I Lego NY

For those of you who think that board books are only for babies, think again! Between my published lift-the-flaps and my current preoccupation at work transforming favorite classics into board books, I suppose I pay a bit more attention to board books than the average kids’ lit nerd.

Then I saw I Lego NY by Christoph Niemann (Abrams Image), released this month, and I knew that board books had just gone to a whole new level.

This witty homage to New York City started as a contribution on Abstract City for the New York Times last year, acting as a bit of nostalgia for the now Berlin-based designer, and a bit of entertainment for some hip New York parents.  I love the reductive look at urban life, and it translates amazingly into something that both kids and adults can find fun and insightful.  Whoever decided to turn this post into a board book is a genius!

Check out the links for more of the Lego creations, or better yet, just buy the book (it’s at the Pratt store, go figure)!

Panorama photos

I took my new favorite book into the dorm hallway today… here are the photos!   Impressive… 

Panorama: A Fold-Out Book

Just received the book, Panorama, as a gift for being alive post-finals.  The accordion-fold layout is a rare variation from a traditional 32-page book format, and it really is a stunning presentation.  Read it page-by-page, like every other book, and journey through scenes of individual countries – with Fani Marceau’s poetic quip for each.  Then, night falls, and the viewer is invited to turn back through the

 other side of the pages… in a nighttime version of every spread.  As if Joelle Jolivet’s (365 Penguins) black-and-white woodcut illustrations weren’t gorgeous enough, they fold out into a 13 foot expanse of… well… the world!  Everything connects into two mural-like landscapes, day and night, that literally had me jumping with delight.  

The catch?  Yes, this book will be destroyed by eager 6-year-olds within minutes of any library purchasing this beauty.  But I’m all for fresh ways of approaching what it means to be a book (thank you, Independent Publishing class…), so look forward to much more of that here to come!  

– ABE