SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Fairies vs. Leprechauns
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://marta-altes.com/
CITY: London, England
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: English
LAST VOLUME: SATA 291
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1982, in Barcelona, Spain; immigrated to England; children: daughter.
EDUCATION:School of Art and Design, Barcelona, Spain, degree in graphic design, 2009; Cambridge School of Art, M.A. (children’s book illustration), 2011.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and illustrator. Worked as a graphic designer in Barcelona, Spain, 2004-08; freelance illustrator in London, England. Cambridge School of Art, Cambridge, England, part-time lecturer in children’s book illustration, beginning 2012. Exhibitions: Work exhibited at galleries in Germany, Italy, Spain, Venezuela, and the United Kingdom, including the Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge, England, 2011, Instituto Cervantes, Frankfurt, Germany, 2014, and Real Academia de España, Rome, Italy, 2015.
AWARDS:Egmont Best New Talent Award (corecipient), 2011; Waterstones Children’s Book Prize shortlist and Nottingham Children’s Book Prize, both 2012, Prix des Incorruptibles (France), 2014-15, and Premio Fundación Cuatrogato (Spain), 2015, all for No!; CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal nomination, 2014, for I Am an Artist; Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor designation and Patterson Prize for Books for Young People, both 2014, both for My Grandpa.
WRITINGS
Author’s work has been translated into several languages, including Catalan, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Taiwanese, and Welsh.
SIDELIGHTS
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Marta Altés is an award-winning author and illustrator originally from Barcelona, Spain, and working as an illustrator in London. Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages. In an interview with Preeti Khicha at My Red Palette, Altes explained that everything in her life inspires her illustrations: “I am inspired by movies, colours that I see on the street, and music… My family and friends appear in my illustrations quite often.”
Altes’s gentle picture book, My Grandpa, honors the grandfather-grandson relationship. Grandpa bear walks with a cane and watches the leaves fall. A child bear recognizes how old he looks but that he perks up when the grandson arrives. The grandson comments that sometimes Grandpa acts old, like when he has trouble remembering, and sometimes like a child. Noting that the language has a gentle and comforting, back-and-forth rhythm, a Kirkus Reviews critic reported: “Even though titles about aging grandparents are many, this tale stands out for its stunning simplicity and avoidance of heavy-handed messages.”
Launching the middle grade “Confessions of a Dork Lord” series is Confessions of a Dork Lord written by Mike Johnston and illustrated by Altes. Twelve-year-old warlock-in-training Azrael Bal Gorath the Wicked, called Wick, is the orphaned son of the Dark Lord and destined to be leader of the Grim World. However Wick’s magical ability is in question when he can’t even cast a Fart Revealer spell and is stuck in Remedial Spell Casting at the Middle Ages School. Consequently everyone calls him Dork Lord. When his father’s magic scepter is stolen, he gains allies and hopes he earns some street cred among Grimhold’s orcs, goblins, and ice giants as he searches for the culprit. The author wraps “his tale in crowd-pleasing clouds of alimentary humor,” wrote John Peters in Booklist. Grave Danger, the second book in the series, finds Wick booted from Middle Ages School and sent off to be an exchange student where he tries to make new friends and vanquish his foes.
Altes illustrated writer Kate Korsh’s Newbie Fairy, the first book in the “Oona Bramblegoop’s Sideways Magic” chapter book series. Perky Oona Bramblegoop is a newbie fairy, learning her spells and hoping to impress her idol, the Tooth Fairy. However Oona can’t control her magic which results in fire spells that stink and protection spells that include wedgies. Determined to earn her status as a fairy, Oona soldiers on, hoping to find her place in the enchanted order. Emily Graham wrote in Booklist: “It’s a lighthearted affair, but it also sneaks in wisdom about perseverance and ingenuity.”
In the second book in the series, A Boy in the Fairy World, Oona has become known as the Underwear Fairy who provides magical undies with wedgie power that projects children. One day she answers a call by a human boy, Marco, who wants to photograph her to prove that fairies are real, but in her haste to escape, she accidentally pulls him into the fairy world. Oona and her friends, including Lucy (the Tooth Fairy), try to hide the now fairy-sized Marco from their bosses who will surely punish them. The misadventures are “filled with delightfully off-kilter schemes, set in a world that blends the quirky with the cute [with] flowery, slug-speckled illustrations,” reported a writer in Kirkus Reviews.
