Thank you to our wonderful illustrators

We are so grateful to the brilliant artists whose work you can see brightening up our site and our Bookfinder.

Noted children's illustrators Kip Alizadeh, Nadia Shireen, Fiona Lumbers, Jim Smith, Erika Meza and Emily Rowland all produced images for our Bookfinder (and you might spot their drawings elsewhere on the BookTrust website too).

And thanks also go to Sarah McIntyre, whose sea monkeys are now making our error page a much happier place.

Find out more about the illustrators below.

Kip Alizadeh


Kate Alizadeh

Kip is a Cardiff based illustrator who graduated from Falmouth University in 2013. After graduating they lived in rural France for six months, honing their illustration skills while clearing out barns and feeding chickens. They then travelled around for a few months until they wound up in Wales where they are now busy developing their picture book style; a wonderful mix of energetic line, gorgeous characters, contemporary colour and fabulous hand lettering.

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Kip Alizadeh's Bookfinder illustrations

Illustration of a penguin
Illustration of a baby
Illustration of a stack of books
Illustration of a father reading to his baby
Illustration by Kate Alizadeh of a mother helping her child get dressed
Illustration of a deaf mother with her deaf child
Early Learning and Fact Books
Illustration of a two babies at a picnic
Illustration of a laughing baby, credit: Kate Alizadeh
Illustration of a baby playing with blocks
Illustration of a school of fish
Around The World

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Bedtime

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Best New Books

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Classics

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Daily Life

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Disability

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Early Learning and Fact Books

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Family and Friends

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Funny

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Interactive and Activity Books

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Looking After Our Planet

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Nadia Shireen


Nadia Shireen

Nadia Shireen made homemade comics and magazines as a child. After studying law at university and then working in magazine journalism, Nadia decided it was time to pay her doodling more attention and enrolled on the MA in Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art.

Her debut picture book Good Little Wolf won the UKLA Book award, was shortlisted in the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, and received a mention in the Bologna Ragazzi Opera Prima Award. Good Little Wolf was published in 2011, and was followed by the magical Hey Presto and the delightful Yeti and the Bird, all published by Jonathan Cape.

Nadia has also collaborated as an illustrator with authors such as Andrew Cope, on the hilarious Raccoon Rampage series, and Simon Puttock on the picture book The Baby that Roared, which was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize in 2012. The Bumblebear was published by Penguin Random House in May 2016, and was selected by BookTrust for their Time to Read programme in 2017. Nadia's latest picture book, The Cow Who Fell to Earth, was published by Penguin Random House in June 2017.

Visit Nadia's website

Follow Nadia on Twitter

Follow Nadia on Instagram

Nadia Shireen's Bookfinder illustrations

Illustration of a toddler at the beach
Illustration of a toddler riding a tiger
Illustration of a sleeping toddler
Illustration of books
Illustration of a toddler riding a horse to a castle with a dragon inside
Illustration of a toddler on a scooter
Illustration of a disabled child playing with their dog
Illustration of sheep
Family and Friends
Funny
Looking After Our Planet
Poetry & Rhyme
Interactive and Activity Books

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Around the World

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Bedtime

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Best New Books

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Classics

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Daily Life

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Disability

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Early Learning and Fact Books

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Family and Friends

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Funny

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Looking After Our Planet

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Poetry & Rhyme

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Fiona Lumbers


Fiona Lumbers

Fiona has drawn on anything and everything from an early age and always insisted she would be an artist when she grew up. She moved to London in 2000 to study for an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art. A combination of her obsession with picture books and the arrival of her first son led her down the path of illustration and she hasn't looked back since. Nothing makes her happier than splashing watercolours and inks and conjuring up new characters - often influenced by the exploits of her two sons.

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Fiona Lumbers' Bookfinder illustrations

Illustration of a jigsaw puzzle
Illustration of a lion and his cub
Illustration of a younger child with a book and a teddy bear
Illustration of a stack of books
Illustration by Fiona Lumbers of a young child reading on a beanbag next to a stack of books
Illustration of a group of younger children with disabilities playing together
Illustration of a younger child in a supermarket
Illustration of a younger child in a museum
Illustration of a family out in the park
Illustration of a younger child playing on the swings
Illustration of a whale
Illustration of a group of children playing
Interactive and activity books

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Around the world

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Bedtime

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Best new books

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Fiona Lumbers - Classics

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Disability

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Daily life

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Early learning and fact books

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Family and friends

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Funny

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Looking after our planet

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Poetry and rhyme

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Jim Smith


Jim Smith

After graduating with a first class degree in advertising, graphic design and illustration in 1997, Jim Smith was spotted by the owner of a small coffee shop chain and brought in to fill the walls of their flagship store with his paintings. It was a three-month contract; 17 years later, Jim is head of design at Puccino's Worldwide Ltd, now an international coffee shop franchise with stores in the UK, Europe and Egypt.

