“Reading can be a magical experience, especially for children who thrive on creativity, play, and imagination. Unlike adults, who often end up losing their sense of wonder growing up and need a little bit more prompting when it comes to building new worlds in their minds, most young readers seem to have no problem immersing themselves in quirky, strange, or unfamiliar plots, characters, and realms, as though slipping into second skins.
Although this may make it seem as though writing or designing a good children’s book is an easy process, the contrary is in fact true. Whether it contains a simple or complex storyline – or even none at all – there are many considerations involved in ensuring that it is not only a compelling page-turner, but also sensitive to their needs, wherever they are in life. However, creators and publishers also have the responsibility to exercise their freedom of expression by injecting personality and a point of view into their projects in contributing to a robust literary landscape.
Éditions du Livre is one such publishing house that produces vibrant artist books for children with the unique underlying approach that ‘the poetics inherent to the manipulation of the book as an object should resonate with its content’. Every title demonstrates a thoughtful aesthetic and use of materials that complement a clever concept and narrative, while still radiating with an unadulterated sense of joie de vivre reminiscent of childhood – as showcased in the following Q&A.”

A BOOK ON BOOKS (New Aesthetics in Book Design), pp. 48-57, published by Victionary, November 2020.

Double page about Zoo in my hand in A book on Books
Double page about Dans la lune in A book on Books