It's time to celebrate! From Christmas and Thanksgiving, to Diwali and Halloween, kids won't want to miss out on all the festivities. Embark on an exciting journey through the most interesting and important festivals, celebrations, and holidays enjoyed by people around the world. Stunning original illustrations and fascinating facts will inspire and inform children about cultures and religions from the countries of the world.
Witness a camel marathon in a celebration of the Sahara Desert, and devour some delicious dumplings to celebrate Chinese New Year. Discover why skeletons dance at the Day of the Dead in Mexico, and get messy at Holi, the Hindu Festival of Colors.
Children will love poring over artist Katy Halford's beautiful illustrations, which showcase every celebration in absorbing detail. Engaging factual writing introduce young readers to the most interesting aspects of each celebration, from the costumes worn to the food eaten, and encourage an understanding of other cultures and religions.
Katy Halford was born in a small village in Leicestershire, England, as has always loved to draw. She has a degree from Loughborough University in the UK.
Katy Halford: I was born in a small village in Leicestershire on a snowy winters morning in the year of '85. Ever since I have known, I have always loved to draw. I was told that from a young age, I used to always put eyelashes on the characters I drew. This became one of my distinct quirks and has stuck with me ever since! As a child, I used to create paper houses and shops and I would play for hours in these imaginary worlds, creating little stories and acting them out. I would say this is where my love for illustration started, and from then I continued to study the 'arts' at school and went on to graduate at Loughborough University with a degree in Illustration. I work from home, in a lovely house with a beautiful spacious garden. The garden is full of greenery and flowers and the birds are always singing. We have two bunny rabbits named Hubert and Esme, they are quite some characters! I am fascinated with people and animals and turning them into characters... I love to add patterns and details to clothing, add fun hairstyles, hats, glasses and lots of other accessories! Everything always starts off as a sketch and then I scan in the sketches and painted textures and work in Photoshop to add colour to my illustrations.
Katy Halford: I was born in a small village in Leicestershire on a snowy winters morning in the year of '85. Ever since I have known, I have always loved to draw. I was told that from a young age, I used to always put eyelashes on the characters I drew. This became one of my distinct quirks and has stuck with me ever since! As a child, I used to create paper houses and shops and I would play for hours in these imaginary worlds, creating little stories and acting them out. I would say this is where my love for illustration started, and from then I continued to study the 'arts' at school and went on to graduate at Loughborough University with a degree in Illustration. I work from home, in a lovely house with a beautiful spacious garden. The garden is full of greenery and flowers and the birds are always singing. We have two bunny rabbits named Hubert and Esme, they are quite some characters! I am fascinated with people and animals and turning them into characters... I love to add patterns and details to clothing, add fun hairstyles, hats, glasses and lots of other accessories! Everything always starts off as a sketch and then I scan in the sketches and painted textures and work in Photoshop to add colour to my illustrations.
