Monday 7 September 2009

A bit of this and that - part 1




Beautiful Portuguese children's book Quando eu nasci by Isabel Minhos Martins and Madelena Matoso from the lovely Planeta Tangerina via The Animalarium and The Apple and the Egg


I spent some time catching up with my favourite blogs this weekend. I've also discovered some new, inspiring sites, which I'll be adding to my blogroll. Lots of things caught my eye, too many too show at once, so here's my first selection, including some great book links for you to explore. Click-away and enjoy!



For French readers and Russophiles, French publishers L'Ouvroir Humoir have just published the first French edition of "The Luggage" (Bagadj - 1927) a creative collaboration between Soviet children's poet, author and translator Samuel Marshak (1887-1964) and Soviet illustrator, painter and graphic artist Vladimir Lebedev (1891-1967).



If you're interested in Russian children's literature and illustration and love this particular use of contrast, space, shapes and typography, marrying text and image so perfectly, French publishing house MeMo, published a wonderful collection of four stories by Marshak and Lebedev ( "The Circus", "Icecream", "How the Plane made the Plane" and "Yesterday and Today - 1925-1927) entitled "Quand la poésie jonglait avec l'image" in 2005. Both titles (in French) are available here.



I found these books via the ever-informative Ribambelles & Ribambins. See also Animalarium's
excellent article on Lebedev and Marie Desplechin's readers' notes (in French) for "Quand la poésie jonglait avec l'image".

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I love this book cover designed by David Wardle, co-founder of Bold & Noble, who runs a company specialising in design, illustration and typography for publishing.



His Agathe Christie book covers are equally as striking and can be found on Bold & Noble's blog.


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I can't wait to buy a copy of this little gem, bound to please young and old alike. Alphabeasties and other amazing types illustrated and designed by Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss of Werner Design Works (Blue Apple Books) was published in July and is already out-of-stock (second printing in the works).



Blocky or small. Thick or tall.
Roundish, slope-y, fancy or dopey.
Letters look different in all different places.
That's because they have different typefaces.

Found via the Uppercase Gallery

You should also pay a visit to Nate Williams' new Letter Playground , a nice space to explore letter forms, and if you're feeling creative and ready for a graphic challenge, use Hazel Terry's find over at The Art Room Plant to shape faces and people from letters. I'm sure your kids will love it!







17 comments:

  1. I am so pleased you like so many of my posts and you forward them here :-)
    Bagadj has just been released. I saw a first copy during the summer and I could not help writing about it. The print quality is amazing. This is really a great find!

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  2. Thank you for such a diverse range of quality articles. I can't wait to see what you'll be writing about next :)

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  3. Looks like you've been really busy again. Thanks for all these great links. I'll have to sit down and look at these properly tomorrow.
    Adele

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  4. I love all these book illustrations especially 'Quando Eu Nasci' beautiful and very inspiring thanks for sharing, I'll return tomorrow for inspiration and reference!! Lisa:)

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  5. Oh they are all so fabulous! Wonderful links. Thanks Deb - what a great post :) K

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  6. Deb, what a great collection you have brought together here! Would you look at that strong man illustration, just brilliant. Thank you for all this information and the links... will be busy following all these.

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  7. J'aime beaucoup le colosse athlétique ... merci pour les liens, de belles trouvailles !!!

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  8. totally fantastic and inspiring post - I love the birdies at the top.
    Amy
    (stickers and stuff)

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  9. Hi! Great Russian illustrations! I think you would also like Polish vintage children's books. Miroslaw Pokora, Bohdan Butenko, Ignacy Witz, Marcin Szancer, Zbigniew Lengren are the most significant names. Also contemporary illustrators are not bad: see e.g. www.wytwornia.com and their books (I love Tuwim wiersze).
    Your blog is very inspiring. Congratulations! Justyna

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  10. Thank you Justyna for your wonderful list of Polish children's books. Some of them I know already but not the contemporary works. Must follow up XXX Deb

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  11. What a totally lovely selection! And thanks for the mentions...

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  12. The birds illustration on Quando eu nasci is gorgeous, reminds me of Rob Ryan's work a little.

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  13. So much to digest! erm, I feel like i'm on crackerjack...I saw an octopus made from o's, some people made out of letters, a wonderful French-Russian-lady-thing-with-a-daschund and-some-suitcases....and a cabbage (probably)

    Great post...i'll revisit when i have a few more minutes!

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  14. Ravie de faire connaissance avec Kickan & Conkers ! Tellement de jolies choses à lire, à voir, de liens...Il faut que je revienne très vite pour m'attarder !

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  15. Such lovely illustrations - the strongmen and the octopus are my fav!

    P.S. As I am loving your blog, I've given you a blog award... x

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  16. Deb - I LOVE checking out your blog everyday! You have a marvelous ability to pull together unique and wonderful images and collections. Thank you for all the time it takes to do so! I am certainly a fan!

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  17. Oh so many lovely pictures, love the russian/french ones, hope to have some time soon to check them out :-)

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