Great new book by Norwegian illustrator Mari Kanstad Johnsen

If she’d been drawing back when I was consuming children’s books so fast that my parents ran out of printed matter and had to give me an Argos catalogue instead, one of Mari Kanstad Johnsen’s numerous children’s books would undoubtedly have been in my top ten. In fact, she might still be on that esteemed list given that my chosen career path allows me to spend an inordinate amount of time flicking through books intended for kids. It doesn’t even matter that I don’t speak Swedish.

Mari has been on our radar for some time now with her incredibly charming illustration, and this new book Ballen probably serves as to some indicator as to why. The story sees her characters Elling, Coco and Kim (an elephant, a long-eared dog and a bunny respectively) darting over her pages in a frenzied adventure to find out what the noise is that’s coming from their basketball. The storyline follows Mari’s style which has become even more dynamic since we last checked in. The dog in the paddling pool might just be a high point.