60 years old | Illustrator Salla Savolainen’s children’s information books tell about the machines and everyday life of construction sites: “Immediately it was assumed that I, too, would draw about girls, animals and nature”

“For example the asphalt milling machine is a great machine”, illustrator Salla Savolainen says excitedly.

It, the concrete pump truck and many other construction machines appear in Savolainen’s books Asphalt! and Concrete! (WSOY). They are children’s non-fiction books of his Sitefrom his series. The next part of the series is coming Scrap.

Big machines can sound like a boyish topic, and in a way that’s why Savolainen started talking about them. He wanted a change in his work and his traditional subjects.

In the recent member survey of Kuvittajat ry, 70 percent of the respondents were women and more than half of the illustrators make children’s books. The gender distribution can be seen in the topics of children’s books.

“The Children’s Book Institute has recorded that the main characters of the books have been girls more often than boys, and the topics are often related to family, emotions and nature. My very first book Flea market dog Napon based on that, it was assumed that I also draw about girls, animals and nature.”

from Savoia published his first child in 2000. In twenty years, he has illustrated more than 50 children’s books written by others and six of his own. Up to five books have been published in a year.

Eleven of Savolainen’s works are probably the most well-known Bluebird and Tiina Nopolan written by Hay hat and Felt slipper – book.

Savolainen’s view of the world of new subjects opened up through her husband. He works in the construction industry as a site manager. Savolainen says that without her husband she would not have been able to write her books.

“It is not easy to get to the work sites, because they have strict safety rules and are in a hurry. For example Tarmac– from the drafts of the book, I received feedback that all employees must have safety glasses. With my husband’s help, I’ve gotten to some pretty crazy places, but the facts have been checked by many experts.”

When Savolainen started Site– series, he got his own equipment, because there are not always loan matches available. He describes construction sites and work realistically, draws the machines accurately but avoids an overly technical impression.

For the drawings, Savolainen gets to know the operation of the machines and photographs them. For example, asphalt milling was introduced to Savolainen by its users during their break.

In Savolainen’s opinion, construction sites are a living urban culture that is interesting especially for children, which nowadays is isolated behind fences and invisible.

Asphalt inspired Savolai first. He says that the topic may sound limited, but it opens up to many side paths.

“We walk on asphalt all the time, but we don’t think about it. There are 50,000 kilometers of roads covered with it in Finland. The milk trucks alone drive 60,000 kilometers every day. It sounds wild, even though some of the routes are unpaved roads.”

Mixed asphalt and concrete consist mostly of stone. Concrete is the most used building material in the world, but not much thought is given to it either. Savolainen points out that many people confuse concrete and cement.

“I used to mix them too, but cement is a powder that is used as a binder for concrete,” explains Savolainen.

Concrete is used so much in the world that it has really big environmental effects. Savolainen says that it mainly comes from burning limestone to make cement. However, he did not write an environmentally critical book, but told what concrete is and what is built from it.

“We are looking for alternatives to burning limestone, but it’s complicated,” says Savolainen.

Asphalt!– the book talks about recycling asphalt after all.

The number of children’s nonfiction books published has tripled since the turn of the century, and they appear on all kinds of topics.

Savolainen is not alone at the construction sites either. He is not going to write a book about building a house, because there was a recent publication on that subject Pasi Lönnin written by and Jussi Kaakinen illustrated by Building site.

Originally Savolainen studied at the University of Art and Design as a visual arts teacher. He noticed that teaching didn’t feel like his field and applied for minor studies in graphic design.

“Before my studies, I never thought that illustration could be a profession. In magic Pekka Loiri was an inspiring teacher. He knew how to give encouraging feedback. In terms of children’s books Maria Laukka was a key teacher. Markus Majaluoman the pictures really impressed me at the beginning.”

Pekka Loir (b. 1946) is especially valued as a pioneer of Finnish poster art. The illustration art expert Maria Laukka (1942–2017), on the other hand, had a long career in children’s culture.

Illustrated by Markus Majaluoma (b. 1961). Hay hat and Felt slipper -books before Savolais, who admits that it was difficult to become a follower of an early example.

from Savoia started illustrating textbooks already during his studies. In the early days, he also did magazine illustrations, but that stopped when textbooks took up his time. Then illustrating children’s books superseded them. Nowadays, he doesn’t do anything else because he doesn’t have time. Taking detailed pictures is slow.

“I have also given up visiting the library. I prepared for them in such a way that days easily passed. The downside is that I don’t meet my child readers and I don’t get much feedback.”

SiteI guess the readers of the books are mostly boys, but Savolainen has heard of the daughters of his acquaintances and a few other girls who are enthusiastic about them. Children’s gender roles may be distorted.