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Instead of reviewing another book today, I thought I'd give you a peek into my book shelf.
Here are some books l like on the art of children's writing and illustration:
Here are some books which I use as inspirational aids and/or as reference:
I love these Taschen Icons books. They are small and portable, inexpensive, nice quality, and they are GREAT for inspiration and visual reference!
Isn't it FUN to look at other people's book shelves?
"Dog Food" by Saxton Freymann
Arthur Levine Books
Pub. 2003Have you seen these food-character picture books before? Eight to ten years ago, they seemed to flood the market. But hey, I'm talking about this book 7 years after it's publication. So, yes, the art sparked white hot for a period of time— but the unique artistic vision and the ideas behind it most certainly have staying power. (I hope they make more of these books).
"Dog Food" is full of fun food photography accompanied by witty sayings. Every time I pick it up, I'm inspired by the amazingly emotive food art. The characters are just so unique and full of life. It's just a delight to see the gestural quality of a sleeping dog in a banana ("...let sleeping dogs lie"), or the natural feel of the weight-shifted stance of a potato-bodied dog ("doggy bag").
The photography is really sharp, too: the colors are saturated, and thankfully the lens doesn't leave out a single detail of the personality-enhancing skin textures, tones or growths on the produce.
A lot of humor and wit went into the creation of this book. Every time I pick it up, I enjoy it more and more.
I think Dog Food is currently out of print, but you can
get a copy for a song from an Amazon reseller.
Some links to blog posts featuring Saxton Freymann's food art
>
Link 1>
Link 2
This is the perfect book for bed time. My husband and I got a lot of mileage out of this book when our nephew was wee. We discovered what a truly classic and timeless book this really is, because I think we read it to Nicolas about 100 times. He never got bored with it and always enjoyed it. On deeper investigation, many decisions in the creation of the book were so well-thought out to make this a perfect bed-time book.
The concept is so much fun-- lively but still quiet and perfect for child's bed time reading. The art is vibrant and energizing but not manic. Nice organic line work is perfect to interest but not excite. And some nice panoramic spreads are not too busy but also are also not too sparse-- allowing the viewers' eyes to relax while still being active. The story actually ends at bed-time, which could not be more fitting.
One of the most enduring bed-time books ever published. Good night!
Easter is upon us, and what better season than to feature a book about a rabbit!
Here is one of my more recently published favorite books.
The Magic Rabbit by Annette Cate was released in 2007 -- three years ago, and I love the book just as much today! The story is about a magician and his rabbit, and what happens one day when something goes awry during one of their outdoor performances.
Annette Cate, the author/illustrator, is someone I used to work with many moons ago (at
Tom Snyder Productions). She always impressed me back then when she was the Art Director of the
Dr. Katz animated television show. When, by chance, I discovered her book on the shelf of my local bookstore three years ago, I was ecstatic. When I actually sat down and read the book, I was impressed yet again with Annette's many talents. This is a perfect combination of a really good story and really good art. All this, and at the time Annette was but a first-time-published author/illustrator. The Magic Rabbit even earned a Publisher's Weekly starred review. Pretty impressive!
The art is all greyscale black pen line work (with just a dab of color which is used as a device to help move the story along). Detailed work, but not so tightly rendered that there is a lack of of motion and gesture to the illustrations. It's very beautifully done.
I wrote a blog post about The Magic Rabbit years ago when I first discovered it. You can read it
here.
Check out The Magic Rabbit!
This Saturday, I found myself at Borders Books. I saw a few books that I found charming for one reason or another...
ChickThis pop-up book is smart and fun to play with. Children will love the bright colors, activities and characters, but adults will get a kick out of it, too. The art is very good quality, and the humor is, well, funny!
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Sammy the SnailWhat I love about this book is the interactivity. The stretchy fabric finger slots allow the reader to make Sammy's eyes move just like a real snails eyes do. an idea so simple makes something that is so much fun to play with and animate.
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The Ultimate Dick and Jane CollectionI know what you are thinking. Dick and Jane are outdated for today's kids. You are right! But still, the nostalgia gets me every time. Though the era of "Dick & Jane" was way b
Today I'm posting about a picture book I love: "
Bunny School, A Learning Fun-For-All" by Rick Walton and Paige Miglio.
Bunny School takes the reader through a full school day with a classroom full of cute little rabbits. The story is written in rhyming verse, so it's a lot of fun to read and it has a nice 'beat'. The rhyming is very nicely done. The story does not feature one single main character, rather, the story takes you through all of the activities that the bunnies do together as a class. I like the way the story is told. It could have come off as a little chilly and impersonal because there is no main protagonist. But to the contrary, the artwork adds such expressiveness to the charaters and imbues each with individual personality that you feel like you are following each individual bunny's progress throughout their day.
