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All the winners of the Israel Museum Prize for the Illustration of a Children’s Book are graduates and lecturers of the Department of Visual Communication

Published on

23.6.24

Jenny Meilihove, a graduate of the Department of Visual Communication has won the Ben-Yitzhak Award for the Illustration of a Children’s Book (2024/5784) for Tim Tam and the Dots. In addition, all the illustrators who received Honorable Mentions this year are instructors and graduates of the department: Michal Bonano, Anat Warshavsky, and Shimrit Elkanati – lecturers in the Department of Visual Communication – and Maya Shleifer, a graduate of the department.

'Tim Tam and the Dots', the award-winning book by illustrator Jenny Meilihove, published by Am Oved, tells the story of a girl beetle named Tim Tam. Tim Tam is still young and does not yet have her spots. In the course of the book, she sets out to find them, discovering them one by one, until she quickly becomes a master spot-finder. Jenny, an honors graduate of the Department of Visual Communication, employs a variety of 2D and 3D techniques in her illustrations and creations. Her illustrations and her work create magical and surprising worlds characterized by innocence and imagination and explore themes of nature and family.

איור מתוך הספר טים טם והנקודות — An illustration from Jenny Meilihove’s award-winning book, 'Tim Tam and the Dots'

Michal Bonano’s, 'Yehonatan Geffen: Stories and Songs that Anat Loves Best', which won Honorable Mention, is full of wise and beautiful illustrative interpretations of stories and poems written by the poet Yehonatan Geffen for his younger sister, Anat. Yehonatan composed the poems for his four-year-old sister while living in England following the death of their mother. He wrote the stories after returning to Israel. Michal previously received another Honorable Mention from the Israel Museum, in 1998, for illustrating Chava Tal’s 'I Want to Go Home!'

איורה של מיכל בוננו מתוך הספר ׳יהונתן גפן, סיפורים ושירים שענת אוהבת במיוחד׳ — Michal Bonano’s illustrations in 'Yehonatan Geffen: Stories and Songs that Anat Loves Best'

Anat Warshavsky wrote and illustrated 'Nothing on the Beach', about a boy who goes to the beach where he finds and collects things “just because,” for no particular reason, but finds new and creative uses for them. A cork without a bottle becomes an instrument for making a path, old pipes become a tunnel and even a discarded comb helps him create a canal. Nothing is “just” anything. Everything can be amazing if we use our imaginations. Warshavsky won the illustration prize in 2020 for the book, 'Zrubavel ve-Zilpa', by Ronit Chacham.

איור מתוך ספרה של ענת ורשבסקי ׳סתם ים׳ — An illustration from Anat Warshavsky’s 'Nothing on the Beach'

Another illustrator recognized with an Honorable Mention is Shimrit Elkanati, for her illustrations in the book, 'Pirate in the Bathtub', by author and former puppeteer, Tzipor Frumkin and puppeteer and theater designer, Miryam Salzberg. Sammy is a pirate who sails with his ducks in the bathtub, until one day he receives a phone call from a representative of the International Union of Pirates. She informs him that he must obtain a certified pirate certificate, but Sammy discovers that it is much more difficult than he supposed. The book originated as a children’s play produced by the authors, and was released in 2022 as a comic book by Shimrit.

איור מתוך ספרה של שמרית אלקנתי, ׳הפיראט באמבט׳ — An illustration from Shimrit Elkanati’s 'Pirate in the Bathtub'

The final book on the list of Honorable Mentions is 'A Lion Named Anna', by Maya Shleifer, a graduate of the Department of Visual Communication. On her way to kindergarten, Anna meets a curious lion who tries to understand why Anna is feeling down and doesn’t want to go to school. The friendly lion listens to Anna and offers some wisdom he’s picked up from life in the jungle. A Lion Named Anna is Maya’s second book. Her first, Giant Home, enjoyed much success and was translated into many languages.