Ann Rand

A visually arresting concept book from Ann Rand (NOT to be confused with Ayn Rand, the novelist), a mid-twentieth-century picture-book author whose work has recently been experiencing something of a revival, after being out of print for many years, What Can I Be? offers an exploration of color and shape, as the narrator asks the reader what various items could be. What can be made from something round and red? What about something thin (or thick) and straight?

Although most of Rand's books were published from the 1950s through the 1970s, this one remained unpublished until 2016, four years after its author's death. The artwork, appropriately enough since this title is published by the Princeton Architectural Press, is contributed by expatriate Norwegian architect Ingrid Fiksdahl King. Although not always the greatest fan of concept book - truthfully, I often find them rather boring, from a narrative perspective - I did enjoy this book, and thought that King's illustrations were quite engrossing. I enjoyed her use of color and shape, in the more geometric spreads, but it was the stylized folk-art feeling scenes, such as the one involving the snake, that I particularly loved. Recommended to anyone looking for engaging concept books about colors and shapes, and about using one's imagination, when envisioning patterns and how to recognize and combine them.… (mere)

This reissue of the childhood classic I Know a Lot of Things is a celebration of all the new and intriguing knowledge children delight in possessing. Written from the simplicity of a child's perspective, the plain-but-powerful text voices important childhood knowledge such as "I know when I look in the mirror, what I see is me" and that "dogs go bowwow and that is how they talk." Illustrated with graphic designer Paul Rand's colorful, playful artwork, I Know a Lot of Things, with all the teeny nuggets of wisdom contained therein, is destined to please a new generation.… (mere)