I was in Seattle a few weeks ago. You remember the library, right?
I went to Pike Place Market, because of course, but also because flying fish and dudes in galoshes are a spectacle worth checking out. And I also wanted to get up close and personal with some bluefin tuna eyeballs.
There’s a real reason for that, trust me. But they didn’t have any tuna, so this happened:
There’s not a real point to that story except that I adore that tweet (and those two Favoriters) and it’s what I did just before I wandered into Lamplight Books.
It’s like I stole something. Fifteen dollars? Sixty quarters? It still has that magical, musty smell of hidden secrets. And it was mine in a fraction of a split second. That fast.
Because…behold:
I’m in love. From the texture of a porcupine, to the form of mountains and weeds, to the repetition inside a squash, design is everywhere.
Design is a Dandelion ends like this, with truth and a charge:
Design is everywhere. It is for everyone. All you have to do is to learn to see it. Open your eyes and take a big, long look.
I’m not usually too keen on princess books. I just…don’t get the appeal? And the pink? And the super sweetness?
Princess Amanita is my kind of girl, though. She’s prickly and fearless, and she has a killer hairdo. (I’ll overlook her love for cats. They still make me nervous.)
Remember Dashka Slater? She’s the brain behind a story full of words like stink lilies, heckle-berries, and sentences like ‘It sounded like a troop of monkeys playing tubas.’
Fun, lively, and funny, much as l imagine her to be.
And Valeria Docampo has a sweeping style that evokes a monster sense of wonder in me. This illustration that welcomes you to her website is breathtaking.
Her pictures are a perfect frame for Princess Amanita.
Shape is just any space that is enclosed by a line. They can be defined and pointy triangles, or round and comforting circles. Or perhaps just the space that’s left behind, in between two lines.
Princess Amanita is thorny on the outside, interested in danger and sharp things. So her hair resembles a scorpion tale, and her dress is outfitted in what looks like metal. Even her garden is prickly.
But she is sweet and friendly underneath it all, so the softness in the curves of her face and dress serve as a subtle reminder to us.
I love this spread. Gradually from left to right, the vines grow from pointy triangular thorns to the muted and organic lines of the Prince’s kingdom. Similar shapes tell a very different story.
And I adore these tiny frames that are dotted through the pages. The shape for these spot illustrations is bound by both curved and straight lines. She’s not all sweet, but she’s not all danger either.
I promise not to use bad puns like, “This book rocks!” or “Perfect for kids who don’t take science for granite!”
Much like another favorite, Sky High, Leo Geo uses size and scale in such an unusual way. Telling a story about a journey through the center of the earth calls for a different visual method than the standards we are used to.
So flip it 90 degrees and read top to bottom. Of course! Its width (or lack thereof!) perfectly frames the skinny tunnels and canals through which our ‘surface man’ drills.
And just when you get to the center, flip it 180 degrees and read bottom to top as you emerge with him to the other side of the world.
Throughout the entire journey, Leo Geo narrates his trip with a good healthy dose of science. You’ll get reminders of the difference between stalactites and stalagmites, what makes up the continental and oceanic crusts, and how many miles you would have to travel before reaching the core.
Even though his voice is conversational and funny, every once in a while you might run into a Quadclops or find a magic dagger. I love that this book becomes a spectacular combination of nonfiction and comic book.
By using only black and white, the reader gets to fill in the blanks and let their imagination run wild. The contrast between the whites of the tunnels and the black hash marks of piles and piles of fossils provide a very satisfying balance. The art is so intricate that I imagine a young reader (or an old one!) could pore over these pages for hours.
Remember him? When I asked him what he would be if he wasn’t an author/illustrator, he said “extraordinarily irritable.” Ha.
Oh No, Little Dragon! is an endearing little book. Just look at his eyes! So sweet. That’s a little dragon with a spark in his heart, no question about it.
This is a story about fire, love, and kisses from a mama. And Jim Averbeck’s pictures capture the magnitude of this childlike search for sparkle.
When I teach, one of my favorite things to show students is this little video. Not only does it visually define the fundamentals of design, but it is also a tiny piece of art itself. Pay close attention to the bit on line. (And also the adorable accent of the narrator!)
From the video: “Line has direction, weight, gesture, spirit, gestalt, life.”
And that’s what I think about when I look through the pages of Oh No, Little Dragon! — the life and spirit of the lines.
