I Am Not A Gun: Children's Books

Showing posts with label Children's Books. Show all posts

Colbert v. Sendak

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Eric Chase Anderson — Chuck Dugan is AWOL

I just finished reading Eric Chase Anderson's Chuck Dugan is AWOL: A Novel with Maps and thoroughly enjoyed it. If I were ten and reading it for the first time it probably would have been (along with Agent Arthur's Puzzle Adventures and The Dictionary of Imaginary Places) one of my favorite books period. If his style is at all familiar it's probably because you've seen the work he's done for his brother Wes Anderson. His work could be criticized in much the same way that his brothers (debatably) is: strong style but a weak story. It could be argued though that the audience for this adventure story of a teenage boy trying to solve a mystery, bolstered by a map, diagram, or illustration on almost every page may not be particularly interested in sophisticated character development. Combine the wealth of visuals with it being set on the coast of Maine in the 1960s and an overarching Anderson family vibe and you've got a book I'm going to be pressing on friends for a lifetime.

On a related note, I just came across these animated GIFs of Anderson films via If We Don't, Remember Me:

Bucket List Item #845: Pet Edward Gorey's Cat

Check.

I went to the Edward Gorey Museum today in his former house and was pleasantly surprised to see how weird it still manages to be, even after having the bulk of his thousands and thousands of books and collections removed. Among other things they had a scavenger hunt for all 26 dead children from the Gashlycrumb Tinies, here is G is for George, smothered under a rug:

I also learned he had a pop-up book called The Dwindling Party published in the 80s that I'm off to get as soon as possible:

Looking at the book covers he made, I mentioned to my mum that there was a great web-comic artist who made comics extrapolated from his work. "Kate Beaton!" said the girl next to us, "I'm friends with her! She just moved to Brooklyn!" Hi Kate! Check them out (click to enlarge):

Inappropriate Golden Books

Via Cooley!
Previously: Victor's Cleaners

Where the Wild Things Are

Confession time: I kinda sorta accidentally went to Comicon today. It was an absolute spectacle. I got to play the new GTA game for DS, watched people playing Dungeons and Dragons (during the day!) and saw a bunch of Kirk, Indiana, Wolverine, and Batman imposters walking around. The most exciting thing (besides seeing all the ridiculously geeky kids of the tri-state area running around looking deliriously happy) was seeing some of the leaked footage for Spike Jonze's long delayed Where the Wild Things Are movie. From the look of it, I don't particularly care if it's faithful to the book, I'm just in love with that moment of solar glare in the video below:

Book Publishing is Fun

Friends Forever

So I made this children's book in college for a printmaking class. My professor thought it was "deeply upsetting" and that "[she] would never read it to my child." Meanwhile my mum keeps telling me to publish it. I'm too lazy to pull out the plates and reprint it so here it is in an e-version: