Roxana Chitanu is a Romanian children’s book author-illustrator based in Italy. Her favorite things during childhood were reading and drawing in her grandparents’ library and observing the world outside — from ants and pebbles to clouds and trees. Although she put drawing on hold for a while, she slowly came back to it in her late 20’s and realized she wanted to tell stories through picture books. She learned the art of picture book creation, visual storytelling and illustration from various online courses and platforms. After the birth of her daughter, she became inspired to write as well. Inside encourages children to meditate on the self and the home that they carry with them wherever they go. The self is connected to them very much like the snail’s shell is connected to its body. Wherever they go, they are at home because they always have their self with them. Inside falls in the category of concept children’s books as it aims to explain the concept of consciousness, or as it is named here, the “inside.” The author-illustrator hopes that this book will be a support material for the child (and parents or educators) to open up to their inside world and choose to explore it in order to become better prepared for life’s challenges, and ultimately, become more balanced human beings. This starts with something small — learning to really hear their own thoughts, feel their feelings and accept the nature of fading memories in order to appreciate the ones that stay with them.
