Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (Scholastic, £7.99)"Wonderful dramatic pictures of Paris and though we never know very much about Madeline and her friends in detail, we seem to know a lot about their life".Buy Madeline

creme").* There's a real sense of nostalgic charm about the romantic Parisian settings and famous landmarks.Not to be confused withEloise (another precocious Yankee), Lulu (another feisty redhead), Madonna (same nickname, Madge),Madeline by Ludwig

gently nostalgic tone, with many of the pages imbued with a golden yellow halo effect reminiscent of the classic Madeline books by Ludwig Bemelmans.The Big Adventure Of The Smalls by Helen Stephens (Egmont, £10.99)Who won the Picture Book of the Year

, such as Pierre Bonnard, Edward Bawden, Winifred Nicholson, Mary Fedden, Eric Ravilious, Charlotte Voake, Tove Jansson, Jefferey Fisher and Ludwig Bemelmans. But since I studied art in England, I really felt that I was very much influenced by Japanese traditional