Fairies vs. Leprechauns is the third book, in which Oona the Underwear Fairy tries to improve her standing in the fairy community by catching the thieves that stole the glitterberries from the warehouse. She enlists the help of her cousin Horace the Slug Fairy, Lucy the Tooth Fairy, and human friend Marco. But when Lucy begins to lose her magic, signs point to the leprechauns as the culprits. Oona needs to use care to bring peace to the two magical communities. In Kirkus Reviews, a contributor commented: “With the world’s particulars well established in previous volumes, this story focuses on interspecies diplomacy, [and] complex personal motivations” among all the silly antics.
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, December 1, 2019, John Peters, review of Confessions of a Dork Lord, p. 57; December 1, 2023, Emily Graham, review of Newbie Fairy, p. 126.
Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2013, review of My Grandpa; April 1, 2024, review of A Boy in the Fairy World; November 1, 2024, review of Fairies vs. Leprechauns.
School Librarian, summer, 2015, Lynda Graham, review of The King Cat, p. 89.
School Library Journal, April, 2013, Teri Markson, review of My Grandpa, p. 124.
ONLINE
Marta Altés website, http://www.martaltes.com (September 1, 2015).*
MMBcreative, https://mmbcreative.com/ (May 1, 2025), author profile.
My Red Palette, https://www.myredpalette.com/ (February 7, 2014), Preeti Kicha, “Talented Illustrator: Marta Altes.”
About
CHILDREN'S BOOK AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
martaltes@gmail.com
© marta altés 2015
I studied graphic design in Barcelona and after working there as a graphic designer for almost five years (The Original Cha Chá), I decided to pursue my interest for illustration that I had since I was a child. I moved to England and I joined the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. Now, after finishing the course, I think it was the BEST decision
I have ever made.
Since I graduated, I'm working as an illustrator in London and it makes me feel so lucky and happy. In 2012 I started working as a part time lecturer in the MA in Children's Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art.
I always try to have a positive and funny vision about life and to get a smile from who is looking at my drawings or reading my stories is what I like the most about illustration.
STUDIES
Graduated in Graphic Design in Eina, School of Art and Design,
Barcelona, Spain (Qualified in 2004)
Course in Creative Illustration and Visual Techniques in Eina, School of Art and Design, Barcelona, Spain (Qualified in 2006)
MA Children’s Book Illustration in Cambridge School of Art, Cambridge (UK)
(Qualified in 2011)
BOOKS
2011
“No!”: writing and illustrations. Picturebook published by Child’s Play. (UK)
* Published in English, German, Georgian, Danish, Korean, Italian, Japanese, Taiwanese, Portuguese, Polish, Chinese, Catalan, Spanish, Turkish, French, Dutch and Chinese
“Espinacs” illustrations for chapter book written by Teresa Blanch and Anna Gasol, published by Cruïlla (Spain)
*Published in Catalan
2012
“My Grandpa”: writing and illustrations.
Picturebook published by Macmillan Children's Books. (UK)
*Published in English, Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, Slovenian, Korean, Hebrew, Taiwanese, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, Italian, Chinese and Japanese
2013
“I am an Artist”: writing and illustrations.
Picturebook published by Macmillan Children's Books. (UK)
*Published in English, Korean, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Greek, Italian, Dutch, Taiwanese, and Chinese
“Vull esmorzar petons": illustrations for book written by Trinitat Gilbert, published by Columna Edicions. (Spain)
*Published in Catalan
2014
“My New Home”: writing and illustrations.
Picturebook published by Macmillan Children's Books. (UK)
*Published in English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Catalan, Japanese, Chinese, Italian and Danish in June 2014
"La Rateta que escombrava l'escaleta": illustrations for the adaptation Martina Escoda wrote of this classic story. Published by Publicacions de L'Abadia de Montserrat. (Spain)
*Published in Catalan
2015
"The King Cat" : writing and illustrations.
Picturebook published by Macmillan Children's Books UK in February 2015.
*Published in English, Danish, Welsh, Russian, Greek, Spanish, Catalan, German, French, Italian, Chinese, Taiwanese, Ukranian, Portuguese and Korean
“Amistades Secretas” illustrations for chapter book written by Agustín Fernández Paz, published by Edebé (Spain)
*Published in Spanish and Galician.
“Tan Petita i ja saps” illustrations for a poetry book written by Maria-Mercè Marçal, published by Andana (Spain)
*Published in Catalan.
"You are an artist" : writing and illustrations. Activity book published by Macmillan Children's Books UK in July 2015.
*It will be published in English, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish and Catalan
“Que vénen els gegants” illustrations rhyme Catalan traditions book written by Antoni Dalmases, published by Cruïlla (Spain)
*It will be published in Catalan.
