The large photos were beautiful and in nice correspondence to the text. The fact that Svetlana Zhurkin (media researcher at Capstone) did this all witThe large photos were beautiful and in nice correspondence to the text. The fact that Svetlana Zhurkin (media researcher at Capstone) did this all with stock photos is pretty amazing. Also, the integrated design features for the text boxes made the visual experience even better. The writing for the how-to presentation was clear and concise, but also with a sense there is a personal voice behind it.
Why only 2 stars? For a book like this to be in hard cover, and four-color printing it needs to do support more than one approach to the transaction. This would be a great read-aloud Pre-K-1, but not much for a kid to just sit and read. Because it seems to be designed for a read-aloud only, and because each page has about 20 words on it, the compulsory index in the back is ridiculous.
Overall it's a shame, because as a set of components (by author, media researcher, designer) this should be a good book to read. But when looked at as a whole it just doesn't deliver. ...more
What made me enjoy this was the 'slice of history' approach. Unlike the Tuskegee Airmen, these soldiers never saw overseas combat duty during WWII. AsWhat made me enjoy this was the 'slice of history' approach. Unlike the Tuskegee Airmen, these soldiers never saw overseas combat duty during WWII. As such, the story doesn't have the Hollywood drama you get with fighter pilots over Italy. But it may be a better story about integration in the military, because the story arc shows how racist decision-making remained a military standard through the end of the war.
The long-form picture book was similar in format and design to Emancipation Proclamation by Tonya Bolden. But this book did not get color printing. All the visuals were b/w photos and the design features were minimal. No designer credit? This was unusual for Candlewick for an obviously expensive book. Clean easy to read design, but no obvious hand of a known graphic designer--maybe their in-house designers really wanted the project? Anyway, high-quality hard cover, paper, and dust jacket were signs Candlewick did put money behind the project.
Editors also spared no expense on the back matter pages (source notes, bibliography, timeline, index), including Stone's special section on her historical research methods! (More books need this feature!!) Stone actually did give staff designer Sherry Fatla an acknowledgement in the end matter with her editors, but did not call her out as the designer. Here's a good interview with Fatla by one of her past authors.
The voice and power in the writing was not as strong as Bolden's in Emancipation. But then, Bolden had dozens if not hundreds of existing secondary sources to try to outdo! Stone claims the ground for the first comprehensive historical research on the 555th. Again, it was a pleasure to see a more obscure slice of history with this kind of author attention paired to the high quality production! ...more
This was much better than the last concept book I read. The images and text are loaded with unanswered questions and inferences to make. I felt like IThis was much better than the last concept book I read. The images and text are loaded with unanswered questions and inferences to make. I felt like I had to stop along the way to 'notice and fondle the details' as Eliot Singer used to day, and then decide how these details made a difference to me. Some of the juxtapositions were laugh-out-loud funny, and were in the same post-modern spirit as People. A favorite is the page where the cartoon elephant is faced by a page with a painting of an African elephant--it's still a painting (not a photo), just in a different style and still slightly cartoony! Very interesting talk to be had around these pictures.
I didn't feel like the text answered all the questions about 'why' these things were opposites (at least not on every page). The book supported my open-ended questions. ...more
While I was engaged by the variety of concepts and ways of interacting with this simple design, I kept feeling bullied by the text. The text was fullyWhile I was engaged by the variety of concepts and ways of interacting with this simple design, I kept feeling bullied by the text. The text was fully corresponding with what I saw, and telling me how to interpret it. This book has way better potential as a wordless picture book to talk about with young readers as the pages are turned. I wonder what would be a good way to hide the text for a 'read-aloud' that is all kids' repsonses and talk about the visuals.
This would be a much more powerful multi-modal text if the words had been somehow in a counterpoint relationship to the pictures. For example, on the pages where the Blop is suddenly filled with textures of different kinds of animal skins, a question like 'Where is Blop?' would give away none of the answers, but still prompt the same kind of activation of background knowledge. Instead, he simply labeled it "Animal Blop". Boring.
It was too bad, because this book felt a lot like Blexbolex' People visually. But Blexbolex was much better at creating a readerly experience and not just a set of concepts to deliver didactically. ...more
I felt like I was watching a good movie, couldn't put the book down. Interestingly, this long-form informational book took me about as long to read asI felt like I was watching a good movie, couldn't put the book down. Interestingly, this long-form informational book took me about as long to read as to watch a movie.
