Animal Opposites: Petr Horacek

As a longtime fan of Petr Horacek, I'm happy to share his new Animal Opposites, a pop-up book.  The large format holds a collection of animals that is a surprising delight by comparison, all with the fresh looseness of Horacek's illustration.

A fat pig is paired with a thin meerkat. A still sloth hangs opposite a bouncy kangaroo. The flaps and pop-ups of various sizes are just extra bonuses in this beautiful collection. I think this work could actually stand alone as a board book. Maybe a consideration, Candlewick Press, for the smallest hands?

It is a book like this that makes me again wish for an award to recognize brilliance in the board book/novelty format. Joan and I made the call out in 2009, here. And we both decided The Kunhardt Award would be aptly named for Dorothy Kunhardt's Pat the Bunny. Animal Opposites would be a contender for certain!

Animal Opposites, a pop-up book
by Petr Horacek
Candlewick Press, 2013

Art for Baby: the very best for your totz

If there was a Kunhardt Board Book Award, Art for Baby would be short listed for certain. This is exactly what Joan and I are calling for when we ask for the best for our totz.

Templar Books, an imprint of Candlewick Press, has collected twelve black and white images from eleven contemporary artists. Special thanks go out to the galleries who were so generous with their art that they allowed the pieces to be included in this work. Thanks also to the Outset Contemporary Art Fund and the NSPCC who helped in this collaboration.



What more beautiful images to expose your totz to than Paul Morrison's Cryptophyte or Takashi Murakami's Ohana? (both above) Black and white high contrast images aid newborns in object recognition. What a beautiful way to present art and life to the youngest readers. Other artists include Keith Haring, Julian Opie, and Damien Hirst.

A removable paper frieze for your nursery is also provided. Our thanks go out to Templar Books for raising the board book bar and presenting the very best to the market. This book is exquisite perfection.

Art for Baby
9.6 x 9.5 inches
Templar Books, Candlewick Press, September 8, 2009

readertotz CHALLENGE: The Kunhardt Award

Thanks to everyone for their input on our idea of a board book award. Everyone is truly in favor of the Kunhardt Award!



Let's remember that unlike the Geisel Award which was named to honor Dr. Seuss' collective body of work, the Kunhardt choice would be based on the fact that Dorothy Kunhardt created the 1940 groundbreaking board/novelty book Pat the Bunny which still generates 250,000 sales a year.

So, American Libraries Association, we put forward the Kunhardt Award! We would like to see this award given to the best contribution to the board book/novelty arena. What book published in the given year represents the strongest art and appropriate text for the youngest reader? What book is going to engender a lifelong love of literature in our babies and toddlers?

Let's encourage authors, illustrators and publishers to create the best in this important field. Let's offer the Kundhardt Award!

~Lorie Ann Grover, author/illustrator, co-founder of readergirlz and readertotz
and Joan Holub, author/illustrator, co-founder of readertotz