There are two things I’m attracted to in a kid’s book. The first is simplicity and the second is illustrations that tell me that things aren’t always as they appear. Not a Box has both in a big way. Antoinette Portis made a book that does so much with so little. An adorable little rabbit—drawn in a single line—challenges us to think and see outside the box. Absent a storyline, it presents us with a series of challenges to see what the simple box really becomes. Every page has surprise and delight as the black and white drawing becomes a 3-color demo on how to see beyond the box.
Deceptively simple, this is the kind of book that plays to a kid’s strength and helps parents ‘get back’ to that wonderful kid’s place where anything is possible. This book reminds us that big ideas often come in small boxes.

Illustrator and author Laetitia Devernay has created a story worth a thousand words without a peep. The Conductor is a beautiful and beautifully unconventional book. A very tall format signals that this is no ordinary kid’s book—at least by American standards. After all, it was first published in France and picked up by Chronicle as it fits nicely in their aesthetic. Devernay illustrates what can become several stories depending on how it is interpreted, which makes the book quite a bargain! Starting with a conductor scaling a lollipop-shaped tree, this book is all about disconnections that connect and things that become other things with the wave of the baton. I’m a fan of wordless books as it makes the illustrations work harder and leaves the exact story entirely to the reader. The Conductor has obvious connections of birds to music and flight to song—but it also makes subtle inferences to leaders and followers, cooperation and conflict, order and chaos, disturbance and renewal. This is a rich little, tall book.

It is illustrated in delicate pen and ink drawings that are colored sparingly in black, shades of green and custard yellow. The pages are composed elegantly to express scale, pattern and movement. The drawings are both confident and innocent—a marriage not easily maintained for 64 pages.

Twelve years after Shel Silverstein’s passing, a book of more than one hundred and thirty never-before-seen poems and drawings is published to remind of his genius. We do know that Every Thing On It was compiled by the family and the folks at Harper Collins, but we don’t know exactly how. I can only speculate that if they found this many works that hold together so well, the pool must be big and deep. Both his words and his lines take your mind into absurd and magical places with aplomb. Though his line appears so effortless and loose, his control captures the human condition with the slightest of downturn in a lip or placement of his beady eyes. His characters are every bit as surprised and dismayed at the situations in which they find themselves as we are to see them. Imagine the mistake of daring to swallow a snake or the scene about to unfold when Mustache Mo gets his mustache caught in his train’s wheels. Silverstein walks the fine line of disturbing and just a little devilish. Once you get the fever, you can’t wait to turn the page to see what he has dared you to look at and read—and you do for 200 pages. It’s inspiring, humorous, poignant, cynical, snotty and sweet. It’s just like the title—every thing on it.

I Want My Hat Back is a breath of fresh air—understated and exquisite in its illustration, story, typography, and design. This is Jon Klassen’s first book that he has penned and a charming tale he has told. It is a deceptively formulaic search the bear takes on to find his hat. So used to the answer ‘no’, he misses the solution when it’s under his nose. Several tiny exchanges between shifty-eyed creatures lend additional warmth to the storyline. The illustrations are graphic with the subtlest rendering and coloration. Large silhouettes are contrasted with delicate foliage beneath softening each page and creating the environs. The illustrations are just masterful in all ways. Uncoated paper, big Century Schoolbook font, muted palette, command of scale and surprise—all remind me of a classic Leo Lionni book. The end sheets are sublime. Oh, the moral of the story—thievery is punishable!

—Steve Jobs

Photo above shot with iPhone

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

]]> http://36pages.com/%e2%80%9cit%e2%80%99s-not-the-consumers%e2%80%99-job-to-know-what-they-want-%e2%80%9d/feed/ 2 http://36pages.com/maintenant-que-tu-sais-now-you-know/ http://36pages.com/maintenant-que-tu-sais-now-you-know/#comments Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:42:33 +0000 Craig http://36pages.com/?p=904 Anne Crausaz | Editions MeMo 2009

