Once Upon a Line

Finished December 5
Once Upon a Line by Wallace Edwards

This picture book offers children the chance to use their imaginations to take stories to the next step. The book starts with the premise that a trunk in the attic contains a number of paintings all begun from the same initial line drawn by a special pen. A key at the back of the book shows the line that all the images here began with.
The images a rich in detail and use lots of colour. Each image is accompanied by a sentence that begins with the words "Once upon a line..." and a second sentence that is unfinished, leaving the reader to fill in their own words and continue the story in whatever direction pleases them. The images are varied, and some suggest the next words, while others are more uncertain.
This is a great addition to a child's bookshelf, and one that will appeal to kid's from JK up.
The author/illustrator is Canadian and a graduate of OCAD. Other books of his have won a variety of awards from the GG to CLA.

New York Drawings

Finished February 16
New York Drawings: a decade of covers, comics, illustrations, and sketches from the pages of The New Yorker and beyond by Adrian Tomine

This collection intrigued me from the cover, which was actually a The New Yorker cover. It shows a young woman on a subway train reading a book, looking through a window to see a young man on another subway train going in the opposite direction, reading the same book. I liked the image, and was interested to see what else he had done.
The book is structured with the images, placed nicely on the page, with just their titles, where they were published, and the date of publication. There is a section of notes at the end that explains the context of the images: what they were accompanying, if anything; the artist's intention (sometimes), and other commentary. I didn't discover the notes until I'd looked through all the images, so then I went back to the beginning again and looked through them all again, checking the notes as I went.
Because I hadn't seem the images in context originally, when they were published, my first round left me unclear for many what their context and purpose were. The notes helped immensely with this and I found them very useful. I am of two minds as to whether they should have been included with the image, as I think they would have cluttered the clear pages, but they were essential to my understanding and appreciating the images.