See how the foreground and background lines are weighted the same? They are approximately the same width and texture, but the background lines recede because they are more transparent. Similar lines in different spirit create space in the illustration.
The lines of phooooooshing on these pages have a clear direction and sense of animation across the spread. Love that. Can’t you just hear and feel Little Dragon sputtering through this book?
I won’t even tell you how much I love the soot-colored line drawings on the endpapers.
First. You have to read the interview with Lita Judge over at Jules’ Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog. That studio! That giant cat! Doesn’t she sound like the kind of person you want to have poached eggs and lemongrass tea with? Yes.
Red Sled is a perfect book for a cold and cozy winter. (Even if you are in the land of perpetual seventy degree weather. Still perfect.)
It’s mostly wordless, but the words that do exist capture the sounds of the crispy, crunchy snow, and the wheees and whoops of a whimsical winter bunch.
The palette is quiet and bright; the winter whites are a highlight. But then! There’s a red sled. A peek of a red cap. Tiny bursts of color on an otherwise muted scene.
Also, I adore how Lita used a border to contain the scenes in the pages. Something about that feels extra cozy and warm. Instead of bleeding to the edge of the page, the pictures are all wrapped in a wintry white blanket. Perhaps a nice reminder of the snug-and-settled-in-ness of the season?
And any book that ends with a mouse tangled up in moose antlers is a guaranteed smile-getter.
If so, you just may see yourself in this crafty, clever book.
This is a fairly new release from my fairly new friend, Barney Saltzberg.
Whether you have a tiny imagination that needs some calisthenics, or a huge-mongous, uncontrollable one, meet Andrew.
He draws. And draws.
And his lines become, well — anything at all!
Or even nothing.
And sometimes nothing is the best something.
Andrew.
He (and my new friend Barney!) have crafted a wonderfully animated book. You can’t just sit back and read it. You have to guess! And wonder! And unfold all of the pages!
And? Andrew (and Barney!) have left you enough white space to fill in the story with things from your own brain. What do you see? Where does your line take you?
It’s a delight. A brain tickler. An interactive treat.
by A.E. Cannon (who loves Cheetos and Oreos!) and Lee White (who loves to bike, I think?!)
I really think artists might be some of the coolest people out there. (Some might say just plain ‘out there,’ but that’s neither here nor there. Nor anywhere.)
What? Where were we?!
When I saw Lee’s illustrations come through my email inbox, I seriously got whiplash from how fast my jaw hit the floor. His art has a charm that swept me off my feet and rendered me speechless for a moment or two.
Not a usual occurrence.
Sophie’s Fish explores all the things that just might happen if you get asked to babysit a fish. Hysterical. Hysterical!
The compositions are gorgeous. The textures leap off the page. The colors are snappy but soft. The whole thing? Is perfect.
Like this spread…
The sidewalk creates intersecting and interesting lines which gives such life and movement to this one still picture. And from an overhead perspective even! So cool. And those dreamy, complementary colors.
Or this one…the DING DONG page!
Don’t those layered textures make you think you could just reach out and touch it?! The crumpled rug, the splintered door, and that calm, but rough sky. I LOVE THIS SPREAD.
Did you hear me?! (One of those non-speechless moments!) This book is a gem. A winner. A beautiful piece of art.
You owe it to your imagination to sit a while with this one.
I tweeted this the other day: Some boys buy their girls flowers, chocolate, or fancy purses. Mine buys picture books.
Coolest endpapers ever? That’s saying a lot, since I’m a bit kookoo for them, but just look at that sasquatch. His spindly legs and arms, a dapper bow tie, and that hat especially…that hat kills me. Cool that he’s looking towards the right, right? Since that’s the direction we read and move through the book? Cool.
And the setup. All this suave sasquatch wants is to ride Mr. Blobule’s bus. Without being squished.
And after his introduction on the endpapers, and the spread with the setup…then we get to the title page. So unusual! So interesting.
Have you ever taken a photo of the horizon at sunset or sunrise? Maybe you even get all fancy with your composition and use the rule of thirds? Horizontal lines are calming, stable, restful.
But diagonal lines?
They suggest movement and action, and the frantic call of DON’T SQUISH THE SASQUATCH has a lot of extra oomph in these illustrations.