The art appears to be done in colored pencil and watercolor, and proves to be a great marriage of the two. Another thing I like about the art is how the bunnies features and bodies are really truly bunny-
like, but they still have a sense of whimsy and fantasy about them. The illustrations also take up the ENTIRE spread on each page, save for the overlaid curved-edged box containing each spreads' text. So many books these days have designs that intermingle the art and the text. While I enjoy these types of books, for my money there's nothing like a good ol', old-school, full-page color picture book done in a classic style once in awhile, and Bunny School delivers this.
The compositions themselves are also really interesting and well thought out. They are easy on the eyes but they are decepitvely complex in design. I am sure it was a lot of work to make them look this interesting, but all the viewer sees is a fun illustration that is endlessly interesting but they're not exactly sure why.
Most of the spreads have many characters, and often, they are engaged in various independent activities. It's fun to see what each of the individual characters are doing on each page against each page's story text. This adds a lot to the story and it is so much fun to find new things to look at each time I look at a spread.
The book Bunny School is not really well known at all, but it is one of my favorites in my collection. It's just a total comfort read for me.
He is Children's Poem Laureate for good reason! His poems tickle my funny bones as well as my rhyme-loving brain. I honestly do not have nearly enough of his books! They are so fun to read over and over again, that they are truly useful to have around for more than just the funny pictures and fun stories. His works are major word play inspiration and are a GREAT example of GREAT children's poetry!
Here is one Jack book that I do have and that I love a lot: Pizza, Pigs and Poetry is kind of a poetry primer plus an inspiring read. Written for kids who are interested in getting started in writing poetry (so, of course, I had to buy it!) Jack shares several humorous anecdotes from his youth and how the stories inspired some of his poems. He shares ideas for writing exercises to get started. He explains some poem terminology. It's a great pick for a 9 - 12 year-old (my best guess) who enjoys creative writing and is interested in poetry... but, it's good for.. ahem... all ages! Can't go wrong with this book. Too fun!
(Picture: Original CPL main branch building (left); added-on building (right)
I've been a "library rat" for most of my adult life, but I had a five-year lay-off (which Amazon benefited from quite a bit). See, my local library closed for renovations. They closed for about five years. Yes, you heard me right: five (5) years!! It was a major bummer, but hey, what can you do? I lived with it, but it was tough. I bought a lot of books at the aforementioned Amazon, but unfortunately I could not find another library branch to call my temporary "home". Luckily (especially in this day and age) my city has several library branches. But no other branches are on my regular path, and it was a seemingly insurmountable task for me to forge a new path to another branch. To me, going to the library is like exercising regularly. If the gym is not close-by, you're simply not going to make it a habit. If the library is not accessible enough for me to visit once a week, why bother?
Picture of the new added-on library building. The older, adjunct library building is still a part of the library and in use.
Well, a little over a month ago, the angels opened up the skies and the NEW, IMPROVED LIBRARY opened it's doors! Weeks went by while my life was busy busy, and I still had not stepped into the new library. I needed to get back in the swing of things, get back my library mojo, shake off some of that rust! So, I visited the library on Saturday. Then again on Sunday. And Monday. WOW. It's completely amazing!
Above: Main lobby. This is looking towards the "old" adjunct library space which now houses a couple of rooms specifically for teens to work (this library is right next to the main city high school), plus some stacks. There is a nice hallway with tables and chairs as well. It is lit by natural light-the walls are glass. You can see it in this photo.
Above: Magazine section. You may borrow older magazines for one week. New magazines are not available for taking out of the building. The
This kitty looks very comfortable with himself, on his happy cloud. Have a lovely week!
I've just posted a fantastic new interview to Design Inspiration with Kathy Weller. Kathy is a creative dynamo! An illustrator, designer and prolific SFG member with something like 6 websites and blogs. She's really a phenomenal talent, be sure to pop over and check it out.
-Jeff
http://diinterviews.com/
Okay, this doesn't exactly fit the weekly theme, but, if you consider the TV show "Lassie" mixed in with Saturday Morning Cartoons, then maybe I can stowaway on the cargo train with this one... This is one of my recent pet portraits, and the theme is "Lassie" inspired! 50's - 60's Lassie, a Wonder Dog if there ever was one. But THIS wonder dog's name is Buster the CowDog. Hope you enjoy!!
This is an OLDIE but GOODIE. I used to do independent, hand-made greeting cards years ago, and this was one of my favorite of my fall designs!!
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ok. I need to go get me some more books... ;o)
So fun! Thanks for sharing Kathy. I love those Taschen books - that's quite a collection!!!