Illustrated by fiction legend, Aleksei Bitskoff and written by award-winning author Jenny Pearson, Bigfoot and the Wild Boys, tells the tale of two friends who embark on the adventure of a lifetime to find Bigfoot in a quest to become school legends.
Aleksei's charming black and white line illustrations throughout have plenty of comedic details to spot. With the dyslexia friendly ethos behind Barrington Stoke's publishing, the illustrations play a hugely important role in the reading experience they provide.
Joe is is tired of being called average and feeling completely forgettable at school.
"The kids in my school call me Average Joe... but I just really wanted to be good at something. I wanted to find my thing. I wanted to start secondary school a new person. Someone that people noticed. I just wasn't sure how I would do it. But then the universe spoke to me. Twice. And I knew what I had to do. When the universe speaks, I reckon you should listen to it."
So when he hears that a Bigfoot-like beast has been spotted in some nearby woods, he senses an opportunity that just might make him stand out from the crowd and bring him the popularity he longs for. With no real plan or survival skills, Joe and his best friend Tiago set off on what turns out to be an unforgettably hilarious quest with some very unexpected results!
Here are a couple of our favourite illustrations from Big Foot and the Wild Boys which publishes with Barrington Stoke on the 2nd January.
Take a look a more of Aleksei's charming illustrations from Bigfoot and the Wild Boys HERE. This is the third book written by Jenny Pearson that Aleksei has had the pleasure of illustrating. Their first collaboration was Bertie the Alien Chicken and the second, Marvin and The Book of Magic.
After travelling the world and relocating to the UK to train in illustration, Aleksei has become a hugely sought after talent for bringing children’s books to life. A compulsive doodler he finds inspiration in a huge variety of things from Buddhism, cartoons comics and the community in which he lives. Filling numerous sketch books with mind boggling creations he also works digitally lending his character and world creation skills to numerous projects including work for Discover Story Centre, Aardman Animations and Penguin Random House.
You can find Aleksei on Instagram or view his brilliant online portfolio over on our website. For more information regarding working with Aleksei or any of our creatives please email info@arenaillustration.com