In the meantime he's illustrated kids' food packaging for M&S, drawn cartoons on the sides of PJ smoothies, created in-store graphics for Orange phone stores, designed book covers and branded a New York based Iced Tea company. In 2010, Jim launched the hugely successful Waldo Pancake range of stationery and gift products, now sold in the UK, Australia, Singapore, Europe and the US. 

I Am Not A Loser by Barry Loser, the first of a series of children's books 'spellchecked' by Jim, was published in 2012, having already sold rights to nine countries. The sequel, I Am Still Not A Loser, was the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2013 and declared the funniest book for children aged seven to fourteen. Jim has now written eight Barry Loser books and three Future Ratboys - a spin-off series of books based on Barry's favourite TV star.

Visit Jim's books website

Visit Jim's Waldo Pancake website

Jim Smith's Bookfinder illustrations

Illustration of a rocket in space
Illustration of the planet
Illustration of a new book
Illustration of an open book
Illustration of a child blowing dust of a book
Illustration of a younger child in a wheelchair
Illustration of a glass slipper being placed on a foot
Illustration of two hands holding
Illustration of a cartoon heart
Illustration of someone about to slip on a banana skin
Illustration of a grandfather clock
Illustration of the globe
Illustration of a Non-fiction book
Illustration of a bird singing
Illustration of a scared child
Illustration of a foot kicking a football
Action & Adventure

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Around the World

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Best New Books

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Chapter Books

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Classics

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Jim Smith illustration

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Fairy Tale & Fantasy

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Family and Friends

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Feelings and Wellbeing

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Funny

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Historical

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Looking After Our Planet

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Non-Fiction

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poetry & Rhyme

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Scary

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Sport

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Erika Meza


Erika Meza

Erika was born in colourful Mexico, fell in love with animation on the border with California, and developed a taste for eclairs in Paris before moving to the U.K. to teach drawing in Decorative Arts in NTU. A migrant, a dog person and a coffee addict, she's got a pet cat and wishes she could have a fox. She's now based in the UK and represented by Claire Cartey.

Follow Erika on Twitter

Visit Erika's website

Follow Erika on Instagram

Erika Meza's Bookfinder illustrations

Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child protesting
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child exploring a tomb
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child travelling with a rucksack
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child carrying a stack of books
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child reading in an armchair
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child as a superhero
Illustration by Erika Meza of two older children, one is in a wheelchair
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child eating breakfast with parent or carer
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child doing yoga
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child rolling on the floor with laughter
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child in Napoleonic dress
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child planting a tree
Illustration by Erika Meza of two older children embracing
Illustration by Erika Meza of a whale
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child reading by a tree
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child with a torch in the dark
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child riding a dragon
Illustration by Erika Meza of an older child playing football
Politics and human rights

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Action and adventure

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Around the world

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Best new books

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Classics

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Comic and graphic novel

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Disability

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Family and friends

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Feelings and wellbeing

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Funny

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Historical

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Looking after our planet

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Love and relationships

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Non-fiction

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Poetry and rhyme

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Scary

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Sci-fi and fantasy

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Sport

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Emily Rowland


Emily Rowland

Emily is a Graphic Design student at Central Saint Martin's in London, and she specialises in illustration and custom lettering. In her spare time she is a musician, takes film photography, cultivates tropical plants and is very into dinosaurs.

Visit Emily's website

Emily Rowland's Bookfinder illustrations

Illustration of teenagers spying
Illustration of teenager with suitcase
Illustration of teenager with pile of new books
Emily Rowland illustration of boy reading at home
Illustration of some comics and graphic novels
Illustration of a group of teenagers, one has a prosthetic limb.
Illustration of teenager staring out the window looking troubled
Illustration of teenager laughing
Illustration of World War Two female pilot and plane
Illustration of teenager planting a tree
Illustration of two teenagers embracing
Illustration of a teenage scientist
Illustration of teenagers on a protest march
Illustration of teenager reading a scary book
Sci-fi and fantasy
Illustration of a teenager playing football
Action and adventure

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Around the world

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Best new books

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Classics

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Comic and graphic novel

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Disability

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Feelings and wellbeing

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Funny

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Historical

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Looking after our planet

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Love and relationships

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Non-fiction

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Politics and human rights

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Scary

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Illustration of two teenagers from a fantasy world

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Sport

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Sarah McIntyre


Sarah McIntyre

Illustrator and writer Sarah McIntyre is easy to spot in her pointy glasses and hats. Her books include the comic Vern and Lettuce, four books with Philip Reeve - including Pugs of the Frozen North and Jinks & O'Hare Funfair Repair - and picture books like There's a Shark in the Bath and Dinosaur Police. She loves creating books and comics with friends and getting inspired by batting around ideas and drawings with them.

Sarah, who became BookTrust's Writer in Residence for six months in 2017, is immensely proud of Britain's amazing illustrators and how well their pictures tell stories. In 2015, she set up the #PicturesMeanBusiness campaign, calling for people to credit illustrators for their work.

See the Sarah's Writer in Residence page

Visit Sarah's website

Follow Sarah on Twitter

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