Andre da Loba

I'm pretty sure I don't have to write a lot for this because the images themselves are going to say it all. Apparentely you have to live in Portugal to have imaginative, unconventional books published. Hurrah for Portugal, ... Booooo for North America.

Check out his totally mind-blowing website www.andredaloba.com

More on Warja Honegger Lavater

The super helpful and knowledgeable girl who works at MacLeods Books had told me that the artist had made a whole series of well known Children's stories in the same style. She said that the version of 'Little Red Riding Hood' was the most popular amongst them.

Since I wasn't familiar with Warja Honegger Lavater, I did a bit of pocking around online when I came home and found a very good article here on 'And The Ghosts So Silver'. It features more images of the inside of the 'Little Red Riding Hood' book.

Warja Honegger Lavater

So the other day I happened to swing by MacLeod's Books that I had just mentioned in my last post, and amongst finding a great little 'Small Beer' by Ludwig Bemelmans and another fantastic little book, I also found the mother of all versions of 'The Ugly Duckling' by Waria Honegger Lavater. When I saw it in the case I was immediately drawn to it because it promised to be an interesting take on the story right away due to it's abstract cover. I asked to take a look and ... Amazing! The artist has developed a visual, symbolic code for the various characters and scenery in the book. There is a guide at in the front of the book that one can use to help reinterpret the story. Fantastic idea. And to make it even better, the accordion style book can be hung from the wall , thus functioning as both book and wall art simultaneously. Some people are just so clever. ... Of course this copy was about 100$, so alas I did not pick it up, however, should you have the cash on hand to do so, you know where to get it. Might really be worth it.

Here is a picture of the cover I took. So unique.

Always buying books...

I always like to do a shout out to any left over independent bookstores we have. The other day we went on a day trip to New Westminster and I finally got a chance to go to Renaissance Books. It's surprisingly big and there's tons of books in there. Mind you, not occupying every square inch like at McLeod's, one of my favs. Some good finds in the kids book and Art section at Renaissance including these here. Plus an empty vending machine which we were trying to convince the owner to turn into a book vending machine. That would be cool yeah?

The Elegant Cockroach, a Picture Book for Adults, Hurrah!

I recently made a visit to Collage Collage, one of my favorite places here in Vancouver and while looking for a Bruno Munari book, discovered that they did not only have the new book 'The Elegant Cockroach' published by Uppercase Magazine in stock, but they also currently have a show of the original illustrations from the book up!

For anyone living in Vancouver who is interested in illustration, I highly recommend you check out this show because it is truly amazing and inspiring. It's great to see illustrations that are exactly the same as in the book, made without the use of photoshop. While I am a firm believer in the powers of photoshop it's refreshing to see work that fits the content of the book so perfectly in all aspects, in this case all assembled via our good old hands. Also, I was also totally won over by the use of photocopied frames for the works. So lovely!

The show is up until June 2nd at Collage Collage, so do go check it out and buy the book too, cause it's a little gem!

About the Book itself:

I am super excited about pretty much any well crafted picture book for adults, and there are not that many...YET.

And so it will come as no surprise to you that since this book is in my opinion beautifully written, masterfully illustrated and of interest for many adults who might perhaps usually not gravitate towards a picture book format I couldn't be happier about it and hope that it will open the floodgates for many other publishers to take more chances and take on similar projects. Adults need picture books too, yes they doooo!

Go see the show.

Go buy the book.

Cool antiques from the Netherlands

So first I came across this cool blog, fedbybirds and then... from there I found this amazing site The Memory of the Netherlands, where you can peruse hundreds of antique children's picture books. Hurrah for finding things... but Booo for not having posted this a million years ago already. Good thing I remembered now though. Enjoy.

Here a few images from a favorite I came across.

Ad-Placements in Children's Picture Books: Or, 'How to NOT Selfpublish!"

I recently came across an article in 'Small Business in Vancouver Magazine' that was titled 'Children's book authors share selling strategies'. Of course I was very interested. The article talked about several small scale publishers and their strategies when it came to competing with publishing giants as well as the rise of electronic book sales. At the centre of the story was a woman named Tina Powell ( a local Vancouverite no less) who was being praised for her business smarts when it came to self-publishing her picture books. At first I was intrigued, then shocked and then totally disgusted at how her 'business smarts' actually translated into the real world.

"So far, her six books have sold an impressive 600.000 units, largely because of her success at attracting corporate sponsors, such as Maple Leaf Foods, Proctor and Gamble Co. and Boar's Head, she said.

Earlier this year, Sarasota, Florida-based Boar's Head bought 200.000 copies of Powell's Fernando's Fun-tastic Friends.

That book both entertains and educates kids on the value of healty eating. Part of the book also mentions a fundraising walk for the American Diabetes Association. (ADA)

Powell tweaked the book and made a special edition for Boar's Head, which produces deli meats, many of which are low in fat or in sodium.

Powell discretely inserted posters advertising Boar's Head products in some of the illustrations.

Boar's Head sponsors ADA and intended to give the books away for free.

"For me as an author, my mission is to get these books into the hands of as many children as possible. These corporate sponsors are a huge help by being willing to get those books out there. I can go to a school and say, 'Everybody here gets a free book. That's amazing." Powell said."

(quote from article written by Glen Korstrom)

I am pretty amazed that this woman doesn't in the slightest seem to realize (or want to admit) that since she has 'tweaked' them to include ads for products in them they are not actually any longer the books she intended children to have, but have simply become another way for children to be bombarded by ad companies and their products. And may I say what a clever and sly way to advertise. Oh sure, we just want to give children 'educational books' for free... that have our product all over them. The author and illustrator has in this case simply become a tool for the company to promote their product. The integrity of the book has vanished and the children are now being sold a product instead of reading a book. It is not a Children's Picture Book any longer, it is merely a form of advertisement. Very, very disturbing.