A Cambridge School of Art graduate's first book has been lauded in the international press. Kazuno Kohara, who graduated from the MA in Children's Book Illustration in 2007and the MA Printmaking in 2008, has had her first book voted as one of 10 Best Illustrated Children's Books 2008 by a panel of judges appointed by the New York times to select from among the several thousand children's books published that year.

Renowned illustrator John Lawrence, who himself appeared in the New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Children's Books List in 2002 for his book 'This Little Chick' (Walker Books) said 'I am thrilled for Kazuno, it took thirty years for one of my books to be chosen for such a distinction and she has done it with her first book. It will help sales enormously and Kazuno will get wider publicity and distribution as a consequence.'

The book was described as 'sweet and beautiful' by New York Times Book Review Editor Gregory Cowles. Cowles writes '["Ghosts in the House!"] provides a welcome timeout: its simple linocut illustrations are limited to three candy-corn colors, orange and black and white, and it is so insistently un-ironic that it ends, sincerely, with the words "And they all lived happily ever after," ...the story manages a gentle charm."

Kazuno's book, which she wrote and illustrated, describes a girl and her cat moving into an old house at the edge of town. "It was a splendid place," she writes, "but there was one problem. The house was... haunted!"

John Lawrence teaches on the MA in Children's Book Illustration. Many of the course's graduates go on to sign publishing deals.

Go back to the index page