SATA

PERSONAL

Born in San Raphaël, Quebec, Canada.

Studied animation in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; attended Gobelins School of the Image (Paris, France).

ADDRESS

• Home - Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
• Agent - Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management, 630 9th Ave., Ste. 1101, New York, NY 10036.

CAREER

Children’s book and fashion illustrator. Disney Consumer Products, London, England, former licensing executive; fulltime illustrator, beginning 2013. Has created Christmas and holiday stamps for Canada Post, 2021.

Quebec Booksellers Youth Prize, 2017, for the French translation of When Santa Was a Baby.

WRITINGS

• SELF-ILLUSTRATED
• Les plus beaux contes de Mère-Grand, Milan (Toulouse, France), 2013
• What’s up, Maloo?, Tundra Books of Northern New York (Plattsburgh, NY), 2020
• ILLUSTRATOR
• Virginie Aladjidi and others, Histoires pour Fêter mon baptême, Bayard Jeunesse (Montrouge, France), 2012
• Pierrette Dubé, Où s’est caché le sommeil?, Les 400 Coups (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 2012, translated as Searching for Sleep, Simply Read Books (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 2018
• Claire Clément, La longue marche des doudous, Milan (Toulouse, France), 2013
• Christine Frasseto, Une petite fille … à croquer!, Flammarion (Paris, France), 2013
• Nadine Robert, Joseph Fipps, La Pasèque (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 2013, translated into English, Enchanted Lion Books (New York, NY), 2013
• Charlotte Zolotow, Mauvais poil (translation of The Quarreling Book ), Comme des Géants (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 2014
• Louise Borden, Kindergarten Luck, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2015
• Linda Bailey, When Santa Was a Baby, Tundra Books of Northern New York (Plattsburg, NY), 2015
• Nanou Mila and others, La petite souris va passer, Milan (Paris, France), 2015
• Amélie Callot, Rose à petits pois, La Pastèue (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 2016, translated by Tara Hinchberger, Tundra Books of Northern New York (Plattsburgh, NY), 2018
• Cynthea Liu, Flounder Loves Ariel, Random House (New York, NY), 2016
• Cynthea Liu, Gus Loves Cinderella, Random House (New York, NY), 2016
• Lori Haskins Houran, My Little Golden Book about Johnny Appleseed, Golden Books (New York, NY), 2017
• Amelie Callot, The Pink Umbrella, Random House (New York, NY), 2018
• Amy Novesky, adapter, Mary Poppins, new edition, based on the novel by P.L. Travers, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2018
• Kallie George, Goodnight, Anne, Tundra Books of Northern New York (Plattsburgh, NY), 2018
• Dawn Casey, Apple Cake: A Gratitude, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books (Minneapolis, MN), 2019
• Kallie George, If I Couldn’t Be Anne, Tundra Books of Northern New York (Plattsburgh, NY), 2020
• Merry Christmas, Anne, Tundra Books of Northern New York (Plattsburgh, NY), 2021
• The Toys' Christmas, Frances Lincoln Children's Books (London, England), 2021
• Wherever You'll Be, Flamingo Books (New York, NY), 2021
• Baby's Here!, Clarion Books (New York, NY), 2022
• My Friend Tree, Ivy Kids Eco (London, England), 2024
• Dear Bookstore, Candlewick Press (Somerville, MA), 2025

SIDELIGHTS

At age nineteen, after undertaking a professional course of training in animation in her native Canada, Geneviève Godbout attended the Gobelins School of the Image in Paris, France, and worked in animation for several years. As her interest shifted, Godbout began taking on assignments illustrating children’s picture books, working for publishers in both North America and France. In 2013 she shifted to illustration full time and has since brought to life stories by Kallie George, Charlotte Zolotow, Pierrette Dubé, Cynthea Liu, Amélie Callot, Louise Borden, Dawn Casey, Emily Arrow, and other writers. In addition to creating original self-illustrated stories for the picture books Les plus beaux contes de Mère-Grand and What’s up, Maloo?, the Quebec-based artist has also explored her interest in fashion as an illustrator and textile designer specializing in women’s apparel.

In What’s up, Maloo?, Godbout helps young children deal with unhappy feelings through the story of a young kangaroo. When Maloo’s upbeat mood turns suddenly dark, he stops hopping and curls up in a wombat’s underground burrow. Worried friends soon arrive and offer encouragement to the ‘roo, and over time Maloo is able to return to the sunshine. Praising the “soft-warm scenes” Godbout creates using soft-toned colored pencil and pastels, a Kirkus Reviews writer added of What’s up, Maloo? that the “spare text” she pairs with her illustrations will provide children with “a model for supporting a friend” dealing with depression.

Godbout’s first illustrated book to be translated into English, Joseph Fipps, features a story by author Nadine Robert. In Roberts’s story, a young boy grapples with negative emotions during an unusually upsetting day in which he transgresses his mother’s rules about ladders and animal-watching. Godbout captures Joseph’s feelings in “airy vignettes” that “have a vintage old-timey feel” and effectively capture “his extensive range of emotions,” enthused School Library Journal reviewer Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova. A Kirkus Reviews critic also lauded the artwork in Joseph Fipps, citing in particular the “wordless spreads and sequences” in which Godbout captures “the thoughts and experiences” the boy “maps in his monologue.”

