"People" by Blexbolex, and others

Before I get started on the excellent, ever-growing list of recommendations that have been made to me for this blog, I thought I would clear out a few that I've had sitting on my nightstand for the last few weeks.  If they seem like they might be somewhat unrelated to each other it's because they are completely unrelated to each other.  This particular group of books was assembled for me by one of our helpful children's librarians during a lap around their branch, picking things up.

First up is People by Blexbolex.  This book was, according to Wikipedia, named 2008's "Best Book Design of the World" at the Leipzig Book Fair, which is a very high (if awkwardly phrased) honor.  It's certainly a very cool book.  Each page has one illustration and one label, which is complemented by the illustration and label on the facing page.  Like so:

The relationships between the illustrations are very subtle, not at all like the typical pairs of opposites that you would usually expect from a children's book.  The pairs reward deeper, more imaginative thinking by the reader.  What then, is the relationship between an astronaut and a dreamer?  Or between a conductor and a tyrant?

The book is also, for a picture book, quite long, which I think is a good thing.  It rewards the reader who goes back over and over looking for new things.  In other words, it's simple but it has depth, which is extremely tough to pull off.

Next up are a pair of books by Shaun Tan called Tales from Outer Suburbia and Lost & Found.  The former is a Young Adult book, the latter is aimed at children.  I wasn't really wild about either, but I can't quite put my finger on why.  They are both richly illustrated, and the style of illustration is varied.  The stories are very creative as well.

from Lost & Found

from Tales of Outer Suburbia

I guess if I had to put forward a reason for why I didn't love them, it would be because they read like they are written for kids, which is not how I think children's books should be written.  Does that make sense?  It doesn't read like an adult talking to someone whom they consider a peer, but rather it reads like an adult being whimsical-on-purpose, which drives me very crazy.  I don't want to give the impression that these are bad books (quite the opposite, these are very good books), but something in the tone made me not want to read on.  Check them out for yourself though, you might not be as persnickety as I am.

Finally, we have What the World Eats by Faith D'Aluisio and with photos by Peter Menzel.  This book is fascinating.  Basically, it profiles families from all over the world and their eating habits.  There is a family from suburban Paris, farmers from Guatemala, villagers from Mali, and so on and so on.  Each family has a portrait taken with all the food they would eat in a typical week, along with a list of the prices for each item in the photo.  Most entries come with recipes from that family and/or region.  There is a brief essay for each family that talks about daily routines, how and why they choose the food they do, and other interesting aspects of their lifestyle.  Interspersed throughout are charts that compare things like literacy rates, fertility rates, access to clean water, and other information country by country.

The Madsens of Cap Hope, Greenland

The Natomos of Kouakourou, Mali

The Ukitas of Kodaira City, Japan

To put it simply, this book is awesome.  It will be engaging for children, illuminating for adults, and you'll even walk away with a recipe or two.  If you're into food, or world culture, or just awesome colorful photography, check out What the World Eats as soon as you can.

I promise I will get back to the original formula for this blog VERY SOON.  I'm sure it says something about my mental fortitude that it took me only about like six months to get completely away from the read-review-recommend format that I set up for this blog, and start just talking about whatever I'm reading or have laying around my house/office.

That's it!  Go read!