Two Reviews and the Role of a Designer

Birds Everywhere, written by Camilla de la Bedoyere and illustrated by Britta Teckentrup, is a marvelous overview of what it means to be a bird. Filled with fascinating information about the similarities and differences between some of the 10,000 species of birds worldwide, this introduction will make appreciators of young readers.

The engaging graphics use vibrant color and movement to show birds’ many strategies for feeding, nesting, and migrating thousands of miles. From the smallest hummingbird to the wandering albatrosses with the largest wingspan of any bird – ten feet – the text explains that all have feathers, a beak, two legs, and two wings and all are born from eggs.

Yet birds vary in significant ways. Secretary birds eat venomous snakes, owls hunt at night on silent wings, and oxpeckers eat the parasites that live on large savannah mammals like zebras. A double-page spread about long-distance migration shows the amazing stamina of many birds. Distance heroes of the migratory world are Arctic terns that may travel as much as 1.5 million miles in their lifetime.

Both common and exotic species are included, and significant information is conveyed in a clear and interesting manner. The author draws readers in with enticing facts simply presented and interspersed with Can you Find It? aspects.

Isabel and the Invisible World, by noted physicist Alan Lightman with illustrations by award-winning Ramona Kaylitzki, presents the challenging concept of visible and invisible light waves in the context of a story about a young girl’s birthday gift. Isabel is intensely curious about invisible things. So much so that her wish for her sixth birthday is not a bike or a toy castle. Isabel has two puppies, a happy interracial home, a funny little brother, and a good friend named Genevieve.

For her birthday Isabel wants the ability to see invisible things. Fortunately, her scientist mother has an idea. Isabel must wait, wondering what her birthday surprise will be. When the big day arrives, and she opens her gift, it is a prism that allows her to see the invisible spectrum hidden in ordinary light. The ensuing explanation of radio waves within Isabel’s story is touched upon lightly. A somewhat more complete explanation of light waves and their differing lengths is included on the final page. This information is a teaser inspiring the young reader to research further. Like the white light being expanded into something more, this introduction to light waves should expand the young reader’s interest in this invisible aspect of our world.

About Book Design

Each picture book relies for its success on an author and illustrator and a book designer. The cover’s attractiveness and the contents’ readability are essential to the designer’s contribution to the book. The cover layout he or she creates must include an arresting image and typography that will attract attention and complement the content and purpose of the book. The text on the Birds Everywhere cover, and the interior are done in Core Circus and Neutraface Text sans serif type, meaning that the letters do not have the little extra strokes at the top and bottom that serif fonts have. The typography on the Isabel and the Invisible World cover is set in Alice, combining sans serif for the title and serif for the author, illustrator, and the award acknowledgment. The book designer has chosen these fonts to make the text readable and in keeping with each kind of story.

On the cover of Birds Everywhere is one person’s name – Britta Teckentrup. And on the spine of the book, significant since people see it when it is shelved in a library or bookstore, are the title, the publisher’s logo, and the same person’s name: Britta Teckentrup. What is surprising about this design element is that this is the illustrator’s name only. Most typically both the author and illustrator would be included. This book is part of a series of four nonfiction books about aspects of the natural world. The first, Fish Everywhere, was written and illustrated by Britta Teckentrup. It had the same textured and blind-embossed treatment of the cover and similar page layouts and use of color as seen in the other books in the series. So, Britta Teckentrup’s way of organizing the information, her use of strong color for backgrounds, and the texture of the cover with its blind embossing to emphasize the physicality of the fish became her signature format for the series. Camilla de la Bedoyere is the author of hundreds of non-fiction children’s books, including some that were illustrated by other artists. She wrote the text to fit the series’ goals but did not initiate the series.

Birds Everywhere was printed in Dongguan, Guangdong, China while Isabel and the Invisible World was produced in Humen, Dongguan, China. The artwork for both was done digitally rather than with traditional artists’ materials. And Birds Everywhere was first published in the United Kingdom. The designer has included this information on the copyright page in a smaller type size than the body text because while important, it is not as high in the overall hierarchy as the body text or the title.

The book designer for Isabel and the Invisible World chose Alice, a serif font, for the body text, and the text and artwork flow across the pages much as in fiction picture books. There is dialog throughout the story, and the informational page at the end is distinguished from the narrative mainly by the text being justified: all lines are the same length. In Birds Everywhere, there is no narrative plot arc. Rather, the text is all information often divided by topic on separate spreads. Bright-colored backgrounds help organize the many text blocks.

The book designer also chooses the paper the book is printed on, which affects the style of the finished product. Isabel’s story is printed on coated paper with a smooth reflective finish. The interior paper for Birds Everywhere does not have a sheen, and the cover has a cloth texture. This tactile element is enhanced on the cover by blind embossing which raises each bird up from the background. And all of the blue elements are printed with metallic ink.

These choices, which are the designer’s decisions, affect the reader’s experience and the appeal of the books.

These reviews are based on copies of the books sent by Candlewick Press.

Birds Everywhere by Camilla de la Bedoyere, illustrated by Britta Teckentrup

Big Eye Press, an imprint of Candlewick Press

©copyright 2023

Isabel and the Invisible World, by Alan Lightman with illustrations by Ramona Kaylitzki

MIT Press, an imprint of Candlewick

©copyright 2023