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It is no secret that the world of publishing is not having an easy time of it. Despite the fact that there are still many excellent books being written all the time, it's hard to predict exactly what the future of books will be. Electronic books hold a lot of promise but as long as Apple and Amazon are fighting over the profits it doesn't sound like it's a great deal for publishers. And although picture books have (so far) been harder to replace with digital versions, sales are declining there as well.
So it's always a joy to come across books that have something extra. Here are two picture books I've received recently that each offer something special for the reader: Return of the Dapper Men by Jim McCann and Janet Lee, and a new adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant with art by Chris Beatrice and a musical score by Dan Goeller.
The two books are quite different from each other, but both have a timeless fairy-tale quality to them and a great presentation. Click through to read my reviews:
- Return of the Dapper Men by Jim McCann and Janet Lee
- The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde, adapted by Dan Goeller, Chris Beatrice and Martin Jarvis
Return of the Dapper Men by Jim McCann and Janet Lee
I think it's safe to say that Return of the Dapper Men is the only book I have (and probably will ever have) with an introduction by Tim Gunn—certainly a dapper man if there ever was one. But the book—despite its dapper men and Gunn's intro—isn't just for fans of Project Runway (which I've never actually seen myself).
I mentioned that both of these books have a timeless quality to them. In the case of Dapper Men, it's more than just a figure of speech: the story begins in Anorev, a world where time has stopped. In this land of children and machines, the children just play (underground) and the machines work, and that is all they can remember. The sun never sets and the day never ends, and things just go on exactly as they always have.
But among the clockwork people and the children, there are two who are just a bit different. The boy Ayden and the red-haired robot girl Zoe are friends, and both don't quite fit in with their own kind. Ayden is despised by some of the children because of all the time he spends above, "up there." Zoe never speaks, but she seems to have sparks of memory or knowledge that are just coming into focus.
And then something unexpected happens: the old clock tower begins to tick and tock again and sounds its bell, which hasn't been heard in an eternity, and 314 Dapper Men returned to Anorev, floating down to earth in their striped jackets and green hats and wingtip shoes. Things finally begin to change.
The story is a hard one to describe, but there are some wonderful characters. Ayden is a curious sort, not satisfied with the way things are and asking questions that the other children never ask. Fabre is a robot who wants to fly, and has built up a tall tower in the hopes of reaching the Clockwork Angel out in the bay. The Clockwork Angel herself is a mystery—a huge statue with wings, holding some chimes and bits of clockwork but nobody knows her purpose. Most of the Dapper Men are silent, going about their business, but there is one who talks and acts differently, and he bustles about the town turning everything upside-down, saying things that nobody quite understands.
The artwork of Dapper Men is remarkable. The book is sort of a graphic novel, with panels and dialogue bubbles, but the illustrations look nothing like most comics I've seen. Everything is hand-drawn—the panel borders are a little uneven, and you can see see the tell-tale lines that Prismacolor markers make when you color with them. Now, I must say that I didn't always like the drawing style of the people but I really liked a lot of the clockwork environments. But what really stood out is an odd, almost three-dimensional effect in some of the backgrounds, which I didn't understand until I finished the book and found "The Making of a Dapper Page," in which author McCann explain's Lee's process. It turns out that she draws the pictures and colors them on paper, then actually cuts out large sections of the background and Mod Podges the paper onto painted boards (or sometimes pages of books). Then the whole thing is scanned in and the lettering is layered in.
It gives the whole book a very non-digital quality that stands out in a world of slick, vectorized images; combined with the oversized format, cloth-edged binding and red ribbon bookmark, it makes for a beautiful picture book that is quite impressive.
Dapper Men is suitable for all ages though younger readers may not quite understand what's going on or some of the more flowery language used in parts. It's a very fascinating story about finding your place in the world and making difficult decisions. If you're looking for a book that truly stands out, Return of the Dapper Men fits the bill.
Disclosure: Archaia Press provided a review copy of this book.
The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde, adapted by Dan Goeller, Chris Beatrice and Martin Jarvis
Oscar Wilde once said in an interview: "It is the duty of every father to write fairy tales for his children." Well, I guess I'm falling down on my duty there, but at least I can fall back on this story that Wilde wrote himself. The Selfish Giant is about a giant who built up a big wall around his garden to keep out the kids who loved to play there—but then it became a place of perpetual winter until some children found a hole and sneaked back in. The giant learns his lesson, knocks down the wall and befriends the kids. I should note that the story is partially a Christian allegory and there is a Christ-figure at the end, but the story itself reads like a fable.
The particular version I have is a brand-new edition which will be available March 1 (though it is available for pre-order now at a reduced price). Dan Goeller and Chris Beatrice are both self-professed geek dads who collaborated to bring Wilde's tale to life using modern digital techniques and methods with a surprisingly old-school result. Beatrice's illustrations are created entirely digitally, but they have the look of old fairy-tale paintings—in fact, if I hadn't been told they were digital paintings I probably would have assumed they were oil paintings. One of my favorite scenes is toward the beginning, when the giant returns home from his trip. Seen from a normal person's point of view, the giant towers above with a castle and stormy gray skies in the background.
Goeller's contribution is a musical score on the included CD. He uses his computer to compose and prepare the score, and the final score is a combination of recordings of members of the Nashville Symphony (on woodwinds, brass and strings) and digital instrumentation. In addition, the story is narrated over the score by British actor Martin Jarvis.
I read the book to my kids as a bedtime story one evening. The next day, of her own volition, my four-year-old got out the CD, popped it in the player and sat down with the book. What was interesting to me was that the score is quite a bit longer than the story itself—there will be narration with music for a while, and then the music will continue during a pause in the narration. However, my daughter listened to the whole CD and followed along in the book and really seemed to enjoy it. The score reminded me a little of "Peter and the Wolf," with different instruments and themes for the children and the giant, and it really added another dimension to the story. The last track of the CD, after the story is over, is a medley of various nursery rhyme songs like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Pop! Goes the Weasel." It's not too long, but fun to listen to and my four-year-old enjoyed naming all the songs as they came up.
I wasn't familiar with the story of The Selfish Giant before, but I really enjoyed this presentation of it. For more information visit SelfishGiantMusic.com which has clips of the music as well as some more info from Goeller and Beatrice about their creative processes. I especially appreciated Beatrice's walkthrough of one of his illustrations from thumbnail pencil sketches to completed painting.
Note: Noteworthy Books provided a review copy of The Selfish Giant.
