Invisible is a wordless book about an afternoon spent in a seaside town full of interesting characters. Not only will you smile at the Kamm’s observations about the rich panoply of life, from nuns to peeing dogs, you’ll enjoy the tricks the pictures play on your eye; on each spread something appears invisible because it blends in with the background colour. Only the negative shape left behind gives a clue as to what has become invisible, and so it becomes a game to see if you can work out what that is before you turn the page.

The illusions are clever and witty, and the bright, bold, saturated colours give this book a fresh feel. The game is fun even (or perhaps especially) once you know what’s going on – there’s something delightful about being tricked, about falling for the illusion (in this way it reminded me a little of Tullet’s much acclaimed Press Here).

Image copyright: Katja Kamm

This spunky book might not appeal to everyone. There’s nudity (well, invisible nudity…), buxom punks, as well as an anatomically correct male dog doing what dogs like best to do on the pavement, and I do feel uncomfortable about the scene where the nuns are frightened by something in the (black) night – it turns out to be a black man. But it’s nevertheless a fun, original read that I’d definitely recommend to anyone interested in illustration or design: I thought Invisible was a breath of fresh air and am delighted to have discovered it thanks to Gathering Books’ Award Winning Book Challenge.

Of course the girls (and I) wanted to play at being invisible after reading this super book. Making an entire child (or mum) invisible is a little tricky, but I did show the girls how they could make a stamp or a sticker (appear to be) invisible.

I sent the girls out of the room whilst I got everything ready: I put two lidded jam jars on the worksurface. One was filled with water, and underneath it I placed a stamp.

I then invited the girls in and asked them to take a look at the jars. Did either of the jars have something underneath them?, I asked… No, came the rather unexcited reply.

I then took the lids off the jars and asked the girls to look from the top. Now could they see anything underneath either of the jars?

Ah, yes! A stamp (and no ordinary stamp at that!). The girls looked again from the side and once again the stamp seemed invisible, yet when they looked from the top, Matilda was smiling back at them.

Having replaced the lids, I picked up the jars and the girls got to investigate what difference the water made in the jars. First the empty jar was placed on the stamp, then the jar filled with water. With the empty jar on top, the stamp was clearly visible from the side…

…but with the water-filled jar on top, the stamp suddenly became invisible! Ta-da!

So very simple, but so very effective

And what’s going on here? Very simply put, when light passes from water to air it gets bent, making the object appear to be somewhere else. In this case, the water makes the stamp appear higher up, nearer the surface of the water. Looking from the side, the refracted image can’t be seen, but looking from above it can.

Whilst making stamps disappear, we listened to:

(I also considered Invisible Touch by Genesis, Invisible by Alison Moyet, but they didn’t make the cut )

Other creative ideas that work well with Invisible include:

Now at the top of this post I talked about two personal goals for Playing by the book this year. To help me achieve my second goal, I’ve signed up for Pinterest. You can find me here on Pinterest, where I’ll be gathering my favourite creative ideas from around the web, especially creative ideas to do with books. I’ve even created a board with more invisibility ideas if you’re looking for yet more fun things to do alongside Katje Kamm’s Invisible.

Image: Wikipedia

There are plenty of picture books out there about having a dream, holding on to it, and making it a reality, from Ruth Krauss’ The Carrot Seed to Oliver Jeffers’ How to Catch a Star (thanks, Cathy!) and today’s book is a stunning new addition to that canon: Following my Paint Brush by Dulari Devi and Gita Wolf

Following my Paint Brush is a true-life biography of an artist, who started out life in such a poor family that as a girl she had to wash dishes for other families to help make ends meet. Thanks to a chance encounter with someone who encouraged her when she expressed an interest in painting, she persevered and realised her dream of creating art, of capturing images in her mind that told stories. It’s an optimistic tale, told simply and elegantly, but what really makes Following my Paint Brush stand out from the crowd is its illustrations.

