Phaidon celebrates 20 years of children’s books!
Bones, bears, and blue chip artists - how our children’s books authors and illustrators imagined new worlds for inquisitive kids.
Phaidon’s focus on art, architecture, design, and the culinary arts has served it well over the past century, winning over some of the most mature and well-developed readers across the globe.
But that hasn’t stopped our editors from creating an award-winning children’s list that presents subjects in ways that everyone from pre-schoolers to high-schoolers will love and learn from.
Although Phaidon was founded at the beginning of the last century, it wasn’t until the early years of this one that the children’s list was introduced.
In 2005, Phaidon published The Art Book for Children — a kid-friendly adaptation of the global sensation The Art Book.
A guide to 30 great artists and their most famous works, designed for both parent and child to enjoy together, the book encouraged children to look closely and use their imagination to understand why artists choose to create the work they do and how they do it.
Currently in a new, revised, and expanded edition, it now pairs a selection of ‘best of’ artists from the original book with 30 brand-new contemporary entries, selected in collaboration with art historian and writer, Ferren Gipson.
Following the success of The Art Book for Children, Phaidon reached out to Tomi Ungerer, a brilliant children’s author who, due to his rebellious nature, had become something of an outcast in the publishing world.
Republishing his children’s titles introduced both the author and publisher to an entirely new generation. Ungerer’s work is still in print. For Phaidon Kids’ 20th anniversary season, Phaidon will bring back into print Ungerer’s treasured classics The Three Robbers, Fog Island, and Moon Man.
The children’s list has expanded dramatically over recent years, often inspired by the company's traditional publishing categories, to include books in the categories of art, food, science, fashion, and more, all designed to meet the developmental needs and interests of specific age groups.
The consistently innovative list is one of Phaidon’s fastest growing categories.
We work closely with world class authors and illustrators to create something special that is a joy to both give and receive. Phaidon Kids has published dozens of groundbreaking books in collaboration with iconic and influential artists and authors, including Gabrielle Balkan, Fausto Gilberti, Sara Gillingham, Ferren Gipson, Steven Guarnaccia, JR, Lotta Nieminen, Sonia Pulido and Joshua David Stein; and we’ve introduced young readers to legendary and blue chip artists with the First Concepts with Fine Artists series featuring Josef Albers, Alexander Calder, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso.
Our commitment to creative excellence has earned two of our series – My Art Book and the Our World Collection – the coveted Oprah’s Favorite Things selection.
Like the books in all of the other categories Phaidon publishes in, Phaidon Kids views every children’s book as an object, with multiple design layers linked to one another.
The dialogue between the inside and outside of a book plays a large role in the company’s identity and has resulted in numerous D&AD and Printing Industries of America (now Printing United Alliance) awards.
Imagery, text, captions, typography, and color schemes all go together to support each book’s subject, along with tactility, shape, and size. Whether it’s an 8-feet-long fold out board book such as A Family of Trees: My First Book of Forests, one with interactive elements such as the recipe book Spaghetti!, or a picture book that transforms into a freestanding globe like Our Galaxy, Phaidon’s high-design formats make sense to young readers while appearing to be like nothing they have seen before.
In its twentieth year, the Phaidon Kids list continues to engage and empower kids with chic, sophisticated but age-authentic, books. As well as the Tomi Ungerer reissues, Phaidon will republish Hervé Tullet’s much-love Let’s Play Series in 2025, featuring 5 well-loved titles: The Game in the Dark, Mix and Match, The Game of Shadows, The Game of Finger Worms, and The Game of Light.
In addition, four new titles will showcase the creativity and curiosity that has defined Phaidon for 20 years. Young readers will discover record-breaking plants and animals in Superpowered Plants and The Secret Powers of Animals, learn about the tiny creatures that hold our ecosystem together in Nature’s Tiny Champions, and uncover never-before-seen concepts like Get Dressed!, the first ever book of fashion history for children exploring trends across the ages.
“In an increasingly digital world, Phaidon believes in the staying power of the printed word,” says Maya Gartner, Associate Publisher Children’s Books. “As a 100-year-old publisher, we feel strongly that the experiences we create with our imaginative content and best-in-class book design will continue to inspire, educate, and delight young readers.” Here’s to the next 20 years!
