Here's some spooky October fun! Charles Altamont Doyle, father of Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle, was living at the Montrose Royal Lunatic Asylum in Scotland when he created this diary of musings and sketches. He draws sinister birds, plants and flowers, fairies and peculiar ladies.
Claire A. Nivola's elegant little book Star Child tells the story of the human life cycle through the eyes of a star born on Earth. Star elders tell the story of how he would be born human, grow up, fall in love with the beautiful world, and be swept up in our river of time. It deals with love, change and loss with a very gentle touch.
I was pleasantly surprised to wander into an unexpected bookshop while on a beer-y afternoon in San Pedro, complete with an Honesty Library payment system, and a nicely curated selection.
This is an original story with really imaginative characters, written and illustrated by Ben Hatke. Julia demonstrates leadership, compassion, and creativity by taking in magical, homeless creatures. Also, her house travels on the back of a giant turtle! Enjoy!
The Wrong Place is the first book by Brecht Evens that I picked up, and I carried it around like a bible for a couple months. Prepare to meet a watercolor God.
Using a fictional account of the relationship between sisters Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell, this story teaches empathy, compassion and the power of art to heal. This is also a great introduction to an important historical author - by tapping into the sisters relationship and creating a captivating magical world, this book succeeds in holding a child's interest.
Open House For Butterflies makes a great gift to new parents. Sweet, tiny and charming, it takes up hardly any space in the house, but much room in the heart - this is Sendak at his sweetest.
The People of Paper struck all the right cords. It is filled with loneliness, longing, mediations on the magic of paper, beautiful graphic design with unconventional typography. After immersing in the metafiction of this novel, I had trouble going back to more conventional reads.
All the pictures in Hoffmann's Sleeping Beauty are unexpected and interesting, but I was sold on the full spread of the sleeping castle overgrown by thorn bushes. There is so much tiny detail to explore and get lost in - it makes you want to sit down right there and start drawing.
Bart’s Books is is the largest independently owned and operated outdoor bookstore in the country. If traveling to Ojai, Ca., book lovers should stop here. Books line the exterior walls, and within patrons can browse and relax in the open sunlight and air.
In this tiny book of photography a miniature “opera” is enacted by staged objects - a teapot, a toy horse, bits of sculpture, billiard balls, a glass eye. The narrative follows the birth of an idea as it travels to full completion. The teapot emerges form the sea, breaks apart to reveal a white stallion, who then transforms into the sun and plants.
At the end of a long day Mother Sky bathes, dresses and feeds Little Night, who only wants to run away and play hide and seek. Little kids will love her sneaky playfulness, and be delighted by the magical images.
IDEA: start a book club where you draw pictures inspired by the book. How about all young adult fiction, so you can read the books quickly, and relive the amazing books of your youth? We did, and it was amazing!
Visit an imaginary inn run by William Blake. Fully illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen with bread baking dragons, the Man in the Marmalade Hat, the King of Cats, the Wise Cow, and Blake himself. All populate this book of Nancy Willard's lovely nonsensical poetry - the first Newbery winning book to also be named a Caldecott Honor Book.
I savored this book like a cup of perfectly brewed tea - it was just the right temperature and flavor. The prose is delicate, quietly impactful. There are 18 stories within, all dealing with love in some manner - the love between romantic couples, but also love of children or parents lost, of life's ephemeral beautiful moments.
This book captivated my heart as it's about being fearlessly creative. Swatch loves color, and she goes boldly out into the world on a daily mission to tame and conquer all the shapes of color in the world.
I am loving the resurgence of classic books with modern illustrations! I was at Barnes & Noble last weekend, and saw this edition of Pride and Prejudice, illustrated by Alice Pattullo, an artist and printmaker based in East London.
Something to love about French children’s books is that they often do not have the educational moral messages that drive the storylines of American storybooks. A moral tale is not a bad thing, it’s wonderful that books instill meaningful values in developing minds, yet it can be refreshing to simply enjoy a story that’s fun for the sake of fun.
