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A smart, small book for smart, small kids by illustrator Tamara Shopsin
It is never too early to learn about abstraction--especially if celebrated illustrator Tamara Shopsin is doing the teaching. What Is This? is Shopsin's wordless children's book that will encourage imaginative thinking in readers both young and old. The miniature book, made for small hands, is filled with simple line drawings, executed with characteristic charm by Shopsin. Each drawing playfully adds to and alters the same basic squiggle, which is transformed across different contexts on each successive page: first the squiggle appears as the petals of a flower, next as a bird's nest, then a cowboy's lasso, then a plume of smoke from a factory chimney. Each time, only a few extra lines are required to suggest the conversion. By the end of the book, faced with an innocent squiggle, the question is not "what is this?" but rather, "what isn't this?" Tamara Shopsin (born 1979) is a graphic designer and illustrator whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Good, Time, Wired and Newsweek. She is the author of the memoir Mumbai New York Scranton, designer of the 5 Year Diary and coauthor, with Jason Fulford, of the children's book This Equals That. She is also a cook at her family's restaurant, Shopsin's, in New York.
Featured image is reproduced from Tamara Shopsin: What Is This?.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Metropolis Magazine
Avinash Rajagopal
The "this" of the title is the squiggle of the cover…Each stretch of the imagination is drawn out, and the facing pages are invitingly blank-perhaps for a young reader's own squiggles.
Artforum
Hanne Mugaas
This little book reminds us that "it's never too early to learn about abstraction."...What Is This? is great fun for both toddlers and grown-ups.
in stock $9.95
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FORMAT: Hbk, 3.5 x 4 in. / 40 pgs / 20 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $9.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $12.5 ISBN: 9780989785945 PUBLISHER: The Ice Plant AVAILABLE: 7/28/2015 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock
A smart, small book for smart, small kids by illustrator Tamara Shopsin
Published by The Ice Plant.
It is never too early to learn about abstraction--especially if celebrated illustrator Tamara Shopsin is doing the teaching. What Is This? is Shopsin's wordless children's book that will encourage imaginative thinking in readers both young and old. The miniature book, made for small hands, is filled with simple line drawings, executed with characteristic charm by Shopsin. Each drawing playfully adds to and alters the same basic squiggle, which is transformed across different contexts on each successive page: first the squiggle appears as the petals of a flower, next as a bird's nest, then a cowboy's lasso, then a plume of smoke from a factory chimney. Each time, only a few extra lines are required to suggest the conversion. By the end of the book, faced with an innocent squiggle, the question is not "what is this?" but rather, "what isn't this?"
Tamara Shopsin (born 1979) is a graphic designer and illustrator whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Good, Time, Wired and Newsweek. She is the author of the memoir Mumbai New York Scranton, designer of the 5 Year Diary and coauthor, with Jason Fulford, of the children's book This Equals That. She is also a cook at her family's restaurant, Shopsin's, in New York.
