Chinese / Hong Kong (People's Republic of China)
Zuo zi ji de zhu jiao
(Be your own protagonist)
Isatisse (Tong, Yan Lok Isabel)
(text/illus.)
Hong Kong: San lian shu dian [Xiang gang] you xian gong si (Joint Publishing [Hong Kong] Company Ltd.), 2023. – [183] p.
ISBN 978-962-045-285-7
Self-esteem | Non-conformity | Artist | Biography | Picture book
Reading age: 12+
White Ravens issue: 2024
Beibei feels lost and lonely because she is unable to live up to social expectations. A fortune-teller takes her into another world where she meets Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Antoni Gaudí, and Yayoi Kusama. Learning about their persistence, she decides to live according to her own convictions. With the help of an augmented reality app and an »Artist improvisational creative card game«, this story can be expanded, recorded and presented to a social media audience. Isabel Tong’s first picture book is an art book of a different kind. With copies of photos and iconic works and text quotes from biographies of contemporary artists assembled in her own cheerful pop art style, she presents a humorous take on the hectic everyday life of Hong Kong. Working as a fashion and product designer, Isabel Tong started her own illustration brand ISATISSE, which won the Best Young Property Silver Award of the Hong Kong Licensing Awards 2020, and she was honoured with an Excellent Illustrator Award 2023 by the Japanese Illustrator Association. [LO]