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Maira Kalman's exuberant illustrations and humorous commentary bring design history to life in this inspired ABC book that celebrates thirty-one objects from the Cooper Hewitt, in time for its long-awaited reopening. "A. Ah-ha There you Are." begins Maira Kalman's joyfully illustrated romp through the treasures of Cooper Hewitt's design collection. With her signature wit and warm humor, Kalman's ABC book introduces children and adults to the myriad ways design touches our lives. Posing the question "If you were starting a museum, what would you put in your collection?," Kalman encourages the reader to put pen to paper and send in personal letters--an intimate, interactive gesture to top off her unique tour of the world of design. Objects ranging from a thirteenth-century silk thinking cap to 1889 tin slippers with bows, all the way to Gerrit Rietveld's Zig-Zag chair are brought to colorful life. Kalman's hand-lettered text is whimsical and universal in turns, drawing lessons as easily from a worn old boot as a masterpiece of midcentury modernism. Irresistibly, we are led to agree, "Everything is design."… (more)
User reviews
The book features original gouache paintings of objects selected by Kalman from among pieces in a Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum exhibition on design. The author observes:
“Everything around you is designed. Your sneakers, our toothbrush, your toilet (yes!) and even our pencil.”
She demonstrates this by going through the alphabet, but not in a way you would expect. She doesn’t let the imperatives of the locations of letters in words define her choices; sometimes they appear first, but sometimes they don't. She starts out with A but the iconoclastic Kalman points out the A inside two words:
“...perhAps you should put on your thinking cAp….”
Similarly when she uses E, she shows us a dog and writes:
"E. (Except for YOUR DOG)
This is the cutest dog on EARTH with The Cutest EYEBROWS on EARTH."
For H she declares
H. This is not a Hippo. This is a RHINOCEROS.
Under J she writes:
“...just because you don’t like to comb your hair, that doesn’t mean you should throw out your COMB. That would be JUST NOT RIGHT.”
N is for toilet:
“NOW might be a Good Time to go the bathroom. No worries. We will wait for you. NOT A PROBLEM.”
And thus she proceeds to display items from the Hewitt exhibition.
Evaluation: I love books for kids that encourage them to think outside of the box. This book entertains and educates, all while breaking “the rules.” Kids and adults alike will be delighted.