Though this book is in French, the illustrations communicate quite universally. Translated, it’s a tale told by a stylish red mushroom in effort to improve its reputation as a venomous ‘toad stool.’ Thus the title, ‘Now That You Know.’ Author and illustrator Anne Crausaz begs you to come closer and learn the finer traits of this under-appreciated fungus. A safe harbor for snails, ants and centipedes, she argues that we should cut the ‘shroom named Anita some slack. The story is sweet but the real beauty in this book lies in the illustrations and the subtle use of muted and gradated color and whisper-thin lines. This is an example of digital illustrations at their finest. Ann drawing skills with her sense of natural form—both in flora and fauna—transcend the trappings of digital rendering. Her bug’s eye point-of-view lends great majesty to the world under the ‘shroom that we no little about. If there is to be a ‘save the mushroom’ movement—it starts here.

Along the Long Road is one mighty long illustration broken into 32 pages. Probably about 34 feet or so—but since it was created digitally, it may only be 34 inches. Nonetheless, a feat not easily pulled off with such panache. Frank has made a simple story into hours of discovery. Illustrated with 4 flat colors, including the school bus yellow foil-stamped road—this is a masterful piece of scale, detail, stylization and simplicity. The main character is a slippery S-shaped dude that rides a very cool bike for a very long way. It is full of shiny water, towering architecture, Matisse-like people, nice lettering, fancy foliage and very groovy cars. A plain fun ride to take again and again just for the sights. It’s top shelf and will stand the test of time.

Some projects take more time than others. This one took about 20 years! Living Letters is a reincarnation of a typeface (and book) I designed in 1989. The original book was called The Alphabet Critter Playbook, which caught the attention of Adobe who then asked me to create the font Critter (1992). Initially drawn by hand and inked on vellum, the font was translated digitally at that time using Adobe Illustrator and a program called Fontographer.

About 4 years ago I began to redraw the Critters bringing more detail and more life to them. I was particularly interested in depicting accurate features like eyes, ears, fur and color. The internet proved invaluable in sourcing animal reference—far more than I had in 1989. The challenge was adding considerably more detail to each animal while maintaining its recognition as a letterform.

I have partnered with Adobe and HP in announcing the release of Living Letters. Adobe has created a pop-up store in San Francisco and for two weeks the public can visit Russell Brown’s (Photoshop guru) Extreme Imaging corner of the store and get a custom t-shirt digitally printed on the spot with the letter of your choice. You may also pick up a digital copy of the book produced by MagCloud or go to their site and order a book with your choice of 26 covers. The books are ‘magazine’ style with soft cover and are the best digital printing I have seen to date.

There are three reasons why That’s How by Christoph Niemann is a top shelf book. The first is the use of x-ray vision. An often-overlooked visual trick that is never lost on a kid—or me for that matter. With all the technology in the world, seeing through things still ranks #1! The second is Christoph’s mind—since most kids want to know how things work—why not show them in a way that is both ridiculous and believable at the same time. The ideas in this book are born only out of a brain that dreams in the absurd and a hand that can make them real. The third are the illustrations. Loosely and graphically painted with minimal detail and bright and playful colors—they focus our attention on the basic mechanical operation of each machine, then surprise us with hilarious animals inside getting the job done. Of course, a train is powered by a band of hungry monkeys running on a treadmill trying to reach the brewing pot of stew! These illustrations should prompt hours of bedtime ‘what if’s’ and ‘how come’.

The bonus is to take the jacket off to discover a new cover with even more mechanical secrets revealed. So that’s how a street light works!

Listen to Christoph interviewed on NPR Fresh Air and learn how his brain works.

If you wake up disoriented and out of sort—you may have lost your head. This gorgeous reissue of a 1942 jewel is the perfect remedy for your ailment. In about 64 pages the parable unfolds about a dude that awakes without his head and his rigorous pursuit of his cranium. The legendary illustrator Robert McCloskey—of Blueberries for Sal and Make Way for Ducklings fame—puts ink to paper in a way that upstages many a kid’s book made today. The book is all black and white (except the cover and endsheets), and will make any kid want to learn to draw and any illustrator want to learn to draw better. It’s a crazy story that makes as much sense—or nonsense—as it did in 1942. Such an idea probably couldn’t get a publishing deal today—but we lucky this one got reissued.