HOW TO MAKE A BOOK

A “Brilliant Idea” becomes a “Brilliant Book.”

Davies and Hu devote just nine pages to the process of creating the “Brilliant Book” (in fact, the very book the reader is holding). Young readers may already be dizzy with the details of writing, editing, illustrating, proofing, and book design, but author and illustrator press on (no pun intended) to contract negotiation, printing, publicity, and more. The art and business of bookmaking is necessarily simplified for picture-book treatment, but the text is nevertheless impressively granular, even offering an explanation of four-color printing. The spreads are busy, with irregularly shaped, colorful panels helping to make the stages of the publishing process clear; many are festooned with arrows to assist in focus, and well-placed speech bubbles further help to delineate the action. But for all its accuracy and careful design, it’s hard to see this book finding a broad readership among the intended audience of 4- to 8-year-olds, let alone achieving the “global appeal” projected by the rights director. Chris Barton and Sarah Horne cover almost exactly the same material in How to Make a Book (About My Dog) (2021), with a bit more child appeal. The author presents Black; the illustrator presents East Asian; and the publishing team is fairly diverse.

For detail-oriented future publishers.