"El Tesoro de Barracuda" illustrations for chapter book written by Llanos Campos, published by SM. (Spain)
*It will be published in Spanish and Catalan.
"Barracuda en el fin del mundo" illustrations for chapter book written by Llanos Campos, published by SM. (Spain)
*It will be published in Spanish and Catalan.
2016
"Little Monkey": writing and illustrations.
Picturebook published by Macmillan Children's Books. (UK)
*It will be published in English, French, Korean, Welsh, Spanish, Catalan, Chinese and Swiss German.
2017
"Just So Stories": by Rudyard Kipling, retold by Elli Woollard. Picturebook published by Macmillan Children's Books in October 2017 (UK)
*It will be published in English, Greek, Spanish, Catalan, Dutch, Portuguese and Italian.
"Avery" written and illustrated by Marta Altés in association with Lucy Raymond.
For Imagine ID
"El rey muerto de tortuga" illustrations for chapter book written by Llanos Campos, published by SM. (Spain)
*It will be published in Spanish and Catalan.
"El libro de Gloria Fuertes para niñas y niños" illustrations for poems and stories written by Gloria Fuertes and edited by Jorge Cascante, published by Blackie Books. (Spain)
*It will be published in Spanish
2018
"La Niña Invisible" illustrations for chapter book written by Puño, published by SM.
*it'll be published in Spanish.
2019
"Five more minutes" Picturebook published by Macmillan Children's Books. (UK)
*It will be published in English, French, Dutch, Catalan, Spanish, Galician, Basque and Turkish.
AWARDS
2004 Selected for the Laus, Design Awards (Student category) for the Final Degree Project “Come true”
2010 Selected for the “Youth Creativity Spanish Awards” Injuve.
2011 Egmont Best New Talent Award (shared with Birgitta Sif).
2012
Shorlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for "NO!" (Child's Play)
★ Winner of the "Read it again!" for "NO!" (Child's Play)
★ Winner of the "Nottingham Children's Book Prize" for "NO!" (Child's Play)
Shorlisted for the People's Book Prize for "NO!" (Child's Play)
2014
Nominated for the 2014 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal for "I am an artist"
★ 2014 Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor for "My Grandpa".
Longlisted for the 2014 UKLA Book Awards (3-6 years old category) for "I am an Artist"
★ 2014 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People for "My Grandpa".
2015
★ Premio Fundación Cuatrogatos 2015 for "¡NO!" (Thule)
★ Premio Dragón Lector for "Soy un artista" (Blackie Books)
★ Prix Des Incorruptibles 2014-15 (Kindergarten Category) for "NON!" (Éditions Circonflexe)
SOLO EXHIBITION
2007 “Historias Encajadas” (“Stories in boxes”), Extraño Espacio, Madrid (Spain)
GROUP EXHIBITION
2006 “Obsessions”, La Casa Gran, Gavà (Spain)
2010
“Youth Creativity Awards” Injuve, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid (Spain)
“40 years among frames”, Maracalvo (Venezuela)
2011
“MA Children’s Book Exhibition Show”, Foyles Bookshop, London (UK)
“Show and Tell: The Picturebook Makers”, Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge (UK)
“Kids’ Corner”, Utopic_Gallery, Madrid (Spain)
2014
"Ilustradores Españoles. El color del optimismo", Spanish Embassy (Berlín)
"Ilustradores Españoles. El color del optimismo", Instituto Cervantes ( Frankfurt)
2015
"Ilustradores Españoles. El color del optimismo", Real Academia de España (Rome)
PUBLICATIONS and WORK FEATURED IN
2010 Lecool ( A weird and wonderful guide to Barcelona)
2012 "Children's Picturebooks: The Art of Visual Storytelling" written by Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles. Published by Laurence King.
2013 "Ilustradores Españoles " written by Mario Suárez. Published by Editorial Lunwerg
2013 100% Ilustración, Editorial Bubulú
2015 "100 Great Children's Picturebooks" written by Martin salisbury
CLIENTS
National Portrait Gallery
MacMillan Children's Books UK
Cambridge School of Art / CCBS
The Original Cha Chá
Santillana
Edebé
Ajuntament de Parets del Vallès
Cruïlla
Columna Edicions
El Tatano / Cavall Fort
Villar-Rosàs
Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat
*lavinyeta
Senyor Estudi
Ethic magazine
Barça Kids Magazine
Casa Golosa
Biblioteca Can Butjosa
Child's Play
Blackie Books
*lavinyeta
Marta Altés is an award-winning author and illustrator. She studied graphic design in Barcelona and after working there as a graphic designer for almost five years, decided to pursue her interest for illustration that she had since she was a child. Marta moved to the UK to study for an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art, and graduated in 2011.