Bolden's first-person telling from the black we point of view added a sense of urgency. I enjoyed her decision to problematize Lincoln, presenting him in the context of a. constant pressure by abolitionists and b. seceded states' failure to concede anything in negotiation (sounds familiar given today's congress). It was great to see all the context coming together to make emancipation look to Lincoln more and more like the inevitable conclusion. Arguably it is easier to complicate Lincoln without polarizing people, because he wasn't a slave owner like Jefferson or Washington. It's easier to write him as a conflicted character without villainizing. By contrast, it was this complexity in characterization I felt was missing from Fitzgerald's Children of the Tipi: Life in the Buffalo Days, which I reviewed yesterday.
Bolden's often poetic narrator voice carries the disappointment and eagerness she might have felt inside the movement at the time. She makes no apologies for assuming a personal point of view with a power-based agenda, her quilt frame for patching together all the sources and facts. She presents in quotation the brilliant logic of thinkers like Frederick Douglass who could see the road forward, while not faulting Lincoln for being deliberate and slow and ultimately wrong. (Changing his stance--hmm, don't we call that 'flip-flopping' now?). Many of the quotations she selected sound like they could have been written yesterday. This is probably because so many of them were taken from speeches, and maybe spoken language hasn't changed all that much since the 1800s?
In the end matter a thorough timeline, complete quote sources, and a full two-column page of bibliography all recommend Bolden's careful historical work and the publisher's confidence in this as a book worth spending end paper on (it's an obvious try at an award by Abrams). Also, the entire text is shot through with photos of primary source documents in addition to the engravings and photos. Maria T. Middleton gets a design credit in the front matter. High quality paper, expensive color process, and a fine dust cover all point to a book with a great budget. ...more
This book was a deceptively engaging idea on Fitzgerald's part: stitching together a book only of photos and quotations from Native American sources--This book was a deceptively engaging idea on Fitzgerald's part: stitching together a book only of photos and quotations from Native American sources--particularly captivating to look at. But the overall effect of the editing is a normative, redacted view of who the Plains Indians were--an attractive romanticized version.
One of the quotations from Yellowtail let on about this. "You carried a sense of the sacred with you. All of the forms had meaning, even the tipi and the sacred circle of the entire camp. Of course, the life was hard and difficult. And, not all Indians followed the rules."
What he let peek through in that quotation is that a monolithic view of what it meant to be an Indian was often put forward by leaders. They may have needed this kind of unifying rhetoric, but it may not have been shared uniformly by all [i.e., not by all people and not all the time]. More interesting windows on daily life might come not from the prophet, chief, or spokesperson, but from the everyday person who didn't speak in pithy quotes or generalities. Yes, a good number of Fitzgerald's quotations do have this everyday feel to them, and there are plenty of sources out there, including The Middle Five - Indian Boys at School by Francis LaFlesche. ...more
What was interesting about this addition to Arnosky's prolific list of titles was the personal everyday writing. He clearly identified that this was aWhat was interesting about this addition to Arnosky's prolific list of titles was the personal everyday writing. He clearly identified that this was an exploration of sea animals mostly based on wading and rowing in small boats near shore. This made it seem accessible. But there were some inconsistencies. While he started out setting this up as an 'anyone can explore the sea' book, he then spent a few pages on animals I wouldn't get to see without a seagoing boat or other equipment. By self-identifying as a 'naturalist' and sticking with the first person voice, he doesn't have to turn so strongly to expert sources. I like the term naturalist, because it suggests someone with professional skills outside the sciences who turns these skills to the study of nature.
He broke voice for a couple of the spreads, which I didn't like. Just when I was digging his first person voice, he slipped into third person description for an entire animal. Also, he could have pared words like 'suddenly' and 'very'--clear narratives and descriptions don't need these words. There was some clunkiness to the prose due to these kinds of issues.
He included several types of text features. The first person narratives were offset both by paragraph-length captions and small captions and labels. This is good differentiation. But I would be interested in seeing the first person voice in the smaller text features, too, because those are the ones less strong readers are likely to do well with--and then they'd get that dose of voice.
