JWZarekArt

Illustrations created for J. W. Zarek's books by commissioned artists. I grew up listening to my grandmother's bedtime stories about Baba Yaga, Koschei the Deathless, the Domovoi, and other Slavic folklore. Stories she carried across the ocean. Stories that won't end with me. I write them into children's books to honor my Grandma Yetta, our culture, and our ancestors. The kind of stories you get to share too. In all my picture books for ages 4 to 8, Pip the Domovoi hides in the background of every book, doing his own thing, the way Slavic house helpers do. It's how readers know a book is mine, and kids and grown-ups love spotting him. One day I saw a beautiful search-and-find illustration and thought: Pip belongs in one of those. But where? In a town. And whose town? Eight-year-old Bella Brown's, where she and Pip live as friends and sidekicks. What's it called? I love alliteration, and I wanted somewhere happy. What word captures the wonderful chaos around Bella and Pip? Hullabaloo. And so Happy Hullabaloo Hollows was born. I didn't stop there. I built more towns for them to visit: Wiggly Wobbly Wumble Woods, Fiddle Faddle Falls, Kouta Kerplop Keys, and Inka Dinka Doo Town. Each got its own landmark, its own shops and businesses, its own owners and managers. Then I filled the scenes: Bella and Pip, brother Billy, their mom, Grandma Yetta, every shopkeeper, 15 hidden holiday objects, fairy-tale beings from folklore around the world, and 60+ more characters. Twelve holiday illustrations per town, so you can wander a whole year of celebrations in each one. And that's how Where's Pip, and the first six-book series, came to be. The same worlds now live on as puzzles. You'll also find all fifteen of my children's books (The Bella Brown picture book series, Holiday Series, and Cryptid and Rare Animals Series, The Stomp-Clomp-Clump Monster Above the Bed) as well as my adult fantasy bestseller The Devil Pulls the Strings. All for you to enjoy and experience too.