Since then she has seen her books translated into more than 20 languages, she has taught as a part time lecturer in the MA where she studied, and has done lots of workshops with little artists around the world.
Little Monkey (Macmillan) was distributed in schools across England (700,000 copies) in 2018 as part of BookTrust’s Time to Read campaign.
Marta’s list of clients include Macmillan Children’s Books, Walker Books, Penguin US / Putnam, National Portrait Gallery, Fundació Joan Miró, Museo Guggenheim Bilbao and University of Cambridge.
Marta lives in London with her partner, her baby daughter and Little Sam the dog. She always tries to have a positive and funny vision about life and to get a smile from who is looking at her drawings or reading her stories is what she likes the most about illustration.
Marta Altes, author of Little Monkey: 'Picture books are magic because the real story is made up in your mind'
Published on: 17 September 2018
Marta Altés is the author-illustrator behind Little Monkey: the picture book that we're giving out free to 700,000 children in England this autumn. She talks about how that feels, as well as the message of Little Monkey and how she identifies with her character!
Want to watch this interview? Scroll down to see the video
What was the inspiration behind Little Monkey?
With all of my books, I take inspiration from things that have happened to me and this one is no different. I was always the smallest one in my class and even now I’m the smallest one amongst my group of friends! So I always found it very annoying when my parents or teachers or classmates would tell me that I couldn’t do stuff because I was too little. I found it really frustrating and I’m a really stubborn person and very determined, so being told I couldn’t do something was not good...
Little Monkey is always finding it difficult to reach and see stuff, and I have the same problems as her – when I go to see live music, I can’t see much so I have to just go to listen to live music! So Little Monkey is based on me!
I’m so sure that everybody has felt little at some point in their life – everybody! So it’s something we can all relate to.
How do you go about writing your books?
It depends on the book, whether the words come first or the images come first, but usually they kind of come together! I find writing really difficult if I’m not writing with images at the same time.
In the case of Little Monkey, the story came from two things. On one hand, I was drawing lots of monkeys in my sketchbook. I was really enjoying drawing their long arms and tails and I found them really funny and fun to draw. I was drawing a group of monkeys, and this one monkey began to shrink and suddenly this little monkey became me. She was a very determined character, she wanted to do what the rest of the troop was doing but she wasn’t allowed. But there was no story yet.
I started thinking about the positives of being little, because being little isn’t just about the negative things, there’s lots of good things too.
On the bottom of one page of my sketchbook, there was a sentence about this, and when I presented my sketchbooks to my editors, the sentence sparked the whole idea for the rest of the book. The sentence was, 'the littlest you are, the bigger the hugs feel', and that’s the sentence that ends the book. So then I had to work backwards from the ending to show how this little monkey overcomes challenges to find something really good.
You live in England, but originally you’re from Spain. Do you write your books in Spanish first?
Funnily enough, I did not. I wrote this book in English. Writing in a language that isn’t my first language means my writing is much more direct. If I wrote in Spanish, the books would be so long, because I can explain much more in Spanish than in English!
Are illustrations as important as words in children’s books?
Big, fat yes! In picture books, both illustration and text work together. In almost every picture book, there are three stories that are told at the same time. One is the text, the next one is the images, and the third is the one we make up in our head as we bring the words and images together. Without one, the other wouldn’t exist.
I find picture books so fascinating because of this; it’s a kind of magic because the real story is made up in your mind.
In my book, Little Monkey, there’s a lot that happens in the images that the text doesn’t mention at all. So there are all these little characters you see like the chameleon and the ants that teach little monkey how to do things and find her own way. And there’s the tiger who poses a danger to little monkey and makes her journey more challenging, but you wouldn’t know of the tiger or other characters if you weren’t seeing the images.
How did you feel when you found out that Little Monkey would be given to over 700,000 children in England as part of Time to Read?
I could not believe it. When I found out, I was waiting for a bus, and my editor rang me. It wasn’t that noisy where I was standing, but I kept telling her to repeat what she was saying because I thought I wasn’t understanding her properly. 'How many books? To how many children?!'
I think the Time to Read campaign is an amazing thing, and I’m so happy that all these children will receive a book for free to read at home, with lots of activities to do alongside the story. It’s something super special to be part of.
