This book is the second one I wrote and illustrated, which is why it holds a special place in my heart, and its story is quite interesting—perhaps worth telling.
A few years ago, I took part in an Incubator of Colorful Stories, a unique experience in Romania, offered a few times by the organization CUAC Romania. I was selected through an application process among a handful of illustrators who were to participate, alongside several authors, in three intense days of study led by an internationally renowned children’s book creator. The kind of experience that can change your path, or trigger a real breakthrough. After these workshops, with our brains overwhelmed by precious information, we were supposed to enter a competition, from which one author and one illustrator would be selected to make a book together.
I have to admit I’m not very good at reading instructions. I lose patience somewhere around the middle and start doing things my own way. Except for IKEA instructions. Those I follow religiously, because I know what kind of “butterfly effect” a single slat put in the wrong way can create.
So I read a little and understood even less. I thought I needed a story in order to enter the illustration contest—an original story to which I would attach three illustrations. The illustration part was easy, but where was I supposed to get the story from? You can’t exactly go on eMAG and order a story to be delivered next week. But since I’m the kind of person who likes solving problems—from math problems in middle school to the imaginary problems of a certain person in my life—I sat down and started writing. For several nights in a row I kept writing and cutting, and cutting again, because I had to fit within one thousand words.
I sent everything to the contest.
I won the illustration contest, but no one knew why I had also written a story, since it wasn’t required—that was the brief for the authors. Out of this incubator-competition came the book What a Surprise!, written by Simona Epure, published by Cartea Copiilor in 2019. I’m leaving a few illustrations from it here—maybe you remember them.
But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I’m here to talk about the story I wrote. Useless, one might say at first glance. Without realizing how, gradually and quietly, this story became for me a problem that needed solving. Because it existed, because people smiled when they read it, and because I’m the kind of person who likes to give things a purpose. When I move—and I admit I move quite often—I sometimes end up with extra pieces of furniture, while other pieces are missing. And that’s when my neurons start bouncing around and playing Tetris until they manage to get the best possible result with the available data. Following the principle of “make heaven out of what you have.” Just this month I moved again, and now I have a desk in the kitchen, a bookcase in the bathroom, and a couch in the bedroom. Surprisingly, it seems like that’s exactly where they belong. But look at me, digressing again.
I had a story that wanted to poke its head out into the light—it was like a little dinosaur struggling to hatch from an egg. So I thought I’d submit it to the Arthur Trophy. It was already written, so why not—what’s the worst that could happen, not winning?
But I won! And after some time—because some things need more time than others—it was published. In the illustration I put a small piece of my soul. This book belonged to me the way my leek tart recipe belongs to me, the one everyone licks their fingers over. Meaning I made both the crust and the filling.
I’ve already written too much; I think you’ve lost your patience. At this rate, the article will be longer than the book.
In short, after its publication, the book Who’s Afraid of Little Red Riding Hood? was a finalist at the first edition of the Cărturino competition, which gave me great joy, and in 2025 it was selected at the largest children’s book fair, the one in Bologna, among the 150 most beautiful books of the year. Anyone who doesn’t have it yet and is curious to read it can surely find it in Cărturești bookstores and on the Arthur publishing house website. And I’ll tell you another secret: I’m working on a sequel. It’s not easy at all—an illustrated book requires a lot of effort, which is why some people might feel the process is too slow. But I think I’ll talk about that in a future post.
In other words, if everything goes well, it will be released in the second half of 2026.
