Learn to Draw with Kataneh Vahdani, Creator of Kat and Juju

The Children’s Book Review

Celebrating differences, finding courage, and discovering the importance of friendship are the themes of the first book in a charming new series from an award-winning animation director. For our tenth installment of the “Learn to Draw on TCBR” series, director, storyteller, professor, and mama bird Kataneh Vahdani teaches us how to draw both Kat and Juju from their namesake picture book Kat and Juju.

Grab a pencil and a sketchbook, and let’s learn to draw together!

We hope you’ll share your drawings with us on Instagram by using #learntodrawonTCBR and #katandjuju. You can tag us, too: @thechildrensbookreview and @katandjuju.

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Kat and Juju

Written and Illustrated by Kataneh Vahdani

Publisher’s Synopsis: An unlikely duo star in a charming story about being different, finding courage, and the importance of friendship in the first book in a new series from an award-winning animation director.

Kat likes doing things her very own way, but sometimes she doubts herself. So when a bird named Juju arrives, Kat hopes he’ll be the best friend she’s always wanted. He’s outgoing and silly and doesn’t worry about what others think—the opposite of who she is. Bit by bit, with Juju’s help, Kat discovers her strength, and how to have a friend and be one—while still being true to herself.

“This debut gently encourages personal growth while reinforcing the value of being different.” —Kirkus Reviews

Ages 3-7 | Publisher: Two Lions | July 1, 2020 | ISBN-13: 978-1542043281

Available Here

About the Author-Illustrator

Kataneh Vahdani is a children’s book author and illustrator. Kat and Juju is her first picture book series. She is currently directing her original feature animation movie. Kataneh has been a professor for over seventeen years and she also saves fallen baby birds and rescues them. Together with her students, they have raised over 13 fallen injured baby birds and set them free once they were ready to fly away. Sometimes in her classes, birds fly from the head of one student to the other.

Visit Kataneh on Instagram: @KatandJuju. 

Discover more books like ‘Kat and Juju,’ written and illustrated by Kataneh Vahdani, by checking out our reviews and articles tagged with Birds, Courage, Friendship, Picture Book, Self-Worth, and Learn to Draw.