I just think about the fact that I came to this country nine years ago – I couldn’t speak English and now my books will be going to so many kids here. I’m just so happy!
juana November 5, 2013 mini interview
A Mini-Interview with Marta Altes
Welcome to our first interview for the 2013 November Mini-Interviews. I’m starting by introducing you to the work of the Spanish author-illustrator, Marta Altés.
Marta has a fun, loose style. I found her work online a year ago and immediately loved it. So when it came time to short list our guests for this year, she was one of the names on my list. Now, she’s here with you and me. With you the author-illustrator, Marta Altés.
Brian Won
About Marta Altés
I studied graphic design in Barcelona and after working there as a graphic designer for almost five years (The Original Cha Chá), I decided to pursue my interest for illustration that I had since I was a child. I moved to England and I joined the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. Now, after finishing the course, I think it was the BEST decision I have ever made.
Since I graduated, I’m working as an illustrator and it makes me feel so lucky and happy. I always try to have a positive and funny vision about life and to get a smile from who is looking at my drawings or reading my stories is what I like the most about illustration.
To learn more about Marta, you can visit her website: martaltes.com. You can also follow her on her Blog, Facebook Page, and Twitter.
Mini-Interview with Marta Altés
Art for ‘NO!’ by Marta Altés
Please describe your career as an author-illustrator in 5 words:
Work / Luck / Work ( work appears twice, because I’ve worked a lot) / Friends / Change
Which books, that were your favorites when you were little, have had the greatest influence on your work?
This is one of those very difficult questions… It’s very difficult to respond… I don’t remember particular books that influenced my work. I’m one hundred per cent sure that all the books you read, like all the movies you watch, or all the activities you do when you are a kid, have an influence on your work. I used to read a lot when I was little. My mum was a teacher, and she would bring home lots of books. I also LOVED comic books. On the weekends, we would go to get the newspapers for my parents, and my little brother and I would get a small comic book.
Mini-Interview with Marta Altés
Playing with Pencil Shavings by Marta Altés
Please share an instance in which you had an idea or experience, that started out small, but took root and grew to become a book.
The idea for my first book NO!, came from missing my dog… I had just moved to UK, and I missed him very much. I took him from the dog’s pound 3 years before, and he seemed not to mature at all… He was sooo naughty! He is 5 years old now, and he keeps being as “helpful” as he used to be. When I started this story, I wanted for it to be about a dog that stops being naughty, and his owner worrying about that… That led me to start thinking about his point of view. And that changed everything! I thought that maybe he was doing all of that cause he wanted to help out! And that ended up being the idea of my book.
Mini-Interview with Marta Altés
Art for ‘NO!’ by Marta Altés
Do you ever hide little images, names or personal details in your illustrations? Please give us a peek.
I do!! My parents have appeared in different drawings I’ve done. For example in this chapter book I did.
Mini-Interview with Marta Altés
Marta’s Family illustrated in one of her books.
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Daily routines are important for both writers and illustrators. Could you describe your typical work day, and tell us the one little thing you absolutely cannot begin your day without (besides caffeine)?
Well, yes, I think daily routines are very important, but my life has been so changing in the last couple of years, and so have my daily routines. I’ve lived in many different places, and depending on the place, my routine has changed. What hasn’t changed as you say is the caffeine! Wherever I lived I used to work from home, in my room, but this Monday I’m starting a new experience! I’ll be working from a little shared Studio. I can’t wait! Working from home can be a little bit lonely, plus I’m very unorganized, that’s why I absolutely love working from cafes (where I am right now). It makes you plan your day better, and it always helps if you are stuck with one idea to change space.
Mini-Interview with Marta Altés
Art for ‘My Grandpa’ by Marta Altés
Mini-Interview with Marta Altés
Art for ‘My Grandpa’ by Marta Altés
Would you tell me about your first experience as an author-illustrator? How did it happen? Who gave you that chance?
Long reply alert! Ok… Everything started 4 years ago. I was a graphic designer, but something inside me made me make the decision of quitting everything and to give my dream a chance. I left the graphic design studio where I used to work, I asked for a loan to the bank, and I joined an MA in Children’s Books Illustration in England. Best decision ever! It changed my life. I worked VERY, VERY hard during the course. One of the first projects I did, was my book NO!. I went to the Bologna Book Fair with my classmates, and I showed the book to many publishers. Many people liked it, but nothing else happened. After Bologna, I kept sending a pdf version of my book to different publishers, and Martin Salisbury (the director of the MA) also sent a few of them. After a few months, Child’s Play International (UK) contacted me back saying that they wanted to publish it!!! I was over the moon! I still now cannot believe it! I’m SO grateful to them! They gave me my very first chance. That was before finishing the MA. When we did finish the MA, we did an exhibition in London, and Macmillan Children’s Books contacted me. They’ve been my publisher ever since. I couldn’t be any happier. My third book with them is coming out in June 2014! It will be called “My New Home”.
