Can you share with us a little about them, from their initial concepts to their completed design and, perhaps, a little of their origins? So, plucking up all his courage, he sends a very special letter: “Dear Monsters, I would like to invite you to my violin concert at the Day of the Dead party…”With exquisite detail and humour, Flavia Z. Really love this book - has a really lovely story about a shy ghost, and it doesn't go the expected direction of him changing to make friends, but the friends coming to him, when he shares what he enjoys. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Mat: With this in mind, another thing that I adored about the book was the celebration of the Day of the Dead.

Not only is Gustavo the Shy Ghost set within the Day of the Dead, but the warmth between the characters, the interest and unique storytelling delight!

I’ve been seeing this book on Pinterest/ig influencers’ photos of their kids’ seasonal bookshelves and I wasn’t sure about it—I am very picky about what messages I am representing to my toddler through books, and like them to have nice illustrations as well.

As an adult, I immediately loved it—in college, I threw what would have been a really fun Halloween party for my work friends, who all said they would come and told me literally just hours before how excited they were…but when it came time for the party, literally no one showed up except my 3 closer friends. It’s a fantastic independent book seller that will actually be responsive and select appropriate books for you.You can also watch this YouTube video where I share the process behind the scenes, and my inspiration for the artwork. The main difference between Gustavo and me, is that, sadly I cannot do the ghostly things like walking through walls, making objects fly, glowing in the dark or playing the violin. Your words, like your reviews, bring books to life and give them a voice before the front cover is even turned.

Flavia: I just moved from Mexico to the UK to do a PhD, I have been living on my current address only for a few months so I am afraid that it still needs decoration, but here are pictures of my studio in Mexico City. Flavia: My favourite spread is the one where Gustavo is looking at the monsters playing because it really reminds me of my childhood experiences.The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Alongside a delightful story that holds our attention throughout, the illustrations are detailed and entrancing.

They would also only drop off a case of books and leave us to run it – it was so lovely to have you on hand to chat to the children and recommend them books, as well as the small (but appreciated!Can you share with us a little about the collaborative work with the designers and editor at Walker and what this entailed? at some point during the process, I decided that Gustavo was going to be a ghost, which made me very happy because that meant that he could shapeshift into objects, something that could be visually playful; but also, it meant that I could create a world where Mexican calacas (skeletons) and monsters could happily live together, which meant that I could introduce children to Mexican, and horror cinema culture at the same time! Some of my favourite characters in the book are Katerina the ‘Catrina’, the elegant skull girl in pink, based upon an engraving by Guadalupe Posada; Alma, the invisible girl who happens to be the prettiest monster in town; and the witch – with a secret name that I cannot reveal yet – who will feature as the main character on my next picture book! The first blend I tried was too limited; the second one was too colourful and there was nothing really magical about it, so I had to stop for a while and think about the world I had just created.