This month we’re delighted to introduce a brand-new series: our Little Guides to Great Lives will entertain, inform and provide enquiring young minds with a whole host of inspiration, with full-colour illustrations and fresh design that brings their incredible stories to life. We launch with the first five titles, with lots more planned – watch this space!

Little Guides to Great Lives

From artists to aviators and scientists to revolutionaries, Little Guides to Great Lives is a brand-new series of small-format guides introducing children to the most inspirational figures from history in a fun, accessible way. Get curious and discover some truly great people from across history; inspiring lives that concentrated around the asking of important questions and the (often life-long) search for answers, to those that were obsessed with investigating how things work – from the natural to the man-made spheres, to lives of exploration and a focus on being adventurous, to working towards a fair society, to being the truest to your creative self that you can be.

Introducing our first Little Guides from acclaimed author, Isabel Thomas and a whole host of exciting new illustrators:

Amelia Earhart

The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, Amelia Earhart was a superstar of aviation in the 1920s and 1930s and a pioneer of women's rights. Her disappearance in 1937, while attempting to fly around the world, remains an unsolved mystery.

This Little Guide is illustrated by Dàlia Adillon.

Leonardo da Vinci

Most famous as the painter who created the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci is also one of history's greatest geniuses--he was a mathematician, architect, astronomer, scientist, and musician. and he even invented the helicopter!

This Little Guide is illustrated by Katja Spitzer.

Nelson Mandela

Anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist, Nelson Mandela's journey from political prisoner to president of South Africa is an incredible tale of triumph in the face of adversity. 2018 marks a hundred years since his birth.

This Little Guide is illustrated by Hannah Warren.

Marie Curie

Marie Curie was a brilliant scientist who coined the term ‘radioactivity’, discovered polonium and radium, and helped develop treatments for cancer. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, but her dedication to physics ultimately caused her death from radiation

This Little Guide is illustrated by Anke Weckemann.

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo is famous for her bold, colorful, and daring paintings. She was a Mexican artist who endured great pain and hardship, but used her bright, vivid brushstrokes to express her emotions and reveal her true personality. She created over 50 self-portraits, and is considered to be one of the most influential and inspirational artists of the twentieth century (and this Great Life is being celebrated with a brand-new exhibition opening at the Victoria & Albert Museum this month).

This Little Guide is illustrated by Marianna Madriz.

You can discover more about the creation of this new series in our special insider blog post from our Editorial Director, Elizabeth Jenner – coming soon on the LKP Children's blog!

Stickyscapes Superheroes

And if you’re looking for a more fantastical jumping off point for your young creators’ imagination, then Jason Ford’s Stickyscapes Superheroes is the perfect visual playscene to spark countless adventures…

This astonishing double-sided panoramic play scene folds out to a length of four feet and contains a superheroes' cityscape on one side and supervillains' underground lair, complete with laser defence system and sinister research lab, on the other. Decorate the scene with more than 150 stickers of super men, women, kids, and animals, plus their villainous counterparts, and a whole range of props and objects.

Happy reading, from all at Laurence King Children’s!