The foldouts were great for expanding the visual experience. The expansive spread of a full-size picturebook is still a main challenge to the ebook market, and this will be true for a few years into the future. There's nothing like a full-color double-page spread with its 11x17 span, and then with foldouts on top of that...forgetaboutit. Until we are living the tech from Minority Report, paper picturebooks are superior to anything on a tablet. Although, once again, if anyone is reading I encourage you to look at what Marvel Comics has done to scaffold the reading of comic books in their iphone and android app. ...more
So this morning, Alma saw this book as Nancy was putting his coat on. The bus was waiting out front. He leaned over to have a look, and Nancy had to pSo this morning, Alma saw this book as Nancy was putting his coat on. The bus was waiting out front. He leaned over to have a look, and Nancy had to pull him away to take him out to the bus. He got really mad at her. I'll have to leave it out for him this afternoon. It's already a well-loved copy from Poudre Libraries, with a lot of rips from vigorous page turning. Alma will probably help that along a bit...we'll have to read it with a roll of tape.
This is not an Eyewitness book, but uses all the tools we expect from a DK book in that series: The white background providing contrast for original photos. This book also has an original spot illustration for each animal, along with the usual raft of templated text features providing a differentiated reading experience.
The idea of "real-size" animals was fun to see. Greenwood is borrowing from Steve Jenkins' idea, but has used photography instead of illustrations for the life-size animals. The main central photograph is to-scale. On a couple of pages, the pig and the donkey, they used fold-outs to expand the scope of what I could see. ...more
Powerkids (a subsidiary of Rosen), subcontracted with British book design team Calcium Creative for this series. Calcium contracts with a long list ofPowerkids (a subsidiary of Rosen), subcontracted with British book design team Calcium Creative for this series. Calcium contracts with a long list of the series publishers. This seems like an interesting way to do business. They can put their effort into finding good ideas and making the books, or on getting ideas from other companies' editors and pitching them a concept for the series.
The idea behind the six in this series is animals that travel and work in groups--an interesting science concept to follow (ants, chimps, dogs, dolphins and whales, and lion prides are the others in the series).
While specific graphic designers are credited, this book gets more of the template treatment than original design throughout the book. The designers created a style guide and templates and then manipulated this for each spread. Given the stock photos, there is pretty good variety in what I get to see of wolves in color, composition, and content (the photos on the page about marking territory were unfortunately non-specific ;-) ). Again, I'm surprised at how a focused topic can have such depth in the stock photo library to support a whole book.
The text is unremarkable, but does offer three different levels of complexity--captions (10-15 words), small vignettes (35-40 words), and body text (2 simple paragraphs). The vocabulary and sentences are complex enough to allow for some interest to come from the text, but still very bare bones description with little voice. ...more
Powerkids (a subsidiary of Rosen), subcontracted with British book design team Calcium Creative for this series. Calcium contracts with a long list ofPowerkids (a subsidiary of Rosen), subcontracted with British book design team Calcium Creative for this series. Calcium contracts with a long list of the series publishers. This seems like an interesting way to do business. They can put their effort into finding good ideas and making the books, or on getting ideas from other companies' editors and pitching them a concept for the series.
The idea behind the six in this series is animals that travel and work in groups--an interesting science concept to follow (ants, chimps, dogs, dolphins and whales, and lion prides are the others in the series).
While specific graphic designers are credited, this book gets more of the template treatment than original design throughout the book. The designers created a style guide and templates and then manipulated this for each spread. Given the stock photos, there is pretty good variety in what I get to see of wolves in color, composition, and content (the photos on the page about marking territory were unfortunately non-specific ;-) ). Again, I'm surprised at how a focused topic can have such depth in the stock photo library to support a whole book.
The text is unremarkable, but does offer three different levels of complexity--captions (10-15 words), small vignettes (35-40 words), and body text (2 simple paragraphs). The vocabulary and sentences are complex enough to allow for some interest to come from the text, but still very bare bones description with little voice. ...more
The stars in this series come from Anders Hanson's design. The credit shows him as a designer at Mighty Media, Inc. Did he pitch the series to ABDO, oThe stars in this series come from Anders Hanson's design. The credit shows him as a designer at Mighty Media, Inc. Did he pitch the series to ABDO, or did they hire his design firm for the editorial team's concept (Liz Salzmann)? We'll see what I can find out.
All stock photos and art, but with unique design work on each double-page spread. A general scheme for color and backgrounds provides a consistent feel not only throughout the book, but over the whole series. With this general rule for the look, Hanson (and Mann? did she work with him on design, or did she write the words?) have done a great job providing a cohesive and interesting visual experience.
