Martin Salisbury

I picked this book up from the library because I am a huge fan of Šašek’s This Is… series, with its charming illustrations. I liked that it was part of a series spotlighting noteworthy illustrators and that the author was the author of The Illustrated Dust Jacket 1920 to 1970, another excellent book. Anyway, this book about Šašek is a great look at the author’s work, including other styles and genres. I really liked the blend of collage and paint from Radio Free Europe and laughed out loud at the descriptions of pictures from Stone is Not Cold, a book in which Šašek plunks photos of famous statues onto a blank canvas and draws bizarre cartoons around them. And I loved that Šašek also loved flight! He could have made some beautiful illustrated editions of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry if the opportunity had arisen, I think.

Overall this book is a 4-star read. Some of the text layout was not optimal, with sentences being broken over two pages, sometimes more, to accommodate the illustrations.… (más)

Decent, but I likely shan't be returning to it.

I liked the format (double-page spread per book, several examples rather than a single illustration, exposure to many unfamiliar artists), but wasn't thrilled with a lot of the choices--this is inevitable, but the author's taste skews toward that faux-primitive "modern" look that really came into vogue in the 50s, and my taste skews toward elegant and composed (e.g. Gorey or Sendak--who is included, and stands out for his beauty).

And as I'm dreadfully literal, it irks that there are quite a few books that are not Children's Picturebooks. Just call your collection "100 Great Picturebooks" and I'd have had no complaint in that quarter!

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).… (más)