Interview with illustrator, John Parra

Today I will be interviewing John Parra, illustrator, designer and educator.   Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year, received a Pura Belpré Honor for Illustration, received an award from the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature Best Book, and also received Smithsonian Best Book of the Year. John has received many awards and honors including three Pura Belpré Honors for Illustration, two SCBWI Golden Kite Awards for Illustration, and The Christopher Award, among many others.

John was awarded the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Illustration for Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans (written by Phil Binder, Chronicle Books); Pura Belpré Honor for Green Is a Chile Pepper (written by Roseanne G. Thong, Chronicle); The Christopher Award for Waiting for the Biblioburro (written by Monica Brown, Random House); and Hey, Wall (written by Susan Verde, Simon & Schuster, 2018) which received a School Library Journal starred review.

New picture books in 2019 include Little Libraries, Big Heroes (written by Miranda Paul, HMH, Sept 2019) and One Is a Piñata: A Book of Numbers (written by Roseanne G. Thong, Chronicle). John also illustrates for commercial clients including United Airlines, Hitachi, PBS, National Geographic, Virgin Records, Boston Children’s Hospital, El Museo del Barrio, and many others. In 2015, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York presented his books and artwork. John graduated from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

 Visit John Parra’s website or follow him on twitter @johnparraart

To learn more about John and read my review with language and learning tips, click here.