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Please email to our Shannon Team everything we should know about a project, including the timeline, budget, style, number of images, subject, objectives, and goals. Our team will contact you and provide you with all the information quickly. Thank You!

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Email to our Shannon Team
info@shannonassociates.com
 

US Phone +1 2123332551

Sisters In Science
Graciela in The Abyss
Me+Tree
Me+Tree
Make the Earth your Companion

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©2000-2025 Anna and Elena Balbusso. All rights reserved.
All ©Balbusso twins images and content are copyrighted. No  Machine Learning, AI. You may not use our ©images, our name (as authors), and content of this website (including any caption information, keywords or other metadata associated with content) for any machine learning and/or artificial intelligence purposes.The artworks above cannot be used for commercial purposes by any third parties without explicit permission from the copyright holder ©Anna and Elena Balbusso Twins. Violation of this right means an infringement of copyright law and is indictable.

CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOKS SPOTLIGHT

We have illustrated more than 50 BOOKS for children and adult audiences.

This page shows our recent children's picture books from 2017 to today.

 

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NEW CHILDREN'S BOOK SPOTLIGHT

Graciela in the Abyss Hardcover – Illustrated, July 1, 2025
by Meg Medina (Author), Anna and Elena Balbusso (Illustrator)

 

A sea ghost, a mortal boy, and a dangerous enchanted harpoon . . . A Newbery Medalist takes us far beneath the waves in this extraordinary foray into fantasy.

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Graciela in the Abyss by Meg Medina, Candlewick Press, with illustrations by Anna and Elena Balbusso, is a recently released bestseller. The Kindle edition achieved #1 Best Seller status on Amazon.com. The book tells the story of Graciela, a sea spirit, and Jorge, a mortal boy, who must work together to stop a magical harpoon from causing chaos. It's a middle grade fantasy novel with elements of magic, mystery, and adventure, exploring themes of selflessness, duty, and friendship. Amazon Editor's pick Best Books of July Ages 9-12! The Kirkus review, which gave it a starred review, highlights the thrilling nature of the story and the presence of bravery and ghostly elements. 

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The New York Times review

The Kirkus review

With breathtaking underwater worldbuilding and eerie details, Medina’s latest immerses readers in Graciela’s ghostly realm, and they’ll root for the unlikely duo on their perilous quest. The Balbussos’ hauntingly beautiful illustrations enhance the story. The characters and setting evoke Spanish and Portuguese cultural influences. A thrilling, action-packed journey filled with heart, bravery, and ghostly exploits.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Anna and Elena Balbusso’s mesmeric illustrations accompany Medina’s graceful and gently eerie narrative about a sea ghost who must find purpose beyond the material contours of mortality… Medina, a lyrical and tender storyteller, elegantly merges Graciela’s mortal desire for a “bigger” life with the lesson her spirit must absorb before achieving peace.
—The New York Times

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Awards and Honors

2025 Selected by the Jury for The  Original Art 2025 Exhibit, Society of Illustrators NYC

Children's Picture Books Gallery

Sisters in Science: Marie Curie, Bronia Dluska, and the Atomic Power of Sisterhood
by Linda Elovitz Marshall (Author), Anna and Elena Balbusso (Illustrator)

Hardcover –  Knopf Books for Young Readers Random House US - February 14, 2023

 

Discover the fascinating true story of Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie and her sister Bronia, two trailblazing women who worked together and made a legendary impact on chemistry and health care as we know it.

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French edition: Marie Curie et Bronia Dluska, Editions Circonflexe  2023
Italian edition: Sorelle scienziate, EDT Giralangolo Edizioni 2023

Korean Edition: KIDARY Publishing Co. 

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Awards and Honors

2025 Sisters in Science nominee for the 2025 Beehive Award from The Children's Literature Association of Utah (CLAY) 
2024 selected into Illustrators 67 exhibit and book, Society of Illustrators NYC
2023 Merit Award 3x3 Annual Show No. 20, 3x3 Magazine  
2023 CA's Award of Excellence Illustration Annual 64, Society of Illustrators NYC
2023 Selected by the Jury for The Original Art Exhibit 43rd, Society of Illustrators NYC

Me + Tree - Picture Book
by Alexandria Giardino (Author), Anna and Elena Balbusso (Illustrator)

Hardcover –  Creative Editions US - March 2, 2021

 

"A tree stump on an urban playground and a girl new to the neighborhood forge a bond with their life stories. This is one of those rare picture books that demands equal attention to lyrical text and outstanding art (always in double-page spreads) to work its magic." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

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French edition: L'Arbre et Moi, Plume de Carotte 2022
Poland edition: Ja+drzewo, www.nobell.eu 2025

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Awards and Honors

2022 The AOI WIA Shortlisted Professional Children's Publishing Category, UK ⁠
2022 Selected The Braw amazing bookshelf,100 among amazing books, Bologna children’s book fair 59th edition
2021 Merit Award 3x3 International Illustration Show No.18, 3x3 Magazine US 
2021 American Illustration SELECTED 40th anniversary annual book ai-ap.com gallery.
2021 Accepted into the Illustrators 64 exhibit and book, Society of Illustrators NYC
2021 Selected by the Jury for The  Original Art 2021 Exhibit, Society of Illustrators NYC

Make the Earth Your Companion Hardcover – Picture Book
by J. Patrick Lewis  (Author), Anna and Elena Balbusso (Illustrator)

Hardcover –  Creative Editions US - March 7, 2017

 

"Make the Earth your companion. Walk lightly on it, as other creatures do." With this powerfully reverent refrain, readers are reminded to treat the world around us with the respect it deserves and the care it needs. Mountains, lakes, rivers, grasslands, forests, deserts—even the sky above—all of our natural environs have some message to impart, if we will but listen. Picturesque illustrations imbue the images with mysticism, making visual connections to not only the words themselves but to the feelings of wonder they evoke."

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French edition by Plume de Carotte
Italian edition by Rizzoli Libri

Chinese edition by United Sky Beijing New Media Co. Ltd. 2018

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Awards and Honors

2018 WIA World Illustration Awards shortlisted, The AOI, Directory of Illustrators, UK
2017 Selected for The Original Art 37th Annual Exhibition, Society of Illustrators NYC
2017 Merit Award 3x3 Magazine Picture Book Show n.14, USA

Lire et s'entrainer: Le petit prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 
Illustrations by Anna and Elena Balbusso, Black Cat-Cideb  1 September 2017 

 

A young blond boy from a distant asteroid meets an aviator stranded in the desert. For six days, this adult with the heart of a child listens to the Little Prince recount his journey across the universe to planet Earth. This poetic tale makes universal observations about love, friendship, and life.

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Awards and Honors

2018 Spectrum 25 Winner The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art

COVERS AND ILLUSTRATED BOOKS GALLERIES

Graciela in the abyss
Graciela in the abyss
fantasy and fairy

Illustrated Books

Cover Books

Classic Literature Gallery

We have illustrated more than 50 BOOKS illustrated classic and contemporary literature, fiction, non fiction and special luxury limited editions, Children's books, illustrated albums.Here our bibliography 

We created artworks for book covers for the major international publishers for contemporary and classic novels, fantasy stories, historical novels, children's and young readers fiction.
 

We have illustrated many Classic and Modern literature masterpieces of best-selling fiction authors including William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Guy De Maupassant, Alexander Pushkin, Oscar Wilde, Charlotte Brontë, Geoffrey Chaucer, Ivan Turgenev, Ayn Rand, Margaret Atwood and more...