Ancient Greece ¦ The Human Body ¦ Incredible Plants ¦ Sports and Games
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Cover Story
This issue’s cover is from the gift edition of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory illustrated by Quentin Blake and with design and typography by Peter Campbell. The successful collaboration between Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake has played an important part in the popularity of Dahl’s work over the last fifteen years. Blake’s unmistakable artwork truly complements Dahl’s writing. His economical, amiable, illustrative style balances out Dahl’s often expansive language. And the liveliness, humour and pathos of the drawings offer a softer side to Dahl’s sometimes gloriously grotesque, sometimes cruel descriptions of his characters.
Thanks to Penguin Children’s Books for their help in producing this July cover which commemorates the thirty years anniversary of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s first UK publication.
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Ancient Greece
The Human Body
Incredible Plants
Sports and Games
The publishers have not stinted on the production of these handsome, colourful and visually appealing volumes. The emphasis placed on the pictorial content, however, means that pave layouts are dominated by the illustrations, often at the expense of the text. Coupled with a rigid adherence to double-page spreads, this has resulted in an unevenness in the scope and level of the information provided.
The format proves less of a problem for the more highly focused topics, and for this reason The Human Body is by far the most successful, presenting detailed factual information in a lively, clear and logical manner. By comparison, Sports and Games allocates exactly the same amount of space to athletics, with its various track and field events, as, for example, it does to the game of squash!
Notwithstanding, these wide-ranging titles make very attractive books for browsers and will undoubtedly tempt reluctant information seekers to enquire within.