Another illustration project by Godbout, Borden’s Kindergarten Luck reveals the flip-side of letting oneself be governed by positive thought in the story of a kindergartner whose day improves after he finds a good-luck penny. Citing the naif “colored-pencil illustrations [that] reflect the wide range of emotions” experienced by the story’s young subject, a Kirkus Reviews contributor took special note of the “small, humorous details” Godbout secrets in the book’s expansive spreads. Linda Bailey focuses on a loving and supportive family in her picture book When Santa Was a Baby, and Resource Links critic Karyn Huenemann cited the “clever artistic style” the artist uses here. Also praising the illustrations for this unusual holiday tale, a Publishers Weekly reviewer asserted that Godbout’s “cozy artwork gives the book the feel of a classic.”

Based on the popular “Anne of Green Gables” novels by Canadian writer L.M. Montgomery, George’s Goodnight, Anne and If I Couldn’t Be Anne also come to life in Godbout’s art. Augmented with what a Kirkus Reviews critic described as “stunning” and “delicate” colored pencil illustration, George’s story for Goodnight, Anne evokes the warm, family-centered atmosphere of the nineteenth-century original. Describing the same picture book as “Anne of Green Gables meets Goodnight Moon,” Shelley M. Diaz remarked in her School Library Journal review that Godbout’s pencil and pastel illustrations feature both “somber, nighttime tones” and “cheery reds and greens,” making it a “just right” picture-book homage to the Canadian classic.

Many of the stories Godbout has illustrated were initially published in French, her first language. She tapped her interest in fashion in one of these, The Pink Umbrella, Callot’s lighthearted romance about a friendly restaurant owner. Helpful and friendly, even when burdened by personal and business worries, Adele is surprised when a succession of pink garments are left in her store, all which turn out to be gifts from a surprising admirer. Illustrated by Godbout with a mid-twentieth-century retro flair, The Pink Umbrella was praised by a Kirkus Reviews critic as “engaging, lighthearted entertainment.” A Publishers Weekly writer cited the nostalgic “gauzy pencil-and-pastel artwork” that highlights Callot’s text, and School Library Journal critic Wendy Lukehart praised Godbout’s “softly textured” illustrations for effectively evoking Callot’s “sweet and tender story.”

In an interview with Heather Camlot in Quill & Quire, Godbout discussed the difference between creating animation and illustrating picture books. “With books you have to choose what you want to tell in the [artwork] because you have a limited number of pages. … But you can also illustrate something different than the text. Plus, there’s something more intimate about books; the experience is different for each person.”

(open new)In Ariella Prince Guttman’s Wherever You’ll Be, a mother gets ready for work while her child prepares for school. She reminds her kid that, even though they will physically be in different places, they will always be close at heart. The book shows the parallels throughout their day. A Kirkus Reviews contributor observed that “the illustrations, which utilize a soothing pastel palette, cleverly highlight the parallels between the lives of adults and children.”

With Claire Clement’s The Toys’ Christmas, Noah’s toy elephant, Fanfan, has left his house to journey to see Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Fanfan and other soft toys visit Santa to tell him personally what their owners most want for Christmas, just in case the letters never get to him. Fanfan needs to return by Christmas morning before Noah gets upset at him being missing. A contributor to Children’s Bookwatch insisted that “children ages 3-7 will delight in this unique Christmas picture book story.”

In Dawn Casey’s picture book, My Friend Tree, an oak tree is at the center of a boy and a girl’s friendship and experience growing up. Inspired by the tree, the now-grown kids plant a forest, which grows as does their love for one another. Later, they have three kids of their own, who are taught the importance of trees and also how it symbolizes their family. A contributor to Children’s Bookwatch stated: “A calming and pleasant read for kids, My Friend Tree is a truly lovely and inspiring reminder that nature connects us all–and of the touching harmony between us as people.”

With Emily Arrow’s picture book, Dear Bookstore, a young narrator finds a second home in a local bookstore. Believing the bookstore is full of magic, the child is introduced to a variety of genres by the bookstore owner. Readers can see the child and even the adult customer’s fantasies leaping off the pages as they peruse the books. A Kirkus Reviews contributor found it to be “a heartfelt tribute to the power of books and bookstores.”(close new)

BIOCRIT

PERIODICALS

• Booklist, July 1, 2015, Connie Fletcher review of Kindergarten Luck, p. 63.

• Children’s Bookwatch, December 1, 2021, Claire Clement, review of The Toys’ Christmas; April 1, 2024, review of My Friend Tree.

• Horn Book, November 1, 2015, Martha V. Parravano, review of When Santa Was a Baby, p. 53.

• Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2014, review of Joseph Fipps; June 1, 2015, review of Kindergarten Luck; December 1, 2017, review of The Pink Umbrella; July 15, 2018, review of Goodnight, Anne; November 1, 2019, review of What’s up, Maloo?; June 1, 2021, review of Wherever You’ll Be; January 15, 2025, review of Dear Bookstore.

• Publishers Weekly, September 14, 2015, review of When Santa Was a Baby, p. 67; October 30, 2017, review of The Pink Umbrella, p. 79.

• Resource Links, October 1, 2015, Karyn Huenemann, review of When Santa Was a Baby, p. 2.

• School Library Journal, June 1, 2014, Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, review of Joseph Fipps, p. 90; August 1, 2015, Chelsea Couillard-Smith, review of Kindergarten Luck, p. 58; October 1, 2015, Eva Mitnick, review of When Santa Was a Baby, p. 60; September 1, 2018, Shelley M. Diaz, review of Goodnight, Anne, p. 90; January 1, 2018, Wendy Lukehart, review of The Pink Umbrella, p. 56.

ONLINE

• Folio Jr., https://www.foliojr.com/ (July 14, 2025), author profile.

• Geneviève Godbout website, http://www.genevievegodboutillustration.com (July 14, 2025).

• Quill & Quire, https://quillandquire.com/ (June, 2018), Heather Camlot, author profile.