The “Walla” are walk books. Colorful, without text, they are teeming with characters and situations in which children wander according to their imagination.
Philip Schüpbach particularly likes these “Wimmelbuch”, which have a long tradition in Germany. “They develop a sense of observation and oral expression,” notes this father of a 6-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl who never tire of browsing the “Walla”, “particularly in this confinement period ”.
Valais sporty and innovative
Philip Schüpbach and his illustrator friend Julien Valentini released their first album on the emblematic places, landscapes and traditions of Valais in 2018, after a successful “crowdfunding”. A year and some 3000 copies sold later, they released a second album on Valais sports clubs and events. A board is devoted to a BBC Monthey match, another to a meeting of FC Sion, a third to the legendary Sierre-Zinal mountain race or the Grand Raid mountain bike race.
At the start of 2020, place in Valais industry and innovation. Children enter the world of aluminum and hydroelectricity production, start-ups, universities, and wine production.
Tim, Zoe, Gigi and the others
Over the walk books, the little ones find a dozen characters: the children Tim and Zoe, their parents Barbara and Jules, Chantal the cow, Ernest the ibex, Manfred the groundhog or even Gigi the vulture. Philip Schüpbach, initiator of the project, draws on his own biography to bring to life the characters drawn by Julien Valentini. This is how mom Barbara is pregnant in the second album and that a baby appears in the third, just before the little girl from Valaisan nods.
Your avatar in the book
A fourth promenade book will appear in late 2020 in a smaller format. It will be a kind of “best of” of the best boards from previous albums grouped under the theme of the four seasons.
A new board will reproduce an amusement park populated by avatars: those interested can send a photo and will find themselves in the work for a fee. “Another kind of crowfunding,” notes Philip Schüpbach.
For the first album, a few Valais personalities were sketched by the illustrator. Like ex-karate champion Fanny Clavien, wakesurfing on the page dedicated to Le Bouveret.
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