The text is informative, but not special. Simple factual sentences are either strung together in small 2-4 sentence paragraphs or stand alone as captions. Diane Craig consulted as a reading specialist, and I wonder if she was in charge of keeping vocabulary and sentence complexity low? If not, what was her role? ...more
The stars in this series come from Anders Hanson's design. The credit shows him as a designer at Mighty Media, Inc. Did he pitch the series to ABDO, oThe stars in this series come from Anders Hanson's design. The credit shows him as a designer at Mighty Media, Inc. Did he pitch the series to ABDO, or did they hire his design firm for the editorial team's concept (Liz Salzmann)? We'll see what I can find out.
All stock photos and art, but with unique design work on each double-page spread. A general scheme for color and backgrounds provides a consistent feel not only throughout the book, but over the whole series. With this general rule for the look, Hanson (and Mann? did she work with him on design, or did she write the words?) have done a great job providing a cohesive and interesting visual experience.
The text is informative, but not special. Simple factual sentences are either strung together in small 2-4 sentence paragraphs or stand alone as captions. Diane Craig consulted as a reading specialist, and I wonder if she was in charge of keeping vocabulary and sentence complexity low? If not, what was her role? ...more
I was so relieved this wasn't a rhyming book! Brockett's voice is strong, adding a feel with descriptions instead of mere labels. And her original phoI was so relieved this wasn't a rhyming book! Brockett's voice is strong, adding a feel with descriptions instead of mere labels. And her original photos were interesting to look at (although I thought she turned to her needlework and craft projects too often). It would be a fun read aloud. Also noteworthy is that she goes up to 20 instead of 10....more
So I've been thinking about recipe books lately, and the question is the same as for other activity books: is the experience of the book strong withouSo I've been thinking about recipe books lately, and the question is the same as for other activity books: is the experience of the book strong without doing the activity? IF not, I can look up cupcake recipes dozens of places online. So a recipe book has to clear not only the internet hurdle, but also the one about the aesthetic experience of reading the book.
I was imagining this book as a read-aloud. I think with the powerful original photos (shot in house at Capstone by Karon Dubke, just as Eric Gohl suggested would be the case) I could narrate my way through the recipe, pointing at the photo as if it were a diagram. Recipes beg to be read aloud with emphatic prosody. Favorite recipe books for me have a strong personal voice and this book was much more bare bones in the writing than I would have liked....more
When I was young I learned to be disappointed by children's dictionaries and encyclopedias. They are usually condescending in content and tone. For exWhen I was young I learned to be disappointed by children's dictionaries and encyclopedias. They are usually condescending in content and tone. For example, one of the key facts of English is the multi-faceted definition. This book only allows 2. I liked the fact that it includes 13000 words, but I don't know how the selections were made be cause there are no editorial notes about process anywhere on or in the book. Oh, the back cover does tell me there are 1500 photos and color illustrations, but nothing about what they decided to in/exclude by policy. Part of the charm of a dictionary is the odd words you encounter on the way to the one you are looking up, and really that is the main value of a print dictionary at all today--it has to offer better or more experience than looking up a word online. This kind of book is rapidly becoming dated, especially since it pares out so many of the words in a regular dictionary. Wasn't a fan before, even less now....more
Parra's folk-style illustrations were fun to look at. I am still thinking about the pages where he did a bird's eye view of a town square and park. buParra's folk-style illustrations were fun to look at. I am still thinking about the pages where he did a bird's eye view of a town square and park. but the pictures did not salvage the experience of the book. There was no reason this book needed to rhyme. Many of the rhymes felt forced and distracted from the presentation of everyday culture through the lens of a shapes concept. Also, the fact that Thong started with 'round' instead of 'circle' made me expect to read about more generalized shape concepts like round, angular, zig zag, curve. That would have been a fresh take instead of the same old shape catalog....more
Last summer I went to the Edward Tufte design seminar in Denver, where he discussed design principles as they relate to presenting information and datLast summer I went to the Edward Tufte design seminar in Denver, where he discussed design principles as they relate to presenting information and data. Now this is the second book I have seen that uses the infographic style for a whole children's book. While I see some of the most basic techniques developed by Otto Neurath and Gerd Arntz, I wonder whether this book would hold up to Tufte's critiques. One of Tufte's ideas is that the information needs to be as clear and simple as possible, and this book really over-uses color and some of the information is more difficult to follow because of the complicated design.