Mini-Interview with Marta Altés
‘NO!’ by Marta Altés
Mini-Interview with Marta Altés
‘My Grandpa’ by Marta Altés
Mini-Interview with Marta Altés
‘I Am An Artist’ by Marta Altés
Thank you very much, Marta! We can’t wait to see your new book!
I’ll be back here next Tuesday with our Mini-Interview with Yuyi Morales. But don’t wait until next Tuesday, this week we have an amazing list of guests. Just see below:
Matt Phelan on Wednesday visiting Molly’s blog
Sean Qualls on Thursday stopping by Mikela’s blog, and,
John Rocco on Friday dropping in at Laura’s blog
This post is part of the Mini-Interview Series where 4 children’s illustrators interview other Children’s Illustrators and Author-Illustrators throughout the month of November. Our guests for 2013 include:
Marta Altes
Eric Barclay
David Biedrzycki
Sophie Blackall
K. G. Campbell
Matthew Cordell
Marla Frazee
Brian Lies
Loren Long
Maurie Manning
Yuyi Morales
Zachariah OHora
Antoinette Portis
Matt Phelan
Sean Qualls
John Rocco
Bob Shea
David Ezra Stein
Melissa Sweet
Brian Won
You can learn more about the Series and the guests to this blog here.
Talented Illustrator: Marta Altes
February 7, 2014 By: Preeti Khichacomment
Hello folks,
I love beautifully illustrated books. Now here’s a Spanish artist Marta Altes, based in London, who does some lovely illustrations. You will fall in love with her colorful books My Grandpa and I am an Artist. Here’s a short tete-a-tete with her, and some snippets from her books.
martaaltescollage
What inspires your illustrations?
Everyday life inspires me. I do quick illustrations about my life and this forms a central theme of my books. I am inspired by movies, colours that I see on the street, and music.
marta3 Do you have any specific characters in your book illustrations?
My family and friends appear in my illustrations quite often. I don’t do it on purpose, or consciously. It just happens.
Which artists do you admire?
I admire many artists. Some of them are: Beatrice Alemagna, Miguel Gallardo, Pilarín Bayés, Pablo Auladell.
How many books have you written and in how many languages?
I’ve written four books, and I am working on my next one. They have been translated into ten different languages.
When will your next book be launched?
My next book, which is called “My New Home” will be published by Macmillan in June 2014. This is a story about a little raccoon that moves in a new house and has to find new friends. I’ve changed houses so many times for the past couple of years. I moved from Barcelona to London, and it took me sometime to adapt to this big city. Now I love it!
Which is your favorite medium?
Pencil and watercolours. I like paper that does not have a lot of grain.
Check out her work at www.martaltes.com
{Photos by Marta Altes}
Birgitta Sif and Marta Altes have been announced as the 2011 winners of Egmont's annual Best New Talent Award. They received [pounds sterling]250 each at their graduate exhibitions, as well as a publishing deal from Egmont. Egmont has commissioned Sif to illustrate a new fiction series called The Magnificent Moon Hare. The first book will publish in March 2012. Egmont confirmed it would work with Altes in the future as she is currently signed up exclusively to another publisher. The award is presented to a graduate of the MA course in Children's Book Illustration at Anglia Ruskin University in recognition of their achievement on the course.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 The Stage Media Limited
http://www.thebookseller.com
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Egmont's got talent." The Bookseller, no. 5478, 29 Apr. 2011, p. 7. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A257129582/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=83620dfe. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.
Altés, Marta MY GRANDPA Abrams (Children's Picture Books) $15.95 4, 9 ISBN: 978-1-4197-0588-5
The relationship between grandfather and grandson is evocatively portrayed in this spare but powerful look at the warm interdependency of age and youth. A bespectacled, light brown, mature bear walks with a cane against a stark white background. A bright red leaf--perhaps signaling the beginning of the autumn season or his time in life--swirls to the ground and briefly captures the bear's attention before he focuses on a flock of small birds, some red and others brown. "My grandpa is getting old- // Sometimes he feels alone." A page turn reveals a spunky candy red young bear bursting onto the scene to greet his relative: "But then I come along!" The birds take to the sky, and the duo begins their time together. The language has a gentle and comforting, back-and-forth rhythm. "When he is with me, he smiles. / When I am with him, I can fly!" An especially humorous spread first shows Grandpa's head buried in a newspaper and then turning up his nose at an offered spoonful from his grandson. "At times he behaves like an old man. / At times he's like a child." Although the elder has moments of struggle with his memory or getting lost, the young one comes to the rescue with a hug or a guiding hand. Alt�s employs an elegant restraint with the book's design. The limited palette and broad expanse of white space allow the story to truly shine. Even though titles about aging grandparents are many, this tale stands out for its stunning simplicity and avoidance of heavy-handed messages. (Picture book. 3-6)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Altes, Marta: MY GRANDPA." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2013. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A324054656/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8289d4ba. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.