The biography told is that of Dulari Devi, an artist who works in the Mithila style which originates in the state of Bihar in eastern India, and it is her own artwork that fills this book. The style is unlike that I’d ever seen before in a children’s book; the matching of a familiar type of story with unfamiliar art works effectively: At one and the same time, this is (or could be) a story of “everyman”, but is also the story of one very remarkable woman.

The colours and detail in Devi’s artwork really appealed to both M and J. It became a game to look for for tiny images (especially of fish) hidden in the highly patterned pictures. Although depicting scenes from another country and culture, my girls could identify with many things they saw for example the children playing in the street and Devi’s fondness as a child for lining up pots and pans in rows. They experienced both the otherness and similarity of another way of viewing the world.

The book as a physical object is also a delight to hold – from the eyecatching neon pink cover, to the satisfyingly thick paper used inside. Following my Paint Brush is an unusual, fascinating book that I hope will find its way into many children’s hands.

Inspired by Following my Paint Brush we first went on a treasure hunt to find all the different brushes we could in and around our home.

We then set about using them to paint with, exploring how different brushes can be used for different techniques.

It was such fun to do some painting that was all about the process, rather than the final, finished product.

Taking a single type of object (in this case, a brush) and focussing on it definitely brought out a different sort of creativity with the girls.

Whilst painting we listened to:

Other activities which could be fun alongside reading Following my Paint Brush include:

What was your most recent creative endeavour where it was all about the process rather than the product? And what’s your favourite picture book about following your dream?

Disclosure: I received my copy of this book from the publisher. This review, however, remains my own and honest opinion.

Ingredients

Instructions


1. Take a deep breath, stop snapping at the child and offer them the chance to cook a magical feast alongside you.
2. Set up a surface (near your kitchen work surface) with one copy of Doodle Cook by Herve Tullet and a pot of your child’s favourite drawing tools.
3. Start cooking together! You follow whatever recipe you’re doing, your child follows her own. You chat, you laugh, delicious plates of food get created and everyone is MUCH happier than before!

Don’t get me wrong, I love cooking with my kids, but sometimes it’s easier to have them alongside in the kitchen without actually chopping, mixing, and spreading mess everywhere. So when I saw that the creator of one of my favourite picture books of 2011, Press Here (my review is here), had created an activity book all about doodling, creativity and food I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

Like so many of Tullet’s books, the idea here is very simple. Tullet presents a series of recipes, calling on the “chef” to add a sprinkling of squiggles, a pinch of blobs, a dash of zigzags and so on to create a whole feast of illustrated dishes. There’s Triangle Cake, Sun-Ray Tart, Thousand-layer Cake, Dot Stew and Nameless Soup, to give you just a flavour of what’s on offer.

A sample recipe from Doodle Cook

The book is sturdily produced and printed on really heavy paper, making it robust and ideal for wild doodling and strong enough to hold up to watery painting too. My only minor gripe would be that I would like to see it published with a ring binding so that it is easy for kids to make the pages lie completely flat. It’s hard for small hands to bend the spine thoroughly enough to make sure pages stay open.

I’m a huge fan of activity books both as life savers for busy parents but also as sneaky sources of reading when kids are reluctant to pick up a book (I wrote more about this last summer over at Wahm-Bam). The best activity books will inspire kids to continue being creative when they’ve filled up the book: with Doodle Cook we had fun coming up with our own doodle recipes, even having a sort of recipe draw-off around the lunch table one day.

All in all, Doodle Cook is perfect to give the kids whilst you’re preparing supper or if you wish to encourage your young artist or chef to think outside the box (or should that be ‘off the plate’?).

Whilst we both cooked we listened to:

Polly Wolly Doodle (get it? ) – here are fun versions by Johnny Bregar, The Biscuit Brothers, and The Hollow Trees.

Doodle Cook also made me think of these nice things:

Have you and your kids used any activity books recently? What do you look for in a great activity book?
And, please, if you’re a (fairly) regular reader of the blog and haven’t left a comment on my New Year’s Post, please head on over there and do so!

Disclosure: I received my copy of this book from the publisher. This review, however, remains my own and honest opinion.