The collaboration came from a spontaneous idea between Ellen Lina, writer, Diane Moll, teacher IKC Binnenstebuiten.

The concept we started with was the idea to make a children's book by children and for the children. Both the story and the images would be made by the children. All this guided by professionals in their own field. Ellen helped the children to clarify the story and I was there for the visual guidance and to ensure that the book was print-ready.

The most important condition was that the children had as much freedom as possible to create as they see fit. This placed a lot of responsibility on the children. I found it very exciting myself, since I would make a visual translation of the story of all the drawings. The fact that the drawings poured in from 24 different little creatives could make it a challenge. And it was. Fortunately. How wonderful it is when you see the project grow while working on it.

The design process was set up as it normally would. A rough sketch and a couple of pages elaborated to really get a good impression. This was shared with the entire team and I have never had such an enthusiastic meeting. The children were so proud of what they had made and full of wonder how it all comes about.

To make it complete, an official book release has been organized at school. Here, family and friends could purchase the book after the presentation, thanking each team member for his or her effort.