Altes, Marta
The King Cat
Macmillan, 2016, pp32, 6.99[pounds sterling]
978 1 4472 5899 5
The theme of The King Cat is the never-ending battle between cats and dogs. The cat in this tale feels like a king because he is loved, fed, tickled and provided with toys; as he says himself, he is 'super cute'. Problems start, however, when another pet is introduced into the household. Oh no! The cat tries to be tolerant but a sunny-natured, enthusiastic dog does not fit easily into the cat's well-regulated home. The dog, meanwhile, oblivious of everything the cat says to try to get rid of him, is having a lovely time. Ignored and unloved, the cat makes his feelings clear: 'I am STILL the king of this house. And I don't want YOU here'. And suddenly it seems that the dog has been removed! Peace and order returns. But so does boredom. Read The King Catto find out what happens.
This is a delightful book to share with children. The illustrations are very funny, especially the expressions on the faces of the pets. Each picture has lots of things to spot and talk about. There is a superb 'spot-the-difference' game waiting to be played by comparing the end papers. I am sure it won't take long for this book to become a firm favourite to read aloud and visually explored by excited young readers.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 The School Library Association
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Goodwin, Prue. "Altes, Marta: The King Cat." School Librarian, vol. 64, no. 2, summer 2016, p. 89. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A457107040/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2f3d6247. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.
Confessions of a Dork Lord. By Mike Johnston. Illus. by Marta Altes. Jan. 2020.352p. Putnam, $13.99 (9781524740818). Gr. 5-7.
The coauthor (with Melissa de la Cruz) of the Heart of Dread series aims at a younger (or, at least, less sophisticated) audience with this tale of a dread sorcerers 12-year-old orphaned son who can't even cast the ultra-simple "Fart Revealer" spell. More than half convinced that he's regarded as a laughingstock for his lack of magic and leadership ability, Azrael Bal Gorath the Wicked--aka Wick--latches onto the theft of his 10-years-vanished dad's obsidian scepter as a chance to prove himself to the ores, goblins, and other folk of Grimhold. As he tracks down the culprit, Wick not only has adventures (that range from wading through the Gurgling Lake of Sulfur to being sent to a school for ice giants where even pop quizzes last entire days) but also learns how to organize a wayward crew of allies. Johnston leaves his young warlock looking forward to future challenges--and better equipped to handle them--while wreathing his tale in crowd-pleasing clouds of alimentary humor. Spot art frequent, but some finished versions not seen.--John Peters
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 American Library Association
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Peters, John. "Confessions of a Dork Lord." Booklist, vol. 116, no. 7, 1 Dec. 2019, p. 57. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A609538871/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=bd51f7ca. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.
Brand New Boy
by David Almond; illus. by Marta Altes
Intermediate Candlewick 320 pp. g
5/22 978-1-5362-2270-8 $18.99
e-book ed. 978-1-5362-2694-2 $18.99
George, the new kid in Daniel's class, is "weird." Lacking in affect, stiff, and overly literal, he arrives with an aide who takes notes on his every action. When George's ear falls off, revealing a USB port, Daniel and his friends realize, as the reader has probably already guessed (with help from the jaunty cartoonlike illustrations), that he is a robot. By this time, however, the other kids have become fond of him, and when members of the evil corporation that "owns" George come to retrieve him (after what has been a kind of beta test), his classmates rally to save him. At this point the story morphs from a lighthearted romp to something dreamier, in which George spends a single idyllic day in Almond's (Skellig, rev. 5/99; The Color of the Sun, rev. 11/19) favorite territory, a wild place at the edge of a town. He gets grubby, roughhouses with the other kids, learns to tell a joke, and becomes alert to the natural world. The other children face big questions. For example, Daniel contemplates the mind-body problem: "Do you have to be a thing that can pee if you're going to be a thing that can think?" Inevitably, the denouement is bittersweet, leaving us with a simple and sturdy answer to one of the most relevant questions of our time. What defines us as humans? This story's answer is friendship.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Ellis, Sarah. "Brand New Boy." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 98, no. 3, May-June 2022, p. 136. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A704090407/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=15005c1c. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.
