A how-to guide to making your own collages, brimful of fascinating hints and tips from a master of the genre.

Over the course of a 40-year career, Jeannie Baker has perfected the art of collage in the creation of picture-book classics such as Where the Forest Meets the Sea and Window, a Boston Globe-Horn Honor Book. Her stunning pieces, devised by assembling all sorts of different textures, are known all around the globe. Whether it's dried flowers or tiny shells, spaghetti or postage stamps, she uses the world around her to make work that is astonishingly beautiful and deeply creative.

In Playing with Collage, she shares her secrets at last – and encourages her readers to get creative. Within each of this book's four main sections, Jeannie presents an abstract collage of her own and offers suggestions and starting points for beginners. There are no right or wrong answers in this treasure of a book, it's all about trusting your instincts ... and playing!

• Jeannie Baker is the recipient of an International Board for Young People (IBBY) Honour Award and a Friends of the Earth Award. She's also Australia's nominee for the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration. 
• Playing with Collage offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the way an artist works. 
• Like Jeannie's other titles, this book has a strong message about connecting with nature.