His arms are flailing and his teeth are tilting and the buildings are slanted. All of those diagonal lines add depth and interest to the picture. And below, even Mr. Blobule’s bus is bouncing towards one side. Action and movement, packed into pictures, wrapped in the battle cry of DON’T SQUISH THE SASQUATCH!
I love this book. So will there be squishing? Or something else?
{Please, please, please…if you live in San Francisco, GO SEE THEM at the Cartoon Art Musuem on October 4th. Please! For me.}
Ganesha’s Sweet Tooth is based on a legend in Hindu mythology, but this version has jawbreakers! And a mouse pal! And SPECTACULAR illustrations!
Spectacular is really an understatement. I don’t think I know a word that can contain how spectacfantasterrificawesome these pictures are.
Endpapers that look like blueprints and sketches set the tone for a fresh story, enhanced so beautifully by shape and line.
From the title page on, this book will knock you out graphically. You will see stars (shape!) and vibrating birdies (movement!) flitting around your brain.
Ok. Let me back up a minute. Do you know Darshana Khiani? You should. She reviews books on her blog and always shares gems. And SHE is a gem. We met at the LA SCBWI conference in 2011, but what we didn’t know is that we would bump into each other over and over again online this year and become fast friends. So cool. Darshana emailed me a couple of weeks ago and told me I had to stop, drop, and roll myself to this book ASAP.
I love that she thought I would love it. I love that she was right. And I love that she suggested doing a joint review on it today.
So much hops off the pages of Ganesha’s Sweet Tooth that my brain hurts to know where to begin. From the title page up a few pictures, to the repeated circles on the illustration above, shape dominates the pages. It’s a smorgasbord of circles, squares, and triangles.
Oh, this page. After every handful of illustrations, your eyes land on a picture like this one. The bright colors quiet for a moment, and these particular pages are striking in their stark contrast. White text, white graphic elements, and one bold, rich color. There’s something about pacing here, and I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that happens, but aesthetically, the balance is just outstanding.
A story about a sweet tooth begs for a decadent color palette, and these hues are just plain tasty and delightful.
Get this book. (Listen to Darshana, even if you think I am bonkers. She has good taste.)
When I saw this trailer for Chloe, Instead by Micah Player, forget about it. I had to have this book.
Adorable.
So when my friends Alethea and Aly held a massive and amazing story time event called Picture This!, AND Micah Player was there, well, then…duh. So what if I was a little taller than most of the participants?!
Micah hosted a table with a really fun and graphic craft. Think glue sticks, patterned papers in squares and triangles, construction paper, and Sharpies. I made this masterpiece while chatting with him about libraries and graphic design and trailers and his awesome kids:
(Yeah, I don’t know how those shapes exploded from a closed box, but just go with it.)
His two boys were the inspiration for this tale of adjusting to a new sibling. Molly likes crayons and books, but for coloring and reading. Her whirlwind of a sister Chloe on the other hand…how about for eating and ripping to shreds. Chloe is nothing like Molly expected, (or even wanted) but just maybe that’s ok.
The cover itself is a striking use of line. I love those blocky bold stripes.
And, because we all know I love a good endpaper:
More lines, diagonal this time.
Micah’s use of color is so brilliant and fresh, and where one color meets another, a strong line emerges. These choices are visually interesting, sure, but they also serve to guide your eye through the illustrations.
Sometimes these lines represent physical objects, like this bookshelf:
(I would love to read The Daydream Sunbeam by the way. Good choice, Molly.)
And sometimes line divides moments in time and space, like two very different emotions on Molly on this spread:
Can’t you tell she is growing and changing, just in one spread, with one word?
Sometimes line is just a strong graphic element on the page, like the diagonal line of the background here:
I love how the same line marks shadow from light on Molly’s face. And notice how it’s not directly through the center of the page? That opens up the space in which Chloe can dance and just be Chloe. She’s not boxed in by such a strong, dynamic line.
And line to create a balanced layout:
I especially love the flapping arms on this page. If that’s not a static line to imply motion, I’m not sure what it is.
Chloe, Instead is sharp, sassy fun. It’s well designed, both in its clever words and pictures. If you have ever had a little brother or sister, you will surely identify with Molly and hold this book dear.
by Janice Lovoos
I’m in love. From the texture of a porcupine, to the form of mountains and weeds, to the repetition inside a squash, design is everywhere.
