My first idea was to have Gustavo’s face on the cover –as if he had shape-shifted into the book– but my publishers felt that even if it was a fun idea, the cover wouldn’t reflect the detailed world inside the book, so we explored different options and arrangements. As I slowly learned, I realised that you can do wonders with a limited palette because it gives coherence to the illustrations, creates atmospheres, catches the eye, and also, colour conveys meaning, so it’s one of the most valuable tools to master. Flavia: The idea for the book came after a tweet I wrote in 2016, where I said that the reason for ghosts to wear sheets was that they are very shy. Was the idea behind the story largely based on your own childhood and why was this an important message for you to share? To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

You can also watch this YouTube video where I share the process behind the scenes, and my inspiration for the artwork. I haven't charted out my visits for the summer term, but I'm sure there are several in the south) and thanks so much for being so fantastic! He loves looking at the “ghostes” and also enjoys talking about Gustavo’s violin, being an avid music appreciator.I have even talked the head into a little revamp of the library so that we can display them properly! Can you share with us a little about the collaborative work with the designers and editor at Walker and what this entailed? Yourself and Bob are much cherished in our booky world and I personally really appreciate everything that you do.

Mat: There is so much going on in some of the spreads: Gustavo’s opening introduction; the monster-children playing around the fountain; and the celebration at the end.Mat: With this in mind, another thing that I adored about the book was the celebration of the Day of the Dead. In one hand we had the black and white Universal Monsters tribute and a nostalgic ghost, which made me think of vintage pictures in sepia tones; on the other hand, we have the really bright Mexican colours. Very nice story and illustrations, keeps my little one engaged and creates opportunity for further discussions while looking at the illustrations.

Drago won the prestigious Klaus Flagge Prize for this entrancing, funny, empathetic and original picture book. She has an MA in Children's Book Illustration from Cambridge School of Art and was shortlisted for the Sebastian Walker Award.

I was at my last school for 4 years and we had ********* book fairs every term – and every term, I was disappointed by the narrow range of books. Bookwagon loves Gustavo the Shy Ghost and recommends it for sharing, reading a lot and gifting, too. Your selection was perfect for our children and what really made the difference was your ability to engage with each child, discuss their interests and help them to choose a suitable book based on your extensive knowledge of the books you were selling. I did another experiment trying to mix both worlds and it turned out that the muted tones worked very well with the bright pink and orange. We’ve had this book for a couple weeks now, and last night he was telling me (as we had a conversation during potty time lol) that Gustavo was “scared of the kids…no, not the kids.