Newbie Fairy.
By Kate Korsh. Illus. by Marta Altes.
Jan. 2024. 128p. Putnam, $16.99 (9780593533635); paper,
$6.99 (9780593533642). Gr. 2-4.
Oona Bramblegoop has only just started on her path to becoming a Grand Fairy, but she's certain that she's destined for greatness, even if her current position has her in charge of the resident slugs. She longs to be as glamor ous and important as the Tooth Fairy, but it's hard to get a promotion when all of her spells seem to go slightly sideways--and when so many of them involve enchanted underwear! A chance meeting with her fairy idol finally gives Oona the opportunity to impress, but multiple missteps in the human world see them both suspended from fairy duties. Not to worry: Oona will stop at nothing to set things right and find her place in the enchanted order. The sweet series opener is packed with goofy humor, whimsical footnotes, and amusing illustrations sure to keep young readers enthralled. It's a lighthearted affair, but it also sneaks in wisdom about perseverance and ingenuity alongside the silliness. A fresh fairy tale with lots of laughs.--Emily Graham
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 American Library Association
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Graham, Emily. "Newbie Fairy." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 7-8, 1 Dec. 2023, p. 126. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A777512577/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=14bc1e01. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.
Korsh, Kate A BOY IN THE FAIRY WORLD Putnam (Children's None) $16.99 6, 4 ISBN: 9780593533666
A mortal finds himself stuck in fairy territory.
Oona Bramblegoop, the awkward but endearing protagonist of Newbie Fairy (2024), has a challenging new job: helping clumsy kids in need of magic underpants that prevent falls and other mishaps. One fateful night, the young fairy answers an emergency call; a boy named Marco needs assistance. But it turns out he's set a trap for Oona. In a mad scramble back to the fairy world, Oona ends up hauling Marco along--an offense sure to land her in trouble with the fairy council. She conceals a now-fairy-sized Marco, a hollow reed snorkel in his mouth, under the waters of Blackberry Bog and then renders him imperceptible with a combination of magical underpants and invisibility slime provided by her cousin Horace's slugs. But soon, Oona and friends must face their bosses' wrath and figure out how to send Marco home. This second installment of Bramblegoopian misadventures is filled with delightfully off-kilter schemes, set in a world that blends the quirky with the cute. Flowery, slug-speckled illustrations and footnotes with facts about the fairy world enhance the upbeat narrative and leave Oona poised to play detective in what promises to be an equally humorous third outing. Hairstyles and skin shading imply some racial diversity in the grayish-blue-toned artwork.
Fun, funky, and imaginative. (Fantasy. 7-10)
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"Korsh, Kate: A BOY IN THE FAIRY WORLD." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A788096724/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3a014b4f. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.
Altés, Marta FAIRIES VS. LEPRECHAUNS Putnam (Children's None) $17.99 1, 7 ISBN: 9780593533697
A feud with fellow magical creatures leads to a heap of problems in the fairy world.
The glitterberries have gone missing from the warehouse! With only a four-leaf clover left as a clue, the fairies of Blackberry Bog soon find themselves being pelted from above with their favorite sparkly snack. Oona the Underwear Fairy, her cousin Horace the Slug Fairy, and their pal Lucy the Tooth Fairy set out to find the perpetrator but quickly discover that Lucy's gold coins have also been purloined. All signs point to leprechauns--but why? With the help of human friend Marco, the fairies briefly capture the culprits and begin to piece together a motive. Lucy, shockingly, is revealed as partially culpable for the predicament that led the leprechauns to a life of crime. Each character feels fully, delightfully realized in this latest excursion to Blackberry Bog. Oona's wonky spells conjure a bubble gum-chewing goat; on one eye-catching page, Horace gleefully catches falling glitterberries in his mouth. Meanwhile, Lucy maintains a somewhat problematically single-minded commitment to her tooth fairy duties. Their antics, as silly as ever, nonetheless have serious bearing on fairy society. With the world's particulars well established in previous volumes, this story focuses on interspecies diplomacy, complex personal motivations, and ultimately a surprising recognition of Oona's increasing competency and cooperative nature. Some diversity is implied through shading and hairstyles in the green-tinged, two-toned illustrations. Final art not seen.
A whimsical delight.(Fantasy. 7-10)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Altes, Marta: FAIRIES VS. LEPRECHAUNS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A813883638/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=149447c0. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.