But at the same time, the use of the full page to organize a flow of information in different graphic ways is unusual for children's books, which are usually dominated by a template-like approach to each double-page spread. This book at least owns up to the fact that each double can offer a new kind of visual experience, which is unusual for informational books. Richards and Simkins in this series of four books realize that the nature of the information should determine the layout of the page. Richards worked for DK in the past, so this is an interesting departure from the template-style he must be familiar with from working there. ...more
Bridges provides a very basic overview of ten specific historical ghost stories. The words begin with a narrative hook, followed by summary of the hisBridges provides a very basic overview of ten specific historical ghost stories. The words begin with a narrative hook, followed by summary of the historical account. Each double has a full-page illustration that seems to be just a blank picture of a setting. But these blank settings are the backdrop for use by a phone app to create an augmented reality. The first one was probably the best, where hovering the app over the book makes a 3-D image of a ghost ship appear.
I haven't seen a lot of Augmented Reality books, but my 8-year-old daughter sometimes plays with the AR on her Nintendo 3DS. The games aren't very well developed, so she doesn't play with them often. I'd like to see more of this.
The technology makes it into an activity book more than an aesthetically experienced piece of art work. It's what the book prompts you to do that creates the experience, more than the book itself.
It looks like Bridges cooperated with a relative to get the app developed. The concept makes it easy to discuss the modern and post-modern. Making a book interact with a smartphone or tablet is a clear use of recent modern technology. But one of the things that happens with the 3-D images in the app, is that they appear to pop off the page. For example, on the Headless Horseman page I can rotate the phone and see the image off the edges of the page. It makes me attend to the frame of the page in new ways, and also to notice what the background image was like before and after the app interacted with it.
This all begs the question of how illustrator Maughan collaborated with Jason Yim in the development of the app and the painting of the illustrations. Do the illustrations have to meet some kind of technical specs so that the app can 'recognize' which animation it is supposed to bring forward? How is this information coded in the illustration? Or did the coders simply use existing illustrations and write code to recognize them? ...more
This series book (with 5 titles) provides a basic overview of its title subject. I was worried it would have little beyond the Wikipedia page on GhostThis series book (with 5 titles) provides a basic overview of its title subject. I was worried it would have little beyond the Wikipedia page on Ghost hunting. But there was a good page on electronic voice phenomena (which interestingly, is not featured on the wikipedia page), and the process of setting up a ghost hunt was given in a narrative storytelling voice here where this process is given in plain description online. Andrew Nichols was the consulting expert on the project (his chapter was one of the more interesting in Ghosts, Specters, and Haunted Places).
One of the interesting things about these books is that 'skeptics' are usually given no face and are thus an impersonal antagonist, easy to dismiss. On the wikipedia page, however, the work of Benjamin Radford is cited directly and explicitly, giving skeptics a face and name. This book leaves them as faceless naysayers.
The photo sources for this series book are interesting, because Svetlana Zhurkin went to multiple news photo outlets instead of stock photos. Two had permissions that led closer to primary sources, including L'Aura Hladik and the Friedrich Jürgenson Foundation. ...more
This book grew on me after reading a few chapters. Its awkward formatting as an edited volume made it difficult to get into at the start. Each expert This book grew on me after reading a few chapters. Its awkward formatting as an edited volume made it difficult to get into at the start. Each expert chapter follows a different kind of outline structure, some just using plain text, others using headers, and still others using outline structures. A graphic designer might have helped readers find and see similarities across chapters with a consistent visual approach.
There is wide variety in what counts as an 'expert' here, with some contributors showing little more than reviewing existing accounts of the paranormal while others discuss their own field work in some detail. Overall, the editors made sure the whole text was good at describing what field work might look like, and at challenging popular assumptions and biases about field research.
Author credentials for each contributor are given at the back of the book. These were easier to critique after recently reading When Can You Trust the Experts?. Essentially, each person's presentation boils down to a 'trust me' moment. As an aesthetic experience, some of these moments were more powerful than others, making for an uneven read. Some felt credible and others hokey.
It is interesting to think about paranormal books as informational text, because of how controversial the question of 'reality' is by comparison to the popularity of the topic. It's not like dinosaurs or the Titanic, where a preponderance of tangible material accompanies the wide public interest--the entire topic is based on a body of reports and narratives. Because it is a perennial topic for publishers, it is very interesting to watch the ways authors use thought structures and text formats they borrow from the known informational text genres. In this volume, I feel like I am reading conference proceedings!
Back in the 1800s, authors like Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and Wilkie Collins were more interested in the narrative and aesthetic value of the paranormal and of dark psychology. Pye and Dalley have ignored the rhetoric that favors the quality of the telling, and instead working to put readers in a frame of mind of scientific or journalistic reading. Just on a reader response level, I'm conflicted about that. ...more
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