Orbie is an author and illustrator for young readers. She lives on Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula. She has written more than a dozen fun-filled books, some of which have been published.
Her work is known for stories that are original, absurdly funny and inspired by everyday life. Her characters are expressive and her style a mixture of the comic book and the traditional children’s album.
Orbie loves to share her passion with the pupils she meets in schools and in her blog. Reading, drawing, skiing, taking care of her hens, arranging her pencils according to colour, laughing at fart jokes, playing frisbee and gardening are her favourite activities. She also loves to observe the animals that surround her and she sometimes takes inspiration from them for her stories, as in The First Clover.
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I’m so very happy to have been selected to write and illustrate the board book for the programme Une naissance un livre 2024. Knowing that my book will be offered to so many brand-new readers is truly precious.
When I was growing up, reading was always important in my house. As a child, if I wasn’t drawing, I was reading a book.
After that, with my own children, the routine of reading books together began when they were babies, well before they understood what was happening. Even if they’re older now, we still share this intimate, privileged moment every evening before going to sleep, the three of us all huddled together. Sharing a story, adventures, emotions, meeting new characters and encountering creative worlds is a special experience.
Libraries offer a privileged and inclusive access to all books, all adventures. Thanks to libraries, everyone has access to an incredible diversity of reading material. And they are, according to me, absolutely essential institutions. It is also there that cultural and community events, which are so important, take place.
The programme Une naissance un livre is a fantastic introduction and invitation into this literary world within our reach. The earlier and more regularly we start reading with children, the more we enrich their lives and their imagination, as well as instilling in them a passion for reading.
Writing for babies presented a big challenge for me, because it was “a first.” I brainstormed a lot about the story in order to find just the right concept. One morning, my children and I were observing a groundhog feasting in a patch of clover. In a creative frenzy, all three of us invented a story about it, which became the starting synopsis for the book Le premier trèfle [The First Clover].
I had enormous pleasure writing about and illustrating the groundhog and hare who spot the first clover of the season and eagerly leap to eat it. I hope they bring laughter to you and your baby, just as they did for me!
Photo: Jean-François Lamoureux
