Say Cheese!

So I was actually going to post on something totally different this week, but I pushed the post back because I came across a few books this past weekend that must be discussed immediately.

I stopped by The Blue Bunny in Dedham, MA to grab a book for a girl turning 4, and naturally I came across some amazing books. As luck would have it, two of the books I bought were both of a similar aesthetic style, and thus comes this week's topic of photograph illustrations. The depth the illustrations create because of their style really makes you believe you're in the illustration with the characters, making the character's world and story that much more magical.

The first on the list (and possibly my new favorite book ever) is Rebecca Dudley's picturebook debut Hank Finds an Egg. This book took my breath away, and the moment I was done reading I flipped it to the front to read it again. This wordless picturebook follows Hank, a bear-like creature, who finds an egg on the ground. Despite multiple attempts to place the egg back in its nest, he is too short to reach and ends up caring for the egg until it can be returned to its mom. It's a lovely story with breathtaking illustrations that Dudley created by staging the entire story and photographing it. Check it out:

Catch-Up Time!

This week has totally flown by! Unfortunately, I'm totally behind in my posts, and I didn't manage to finish one in time for this week. But guess what that means...

It's catch-up time!

Take a look at some of the past posts and leave a comment below on what topics YOU'D like to hear about!

Enjoy the week!

Mel

Illustrator Spotlight: Peter Brown

I can't imagine there's anyone out there who doesn't know about Peter Brown. He has quite the menagerie of amazing books out, and his most recent one Mr. Tiger Goes Wild is so fabulous that I'd definitely peg it as a future Caldecott winner. He has a unique geometric style to his illustrations that's incredibly engaging, and his compositions and use of color make his illustrations pop right off the page. Check out some spreads!

Tapping and Pressing

Good morning, my fellow picturebook lovers! This post is going to be a wee short, but that's because there's such a small selection of books that actually fit into today's topic of books that you "press" and "tap."

It started in 2011 with Press Here by Hervé Tullet, and just this past August Christine Matheson published Tap the Magic Tree. These two books ask readers to tap illustrations, shake the book, clap, and blow kisses at the book, among other gestures, in order for the story to move forward. It's a really unique idea that hasn't been experimented with too much yet, so it's very fresh and fun. Press Here begins with a simple yellow dot and a set of instructions to press the yellow dot and turn the page, turning the one dot into two. As the book goes on and the instructions continue, the dot multiplies, changes direction, grows, shrinks, and overlaps with other colored dots to create a beautiful menagerie of overlapping colors.

Anthologies

Welcome to September, web-o-sphere! Today's we are discussing picturebook anthologies.

One of the most notable anthologies is Shaun Tan's Tales From Outer Suburbia. It's a lovely compilation of tales written and illustrated by Tan that have an outlying theme of enigmatic suburbia--what goes on behind closed doors, how outsiders might view suburban culture--and an underlying feeling of nostalgia and sadness. Tan also has an anthology called The Lost Thing (with "The Red Tree," "The Lost Thing," and "The Rabbits"), and he recently came out with an illustrated anthology of his drawings called The Bird King. Both are equally beautiful and imaginative as Tales, and do an amazing job of capturing and portraying an outsider's view on foreign culture. Here are a couple spreads from each: