The Joy of Children's Books

Book design is something I have always enjoyed, especially children's books. I still fondly remember my favourites, the illustrations are crystallised in my memory along with the pleasure I felt slowly turning pages and sounding the words to myself. It's that quality time with a parent or just enjoying the happy solitude discovering a new favourite brings. 

Choosing books for kids today is an absolute pleasure, such a wealth of talent to pick from. For me it is all about the illustrations, bringing words to life and making something I struggled with quite a bit being dyslexic, actually fun.    

I shared the work of graphic artist Jorey Hurley on the Pickle Blog a few years back. The San Francisco based artist creates beautiful artwork, you can really see her past-life as a textile designer shining through. Bold, modern and colourful, they'd look great in a nursery - though grown-ups love them just as much as kids. 

Today though I wanted to focus on Jorey's children's books. Each page simply shows one word with vibrant and informative illustrations, fascinating to children and design-joy for us adults. 'Skyscraper' is filled with describing words and urban scenes, 'Hop' illustrates helpful words to discuss with children around safety, exploring the animal kingdom but with parallels to ours. Intelligently chosen and beautifully presented. You can now thankfully also own her book illustrations as prints.