MARA WONDER
A little idea that started with my son
Mara Wonder began with something very simple: a mom wanting to make something meaningful for her child.
After becoming a mother I discovered a creative side of myself I had never really given space to. I had always enjoyed creative things, but it was having my son that made me look at them differently.
I’m Italian, and my husband and I decided to raise him with English and Spanish alongside our own language. Living between countries and languages made me notice the small ways children learn — usually without realizing they are learning at all.
I started looking for books that could help him understand the things that mattered to me: language, emotions, curiosity, creativity. I found many lovely books, but I kept wishing for something a little different. Something more engaging. Something with illustrations I connected with. Something I could imagine making for him myself.
So I started drawing.
The first idea was about emotions. I wanted my son to learn that feelings are something we can notice, talk about and understand — something I wish I had been taught when I was little. That first idea became Numo, a little imaginary character who meets different emotions in everyday places.
Alongside that, I began making coloring books: simple, playful books with one English word under every picture, so a new word arrives attached to something a child already knows.
That’s what I want Mara Wonder to be about. Sweet characters, easy-to-color pages, and little books that leave room for curiosity, imagination and connection.
I started drawing these books for my son. Now I’m making them for other children too — and for the parents who, like me, are looking for something that feels a little more personal.
Behind Mara Wonder is simply a mom who started it all for her son.