Crescendo

Crescendo is a visual and poetic celebration of the transition to motherhood, featuring 47 gorgeous watercolor illustrations from Alessandro Sanna (The River, Pinocchio: An Origin Story) and a corresponding poem by Paola Quintavalle. Sanna’s illustrations follow the transformation of a mother’s shape throughout her pregnancy, artfully and gracefully delineated not only by images of a mother’s profile, but by rich, sweeping scenes from nature: the curved wingspan of a seagull in flight, the arc of a whale’s tail as she swims with her calves, the peaks of verdant, moonlit hills, among others. At last, there is an image of a mother embracing her newborn child, at once lilting and reverent—a vision of joy and rest at the culmination of an incredible inward journey. Quintavalle's poem, written as a response to Sanna’s illustrations, weaves delicately throughout the book. An ode to mothers everywhere, Crescendo is a book to share and to treasure.

Paola Quintavalle was born in Rome, Italy. She has worked with kids and in the world of books in a variety of contexts. She has held classroom workshops based on Bruno Munari’s methods and ideas on book construction. In 2003, she joined Orecchio Acerbo Editore, a prestigious Italian publisher specialized in illustrated books. There, she learned most of what she knows about children’s books and illustration. In 2010 she moved with her husband and their two children to New York, where she opened an agency representing illustrators and children’s book authors. Crescendo is her first book.
Born in 1975, Alessandro Sanna is considered one of Italy's leading contemporary illustrators. He has earned wide recognition across Europe as an illustrator and author, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review and The New Yorker. He is a prolific and popular creator of illustrated books for children and readers of all ages and has received many awards and had many exhibitions. He lives and works in Mantua, Italy.