He is best known for creating Miffy, the world's most famous rabbit. Yes, that's right, the world's most famous rabbit, Not Peter, not Roger... Miffy. He has published over 200 Miffy books to date with almost 90 million sold. The Miffy brand rakes in over $150 million a year. But Miffy is just a slice of the Dick Bruna pie. Bruna is also a titan of Dutch modernist graphic design and has designed and illustrated over 2,000 book covers! You see his father was a publisher and he got to work designing covers and promotional material for the company. Here is a sampling of his amazing...
For Your Listening Pleasure: New Technology Rescues Poets from Old Vinyl
The Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard University just might be the closest thing we have to a poetry heaven on earth. Yes, there is the extensive collection of 20th and 21st century English-language poetry books and "an encyclopedic array of poetry journals and literary magazines" but the crown jewel of the collection is their collection of sound recordings, "one of the largest poetry-specific sound archives in the world". And, as you can imagine, many of the older vinyl recordings are simply to beat-up to listen to. That is, until now. The folks at WBUR, Boston's NPR station, take us behind the scenes and...
We’re Still On The March: A look back to Wrightsville, Georgia 1980
Wrightsville is an anachronism of the most disturbing kind. All the tired marches and all the old songs serve up reminders of hopes still unfulfilled, of how far we have not come - Ron Taylor As we rise up yet again against the racism, the injustice and the police misconduct that continues to stifle this country let's revisit the goings on in a small Georgia town in 1980. On a May night shots rang out in the black part of town. A young black girl was wounded and a white policeman was grazed. By then the citizens of Wrightsville had already begun to push back against...
Haruki Murakami’s Strange Library
Haruki Murakami's surreal library adventure coupled with Chip Kidd's book design makes for a unforgettable 1-2 punch. The book itself is a knockout. The front cover is comprised of two panels that emanate from the rear cover, fold over and are held together by a tab, '107'. Each panel is illustrated on its verso. A large animal on one, a smile on the other. Animal eye illustration on verso of front panel. Note the flip side of the '107' tab at middle Separate the panels, lift and start reading. A young boy visits the public library on his way home from school...
Publish what they like and they’ll read them: What Kids Want in Books
Infograph by Scholastic and devised from the Kids & Family Reading Report: Fifth Edition which is due out in January 2015. The Kids & Family Reading Report is a national survey of children ages 6–17 and their parents exploring attitudes and behaviors around reading books for fun.