ORIGIN early 17th cent.: via French from Italian gazzetta, originally gazeta de la novità (because the news-sheet sold for a gazeta, a Venetian coin of small value)


Monday, December 31, 2012

« Un livre » or "Press Here"

Wanting to write one last post before 2012 is just a memory, I felt like I had too little time to come up with something clever or interesting. So leave it to my dear friend Louise Borden to introduce me to the most marvelous children's book… and to hand me the subject of my ultimate post for the year. French author and illustrator Hervé Tullet has created a playful picture book entitled « Un Livre » using… simple dots in primary colors. Originally published in France in 2010 by Bayard Jeunesse then translated into English by Christopher Franceschelli and published in the United States by Chronicle Books in 2011, this innocent looking book gives the most simple commands—touch, press, turn, blow, shake, clap, tap—and the reader is thus engaged in joyous activity of the most basic kind, that of letting his or her imagination run wild with endless possibilities. Just watch the joy in the book trailer on YouTube:

Hervé Tullet


I love this book! For kids of all ages, this delightful creation is a great way to end the year, and to start a new one. Albert Einstein, after all, once famously said, "Logic will get you from A to Z. Imagination will get you everywhere."

To see what children say at the end of the book, 
see bottom right-hand corner!

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