A simple children's book about all the work that goes into creating a book, the paper we need, the trees required, sun, and the people who make it possible. Read this on the kindle and wasn't impressed with the illustrations, however, I am interested in seeing the print version once it is released.
(Book Pub Date: 22 Sep 2020 #TheBlankPage #NetGalley)

A very Zen look at the interconnectedness of everything, man. I guess it was OK, but the artwork didn't float my boat and I doubt I'll remember its hushed kind of "look deeper, man, deeper!" moral.

A quick disclaimer: I don't have children, and although I was a Rainbow Guide leader for a number of years, I have never been a children's librarian. My opinion is as someone who teaches Bibliography, History of the Book, and the Artist's Book, and who collects artists' books, with a focus on commercially published artists' books.

I love this book and cannot wait to be able to lay hands on it. A core text in my collecting, writing and teaching is A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston (London: Walker, 2016 and over 20 translations worldwide). Around that, I obtain other works that aim to talk about reading and books to children, so this one will fit right in. It will be a great discussion point for students - what makes a book with these aims an artist's book as opposed to a book with nice pictures? Where does the text take us? What level of harmony is there in the pictures and the text? What is the level of collaboration? (Jeffers and Winston collaborated in text and images, whereas here there is a clear division). Is there a level of didacticism? What is the role of the imagination?

So many great ways into thinking about these issues.

I'm putting it through as 4/5 and not 5/5 because, personally, I would dial back the message-signalling a little, and because I would like to see more blanks in a book about blank pages. However, I appreciate that I am coming to this work from a different angle from most potential purchasers (presumably people with children in the picture-book age group).