Combel Fall foreign rights list is out now!
While we are fixing appointments for the Frankfurt Book Fair and the new fall catalogue is on print, we want to share with you the letter from the Editorial Director.
“Art is play,” as Paul Klee said. That is why at Combel we conceive it as an essential tool in education and always set aside a large space for it in our catalogue.
However, we are not dedicating this section of the catalogue to offering specific art education to our audience. These are not purely non-fiction books. Our goal is to help families, schools and bookshops guide children on their route towards intellectual development, creative potential and graphic culture.
Many studies on neuroeducation support the theory that artistic skills activate all the neurons involved in learning, including those of language. As an example, the Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland has published a list detailing twenty reasons why art is so important in children’s learning. That said, a publishing house cannot sustain itself with good intentions alone.
The creative embodiment of the book is vital. And just as a project begins with an idea that is taken up and developed, the idea behind the book With this Line is to set out a path to be followed. Luisa Vera, inspired by the artistic technique of two creative geniuses, Paul Klee and Saul Steinberg, combines art and play in this book in which we follow the adventures of a line that appears on the cover and does not leave us until the very last page.
And if harmony is fundamental in the plastic arts, it goes without saying how essential it is in music. Therefore, thanks to one of our authors, Oriol Garcia Molsosa, we discover music with a new series, offering an invitation to learn about musical instruments from a young age. We are pleased to present the first title, Violin, with the idea of continuing the series to look at other instruments
with which boys and girls usually begin their musical education.
Continuing with the art theme, we are keen to tell you about the creations of some of the best artists around right now that we are lucky to have in our catalogue. Let’s start with Guridi, who inspires editors and readers around the world with the expressiveness of his art. With just a few brushstrokes, this author and illustrator explains to us how play, imagination and children’s creativity work, and draws us into his adventures to really make us think with a big smile on our faces.
Another extraordinary creator is Cristina Losantos who is currently absorbed in the “I Spy with My Little Eye” project, a very special collection that will not leave anyone indifferent. This is a series of search and find books that could well be considered albums. In each title she creates a world, following the tradition of great artists like Sempé or Steinberg himself. In the first book in the series, The City, the author shares her unique vision of life in streets and neighbourhoods, where the inhabitants are busy with their everyday tasks. The scenes take place throughout a whole day to capture in great detail human behaviour in situations that we experience on a daily basis. We see moments that are as ordinary as they are surreal, full of humour and that large dose of tenderness that characterises all of her work.
And since tenderness heals everything, we have to tell you about the latest book from Mar Benegas in our catalogue. It is called “Mommies”, a collection of board books with fantastic illustrations by Gareth Lucas. Verse by verse, they stimulate attachment, interaction and linguistic development in young children. We can also announce her next title in advance, illustrated by Ana G. Lartitegui, in which rhymes and their many combinations produce some fantastic Kitchen Monsters.
We take this opportunity to congratulate the author for the Cervantes Chico 2022 prize received in recognition of her poetic work.
Finally, and moving onto something completely different, poetry, art and literature come together in the latest title in the Agus & Monsters series, Salvador, where Dr. Brot causes Emma, the school librarian, to get lost in Salvador Dalí’s surreal world of memories. During the rescue mission, Lidia and Agus discover the avantgarde movements, those early-20th-century artistic currents that transformed art and the way we looked at it forever with their playful spirit.
Noemí Mercadé
