 5 March. @littletigeruk.bsky.social

Oops pub date 23 March.

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Ellie McKenna from Stay!, written by her sister Fran Harlow and based on the true story of a dog found sitting by a suitcase. Lovely scribbly but precise drawing that makes the back views of the dog and the old man speak volumes. Graffeg 5 March. @graffegbooks.bsky.social

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Joe Todd-Stanton from his picturebook The Lost Robot, in which a broken toy finds saviours. From the tools to the tortoise, the many details of this happy scene are drawn with a fine, exact line in graphic novel style. Flying Eye Books 5 March @flyingeyebooks.bsky.social

Thanks. I think I don’t have either account or app.

How to delete?

#NewIllustrationoftheDay by London-based artist Natalia Shaloshvili from What a Small Cat Needs. Amusing kitten with a direct gaze, an orange umbrella, and wet gulls. Acrylic & watercolour, finished digitally. Enchanted Lion 5 March. Translated from Russian by Lena Traer. @enchantedlion.bsky.social

#NewIllustrationDay by Britta Teckentrup from her picturebook The Birthday. Big Hedgehog and Little Hedgehog in a pink twilight that illuminates the branches of trees and the patterns and textures of foliage, as they approach their silhouetted house. Prestel 3 March. @brittateckentrup.bsky.social

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay. Spread by Ruth Brown from her gorgeous new picturebook Tick-Tock Around the Clock: A day in the life of a cat. Stunning draughtsmanship in a wonderfully detailed handmade scene of the cat going out into the garden, with squirrels, birds, mouse, dog. Scallywag Press 3 March.

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Alexander Mostov, from his Igor and the Mending Mice, about mice who teach a town to repair their clothes instead of buying new. Flat colour & defined shapes in a scene full of interest. Printed in the UK on recycled paper by Ivy Kids Eco 3 March. @quartokids.bsky.social

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Tom Schamp, a page from Beauty of Letters: The Most Awesome, Brilliant and Comprehensive Alphabet Book. With a spread per letter, this makes objects and ideas out of the shape they begin with. Lots of detail to look at and discuss. Prestel 3 March. @tomschamp.bsky.social

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by David Barrow from My Tiger (Gecko Press 3 March). Painterly, characterful & comic, with impact not least in the use of scale. Text by Joy Cowley: things don’t go well when the tiger is taken to the dentist & told not to eat cake any more. Unwise. @geckopress.bsky.social

#NewIllustrationoftheDay by Daniel Egneus from The Big Journey, with text by Michael Rosen about two bears on their way to a new home. Snowy landscape, mist and natural forms conjured in almost abstract sweeps of colour. Bloomsbury 26 Feb. @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social

Oops, wrong publisher. Otter-Barry Books. @otterbarrybooks.bsky.social

#NewIllustrationoftheDay by Jessica Love from Little Passenger with text by Deirdre Sullivan. A peaceful and cosy chronicle of pregnancy and the arrival of a baby. Lovely watercolour portraits and decorative borders with fruit, vegetables and flowers. Walker Books 26 Feb. @walkerbooksuk.bsky.social

And Shakespeare became a big part of your life.

Should we ‘dumb down’ the classics for our children? Modern retellings of complicated classics can make great stories accessible for a new generation, argues Nicolette Jones

My Sunday Times piece mostly in favour of simplified classics for young people. @farshorebooks.bsky.social @sweetcherrypub.bsky.social @harpercollins.bsky.social
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

#NewIllustrationoftheDay by Stefania Aldana Trujillo from The Hunt for the Fog Town Moose (Kumasha Books 2025), one more debut I'm sorry to have missed, from the Klaus Flugge Prize longlist. (Also longlisted for the Inclusive Books for Children Award 2026.) Colourful, ink-&-watercolour winter crowd.