Favorite Spine Designs

You might know that a spine is the outside edge of a book where the pages are gathered and bound, but did you know that the average children's picture book spine is between a quarter of an inch and a half an inch wide? That's pretty thin for arguably the most important piece of real estate on a book! The spine is the only visible piece of a book when it's on a bookshelf, so it stands to reason that a lot of work can go into designing ones that stand out against the competition in stores and libraries. Designers have developed quite a few tricks to get their book spines noticed by readers, and below are a few of my personal favorites, broken down by design technique. 

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Down to the Last Detail: ART OF PROTEST

Every time I'm shelving books this one stands out to me, with its colorful, exposed spine! You can see where all of the pages are bound together, and the edges are all yellow. It's beyond impressive that the printer was able to perfectly print the title, creator name, and publisher logo on the spine but it works so well and essentially becomes a piece of art itself.

Favorite Carousel Books

CAROUSEL BOOKS

Carousel books, sometimes called 360° books or 3D pop-up books, are a sub-category of pop-up books, but they're so distinct that they deserve their own list here on the site. Carousel books are bound like regular picture books, but the front and back covers are designed to touch so that the book opens all the way into a 360° circle (they usually have ribbons or magnets to connect the front and back covers).

              

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MOLE IN A BLACK & WHITE HOLE

Mole in a Black & White Hole by Tereza Sediva is a beautiful, cleverly-designed tale of faith, trust, and friendship.

TINY, PERFECT THINGS

Tiny, Perfect Things by M. H. Clark and Madeline Kloepper is a tiny, perfect book.

THE CAROUSEL OF ANIMALS

The Carousel of Animals by Gérard Lo Monaco is not only a pop-up book, it's also a carousel book, which means that it can be opened accordion-style so that it forms a circle around the spine of the book. 

Let's Talk Illustrators #30: Daniel Miyares

I've long, long admired author-illustrator Daniel Miyares for the incredible amount of emotion he can pack into one sparsely worded or entirely wordless scene. He has an impeccable track record for creating compassionate and relatable children's books that use few to no words (see Float, Pardon Me!, and Bring Me a Rock!), so it's no surprise that his newest book That Neighbor Kid represents yet another triumph for him. Daniel was kind enough to drop by and share his process with me, so let's just dive right in and take a look!

Favorite Red Riding Hood Picture Books

                     

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