Amelina Jones

Amelina Jones: Children’s Book Illustrator and Author

Anouska

Amelina Jones’ reading list

11 books mentioned in this interview

  1. Tress of the Emerald Sea · Brandon Sanderson. It
  2. The Glass Garden · Joyce Dunbar and Brambly Hedge
  3. Brambly Hedge · Jill Barklem. These
  4. The Tao of Pooh
  5. Inkheart · Cornelia Funke
  6. Restaurant at the End of the Universe · Douglas Adams
  7. Seeds of Hope · Jane Goodall. This
  8. The Princess Bride
  9. A Life on Our Planet · David Attenborough The Butterfly Lion
  10. The Butterfly Lion · Michael Morpurgo Behave
  11. Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst · Robert Sapolsky Please

Rank these books in a tier list

Amelina Jones is an illustrator and author from the UK. She works in watercolours and coloured pencils, creating colourful, detailed and story-driven illustrations for picture books. Growing up, she loved creating stories with her siblings and drawing all the characters from those adventures. She adores hiking, wildflowers, and herb tea, and being a country girl at heart, she loves looking at the small details in nature for inspiration in her work. She focuses on illustration work for picture books as well as middle-grade fiction and is now entering into the world of writing and creating her own stories.

When someone asks, ‘What do you do for a living?’, how do you respond?

Because my work and style of illustration are so specific to the children’s book industry, I always reply that I am a children’s book illustrator.

What are you reading at the moment?

I am currently reading Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. It is an excellent book and extremely entertaining.

When you think about your childhood, what book comes to mind?

The Glass Garden by Joyce Dunbar and Brambly Hedge by Jill Barklem. These two books were my favourites. I would look at the illustrations over and over again, picking out all the details that gave even more personality to the story, and they are still a huge source of inspiration.

What did you want to be growing up?

An explorer. I always wanted to go on adventures and explore the world. I wanted to be an artist on an expedition, drawing and documenting the nature I saw.

What do you think your school-aged self would think of you now?

She would be so happy to know that her dream was possible and she is spending her days drawing and creating stories.

If you could wrap up a single book and gift it to yourself on your 21****st birthday, what book would you choose and why?

I would wrap up and give myself The Tao of Pooh. It is a very thoughtful book and really speaks to my heart.

Do you have any books that you strongly associate with important people in your life?

My father and older sister love reading, and the two books I associate most with them are Inkheart by Cornelia Funke for my sister and any Iain Banks book for my father.

Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams, it is such a well-written book. It is very entertaining and definitely worth the read. It is full of aliens, lovable characters, strange planets, even stranger plot twists and it has such a good ending! I am always recommending it to my friends and family.

Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction? Ebooks, audiobooks or physical books?

I really love both. I love a good sci-fi or fantasy novel, particularly ones that are centred on an epic adventure, strange characters and mysteries. But I also love non-fiction books and learning about the natural world and human behaviour. When reading, I prefer physical books, but I am always listening to audiobooks when I am drawing in my studio, particularly old mysteries and sci-fi stories.

What’s the best book you’ve read in the last six months?

Definitely my current read, Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson; it is just such a good book. Between the good humour, amazing world building and the well-developed characters it makes for an engaging read that takes you on an adventure across the seas.

Name a book that you feel everyone should read.

Seeds of Hope by Jane Goodall. This is a beautiful book and an enlightening read, talking about her life, the natural world and all the reasons we have for hope heading into the future.

Which book do you feel has had the biggest impact on your life?

Definitely The Princess Bride**. That book made me fall in love with reading, and I have never laughed so much while reading a book. It was the first time I saw how entertaining a book could be, and I couldn’t put it down.

Are there any books you haven’t already mentioned that you’d want to include on your ‘Top 10’ reading list?

A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough

The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert Sapolsky

Please tell us briefly about your latest book.

I am currently working on my first author-illustrated book, and I can only say that it involves lots of birds, a violinist and a grand adventure!

If you were to write an autobiography, what would it be called?

I love this question, I think I would call it Bare Foot With A Paintbrush.

If you enjoyed this interview with Amelina, you can find out more about her and her work on Instagram and her website.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made through links on this page.